In 2016, I went on a reporting trip to the village of Hotasar in Rajasthan which was being electrified for the first time -- sharing some pics from that trip here. This is Akbar Pardeshi, who bought a second-hand TV 2 weeks before the electrification date. 
Before electrification, all Akbar's family had was this old solar panel which could charge 1 small Nokia phone in a day. There was very poor connectivity though, so sometimes, they had to climb trees to make phonecalls
the women of the village - like Akbar's mother here - had never seen electric bulbs in their lives. In some villages, people were so afraid of electric connections, govt officials said they were shooed away. Folks thought electricity was dangerous and would cause fires.
supplies came from nearby cities - but logistics were very difficult. If there was a problem with some materials, engineers had to drive 30-40km just to get a mobile signal to call seniors and ask for replacements.
soon, poles were stuck into the ground and wire stretched across them -- connecting the village of Hotasar to the grid
Akbar's brother climbed on top of the roof while an engineer clibed a pole. Then he flung the wire over to the man on top of the pole.
then they connected it to this meter at the back of Akbar's house
that evening, for the first time ever, a light bulb was turned on in Akbar's home. The women sat on a cot outside, fiddling with the lamp. One of them wanted to turn it off, saying she was scared.
the young boys in the family ran to the sockets to charge their phones. they called their relatives -- who were just over the border -- in Pakistan to tell them that the light had come. (We were about an hour or two away from the Pak border, near Jaiselmer)
the men settled in front of the TV and kept watching long after I fell asleep. They wanted to watch everything - so they kept flicking channels. Their wives gave them garlic to peel while they watched.
when i left, Akbar announced that he would turn his home into a pukka house. The family is nomadic, and usually travels to warmer places for the winter. But electricity meant they could settle in one place and change temp using appliances.
When I was leaving, they said something like "The next time you come to Hotasar, you'll find a city right here." I haven't been back since.
