Final post

On my final weekend in Ujire I was invited by an auto rickshaw driver to attend a Yakshagana being played in his community. Yakshagana is a dance show performed by a travelling theatre troop, and this particular show had been organised as a celebration and thanks to God by the owners of a newly built house. 

We arrived after dark to find a brightly lit stage and about 100 occupied plastic chairs in front of the stage. Apparently this play was a “social drama” and each scene was different – a comedy between a drunk and his wife, a soliloquy from a king, a haunted dream, sword fighting... 

About 100 people from the local community had turned out to watch the show on the brightly lit outdoor stage. 

The costumes were amazingly detailed, and the brilliant white, black and red make-up on the performers faces accentuated their expressions. Sitting on a raised platform behind the actors, the four strong band of two drummers, a singer and chimes played along. 

The play lasts for over 6 hours, and continues to 4am.

Despite not understanding the dialogue, I found myself really enjoying the spectacle of the show, which had a bit of a pantomime feel to it due to the bright costumes, cross dressing (all the actors were male) and jokes thrown out to the audience. 

During my last few days in Ujire I started to notice again some of the things which had become “normal” over the last few months – from our lunchtime banana leaf plate at "the hotel with no name" to the street vendors who materialize each evening to sell Chaats at the roadside. I never quite adjusted to the non-stop honking of horns on the roads, or being constantly stared at, however after three months as the only Westerner in Ujire, I felt like I was slowly settling in. 

Riding "Hercules" through Ujire always attracted attention.

The Selco Rural Lab team!

The development and dissemination of small scale agri machinery is a slow process. I have seen how it will take time for farmers develop to the confidence to invest in new machinery, and the challenges in making this machinery easily accessible to the farmers who are willing to invest. However, in the last three months, I feel that we have made some progress. We have started to collect some orders for the threshing machine we tested back in October, and the transplanter has now been successfully rented out (and paid for!) by a local farmer. Hopefully these small steps will pave the way for further dissemination.

Uptake is a slow process, but farmers are starting to show serious interest in the threshing machine including ordering a machine for community rentals.

There are still challenges in use of the transplanter, particularly due to the variability of soil conditions and the used of large sticks as fertiliser which block the mechanism.

So, that's about it. Thank you for reading if you have reached this far! I'm not sure where all I have learnt about India, rice farming and chapati making will lead me, but the last few months have been eye opening and totally unforgettable. Finally, I’m very grateful to the amazing team at Selco who welcomed me to India and helped to make my time there such an incredible experience. 

Kambala

Kambala is a traditional buffalo race which is held in rural areas of Karnataka during the winter. Teams from different villages gather and race pairs of bulls down a 180m long track filled with several inches of muddy water. The racing lasts from early morning until well into the night, as the villagers compete in knock out rounds for a prize of gold. After spotting a poster for Kambala a few weeks ago, I had been looking out for an opportunity to go along.

 

The floodlit track and the Ghats in the background

Our local Kambala took place on the first Sunday of December, in an open field at the foot of the Charmadi Ghat mountain range. Many tents were set up in the field, and at the far end there was a strip of floodlights and large crowd. Every few minutes a shower of mud was sprayed high above the crowd as the bulls and driver tore down the track, a bit like drag racing with buffalo.

  

Pairs of buffalo and a driver will race down 180m long parallel tracks in several inches of muddy water

The marshalling area was chaotic, and false starts were common. Four or five members of each team would hold back the powerful, oiled buffalo at the start line until the starter dropped his outstretched arm. 

There are two types of Kambala. The first is a simple race between teams down the length of the track. The second event is mud spraying! The buffalo driver will stand on a small board which is pulled along by a pair of bulls, spraying mud high into the air as he surfs along the track.

Each team was dressed in brightly coloured matching polo shirts and head bands. I was told that over 100 teams were taking part at this event.

The white banners above the track are used to judge mud spraying event

I think I spotted a bookie taking bets on the races.

Two teams charging down the track. Runs lasted less than 20 seconds and were accompanied by the sound of the buffalo feet splashing in the water and the yells of the driver.

We stayed to watch the races for about an hour. During this time, it was apparently announced over the loudspeaker that "we have a visitor" and "could someone please tell him what is going on", after which a local called Ravi approached me and asked if I had any questions! I learnt that over 100 teams were taking part, and that the grand prize was 6g of gold. As we left, the racing was still going strong and was expected to continue into the early hours of the morning.

November update

Time has been flying by, and it is strange to think I have been in Ujire for almost three months now. Here is an update on the last few weeks...

A number of farmers have asked to order one of the threshing machines we tested. This is very positive news, and Anand (head of the rural lab) said he has not seen so much interest in a new machine before. I’ve been following up with the thresher manufacturer and local workshops to investigate the feasibility of some modifications to the machine which were suggested by farmers (such as mountings for electric motor drive, pedal power, carrying handles). I’ve also been searching for a motor supplier and arranging transport for the motors and threshers. This is easier said than done as the motor suppliers are based several hours away in Coimbatore, and the machine manufacturer is in West Bengal, on the other side of India. 

I’ve had some interesting phone calls to various motor manufacturers and the transport offices, and my Indian colleagues have been taking calls for me when the suppliers don’t speak English. It was a nice change when Sudarshan came across a supplier with whom he didn’t share a common language, so had to resort to repeating “do-you-speak-eeenglish?” into the phone – something I have been picking up a reputation in the office for doing. Hopefully the threshers will be ordered by the time I leave.

As the dry season approaches, farmers have started to prepare their fields for a second crop of rice. First buffalo or a diesel powered tiller are used to churn up the field, which is then flooded for a few days in order to let the mud settle. Rice seedlings are cultivated for about 15 days in a small area of the field before being transplanted by hand into the rest of the field. 

Workers gather the seedlings into bunches ready for transplanting

Hand transplanting is a very slow process, and it can take a team of eight people all day to cover less than an acre. Selco has been testing a transplanting machine which is about four times faster than hand transplanting. To raise awareness of the machine amongst farmers, we arranged a demonstration at a local farm.

A farmer checking out the transplanting machine 

The transplanter is powered by hand cranking and plants two rows at a time

About 30 farmers and local agri officials came along to the demo, and there were mixed opinions of the machine. Testing the transplanter is not as clear cut as the thresher testing. While the transplanter is significantly faster than hand transplanting, farmers are understandably cautions when using a new machine which could affect the growth of their plants. It takes three months for the crops to grow before farmers can check yields, so I expect it will take some time for this machine to be adopted. 

We visited a local school last week for "Childrens' Day" celebrations. The kids were really well behaved, and very sporty

November started off with Diwali, the festival of lights. This is an important celebration across India, and Yashwin invited me to his home in Mumbai for the Diwali long weekend. 

On Saturday we caught the metro into central Mumbai, to explore the city.

Riding the open doored meto between New and Old Mumbai

This is not rush hour

First thing in the morning we made our way to the flower market. The market was jammed with people buying garlands of yellow and orange marigolds, and many other types of flowers.

From the flower market, we set off looking for the Dhobi Ghat outdoor laundry. We wandered though some narrow passageways between the closely packed houses until a friendly local showed us the way.

The open air laundry washes clothes and bedding for nearby hotels and businesses. Clothes are washed and beaten by hand in open cement tanks before being hung up to dry

Mumbai is famous for its street food, which is know for being very cheap and of good quality. Yashwin and I took full advantage of this! 

Panipuri cart selling bite sized crispy balls stuffed with potato, chick-peas & onion and drizzled with salty water and a sweet sauce

Jalebi sweets are made fresh on the roadside

There are many carts selling fruit juice scattered all over the city. This is a hand powered press for sugar cane juice

This cart sells "Gola", a type of ice-lolly drizzled with sweet fruit flavoured syrups and sprinkled with a masala flavoured black pepper

Kulfi ice cream is sold by weight & wrapped in dry leaves to take home

Paan is a popular snack eaten after meals to refresh your mouth and aid digestion. Various powders, rosewater, jells and seeds are spread and sprinkled onto a betal leaf. 

To me it tasted like swallowing a small bottle of powerful Omani perfume, mixed with mint 

The Diwali shopping crowd near Yashwin's house to choosing a lantern for the apartment! Most balconies were decorated with strings of lights as well as lanterns

Stocking up on fireworks - interesting packaging!

The whole neighbourhood was filled with the smoke & bangs of fireworks throughout the night

Due to it being a national holiday, we were unable to book seats on the crowded, 16 hour train back to Mangalore from Mumbai. We sat on the door steps until the evening and then bedded down on some newspaper on the floor, below the bunks and between the rows of the shoes of the lucky bunk occupants. I slept surprisingly well, occasionally being woken by the tickling of a sari on my nose which was trailing down from the bunk nearest me.

6 hours in to the train journey

Following on from Diwali, we celebrated a late Halloween back in Ujire by carving pumpkins and bobbing for apples. I made spaghetti bolognese for dinner (one of the few Western dishes for which most of the ingredients are readily available in Ujire, although the spaghetti was from Mangalore!).

Carving pumpkins for the first time

Girish showing off his pumpkin carving & a scary face!

Otherwise life in Ujire has been ticking along. These are some of the photos I have taken while out for lunch.

The flowers are part of a blessing which is meant to protect the vehicle and driver from bad luck. Owners will drive their vehicles around like this for a few days after the blessing!

Earlier this week a cow trotted into our restaurant during lunch and was casually shooed out after having a drink from a bucket and wandering around for five minutes

More threshing, Pujas and Gokarna

Last Saturday I made my first solo farm visit, in order to conduct more extensive threshing measurements. This will be one of the final threshing tests of this season, and on arriving I found the farmers were still in their paddy fields cutting the harvest.

I joined in, carrying sudis (bundles of straw, tied together with string) along the edge of the field, across a stream and up to the farm courtyard. I'm fairly sure they tied smaller bundles especially for me! 

I was given a special hat (bundle of cloth and a wooden ring) which sat on my head to help balance the weight of the sudis.

Following the field harvest, the rice was threshed both by hand and using the machine we had provided. This was a great opportunity to observe the threshing methods side by side. I took some videos and counted the threshing rates. We tested the threshing machine with both motor and pedalling power. 

There is a time of year when it is traditional in Karnataka to bless your car and other mechanical appliances. Yashwin & I visited Mangalore at the time when this was going on.

Garlands for sale for the blessings

Yashwin's uncle blessing their extended families' cars with flowers, coconuts and rice.

Tricks following their blessings

That weekend Yashwin and I explored up the coast towards Goa, to a beach called Gokarna. We slept overnight in an empty building on the beach and hiked along the coast. The scenery was beautiful, although I was a bit too tired to fully enjoy myself.

Our beds for the night. 

Interesting design of these small wooden fishing boats  

                                    

...the larger fishing fleet

Omm bay

Exploring the quiet bays along the coast

                                    

Riding in my favourite seat on the train home

I took on Saturday off to travel on my own to the nearby Belur & Halebid temple sites. There are amazingly intricate soapstone carvings making up the temples.