The family dug 7 expensive borewells, but only 2 are yielding water
The Krishna Raja Sagara Dam changed the face of much of Mandya district in Karnataka - and the areas it irrigated saw water-intensive crops like sugarcane and paddy being planted. But there are pockets of the district which never received irrigation - and farmers there still depend wholly on the rainfall and what borewells can provide. In one such dry area, in Srirangapatna taluk, we met Chikthayamma, working in the hot sun on a field, trying to grow vegetables in the middle of a drought.
Chikthayamma doesn't know her exact age, but thinks she is about 80 years old. There's no rest for her at this stage of her life - she works in the fields for up to 10 hours a day, trying to grow vegetables on the family land in a time of drought.
She told NDTV that it had been decades since she had seen such a drought. "This kind of drought was seen about 45 years ago. After that, this is the worst. Just not enough water," she said.
Also on the field are Chikthayamma's son Sanjeevegowda and daughter-in-law Thayamma. There has not been enough rain for two years now and the family decided to try and keep their vegetables alive with the help of borewells. They dug seven expensive borewells in their three and a half acres of land - only two are yielding a little water.
Sanjeevegowda said, "We grow vegetables. They need the rain or borewell water, which also dried. We took a four and a half lakh loan for those borewells from the bank."
Thayamma had a recent thyroid surgery. As soon as she recovered, she was back at the fields where she has been working for 25 years.
Thayamma said, "We are working as labourers to repay the loan. It is very difficult. We also just spent one a half lakhs on my surgery."
This is a familiar pattern - in good years, the family can earn up to one and a half lakhs per acre of vegetables every six months, which gave them the confidence to take loans - which they are now struggling to repay. Just as their drying vegetables struggle to survive.
When the rains fail, and the borewells fail, there is very little chance of a good harvest.