Monsoon Time - Melissa Snow

What do you imagine when you read the word Monsoon - continuous rainfall for 3 months or short heavy down pour s. Well here in Dahod, Gujarat we experience sporadic downpour s (it can rain everyday for a week then nothing for 4 days ) that can last from 30 minutes to a few hours with varying intensity.

Each year weather forecasters try to predict which day the monsoon will come. Like the villagers in the movie Lagaan - the Bhil tribal people are eagerly looking toward the sky for any signs the rains might be on their way.

This year the rain finally came on June 16th. The first downpour bought people out dancing in the streets, others hastened to fix their roofs, others cleared drainage canals, which were soon full of rubbish and black sludge. The summer temperatures of 45 degrees has baked the ground so much the soil is like soft brown sand and when a slight breeze comes it's blown everywhere - that's why I call this place "Dusty Dahod".

When it rains, it's a different story, the dry ground just can't absorb the amount of rain that is falling, drainage systems can't cope and water overflows into the roads washing all the soil away, so the whole place turns into one fast flowing brown muddy river with the pipes jutting out from the roofs acting as waterfalls.

After the first downpour has stopped the Bhil tribal villagers plough their lands using a traditional wooden plough and two cows or a tractor, plant their seeds and wait for more rain. Rain is essential for the tribal people since agriculture is their main source of livelihood.

Bhil tribals ploughing their fields after the rains Those villages carrying out watershed development work will be able to see the results of their hard work during the monsoon time. The field bunds (earth and stone long mounds) they built will reduce the amount of topsoil from being washed away from each field. Any trees they have planted on top of these bunds will also reduce the amount of soil being washed away as the roots will help bind the soil together. Rain harvesting techniques are very important in this semi arid area since water shortage is the primary agricultural constraint. Check dams and Talavs (ponds) provide a way of storing water.

The Bhil's are very happy this year because they already have enough water stored from this season to see them through the year. It has rained more times and the intensity has been greater than that of the past 3 years, which were classed as drought years. During a downpour on June 22nd the Dudi river burst it's banks. According to a local tribal farmer it hasn’t done this for some five years. The picture below shows the Dudi River on June 15th 2003 pre-monsoon, the water level is about half way up the footbridge pillars The picture,, below, shows the same river a few hours after a monsoon downpour on the 22nd June 2003. The water level is at the top of the footbridge pillars a difference in height of about 1.5 meters.