Inspecting the bridge – it’s still doing well, but needs a proper inspection and repairs in order to withstand the monsoon onslaught for the next few years. The nala makes a sharp turn and hits our land at one point. Every year, soil is washed away and we retreat backwards. We build a new portionContinue reading “Preparation for the floods 3.0”
Tag Archives: floods
Gains and losses
As we enter the hectic pre-monsoon months, where we only think about how to prepare for this year’s imminent floods, we assess the past few months of work. We lost most of the new trees we planted in June-July 2022. Theories about what happened vary. Some trees didn’t make it through two weeks of standingContinue reading “Gains and losses”
Fish!
Flooding
We are flooded out again and are quite concerned. What used to be an occasional and unusual phenomenon seems to have become an annual one, and the severity seems to be increasing. Most of our fields, in all directions, including those which NEVER were flooded before, are under water. Those that are not are inaccessible:Continue reading “Flooding”
Cutting grass and mixing mud
The last two months have mainly been a daily slog to do these two things. Sunil works for a few hours with the grass cutter to reclaim meter after square meter of land from the wild flood-jungle it had become. And we have had the JCB digger in again to make the compost mix andContinue reading “Cutting grass and mixing mud”
Crinkle-crankle walls
Along the riverside, we have a low (3-4 ft) wall with a four foot wire netting. For the most part, it feels secure, though we are planning to raise the netting in a few places where it has been breached by nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus – Asian antelope; very common in these parts). During the floods,Continue reading “Crinkle-crankle walls”
Coming out the other side
The floods have receded, leaving us to survey the damage. There is less than we feared. The water entered the land through a few main points. We think we can close most of them up so that much of the land isn’t affected next time. The one part of the land which is very lowContinue reading “Coming out the other side”
One in 1200
That’s how many villages in UP are affected by the floods. News like this always seemed distant when we lived in the city. We are the last village before Mirzapur, which is the worst hit. It’s been raining everywhere (except in Banaras), and I suppose we were just too busy too notice. The rice cropsContinue reading “One in 1200”
Escape!
Yesterday morning, we realized that if we didn’t leave the campus immediately, we would be stuck there. In fact, we were already almost too late. The river is now higher than it has been in the past thirty years or so. All our fields are submerged. One entire section of the village is under water,Continue reading “Escape!”
Today
This was in the morning. It rose another few feet by evening, and no one could reach the bridge to take pictures any more.
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