Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

and apartments in a number of places. There is nothing surprising in the erection of
apartments near the University campus or other institutions, but ‘quarters’ could be seen
in interior places like nedunparamba, Kunnathuparamba, Parakkavu in Munniyur. In such
apartments and ‘quarters’, waste management can be an additional problem.
Expansion of houses to elevated areas and lows-lying fields has already been noted.
Houses in such regions are generally double storied ‘modern houses’ unless they are
colonies or settlements. The practice of every householder is to dig a well in his or her
house-site. As we have seen, the elevated areas are afflicted by chronic water shortage,
and many households seek to overcome the problem by digging tube wells. We have
already seen that natural surface water sources, such as ponds and chenas are getting
destroyed, often for setting up new house-sites. As elevated regions are being filled with
houses, more wells and tube wells are being dug, and the water is used for household
consumption alone. The effect of this practice, particularly in areas of water shortage
has to be studied. There is a persistent feeling among the people of the area that digging
wells at short distances, particularly tube wells , are contributing to the transformation of
water shortage into famine like condition in summer. Some areas experience water
shortage even during rainy season.
Houses in the low-lying regions face a different kind of a problem. Construction of
houses in the fields and pallyal require raising the ground with laterite soil, and then
erecting a solid foundation. Moreover, excess water will have to be removed from the
ground. A number of houses in the low- lying regions were constructed on such artificial
surfaces. Again, compound walls at some height become absolutely essential to ward off
water and mud collecting outside, and often approach roads have to be constructed.
Interestingly, this extra expense seems to have been borne by the landowners. In fact
filling of grain fields with soil and getting them prepared for building construction
appears to be under way in most of the low-lying areas.