HOUSES

To Build a New House.

First you have to find a good place to build a house, then you have to dig foundations two or
three feet deep. These foundations must be filled with stones and concrete to make a good
base. The walls are built on these foundations in bricks with cement. The most important
person in building a house is the mason, without him it is not possible to build tall straight
walls.

After a new house a new house is built, the priest comes and blesses it to protect it
from spirits. The water which the priest blesses the house with is made on Easter
HEALTH
Sewerage
There are open sewers on each side of the road. They are right outside peoples homes and take
waste from the toilets. Before the running water and toilets arrived there were no sewers and
people used fields.

The standpipes outside each house were funded by a rich priest from Germany a year ago.
Before this, the villagers couldn’t have toilets but now each home has one. Sometimes the water
supply fails so they use a central water pump and people collect the water in large containers and
carry it on their heads.

At the moment the sewers drain into lake. This will be more of an issue as the population grows.

Local people do not see dealing with rubbish and recycling as a problem at the moment as most of
the rubbish is reused. Rubbish attracts rats and looks unsightly and is unhygienic. There are
rubbish tips but these are open and the vultures feed on the waste food.

1 2 1. Open 3
drains
2. Refuse
lorry
3. Rubbish
tip with
vulture
WATER
In the old days people used to get the water that they needed from wells rivers lakes and
creeks. People would collect their water in terracotta or brass pots. Near our village there is
lake, people used to take their washing and take it down to the lake and wash it there – they
also used to bathe themselves in the lake. Farmers would take their animals to the lake so that
they could drink water there and they would also wash the animals in the lake. People depended
on wells in the months that there was no water in the lake, and they would either draw this
water by hand or use a system called a Yetha where cattle were used to draw the water. Wells
were built close to the fields so that they could be easily irrigated.

Now for convenience one end of the

lake has been dammed so it is easier
to wash and clean standing on the
dam. Nowadays the water from the
lake is also used for brick industries
(which are all set up near the lake)
the water of the lake is also used to
irrigate the fields. When the
monsoon comes the lakes fill up –
there have been times when the
water level rises above the height
of the dam and then it overflows!
The lake is much lower now as so
much water has been pumped out.
This is a real problem now even
straight after the monsoon. We
can’t swim in the lake anymore.
WATER
Nowadays we have a system of hand pumps, electric pumps, tanks and taps which makes getting
water much more convenient. It is the government who has made these changes. They have drilled
bore wells and set them up with pumps which fill up tanks which are channeled into taps which are
in the village. The system of taps and pipes for our village was paid for by a rich European
Christian. This means that in Silverpura, from 2007, we all have a tap outside our home and our
own toilet. Before we had our own outside toilet we would use a corner of a nearby field and take
water there in a small container to clean ourselves. We use our left hand for this and so we
always eat with our right hand. Other villages might have bore wells, pumps, tanks or taps. Often
they won’t have individual toilets.

The terracotta pots used to break and the brass ones were heavy, these days we have plastic
ones that are light and don’t break.

Sometimes when there is no water for

two or three days the people of the
council organize a water tanker. People
bring their pots and form a queue to get
water from the tanker, sometimes there
are fights as to whose pot is first. If you
are working when the tanker comes you
might not get any water.
FOOD
In the old days people used to cook on fire wood which they would collect from the fields and
woods around the village. They had few vessels which were made of terracotta and they cooked
in these. What food needed to be ground or powdered was done by hand with the use of a ragi
stone. Food which had to be stored was kept in baskets and pots and grain was sometimes stored
in a large underground granary. In the old days ragi and tapioca or sweet potato was the staple
diet of the people. If people wanted anything more they would have to go to the market, but
most people would manage with what they could grow themselves. Those who had no land
themselves would work for other people and earn some of their produce. For major festivals and
occasions people would cook rice and sweet dishes like Payassam, they would also eat meat.
These days people use kerosene stoves, LPG gas and electricity to cook their food. They also
have a greater variety of food to choose from. The dishes prepared include Puris, chapattis, idli
and chitranna. The ingredients for these preparations are available in the local market and at the
shops of which there are now many in the village. There is also a bakery in the village now where
you can get cakes, laddoos and anarkalis. There are also restaurants in the village, for those who
need to eat in these places, but you have to pay a lot for what you eat there!
SHOPS
Before there were no shops in the village, there would
be a village market once a week and people would buy all
that they needed from there. Now there are shops in
the village where you can buy soap, sugar or oil any time
you want.

People have to go to town to get building materials like

timber or cement. In the old days things in the village
used to be far cheaper, nowadays everything is far
more expensive. Although most things required for
immediate use are available in the village shop a lot of
things still have to be bought in the town – like clothes,
and jewelry or farm implements. Things like radios, TV
sets and bicycles also have to be bought in the town
shops.
There is also a bakery in the village now
where you can get cakes, laddoos and
anarkalis. There are also restaurants in
the village, and those who need to eat in
these places, but you have to pay a lot
for what you eat there!