My Malgudi days
One programme on TV I could identify with was Malgudi days. I was told the serial was shot mostly at Arisikkare near Mangalore. This place was strikingly similar to my native village with sandy soil , houses well spaced out with compounds full of coconut trees.
Fences made of thorny bamboo branches seperated compounds in our native place. Small openings used to be provided for passage of small animals and creatures like bandicoots and mangoose. Most of the compounds had one or two bamboo cluster at the corners contiguous with the bamboo clusters of the neighbours. These clusters used to provide enough thorny branches for mending / remaking the fences every three years. It was a good example for self sustenance. Making a fence with thorny bamboo branches is not everybody's cup of tea. Certain families of labourers used to specialise in this vocation and they used to have a month's work every year in our and surrounding villages making fences. They were multi skilled and used to engage themselves in harvesting paddy, removing the paddy from the stalk by stamping in a methodical way with their feet and thrashing and drying hay to be stored for a year in a mound form for feeding the cattle all the year around.
There were certain families who have been coconut tree climbers for generations. The coconut palm leaves and remnants had their use. The coconut palm leaves used to be weaved and then stacked in a particular manner to provide leak proof roofing for huts. The roofs are changed every year before the monsoons as the summer preceding the rains used to dry out the thatched roofs leaving them porous and flaky.
Things have changed in rural areas. Compound walls have come up seperating properties. This has lead to the death of skill and vocation of bamboo branch fencing. Some families have lost a month's earning every year. Thatched roofs have been replaced by concrete roofs. One more regular earning potential have been killed by this move. Concrete construction has also left roof tile industry which again is alow tech local manufacturing affair limping. Modern technology has lead to the demise of local and appropriate technology. This has lead to youngsters moving to urban clusters in search of sustenance.
Fences made of thorny bamboo branches seperated compounds in our native place. Small openings used to be provided for passage of small animals and creatures like bandicoots and mangoose. Most of the compounds had one or two bamboo cluster at the corners contiguous with the bamboo clusters of the neighbours. These clusters used to provide enough thorny branches for mending / remaking the fences every three years. It was a good example for self sustenance. Making a fence with thorny bamboo branches is not everybody's cup of tea. Certain families of labourers used to specialise in this vocation and they used to have a month's work every year in our and surrounding villages making fences. They were multi skilled and used to engage themselves in harvesting paddy, removing the paddy from the stalk by stamping in a methodical way with their feet and thrashing and drying hay to be stored for a year in a mound form for feeding the cattle all the year around.
There were certain families who have been coconut tree climbers for generations. The coconut palm leaves and remnants had their use. The coconut palm leaves used to be weaved and then stacked in a particular manner to provide leak proof roofing for huts. The roofs are changed every year before the monsoons as the summer preceding the rains used to dry out the thatched roofs leaving them porous and flaky.
Things have changed in rural areas. Compound walls have come up seperating properties. This has lead to the death of skill and vocation of bamboo branch fencing. Some families have lost a month's earning every year. Thatched roofs have been replaced by concrete roofs. One more regular earning potential have been killed by this move. Concrete construction has also left roof tile industry which again is alow tech local manufacturing affair limping. Modern technology has lead to the demise of local and appropriate technology. This has lead to youngsters moving to urban clusters in search of sustenance.
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