Rural Roots in Southern India

INDIA | Monday, 14 January 2013 | Views [448] | View Smaller Image

“Cotton a trap”. Cotton is grown near the village of Saraguru and it is fairly common to see trucks overloaded with large bags of cotton passing through the streets. Cotton is a very labor intensive crop and one of the local men said that many parents do not want their children to continue in farming. Instead, the children are encouraged to become doctors or engineers, where they can enjoy an easier life. Partly due to this, more and more people are moving away from the rural areas and farm owners are finding it increasingly harder to find labor to help run the farms.

Tags: village cotton farming india

“Family business”. This shopkeeper tidies bowls filled with colorful kum kum powder in his family business. Many of the small shops like this are passed down from one generation to the next and many of the shopkeepers seem to enjoy talking and interacting with others in the busy market. One young shopkeeper proudly showed us his personal “facebook” – a tired notebook with pictures and short messages written by travelers from all over the world who stopped by his stand over the years. A nice reminder that curiosity about other cultures and the world around us is a universal feeling.

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“Eager to share”. While wandering through the shop-lined streets in Saraguru, we stopped to ask some of the shopkeepers if we could take pictures of their colorful shops. The language barrier was overcome with gestures and smiles, and when they saw that we were interested in their shops and their work, they were more than happy to open up to us and share about their livelihoods. They proudly showed their large piles of cotton outside and then motioned for us to follow them to another building where they had a large pile of lentil-like grain, which they again proudly showcased. So much can be said sometimes without understanding a single word.

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Rural Roots in Southern India

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