Basket Case
The next day, Ronny and George suggested a drive. Ronny's plan was that George could teach Alex something about the vegetation, animals, and agriculture in the local area to help with Alex's project. I don't know any details about this project, except that it is to do with biodiversity and ecotourism. Having worked in research, I think that this is a very broad and vague start to things, and having worked on some small-scale biodiversity studies and animal counts, I think that it is also a bit too ambitious to successfully include any true biodiversity research. I have discussed this with Alex, and I'm sure that as things progress that he will focus his project more.
Ronny, Rajan, George, Trisham, Alex and myself jumped into Rohit's ute for the drive. Alex got in the back with Trisham to have the more fun ride, but it was soon pointed out that this was supposed to be an educational experience for Alex to learn from George, and so Alex should sit inside with George. I swapped seats so Alex could come inside, and although I felt like it was a shame to miss out on also learning from George, I knew it would be selfish to displace Alex - plus it was fun in the back!
We drove along, seeing crops of familiar vegetable crops like chillis, corn, tomatoes, rice, and ground nuts (peanuts); but also unfamiliar-before-India crops like ragi (finger millet).
From in the back, Trisham and I weren't sure what the plan was, but Ronny and George clearly had some ideas because soon we came through a village area where a couple was sitting out the front of their house, weaving baskets. We stopped to go and talk with them. They spend a couple of weeks going to the forest to collect the fronds from which the baskets are woven, then cut these fronds into strips and leave them to dry in the sun.
When the weaving starts, they can make 80 baskets per week between them. They certainly had a knack to their work, and were very nimble in manipulating the baskets between their hands and feet as they worked.
I asked the woman if I could have a try at basket weaving, and she patiently allowed me too. I got the hang of achieving a similar outcome to her, but my technique and skill was certainly less swift and sure than hers!
After spending some time with this couple, we bought some baskets to take back for Manil at the SEDS farm, and continued our drive. Driving through the rest of this village, we saw several more people weaving baskets. The houses were all identical with none of the random household agriculture and animal pens that we see in most villages. Ronny explained to us that these houses were government houses that were given to landless people, so social housing essentially. As the people have no land from which to derive food or income, they rely on non-farming methods to earn money. This is why the basket weaving works for them, as they can gather the materials they need from the forest without needing to own the land themselves.
Our next stop was at a water tank area. This was more of a field with a puddle in it at the moment due to lack of rain, and the only water remaining was in small desilted areas - these are dug as smaller holes than the size of the whole water tank so that as the water reduces, there is less surface area to lose water to evaporation.
From the other side of the road, some shepherds and their flock were coming in our direction. I waited in a spot where the goats and sheep would have to pass near to me so that I could get some photos.
The flock crossed the road and climbed over the embankment into the dry water tank, and the shepherds stopped to talk to us for a little while. Something George learned from them that was very interesting is that there is a place nearby where you can see bears in the evening. I definitely want to go looking for bears!!
Back in the ute, we drove on some more, past more crops, past a man keeping watch over his chillis drying on the road, and came to another home. This time Ronny and Rajan knew the family who lived there, as we were visiting a SEDS employee. He had been injured in the foot by a piece of metal when he was working in a field, and this wound, although small, had become infected. It had gotten so bad that he was given surgery to remove some infected flesh, but it was healing very slowly and he was not in a good way when Ronny visited him recently. He seemed a bit better this time according to Ronny, but he still wasn't doing well. We had tea, and when his grandson came over I recognised him as one of the very sweet little boys from our Ananda Vidyalayam school.
As we drank our tea it started to rain, so we decided to head back to the SEDS farm in case the rain became heavy.
Ronny, Rajan, George, Trisham, Alex and myself jumped into Rohit's ute for the drive. Alex got in the back with Trisham to have the more fun ride, but it was soon pointed out that this was supposed to be an educational experience for Alex to learn from George, and so Alex should sit inside with George. I swapped seats so Alex could come inside, and although I felt like it was a shame to miss out on also learning from George, I knew it would be selfish to displace Alex - plus it was fun in the back!
 |
| George, Trisham, and me #terribleselfie |
We drove along, seeing crops of familiar vegetable crops like chillis, corn, tomatoes, rice, and ground nuts (peanuts); but also unfamiliar-before-India crops like ragi (finger millet).
From in the back, Trisham and I weren't sure what the plan was, but Ronny and George clearly had some ideas because soon we came through a village area where a couple was sitting out the front of their house, weaving baskets. We stopped to go and talk with them. They spend a couple of weeks going to the forest to collect the fronds from which the baskets are woven, then cut these fronds into strips and leave them to dry in the sun.
When the weaving starts, they can make 80 baskets per week between them. They certainly had a knack to their work, and were very nimble in manipulating the baskets between their hands and feet as they worked.
I asked the woman if I could have a try at basket weaving, and she patiently allowed me too. I got the hang of achieving a similar outcome to her, but my technique and skill was certainly less swift and sure than hers!
After spending some time with this couple, we bought some baskets to take back for Manil at the SEDS farm, and continued our drive. Driving through the rest of this village, we saw several more people weaving baskets. The houses were all identical with none of the random household agriculture and animal pens that we see in most villages. Ronny explained to us that these houses were government houses that were given to landless people, so social housing essentially. As the people have no land from which to derive food or income, they rely on non-farming methods to earn money. This is why the basket weaving works for them, as they can gather the materials they need from the forest without needing to own the land themselves.
Our next stop was at a water tank area. This was more of a field with a puddle in it at the moment due to lack of rain, and the only water remaining was in small desilted areas - these are dug as smaller holes than the size of the whole water tank so that as the water reduces, there is less surface area to lose water to evaporation.
From the other side of the road, some shepherds and their flock were coming in our direction. I waited in a spot where the goats and sheep would have to pass near to me so that I could get some photos.
The flock crossed the road and climbed over the embankment into the dry water tank, and the shepherds stopped to talk to us for a little while. Something George learned from them that was very interesting is that there is a place nearby where you can see bears in the evening. I definitely want to go looking for bears!!
 |
| The flock in the dried water tank |
Back in the ute, we drove on some more, past more crops, past a man keeping watch over his chillis drying on the road, and came to another home. This time Ronny and Rajan knew the family who lived there, as we were visiting a SEDS employee. He had been injured in the foot by a piece of metal when he was working in a field, and this wound, although small, had become infected. It had gotten so bad that he was given surgery to remove some infected flesh, but it was healing very slowly and he was not in a good way when Ronny visited him recently. He seemed a bit better this time according to Ronny, but he still wasn't doing well. We had tea, and when his grandson came over I recognised him as one of the very sweet little boys from our Ananda Vidyalayam school.
As we drank our tea it started to rain, so we decided to head back to the SEDS farm in case the rain became heavy.
 |
| Trisham in the back in the rain - he was the only one with a waterproof jacket |
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| An Indian common toad. The toads came out to play in the wet weather |
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