On the edge of Rajasthan where shifting sand dunes mark the border between India and Pakistan, four villages have had their dark nights lit up by incandescent bulbs running on renewable solar energy. The villages, which are a series of homesteads scattered across an undulating dessert landscape of the western Indian state of Rajasthan, have never been connected to the power grid.

They had never stepped outside their homes, let alone towns until a couple of years back. Today they travel to cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lahore and Kathmandu on 'business trips'.