Chembakolli A Village in India

Chembakolli Chembakolli is a village in India. India is quite a large country on the other side of the world. A lot more people live in India than in the UK.

Chembakolli In Britain there are 59 million people In India there are 929 million people! In Britain, 11% of the population lives in the countryside. In India, 73% of the population lives in the countryside.

Chembakolli Chembakolli is a small village in the south of the country. It is situated close to the Nilgri Hills area of the country.

The Nilgri Hills are in between Chembakolli and Gudalur The village is about 30km by dirt road to the nearest small town - Gudalur, and 200km from the nearest city – Mysore. The Nilgri Hills are in between Chembakolli and Gudalur

Chembakolli The land around the village is mainly forest. This is not the best land for farming, even when they clear some trees so that they can grow crops.

Chembakolli The people there do grow a lot of things, however. They mostly grow things such as rice, onions, tomatoes, peppers and oranges. These are mainly used for feeding themselves, rather than selling them.

Chembakolli One thing that is grown and sold, however, is tea. Companies such as “Clipper Tea” have set up trading with the villagers. Here, some women work picking tea leaves so that they can earn extra money.

Chembakolli Life is different in Chembakolli. They do not have the “luxuries” that we have in this country. For example, if you want a drink of water, you turn on the tap. In Chembakolli, you would need to walk a long way AND THEN carry it back home. Normally, the women carry 10 to 15 litres of water on their heads!

Chembakolli As well as carrying water, the women also have to gather wood for fires so that they can cook. Normally, the women carry up to 20kg of wood!

Chembakolli AND THEN the food needs preparing! This woman is beating rice so that it can be eaten by her family. This can take up to 3 hours a week to do!

Chembakolli All these things YOU can do in seconds in your house!

Chembakolli Here is a artist’s picture of Chembakolli – look at it carefully…

Where would you go to sell extra food? Chembakolli Here’s some questions Where is the school? Where would you go to sell extra food? School Market Temple What was this building?

Chembakolli So there are actually some SIMILARITIES between where you live and Chembakolli. But there are also plenty of DIFFERENCES as well.

Chembakolli Some of the pictures you have seen were of a lady named CHANDA. She lives in Chembakolli. She works very hard. The following is a list of things she does in a typical day…

Chanda’s day Chanda wakes up at dawn, lights the cooking fire, washes and prepares breakfast - a porridge made from yesterday's left over rice. Chanda's husband leaves for the tea fields. Chanda eats her breakfast. She then takes all the dirty pots to the well to wash. She also collects enough water for the day.

Chanda’s day Chanda carries the 10 litres of water back home. It takes about 30 minutes to walk from the well to her home. She tidies up the house and sweeps the floor. Lunch is prepared - rice and vegetables

Chanda’s day Chanda takes her 2 sons to the visiting Doctor so that they can be vaccinated against whooping cough and measles. She leaves her sons with her older daughter, who is 10, while she goes to work in the tea fields. This means that her daughter cannot go to school. Chanda arrives at the tea fields. she picks the ripe tea leaves and plants new seedlings. She does this work for about 4 and a half hours.

Chanda’s day She returns home to feed the family. When they have all eaten she goes to the forest to collect wood for the cooking fire. Chanda attends a village meeting

Chanda’s day WOW! What a day! She returns home and begins to prepare and cook the family evening meal. When her husband returns from the field where he has worked all day, Chanda will feed him, and then eat herself. Sometimes there is only a very little food left for her.  Finally, Chanda sets up the family bed. It is one long mattress which is stored during the day. It is brought out at night and covers most of the floor of the house. Chanda and her husband may sit up and talk for a while using a lantern for light. they then go to sleep. WOW! What a day!