(From the pages of architect’s journal)
Blog post 4 of 8 (Part A: Village Vaijakkoor and Santhekallahalli)
EOD_1st April 2019
What a day!
What an experience!
To a day when I saw a beautiful connect between geography, agriculture and occupation, and how that in fact dictated the design of the house.
Meeting 1:
On entering Chinthamani, I spoke to the EO Mr. Venkatesh who luckily spoke broken English. But, we requested the bus conductor to convey our questions (He knew Hindi. And, so did Aiman! So.) But, wait for it!
Only later did I realize he knew Tamil as well!
The conversation took a jump from two words to two exchanges then. This is the background story to how we got ourselves dropped exactly in front of the Panchayat Office. After about 50 minutes of waiting, Mr. Venkatesh arrived in with anxiety because he had an election meet happening in the very same office in another 45 minutes. With all the hurry aside, he, Aiman and I took a bus to the first village Santhekallahalli.
Meeting 2:
And, there he handed us over to Mr. Ravi Kumar, the bill collector and the water man (name, uncertain) of the Gram Panchayat Santhekallahalli (the farthest chosen panchayat, around 20 Kms from Chinthamani).
And, wait for it! He knew TAMIL as well!! I was like what! Haha!
But, this is just the beginning. (The conversations with him really helped me understand better)
So, it was the two of them taking us around.
Our Aim:
To cover two villages, five houses per village of which
2 are old houses (big and small)
2 preferably sanctioned houses falling under the age range of 10-20 (one rich)
And, 1 under construction house.
What we covered:
2 villages named Vaijakkoor and Santhekallahalli with 11 houses with variations as per plan. 
Summary:
- Occupation:
Like Mr. Ravi Kumar had mentioned, it is “Silk, Milk and Ragi” in order of priority.
A good share comes from selling milk. There are also quite a lot of them who pursue daily wage labour. Apart from that, they practice Sericulture!!!
And, we got lucky to understand the 25 days stage wise process because he had practiced it himself earlier. It was Mad!! From the initial 22 day culturing where they are fed with mulberry leaves to the last three days of cocoon formation (we are even gifted a small one) Okay. That’s for now. I will connect the dots at last. 
- Meal Timings:
Within the first two villages, I noticed a shift in the timings compared to my earlier studies with most of them having only two meals a day with breakfast around 7:30 am – 10:00 pm and dinner around 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm. Only when asked, was I told that a lot of them do labour and hence they wake up early and sleep early. But, I am still not convinced. That way every job in the village demands an early wake up call. But, I personally think because milking is a serious business here.
To my shock, I was told that the bill collector himself is available from 6 am to 6 pm. (Something that I have never heard!)
- Settlement pattern:
It was scattered with very few row houses. This doesn’t hold true for Santhekallahalli though. The old layout there had narrow streets with row housing sunken below the road level and a seat was the later addition.
- Vaastu:
The new houses strongly follow Vaastu I was told. But, not until I went up to the terrace to find all the yellow overhead tanks be placed on the North West corner. They even have a tile rise between rooms. So, yeah. No convincing.
- Foundation:
This was one of the very few villages having sized stone masonry for foundation in every other house.
On an average, it is 3′-4′. But, in Santhekallahalli, due to the presence of large granite formations, there is 1′ or no foundation for a few patches of houses.
- Lighting and ventilation:
In few houses, I noticed an elevated light room around 2′-3′ high as a later addition to an old house. Windows were comparatively larger and taller in proportion.
- Doors and windows:
Mesh doors as a second layer to every other door. Many windows have vertical partitions creating smaller openings.
- Roof
Mud, Stone and RCC for the main
GI for the loft or transitory spaces. Thatch for the poorer ones. In one of the houses, I noted a poly carbonate sheet below the GI sheet on the inside for insulation purposes. 
- Interesting adaptations:
– Brick Chulah into Cement Chulah
– an arch decor (difficult to explain through words. Will show once we get back!
-water heating arrangement for bathing area
- Kitchens:
They were comparatively smaller with quite a lot of functions within it. The old houses shelves’ back within the height range of 5′-6.5′. The new houses have a properly divided shelves. Like I had mentioned earlier, not a single house failed to include the fixed stone Grinder. Apart from their usage during power cuts, it is believed to bring good luck when the food gets dropped in that pit during the transfer.
- Stay:
The PDO and Mr. Ravi Kumar came and dropped us off at the Yogi Narayana Temple complex at Tayanur Panchayat that houses a marriage hall and Lodge for devotees. And, they have free dinner and 24 hours bhajan services we were told. We for really lucky except for the 24 hours bhajan which is not true I am realizing as I am writing this now.
Connecting the dots:
Okay! Here is the most interesting bit, the whys and hows!
(I)
Me: “So, how do you speak Tamil?”
Mr. Ravi Kumar: “In Santhekallahalli, there are several Granite Quarries. And they have a lot of Tamil people I have seen work alongside. So, a lot of us here know Tamil.”
(II)
Me: “How come the windows are larger and taller? I did not come across such kind in the other Taluks?”
Mr. Ravi Kumar:”Sericulture requires a certain temperature. They want to keep it cooler and they need more circulation”
Just then I realized they have three sets of openings vertically one above the other. Stack effect and cross ventilation!! These opening pattern stops once the house begins. In a few houses, the Sericulture room is attached and few others detached. But, I asked that smaller openings in fact make it cooler than big ones. Then later I remembered that during winters, they are open to more light and heat to bring down the temperature. So probably too suit both the climatic variations!
(lll)
Me: “Why have some people stopped with Sericulture when it works out really well?”
Mr. Ravi Kumar (and my analysis): No water. No water, no Mulberry plantations. No mulberry plantations, no food to feed the worms. Hence, people with or with access to a bore well alone pursue Sericulture.
Overall, it was a very exciting day!!!
To understand the context of the place and project, please follow this link:
Project Griha: A focus on Rural housing
Nivasa blog 