Nurungukal...contd...

                In an earlier post I had described about kalathekku  prevalent in Anakkara area. In our side the irrigation from ponds is in a different method. It is known as kottatheku. In this system the principle of liver and pulley is applied. In the pond four bamboo poles are fixed in a rectangle of 4x4 feet width. About 10 feet above these poles are secured by four bamboo pieces to keep the poles in position. A piece of palm trunk made into a channel by removing the soft pith and long enough to reach the adjacent edge of the pond is fixed on one beam and its other end resting on the land. This will facilitate the drawn water to flow freely to the land to be irrigated. Two trees of any fast growing plant which would have been already grown on the land keeping the palm channel in between them.  A beam of any variety of tree which can hold  fairly good weight is secured at a convenient height on the poles in the land [B1]. Then  a long beam of any tree which is light and at the same time strong enough to work as a lever is inserted into the cross beam [B1].This lever is known as vesa. At the one end of vesa a basket called poovamkotta, woven out of a coconut leaf will be hung and in which adequate weight of mud balls will be filled to balance the lever. On the pond end of the vesa a thin but fully matured bamboo pole is tied.This is called kayyeri. The down end of kayyeri is slit so that the handle of the wooden bucket [thekotta] which is in a conical shape can be inserted into the slit. Through this slit a thin piece of tamarind tree branch [kottakol] is inserted so that the thekotta will swing freely. By this the mechanism is ready for trial. Then the main worker will try, by pulling down the kayyeri to the water and will immerse the thekkotta in water. He at one pull lifts the full thekotta to the channel [pathi] and as it reaches the top it is placed on the pathi and with his right foot keeping on the kottakol tilts the water into the pathi so that the water flows freely. This process is repeated at a fast pace and the water gushes through the channels to reach its destination. Some time minor adjustments in the mechanism has to be carried out so that the drawing and pulling down are smooth.

                Normally this arrangement will be fixed immediately after the withdrawal of north west monsoon. The main crops which need irrigation are arecanut, coconut and vegetables. The workers does the irrigation every alternate day. They used to finish the job well before the sun rise. If we get up before they go, reluctantly they will allow us to handle it for a few times. But some times when mother and father are enjoying siesta we ventured to draw water to fill a pit in which we might have made a miniature system of a similar principle.

                Here the most notable factor is that no fuel or even animal is used, but only human effort. There is no loss of natural resources and the materials used are all locally available. A sustainable practise which we abandoned for the sake of convenience and at the stake depletion of natural resources and pollution!!.