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| Post-monsoon green |
Field visit to Udaipur…I was here only 3 weeks ago, but the landscape has been completely changed with the arrival of the monsoons. It’s amazing how quickly the rains can transform the earth from crispy brown to dripping green….The city’s lake, which only a few weeks ago was so dry and cracked that I walked across its surface, is now filled with bobbing boats.
Driving out of the city it’s hard to believe that these villages set among overflowing ponds and chartreuse fields that are so vivid you’d swear they were photoshopped, suffer from water scarcity…but it’s the case. There’s been 3 years of drought and everyone is praying that this will be a good monsoon season…it has to be, I’m told.
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| Slowly making our way to the village |
As we slowly make our way out of the city along the washed out dirt road it’s as if an entire National Geographic magazine has come to life. Every minute I see an image that is worthy of the cover…A man in a impossibly white dhoti knee deep in water plowing a muddy field with his long horned oxe. Ten children in their blue school uniforms squatting along the roadside under one large black umbrella…a women in a red sari planting rice against the green cloud enshrined hills…Actually the images are so stunning that it makes me think the NatGeo photographers have probably been slacking.
At our first village, Madla, I head directly to the community well. We arrive as a young woman finishes filling a large clay pot and a smaller metal one and places them on her head. I ask her name…"Mala Devi" she says timidly. She is 25 years old and she’s bringing water back to her house…2 km away. A perfect chance to try out the Waterwheel. She’s a bit embarrassed when we ask if we can bring water to her house in our foreign contraption…but she shyly agrees and says she’ll meet us there. Three young boys from the school offer to push the barrel, excited by the novelty of a game…
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| Mala collecting water at the community well |
As we walk up through the field my city sandals literally disintegrate right off my feet. Apparently my city shoes (which I thought were oh so stylish) are no match for village monsoons. “Oh well, cha lo” I say…and our small group continues on our water delivery task.
We’re a motley crew. Three small boys pushing a big yellow barrel, 2 field workers from Seva Mandir, a few curious villagers and me, walking barefoot along a muddy, rocky, dirt path through soggy fields and unseen piles of cow dung….
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| Our volunteer "water pushers" |
However, 2km later we arrive at our destination a bit wet, a bit muddy…but with the promised water. Mala is amused and happy with the vast quantity of water…Definitely the first time she’s had it delivered to her door.
Recap: Down one pair of sandles, up some great field notes….It was a good day….
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| Village School (where the boys should probably be) |
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| Mala's daughter |
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| Mala and her water pots |
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| Mala, trying out the Wello Waterwheel |
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