Rural India...

India remains a predominantly rural agrarian society with an estimated 77% of its people dependant on subsistence living. While I personally do not regard this this as not inherently wrong or bad for its people, I do recognize the fact that subsistence living is full of built in risks.

For example, the three villages we visited in Rajasthan all are living with a drought that has lasted over 5 years.

Their adobe like homes are beginning to crumble perhaps because they cannot afford the luxury of using water to repair them.

Fields lay fallow with no crops planted for 5 years. Only the thornbush remains bright and green. The men of the villages find work in area where there has been enough monsoon rains and bring home a share of the harvest to feed their families.

Despite this hardship the people seem full of life and joy, welcoming visitors. Here a woman brings water in the traditional way.





A herder stops to allow me to take his picture as he brings his sheep and goats to water.


Water buffalo, prized for their milk cool off in the rapidly evaporating water.

On the distant shore, bricks of mud that will be used to construct and repair houses dry in the sun. Life goes on.