Katterikuppam, Talkin' to myself

The bus reminds me of Kirtipur Yatayat buses durin the rush hours. ‘Kirtipur Lauda’ as we used to call them was known for its fast services but this must not be. More than half an hour after I climbed into the crowded bus and 5 km is all what it must have had covered.
Though I’ve been living in Pondy for last 2 years, I still don’t have much idea about it, except the town. Today I’m goin to meet some fellow Nepalis(more appropriately “Bankelis’) workin in the Sugar factory in Katerrikuppam, rural pondy.
I dozed for sometime and when I wake up, its already rural part of Pondycherry which I haven’t seen properly. Some months back I’d been to Pullichapallam and Manthopu for my community diagnosis posting, but politically it was Tamilnadu.



Reached katterikuppam and made the way outside the bus thru the crowd and to the sugar mill. Carts and tractors of sugarcane are tracin the path which we would be by our foot. Govinda uncle told me that the mill pays the farmers in 3 phases, Pre-cultivation, After harvesting and during local festival. Farmers can buy fertilizers and arrange for irrigation by the pre-cultivation stipend.
Irrigation is big problem in this part of India. Last time when we went Kodai on class trip except Kauvery I didn’t see any river as such (some rivulets were there but dry). And Kauvery wasn’t near to what I had imagined,the reason being Karnatka wasn’t releasing the waters from the origin of Kauvery in the foothill of Nilgiris. No wonder India is so avaricious in our border when it comes to water.
Back to our world in Nepal I remember talkin to a JTA for my class presentation sake who told me if we can manage Rapti for irrigation,”Sun falchha banke ko Dhartima”. We have enough rivers,every 25 km a small river will be there. India makes dam at Laxmanpur and floods Holeri and all we do is birodh…some slogans and disrupt life with a strike or two, go dead till next monsoon and as the things repeat next monsoon we also repeat the same old story..the same slogans the same strike and the same quietness after some days only to repeat it next year. Sikta Sicahi Pariyojana, as my dad says,had started when he was in 10th class and except for the some new faces and new vehicles I the office NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. It started when my dad was in 10th and now I’m doin my bachelor 2nd year.
Sikta project, though I have never seen the site, I had been lucky enough to talk to the people who once worked for the project. Only thing that needs to be done is Direct the water with a dam is how they summarize the project. This mustn’t be as easy as they spoke,but by end of 30 years(approx), shudnt it had been completed.
Cant even construct a dam in30 years .We don’t have any infrastructures supporting farmers, not even in polices and almost 90% of Nepali depend on it. How can the economy thrive?? We import sugar from different countries rangin from India to Thailand to Korea but can’t set up a sugar mill on our own courtyard. We have got quality fertile soils for sugarcane in terai, we have got water source, we have got demand of sugar.
“Ippo Baburam dutyla irika?” (Baburam is in duty now?)Govinda uncle asked the security guard. We were in the main gate of the mill.
“Ippo ilya sir,Veedala Ponga”, (Not now. Go to his house)the guard continued’”Veeda enge irika,teriuma?”(U know where is the house?)
“Terima”(I know)
Many Nepali are workin in Pondy as security guard, it has become ethnic job for Nepalis. Here in Pondy, till date I know less than 10 Nepali workin ppl who is not a security guard and they also have a peonisque job. No wonder some naïve Rj in a radio (somewhere in India) made those remarks.