from being the mother of sons. sons who would bring brides, that is other women, to share her water burden. the terrain is rocky and the distance is long so it s very hard to carry lots of water repeatedly on your head from that source of water to the village, which is almost a kilometre from here. as the morning blends into afternoon, and it gets hotter, the task of ferrying water also becomes harder. to help women, the village council arranges water tankers in summer. each woman gets five buckets full. five buckets for the whole household. coloured in the colour of impure water. even this support is not available in
i ask how they would convince the prospective brides families. perhaps offer to help their daughters fetch water? translation: no, i have other work, and she - has different work. she has to cook food, clean the house. i have to tend to the animals, farm and travel to attend social gatherings. so it s down to vimal s mother. she fetches water, washes his clothes, and cooks for him. there are three other sons, but they don t live here. the village didn t have much work so they moved out and found brides, too. she says she s never benefited
fear of freezing and pipes bursting in winter is widespread so much so that a neighbouring village got taps but refused water supply. it was turned on only in summer. spalze s and her sister s life is much easier now. after a month of regular water supply, the scheme has finally won their trust. translation: initially, j we weren t sure if water supply would work. now, the engineer has explained that they have made a pit at the end of the supply line. this means extra water would run off there and the pipe will not burst. although she worries, she is hopeful, too. a few weeks later the village got tap water, but will the supply last in the freezing winters?
for now, but as more tourists head here, this could change soon. and water could deplete, just like the rest of the country. at this moment, the focus is to supply what s available to homes here. a maze of pipelines is being laid. to prevent freezing, the digging is much deeper than on the plains. 66 inch! five and a half feet deep, i m told. it s the same for water tanks. wow! translation: ladakh is not like | plains where there are overhead| tanks from where water is distributed to homes in the village.
neighbouring villages. the women are angry, yet resigned to their destiny. translation: drink - the water i ve just drawn and you will get a taste of what we drink every day. translation: there was a hand pump outside my home - in my maternal village, but now i have to drink this dirt. if i knew how bad things were, i wouldn t have agreed to the marriage. but are women asked about their choice at the time of marriage? i asked this woman. translation: they didn t ask me. i don t know about others. she was 15 years old when she was married. she has spent the last ten