Sitting in Udaipur a bright sunny day – wait a minute. Isn't it supposed to be raining now? Well, it is supposed to, but the reality is very different. I have been travelling thru the tehsils of Bambura, Bhinder, Dhariyawad and Koon – no sign of rain anywhere and today is the 8th of July – The rains were supposed to arrive on 25th June. What did happen was that it rained in the middle of June – quite heavily for a couple of days and then nothing. Those who had sown seeds searched the skies anxiously, while the others just waited. And then it rained gain in the first week of July. Again some ploughed the land and sowed precious seeds,. And now they too wait.
Udaipur district comprises some 4000 villages coming under approximately 250 panchayats. Therefore the rainfall data for the district as a whole does not give the true picture. Variations within the district are immense. Bambura and Bhinder had had a couple of showers while Koon had had none at all. And they are contiguous tehsils. The area is highly undulating. It must have been forest area once, but is now degraded rocky soil. Apparently during the industrialisation of India in the 50s and 60s, the forests were leased to commercial companies who raped the land thoroughly. Today the people of the area do sell firewood, but that is more in the nature of a survival strategy than commercialism.
Over the past three years the rainfall has been deficient – an average of around 250 mm while the usual average is around 700 mm. This has meant that people have had to sow crops like maize instead of wheat, which is the staple diet. This year has really stretched the capacity of the people. There has been a continuous search for fodder, grain and water. Three years of bad rains is more than what the average farmer can cope with leave alone the poor. Migration was one of the options earlier – but neighbouring Gujarat was also affected by the drought, so many people returned earlier than expected.
Everywhere I went I asked, what will you do if it does not rain properly this year – the answer was near unanimous – we will die! But first the animals will die – there is no fodder to forage for and all the natural sources of water have dried up. The goats may survive another year, but not the bovine animals. I could count the ribs on every single animal I saw. My impression of buffaloes has been that they are always fat – this is the first time I am seeing skeletal buffaloes. The calves followed their mothers listlessly – there was none of the usual vivacity associated with them.
This area is not primarily one of a cash economy. Some food crop is grown on whatever land there is, the stalks feed the cattle and the goats graze on anything. Cash is primarily reserved for things like salt, masalas, clothes, medicines, etc. Not for basic food and fodder. But now, the only thing that speaks is cash. The desperation of the people can be understood when they say that they are willing to use precious cash to buy fodder for the animals. They say that they will somehow survive, migrate or something, but the animals are totally at their mercy – so they have to be looked after first. Also, if agriculture fails, then the animals are the only wealth that people have.
6/Jul - Started in the morning – first went to village Karget where three wells had been deepened. in three different Phals or hamlets. Fortunately there was water in all the wells that had been deepened. Spoke to some of the men who were near the well. The nearby handpump had either dried up or was under repair – they could not agree on which. There was a system by which the Panchayat appoints a maistry to repair it, but since they were an interior hamlet, he did not come very often. They were now asking the Panchayat to train one person from within the hamlet. As we sat by the well, there were several cows and buffaloes that passed by, drinking from the trough or piyao near the well. They were all very measly looking animals who plodded along slowly in the heat.
The area is beautiful, but fairly difficult to approach. We went on a path that only an expert driver could have taken us on. I felt like I was in one of those four wheel drive car ads – only I was in a good old Mahindra – which creaked a lot, but took us around and brought us back safely. It amazed me that there was a primary school even there. The Govt still manages to surprise me.
The next village was Onkar, a good 45 minutes from Karget. The area here was even more degraded than that of Karget – I didn’t think that possible! I had visited this village on my previous trip as well. Managed to meet one woman near a hand pump, where we had stopped. She felt that it was a good thing that wells were deepened and was of the opinion that more should be deepened. But when asked how much we could go on deepening wells, she could not say anything.
Through this entire conversation there was girl – who could have been anything between 6 and 10 – who had come to the hand pump to have a bath. Seeing the crowd that had gathered there, she took a potful of water a few feet away, sat with her back to us and proceeded to have a thorough bath. Her shampoo and conditioner was the fine sand found near the hand pump. Her soap was a stone that she carefully picked up after searching for a few minutes. First she applied the mud and then rinsed her hair. Then she sat down and scrubbed herself slowly and thoroughly with the stone. Life must go on, even in the middle of a crisis.
It was time for lunch – cooked by one of the staff – and a bonus, I was asked if I would like a nap as well. Would I say no? Fifteen minutes, but that was bliss on that hot day.
Our next stop was Bambura, a really amazing village – town. It is just an ordinary small town, except its skyline is dominated by this huge castle. Which has of course, been converted into a heritage hotel now. Apparently the local chief was a vassal of the king and was allowed to collect taxes. He sure did do a good job if that palace is anything to go by.
The main work that had been in the village of Peepiya was the construction of check dams.
July 2000
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