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TRAVELLERS TALES
Discover India
No
water supply in your house today? Well come to Rajasthan. Why? Come and see how
well this desert has done with so little water. They call it Maru pradesh or Marusthali
(land of death), but the way they have used water, it is anything but that. And
that’s how it’s been for centuries.
All the forts here have their own water systems. There
have been times in the 15th and 16th centuries when the rulers of Udaipur and Jaisalmer
have withstood decade-long sieges by Mughal armies, with shortages of food but never of
water. The intricate network of structures to store the seepage from surrounding hills and
the scanty seasonal rains took very good care of that.
The forts that were built on hill-tops collected rainwater, while those in the plains
were built near a river so its water could be harnessed for domestic and defence needs.
Then there were talabs, kunds, bavdis (stepwells) and wells to take care of the
water needs of one and all. |
The Gobar Ganeshes travel to
Rajasthan and Kerala and discover what tourists miss or never notice.
World's Greatest water harvestors What
the tourist guides won’t tell you about Chittor fort At its peak it could harvesting three billion litres of
water! There were 84 water bodies within the fort (only 22 exist today) 30,000 people
lived in here in the past at any given time, along with their elephants, horses and
cattle. The water bodies could take care of all of them for four years without rain. Super
water management here. Upstream water bodies for drinking purposes and downstream for
bathing. Cattle were not allowed to graze in catchment areas. Human waste from latrines
was carried away by scavengers or flushed out from buildings with a gravity waste disposal
system. The night soil was used as manure for trees and plants that grew in abundance.
Said Sangram Singh, a tea stall inside the fort, "Rules of sanitation was a way of
life for our ancestors. After all, they could not take the risk of water contamination,
which would have meant the death of all the people."
Jacuzzis, bathtubs and WCs in the desert
anyone? |
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| We found that Rajasthani food has been
influenced by the war-like lifestyle of its inhabitants and the limited availability of
ingredients and water. Food is cooked that can last for several days and be eaten without
heating. In Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner, cooks use, instead of water, milk, buttermilk
and clarified butter. But the plant that signifies
drought is the "ker". It is the food of survival. It is also found in
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq and Pakistan. Children are also fond of the ripe ker fruit
called dhalu. The protein and mineral contents of the fruits are almost same as
those of banana, grape, guava and the mango. Many vaids prescribe ker fruits for
cardiac trouble. To take advantage of these benefits we need to conserve the plant, fast
disappearing today from many parts of the Thar. |
Meet the bishnois, who for centuries have
militantly conserved their animals and plants. Chasing away gun-toting tourists and
poachers is a matter of life and death for them.
Thanks to them, film star Salman Khan did not get away with the shooting of the
blackbuck. It is said that in 1730, many Bishnois died fighting their then local king, who
tried to cut trees.
Taken for a ride
A camel ride in the desert is great fun indeed. But camels have been much more than fun to
the people of Rajasthan.
They are robust pack animals and can walk for
miles a day and provide meat, wool, milk and fuel (their dung, like gobar, can be burnt on
a fire!).
There also have been nomads here. But camel
pastoralism is on the decline. While conservationists have been trying to preserve so many
wild species, nobody is concerned about the dwindling number of camels in the Thar desert.
Over 70 per cent of the 1.5 million one-humped camels, bred primarily in western India,
are in Rajasthan. But with lack of available pasture and veterinary care, economic
hardships are forcing the keepers of the single-humped camel to abandon their
time-honoured occupation in search of alternative sources of livelihood. In fact, camels
represent the only livestock in India whose population is showing a downward swing. In one
village alone, the number of camels in the village from 1000 to a mere 50 in the last ten
years. At this rate, the master animal of scarcity could soon be on the verge of
extinction. |
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While in Kerala, we saw a lot of so-called
"eco-lodges". There was a resort designed with ethnic materials using local
craftsmen, local materials and indigenous techniques used by the early inhabitants. The
tribal people were extensively involved with the construction and now with the
maintenance. We were pleased to see that apart from solar energy, gobar gas was used
instead of electricity. So no noisy generators and no fumes and air pollution.
 Panditayen was happy that the food was served on demand from the organic
farm. She doesn’t understand why we put so many pesticides and fertilisers in the
first place. Food was much tastier when she was small, she says.
But what fascinated us most were the tourist tree
houses in the rainforests of the Western Ghats. Room with a view, hundreds of feet up
amongst in rainforest canopy — with an attached bath! I so badly wanted to stay in
these modern machaans , but Panditayen put her foot down as it was too expensive and we
headed for the famed backwaters of Kerela.
Now, the backwaters are a network of lakes, canals
and estuaries and deltas of forty-four rivers that drain into the Arabian Sea. They are a
self supporting eco-system teeming with aquatic life. The canals also connect the villages
together and are still used for local transport. Imagine a 900 km labyrinthine network of
a navigable waterworld. It’s a leisurely cruise and the thatched houseboat has all
modern comforts.
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Hotel RunOff An
'ecohotel' is not just about reusing towelsConstruction of hotels, recreation and other facilities often leads to increased
sewage pollution. Wastewater has polluted seas and lakes surrounding tourist attractions,
damaging the flora and fauna. Sewage runoff causes serious damage to coral reefs because
it stimulates the growth of algae, which cover the filter-feeding corals, hindering their
ability to survive. Changes in salinity and siltation can have wide-ranging impacts on
coastal environments. And sewage pollution can threaten the health of humans and animals.
(UNEP Report on Tourism) |
 Our guide told us
that innovation was done on the traditional kettuvallom boats plying in the
backwaters of Kerala, converting them into houseboats made from local materials and skill.
The idea was to offer tourists a non invasive and unique experience in a natural
surrounding, while benefiting the local economy and reviving the age-old craft of boat
building. Before leaving, we ate rice that was cooked in a natural hot spring and served
to us on a banana leaf. I also took a bath along with temple elephants in a brook nearby.
That as better than any shower bath.
The world’s golf courses guzzle a mind-boggling 10 billion
litres of water a day. That’s enough drinking water for almost half of the
world’s population!
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