the soul of India lives in its villages
set the great Mahatma Gandhi a wave of
urbanization has been sweeping our
villages for decades since the dawn of
economic reforms
this is the story of the Bargur Valley
settlement
millions of villages have disappeared in the last decade as more and more people move to the cities
in search of opportunities
the first feat of our journey was Andhiyur
taluk the secluded village there's
hardly any sight that a community exists
in these mountains but further up the
rocky slopes about eleven kilometers
away from the nearest town lies a
community cut off from the noise and
chaos of the urban world at 3,700 feet
the village of Sun Deboo is nestled in
the berber Valley the most unfriendly of
terrain where even the cattle thinks
twice before stepping out of the roads
there is a population count of around
600 people from the closely knit
community sharing the blissful climate
and surroundings
in the morning people are ready to work
shovel in their hand they walk several
meters to a patch of land where they
cultivate rowdy enemies at 72 or thil
even the chief of village is among the
oldest villagers here but they still fit
and healthy he left here all his life
and has seen the village in its ups and
downs
Thank You Melinda and potential human
Allah there's also much in peloton
unbelievable priority idol apologize
telling us if an angle rocks now or
certain general commander possible after
a printed poder llegar a la there are no
real acknowledge ginger I'm just a
number K warm analyzer Angelina when a
latina apatheia is TP Poirot another TT
that one that has low tomorrow
only the sound of wind and animal echoes
through the mountains life here is about
embracing silence and isolation a
community with hundreds of homes the
village is one of Europe's oldest but
due to urbanization more and more people
are moving to the cities were leaving
places like this address
life goes on everyday acid always have
while her husband tells the land 55 year
old kuruvamma grinds chilies at home
people who live here are self-sufficient
growing most of their own food and
living without the amenities of city
life
during special occasions like formal
festival the village gathers in the
temples and is packed with people many
activities take place during this time
houses here all made of stone mud wood
and bricks built by families who live
here a village that has existed for more
than centuries surrounded by bamboo the
inhabitants of Sunda born once lived
here without any adequate safety
measures but constant attacks by
elephants and wild animals made it
difficult to survive in a region of
limited resources hence they dug a
trench around the village which guarded
them from the entries of wild animals
and elephants
strategic planning protected them from
animal attacks but now they needed
mechanisms to protect them from the fury
of nature buildings face the South Sun
and was scattered such that each of them
can get their share of solar heat to
keep warm orientation and shape of
buildings is much dependent upon the
prevailing wind directions animals in
humans share deep symbiotic relation on
this land that the survival of one
without the other is unimaginable Sun
depuis is a largely self-sufficient
village they cultivate and nurture
farmlands during the summer months and
store the produce for long winters
like most alluring communities farming
in sunder poor is a family event wherein
the elders put in their expertise and
the kids the energy into what seems to
be the single most important task at
hand
due to this vast amount of time and
enthusiasm spent on farming farmlands
become the major congregation space of
the village working as a community for
resource accumulation enhances the
communication among the villages
the batch of green in the school is the
one chosen for panchayat meetings other
than the designated panchayat tree
located adjacent to it as sunflowers
reaching out of their source of heat and
warmth the people naturally choose
sunlit open spaces as they set out to
face the long and harsh winters the
thermally insulated dwelling protects
them the dwellings are only single
storied mud buildings with functions and
usages related to the villagers
lifestyle over time the single Hall is a
main living space comprising the kitchen
dining and sleeping areas unlike modern
houses that have windows and walls
separating spaces these houses are based
on the culture of the people son decor
has a traditional practice that shapes
family organization architecture and
space is altered after marriage the
newlyweds and the groom's parents built
a new home and resettle leaving the old
one behind as an obsolete building using
it for storage purposes the groom's
parents go back to their ancestral home
once a baby is born this is attributed
to the increase of number of houses
as part of our journey to the burger
Valley settlement we also visited
Bousema life and soul of a name closer
in proximity was Himalaya 3 kilometers
and soul agony at 9 kilometers from the
township of Burcu who seemed alive
closest to the township was more
developed for obvious reasons the
village had two access points from the
under collegial main road which connects
burger to and you being in the center of
the valley juicy melon is more or less a
plain with minimum contour the northern
entry point
idan a temple followed by houses and a
few shops placed on either side of the
road the houses were slightly more
planned Hakka houses with concrete flat
roofs connectivity is a huge issue in
these areas sano-sama
sorry those are psychotic animal thunder
whew yooper raisin can go a little bit
lower body muttering - somebody made
chuckling okay
part of our team visited so lagana the
topmost point Weatherall hence the most
detached of all three villages
conditions of the village is further
more conservative in comparison with the
others farming is the main source of
income as it is in OC Malay and Sun
depuis life and traditions are more or
less the same here the people of the
valley don't have many privileges and
immunities one enjoys in urban India yet
they are happy in the petite close-knit
lives with nature a world they created
for themselves
these tribes in sunder poor you see
Malay and Sola can I give of their own
forms of ethno medical know-how in
architecture they evolve their own
techniques of sourcing materials from
the nearby surrounding and evolve styles
that leads to the topography the flora
and fauna of the habitat which became
the crux of the tribal vernacular
architecture
all such knowledge was brought down
through generations by oral transmission
and practically apprenticeship on the
whole these tribes little-known to the
outside world and have learned involved
the lifestyle culture and architecture
that's so vibrantly grounded to nature
yet so simplistic devoid of those pomp
and glory of an urban lifestyle
we the urban Isis in that sense have a
lot learned from this almost lost world
a world de created for themselves so
that boy
you
you
