Paani Door Hai: Women & Water in Bundelkhand

In a village named Koilihai in a region known for perennial thirst, lives a woman named Chamela. The parched patch of land spreads across two states, culturally defying administrative boundaries. And the woman who grew weary of walking every day to a distant well looked at the pump that lay rusting over three years and decided to fix it. The region is, of course Chitrakoot, and Chamela its first woman hand-pump mechanic.  Chamela is a Koli Dalit, and what this usually means is circles. You step carefully so as not to transgress the invisible circle drawn around the hand-pump allotted for the ‘Baaman’ part of the village. Once in her work as a mechanic, she was called to Bhawari village.