The gifts from the past.. Should'nt we pass it to the next generation?

Puducherry's Water Bodies - A gift from the past

Puducherry has a fantastic system of irrigation tanks - a total of 84 of them - which date back to about 1000 years or more. These are a gift to us from the past which were managed by the communities through a system called "Kudimaramathu" and takes care of extreme rain-events a peculiarity of the east-coast. 

But it is quite saddening to note that these systems are completely neglected, their management taken away from the communities, their original hydraulics being tampered with and being increasingly neglected for their climate-change adaptability. 

What we got from our ancestors, we need to carefully nurture them and pass it on to the next generations for their water-security. Are we shying away from that? Don't we ever learn from the past mistakes? Is there some common-sense left with our administrators? 

 

Childhood memories - the Durga Temple, Thottekkad, Pulpatta, Manjeri

 

One memory from my childhood is the frequent visits to the temple near our home - the Bhagavathi or Durga temple. On Fridays, we have a special offering at the temple - "Nerathala" which is basically Coconut rice - coconut shavings cooked in hand-milled red rice which is cooked by the priest (Embranthiri) in the temple itself. Anyone of us children should go to the temple to collect the same which meant you need to take bath early morning. The bath in the pond is a celebration in itself though the water will be very cold in the morning. But after the first leap in the water, you dont feel the cold at all. 

A three-four minute run to the temple, doing the pradikshinam and collecting the Nivedyam and back to home - all would be over in about 15-20 minutes maximum. 

The other memorable event is during the Vilakku where oil lamps are lighted all around the temple and we children have to pour the oil into the small metal lamps fixed on the outer walls of the temple as well as inside - around the garbhagriham. With a kuthuvilakku we used to go around and light all the lamps by sunset. Then there are special pooja etc. Each family would have a dedicated day of the month for the Vilakku. 

Also coconuts are thrown on to a slanting rock in front of the Iyyappan's temple and we children used to run and catch the broken coconut pieces. The special Ney Paayasam with roasted sessame on top was other delicacy of various Nivedyams from the temple. 

A July afternoon..

 It is the month of July. The year is 2023.

It just turned 12 noon a few minutes ago. After a spell of summer rains, the weather is a bit cool, some respite from the hot June. 

Pondy is buzzing with the coming of some political figures from Delhi. Though we dont have decent roads, the TAC ground is being beautified for the VIP's visit. That's politics. While we have money for such functions, we don't have enough for creating basic facilities.. 

A few kilometers - in Krishna Nagar, adjacent to the East Coast Road a new police station is being built in a water body. Absolutely no problems with that for Pondy govt. In fact, the govt thinks that it has the "right" to encroach on water bodies. Because they have already done it many times.  Same Krishna Nagar, crores of rupees are being spent to "pump" out rainwater to the Bay of Bengal because the water spaces have all been encroached upon. We have plenty of money for pumping out rainwater, but not to harvest them in Ponds or Eris (lakes).  Interestingly a whole racket of public servants including former Directors/Registrar, politicians/MLA - the list goes on and on - all are involved in a huge land-grab - to the tune of some 60,000 sq.ft of common lands. This is Pondy. The same Pondy which is known for spirit-ual tourism.  

Where time takes a break. 

Yes, it is somewhat a cool afternoon. We Pondicherrians are used to all these. Be cool. Give all your concerns a break. 

A village in Cuddalore and the Malattar River

 As part of the ongoing WaterFest 23, we have been  visiting various initiatives by communities in the PVAC (Puducherry, Villupuram, Auroville, Cuddalore) bioregion of South India and on 18th Feb we visited a small village called Udalapattu in the revenue village of Keezh Kumaramangalam in Cuddalore District of Tamilnadu (more about that later). 

On the way, we stopped at the Mel Azhinjipattu village on the banks of the Malattar river and the images are from the river - which is more of a small channel now - obviously since we are in Feb and the summer has already kicked in. This particular bird was pausing for my camera and I could not resist. 

A rainy day in Pondicherry (India)

The month of November is known for rains in Pondicherry or most of east coast owing to formation of low depression in the Bay of Bengal. Interestingly the rainy seasons for us is a very conveneint one since the rains do not last longer and one can wait a bit and it will get over with. Maybe that is why most people do not buy umbrellas in Pondicherry. Of course, we get some intense rains in the year but it is hardly for 15 or 20 days in a year which anyhow prevents you from going out. 

Our problem are not due to the rain per se, but more due to lack of planning for those few extreme events of rainfall as original storm water drains have been downsized, encroached upon or even sold off by vested political personalities with the support of corrupt revenue officials. Why extreme events? Even a small 10-minute rainfall can cause flooding in the streets of Puducherry and there are specific streets of Puducherry like the Anna Nagar (near Indira Gandhi Statue) which remain flooded days together even after a moderate to heavy rainfall of say 20cm

But these visuals are from a short spell of about 10mm rainfall over 30 minutes which has given a beautiful wet and shiny texture to the ground and the grass and other objects and the already bloom lilies appeared lit from inside with the beautiful hazy sunshine from above. (Visuals from Sri Aurobindo Society, No.11, St.Martin Street, Puducherry-605001, India)

I like the  monsoons than any other season as it brings us the necessary rainfall to keep the life supported, sustainable and much needed respite from the heat, the dust and the pollution. If at all, we were a bit more ecologically evolved, almost all our problems would have beautiful solutions!!!

 

 

Learning to swim and other memories..

When we think of our childhood, we become nostalgic. The way you grew up in your home, the day you spend time, your school, the village life etc. etc. 

I was borne in a joint family and we were five children - me the third. I remember even today those early years before I started going to school. We were taught at home - all basic writing, reading, the Gunakoshtam or the multiplication table etc. Sathyalayam - that was the name of our house in Thottekad, Pulpatta about 8 km from the nearest town of Manjeri. We had a beautiful little pond in our home. As children we had to learn swimming and the usual practice is that you are pushed into the water when you are just about 3 years old. You drink a lot of water (of course the pond water was much better in quality than what you get through municipal supply these days) and you somehow start to swim. Thachi (my maternal grandmother's elder sister) had taught all of us swimming. I still remember my sister being pushed into the water and when she came up all frightened and gulping water, Thachi gave her a slap and said it will prevent from being afraid of the near process of drowning.. 

On a rainday in November...

 

This is November and it is supposed to rain sometime this month in Puducherry. When I say it is "supposed" to rain, I mean that as for rains in Puducherry, nobody can be certain when the rain will start on will end. Rainy season in Puducherry - or for that matter- along the east coast, it all depends on formation of a low depression in the Bay of Bengal. One can say, it might rain in Oct-Nov. 

And so it rained .. quite nice, heavy rainfall.. Beautiful climate, all wet and cool. One has to learn to enjoy these rains. Because, it is these rains that bring water to us. Beautiful monsoon.