The following is an extract from Richard Clarke's posting entitled: Indian Village Life - Samuthiram Village Prays for Rain:
"This week we were invited to another Indian Village function–an annual ceremony where they ask the gods to bring rain. This is always held on the same day of the year. So on June 23, 2008 we went into Samuthiram Village to see the ceremony.
The rain is particularly needed this year. There are two monsoons that bring the bulk of the rain to the area. The Northeast Monsoon in October and November, and the Southwest Monsoon in the summer. The Northeast Monsoon failed to come last fall, and so far the Southwest Monsoon has failed to arrive as well.
Tamil Nadu has vast agricultural areas, much of which are rice fields farmed as small plots by village farming families. The rice fields can grow three crops each year, but they use lots of water. The English, when they came to India, said that these South Indian fields were the most productive in the world. They depend each year on the monsoons. Now we may have had two monsoon failures in a row." To read the rest of the post and view photographs, please click on this link here.
