Barefoot Geologists 4
Village 1: Budiya. The windswept village.
The Kutch coast is windy. The mostly fishing village of Budiya sits right on the coast. Whatever little rain falls here is evaporated by the harsh sun and whatever remains by the wind. The silver linings are the Pavan-chakkis or the Wind turbines that convert the wind to electricity.
The Kutch coast is windy. The mostly fishing village of Budiya sits right on the coast. Whatever little rain falls here is evaporated by the harsh sun and whatever remains by the wind. The silver linings are the Pavan-chakkis or the Wind turbines that convert the wind to electricity.
The ceaseless wind also give the beautiful children of this village, this windswept hairstyle that I had blogged about earlier and the images are worth repeating.
All that the barefoot geologists had to do here was divert the rainwater to an appropriate spot with the right soil formation to sponge the water underground.
That was the easy part.
The tough part of the job is maintaining the well and that is managed by the locals themselves. The well is treated like a temple. Or since the village is a Mohammedan one, let's call it a mosque or a dargah. The approach and the surroundings are swept clean. No littering is allowed. Footwear is banned near the well and do and don't board that maintain cleanliness are everywhere. Violators are fined.
The same care goes to the channels that direct the water.
After living for ages without access to sweet fresh water, they know the true value of clean drinking water.
