26 thoughts on “Wordless Wednesday: Reclaiming …”

    1. I was traveling in South Kerala last month and happened to take a boat trip in the vast backwaters of Alappuzha.

      The region is known as Kuttanad and it’s really interesting to note that, this is one of the rare place where farming is done below sea level.

      People are really hard working and they were manually digging up clay type soil from the bed of the backwater to reclaim the land lost due to erosion.

      Thank you so much, Jet, for stopping by and sharing your kind words 🙂

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    1. You are absolutely right, Tish, it’s heavy labour and they were following time tested methods for their survival.

      This region in south Kerala is known as the rice bowl of Kerala and known for the vast paddy fields and backwaters. It’s truly a water world.

      Due to the criss-crossing rivers, canals and backwaters, land gets eroded frequently and this is the way to reclaim it, manually dive down, dig up the clay type soil from the bed of the water body and carry it in the country boats to deposit where required.

      It’s always great to listen to the stories of the farmers and people who work on the fields to grow our food, they are truly the heroes, right?

      Thank you so much for your visit and kind words 🙂

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    1. They are farmers and they were manually digging up clay type soil from the bed of the backwater to reclaim the land lost due to erosion.

      This region of south Kerala is called as Kuttanad and known for the vast paddy fields, backwaters, and many a water bodies. Here, farming is practiced below sea level and that’s quite a challenge while managing water flows to and out of the farming areas.

      They still follow traditional farming and water management techniques which require quite a lot of hard work but very effective still.

      Thank you so much, Eliza for stopping by and sharing your appreciative comments 🙂

      Have a beautiful day 🙂

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  4. What I love about this shot is how you captured thee essence of hardworking here. Looks like two men are getting the job done no matter how hot or how how hard it is. To them, that is just a part of life that needs to be done as it helps them live, eat and see another day. You must have been quite close to them to get such a crisp shot 🙂 Hope all is well with you, Sreejith. As usual, great shot and you always seem to capture such meaningful stories 🙂

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    1. Hello Mabel, I am doing great and fully immersed in many an activities happening around me 🙂

      This is peak summer here and the fag end of festival season too…

      I shot this image while traveling in ‘Kuttanad’, a region known as the rice bowl of Kerala and geographically a very interesting place for the sub sea level farming practices.

      As there are numerous canals, backwaters and rivers in this region, people and their life is closely linked with the management of water flow and it’s levels.

      These farmers are digging up clay kind of soil to reclaim the land eroded away due to currents.

      They have to do it every other year to manage the flow of water and also in protecting their paddy fields.

      I managed to get closer to them and talked to them using a boat and they were really happy to get photographed 🙂

      It also reminds us about the hardship of the farmers and the value of the food we all have…

      Thank you so much for your observant comments and have a beautiful day ahead 🙂

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      1. It is lovely to hear that story behind this photo, Sreejith. Sounds like the farmers are trying to work with nature to protect their paddy fields. Lovely to hear you had a conversation with them and they probably enjoyed chatting with you 🙂 Take care 🙂

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  5. Hi Sreejith, Very nice blog. Let us chat sometime my email id is ppadayatti@gmail.com you visited my blog at smuleindiablog.wordpress.com. let us share things. I really liked your blog. Want to see if i could find a common interest with you. Interested to write more about music and culture and looking for someone who can provide photographs for my blog. Let us chat anyway. Please send me a message at my email. Thanks for visiting my blog
    Padayatti

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    1. Hello Padayatti,

      I am really sorry for the delay in responding to your comment. I was on back to back travels.

      It will be great if we could discuss about music, art and culture and how to make our blogs rich in content.

      I will definitely ping you as soon as I am back home.

      Bye.

      Liked by 1 person

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  6. very cool and I liked your explanation of what they were doing. I didn’t know about the way they reclaim useable soil there. When I saw them, my first guess was that they were potters getting clay or they found something embedded with clay and was washing it off.

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    1. Thank you so much for your observant comments, MNL 🙂

      This is backwater country and people use traditional methods to protect their farm land from getting filled with salt water.

      Life is a constant struggle for them…

      Thanks again for your visit and commenting, have a beautiful day ahead 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. It was quite an interesting trip for me as it opened up a totally different way of life.

      Life is really tough for them as they are in constant struggle with the elements for survival.

      It also gives us an idea about, how privileged we are, right?

      Have a beautiful day, Yvette 🙂

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        1. Sure, you can suggest, what kind of image you would like to see and I will share that with you 🙂

          Life has become really busy for good 🙂

          I have to travel more now a days as part of our community tourism initiative and this allows me to meet and talk to people of all different walks of life.

          Getting some good photography opportunities as well, but no time to even copy them or edit once reaching home 🙂

          Hope you are doing great, Yvette 🙂

          Liked by 1 person

    1. You are absolutely right 🙂

      This region is called the ‘Rice bowl of Kerala’ and of course it’s very fertile.

      But, due to the unique geography (2-3 meters below sea level), they have to constantly fight against land erosion and control the flow of salty water with dykes and traditional methods. This clay is also used to make small check dams as well.

      Life is quite different and interesting for these farmers, certainly tough too.

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  9. Oh my goodness that looks like back-breaking work! Did you ever catch a moment and then some! Some people in this world work so hard every single day. I read your explanation of what this photograph is about. Most people in this world have no idea what hard work like that is. Excellent shot, dear friend! 👏👏👏

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    1. Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments, Amy 🙂

      I was kind of disconnected with all these realities till I left my corporate job and started working with the local communities.

      Life is really tough for the farmers where ever they are in this world. In countries like India, most of them hardly make enough money to sustain their lives.

      We work with the farmers and fisher folk to introduce community based tourism which could provide some additional income for them 🙂

      Thanks again and have a beautiful day 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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