In the Pedda Vagu- a big stream called as Esi River, it was very close to the village, my Mama had a Mota Bhavi, which is an open well adjoining the stream. It is recharged continuously by the subsurface flow of water beneath the sand. From this well, the water was drawn for irrigation using a large-sized iron bucket tied to a rope and usually pulled by a pair of bullocks. A Girka -a wooden pulley wheel, is attached to a pair of granite posts hanging over the open well. The bucket bottom was made up of a leather tube, while pulling up the bucket it was closed with a string, for letting the water flow, the string was released. I used to sit on the frame connected to the bullocks which went to and fro while my Mama irrigated the fields.

In those days electricity supply to the villages was not regular. To pump water from open wells and the stream bed, some people used diesel pump sets also. To start them, a slurry of cattle dung was poured into the pipes first. And by rotating the fly-wheel with a handle, the engine is started. These engines made lots of noise and the sound sometimes was heard up to a kilometer or more distance. The otherwise villages with natural sounds are disturbed with the sound made by the diesel pumps.

In the villages, people preferred to consume clean and fresh water every day from flowing streams or open wells. And they never drank the stored water overnight. Sometimes, Chelma (water oozing from depression in the stream bed) is the source of drinking water. This water was always cool and fresh. People rarely used pesticides and chemical fertilizers, so the water was clean. Cattle also drank from those Chelmas. As the water always flows out of a Chelma, it is never contaminated. People also drank like animals with their mouth directly touching the surface of the water and bending on their knees and two hands.

A Mota Bhavi, buckets of water is pulled by two bullocks for irrigating the fields