More than three quarters of India's population live in the 600,000 village throughout the country. Some of these villages are large and others have less than a thousand people.

Life in an Indian village is difficult and villagers do without facilities, which in the West are considered as necessities. It is rare to find indoor toilets, washing machine, refrigerators or hair dryers and most villages do without electricity, hospitals, secondary schools and clean running water. The government has provided communities with T.V.'s and radios but few people would possess their own.

Most people have lived in the same village for many generations where the skills, knowledge and land has been handed down to the children. Most people in the village are farmers whose fields life beyond the village. They rely on their bullocks to plough the fields and transport their produce to the open air markets. In the larger villages, artisans - weavers, potters, smiths and shopkeepers live and work and sell their ware at the bazaars.

Life has remained the same for generations but now people travel from village to village on buses, bicycles and scooters and many go long distances to the city looking for work.

The government has been responsible for improving facilities in villages, paving roads, providing covered wells and connecting electricity and telephones.

Village schools are set up by the government, which also supplies students with books and stationery. These schools have up to 60 - 70 students in a class and classes are sometimes conducted out in the open air. Many children do not stay in school and it is common for 10 year olds to be working in the fields instead of attending classes. This is particularly the case for girls.

Women in the village work very hard, brining up their children, cooking and cleaning, carrying water from the well and often helping in the fields.

Parents arrange marriages for their children and it is not uncommon for girls as young as 12 to be married. It is the custom to provide a dowry for daughters and a wedding feast to celebrate the marriage. Many farming families incur debt for generations as a result of borrowing money for dowries. Once married, the bride is taken by her husband to live with his family and if they live far away, she is not likely to see her family very often.

The Photographs

These photos were taken in a large village of 5,000 people in the Indian state of Rajastlian.

These women belong to families of traditional textile dyers. They live very well in comparison with the rest of the people in the village as a result of a private project to restore this craft. The cloth is prepared, dyed and block printed and sent to the city to be made into garments and household goods which is then exported around the world.

Unlike many Western families, Indian families are extended families where grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins all live under the same roof.

This woman is spinning cotton in the traditional way. The cotton is hand woven into cloth and used by the family. Most cloth in India is manufactured in large mills throughout the country but in villages many women continue to perform this skills.

Young people in the village, if they are not at school, help in the fields, tend livestock or work in the small businesses and shops.

This large village boasts a variety of modern forms of transportation and mechanised equipment. Tractors, buses and vans share the roads and lanes with bullock carts and camel carts.
 
 

Suggested Activities

1. Write a litter to a boy or girl living in an Indian village. You can tell them about the way you live and what is special about living in the city and ask them questions about their life. (It is possible to sent these letters to a village in India)
2. Draw a poster/brochure for a Travel Agent, showing all the benefits of living in a small village in India. You could emphasise the quiet and slow pace of life, lack of pollution, being close to nature etc.
3. Write a story and imagine you are visiting a village. What would you be likely to see? What would you eat? Where would you live? How would you wash? What would you have to do? Etc.