Report on GYAN SHODH
Organised by : National Innovation Foundaton (NIF)
Conducted by : HoneybeeAP
 

Introduction:

The following report covers the details and experience of scouting during our stint with groups which were supposed to cover two mandals namely Thorrur and Mulugu in Warangal district. Each group was allotted a village (or thanda) and had to stay in that village for 3 days and record details regarding the village. Our group was allotted Hachu Thanda in Thorrur and Bussapur in Mulugu. 

Hachu Thanda : T.Kalyan Goutham, B.Bala Phani Chand

Bussapur : T.Kalyan Goutham, B.Bala Phani Chand,Rakesh

Our report of the above mentioned villages is as follows:

HACHU THANDA:

History :
The word “Thanda” means a group of houses in the local Lambada language. Hachu thanda gets its name from its founder Hachu. Hachu Thanda is inhabitated by Lambada people and is located in Chintalapalli village, Thorrur mandal of Warangal District. These people originally migrated from Suryapet to other places like Kalledu, Ambapuram and open to Chintallapalli village.

Initially this place had two Gudulothu and two Baanothu families and these 2 groups live in two halves of the village separated by a small road. (This is not necessary condition) In the recent past they have been joined by the Dharavathu family. The residents of this village belong to the Scheduled Tribes of the Lambada families. The villagers claim that their ancestors waged a living by selling salt from Bandar(Mahcilipatnam) to Hyderabad.

Agriculture and Food:
The main occupation of this village has been agriculture since a long time. As there is no water body close the village, their ancestors faced a severe water problem and had to transport water in leather bags. Hence, they mainly grew less water consuming crops like Jonnalu, Mokka Jonnalu, Raagulu, Soddalu. Their staple food had been gatka which is supposedly highly nutritious and a main reason for the long lives of their elders. Another major ingredient in their meals was Bathaaku which they say is very nutiritious and hardly available these days. They used to brush their teeth with coal powder. Their consumption of milk is very less even these days as they mostly leave the milk for the calves. In summers, most of the drink toddy as an alternative to curd. Also due to the sparse vegetarian in this region during summer, they rely on dal and pickle for meals.
The types of soil found in this region are Red soil, Black soil, Soudu (White, Black). During rainy season, when water is easily available, they grow only Paddy. In the other seasons, they grow crops like cotton, groundnut, turmeric, michi, pesalu (moong dal), kandulu, aayindaalu,sengalu, nuvvulu. They types of rice which they grow are Saamasuri (BPT), 1001, 1000, erramalli, jejelu. Groundnut remains the widely grown crop in this region.

HEALTH :
In the early days people and cattle both suffered from very few disases which can be sufferd from few diseases which an be attributed to their food habits and working style. In the case of diseases, they say they used leaves and Pasru of certain trees and tied a mantram after taking the blessings of Muthyalamma goddess. Some said that revealing the names of these trees would result in the loss of their power and the treatment would become ineffective. But some others gave away the names with no hesitation at all. Accordign to the second oldest man in the village, there were 33plants which were served as medicines. The plants which he could recall were Naalaguridi, Thangidi, Naalathaati, Nallausiri, Sibbitheega, Murudundaghadda. He said the specimens of these plants are rarely available in the region. They are usually found in the forest. The bio diversity competition proved very helpful in collecting information in this regard. Children were the main source of our information everywhere. the information collected is as follows: