Finally off to the field....29.02.08

The enumerators, those who are helping us conducting the survey, arrived 2 hours late. Typical Indian time… But after a short introduction to team of 9 handsome 22-year-old Indian boys, we were off. The car we had only took 9 so Harish and me headed for the local bus. I have to say the buses are about the only thing running somewhat on time... Slowly Bhadravati city centre was in the distance and miles of field, coconut groves, a humpy road was emerging… Distributary 22 is part of the Bhadra reservoir right bank canal project. It is a very successful project as there is very little water shortage. Interestingly about 15 years ago the farmers in this area realized that growing rice was not going to work. They therefore shifted to arecanut, needs watering once a month, that is it. As it also is a tree the labour is just the harvesting once a year and then the refinement process can happen in the homes of the farmers. It is therefore a end product that leaves the farmers resulting in an extremely high price. It’s amazing… Their initiative also allows water to flow to the very end of the distributary. This is all in all a very healthy shift and has proven to be extremely successful. I have to say as we went to the tail end village - Sanyasi Kodimagge Hosur, I was a bit shocked to see the wealth and high standard of living. Motorbikes (latest models) huge houses, good clothing, education and sanitation facilities were all in place. This only shows that were there is good management of the water resource, great livelihoods and good standard of living can be achieved.

I easily stand out in the countryside. May stop and stare as they have seen a ghost – and some stopped my colleagues asking of I were there to exploit them. This is hard to begin with, but you soon realise this is only a natural reaction. I tend to interact well with kids. Saying hello to them in their language as well as what is your name – breaks the awkwardness.. They laugh and start speaking English straight away. I started taking pictures and that was a huge success. They loved seeing their face on the screen… So beautiful… We got to the place we were staying around 6 after a hard session. It was the headquarters of the Irrigation department workers. Really basic, but there was two beds so Cavita and me got those. The boys were on the floor. I was dead, so slept like a baby straight away…