Till I am alive...
N R PEDDAMIAH
Punganur, Chittoo district
If water stops flowing, a neerkatti ceases to exist. This 60-year-old neerkatti of Punganur is fighting hard for her existence. Her means of survival is difficult to discard, but unremunerative. "Till I am alive the tradition will continue but after me there is doubt," she says.
After her husband quit being a neerkatti in the face of a livelihood crisis, she took over. Her commitment allows her to enjoy impeccable credibility. So much so, that the village never consults the village head for any conflict resolution, and the irrigation department that owns the local tank has never interfered in her decisions. Though two more neerkattis are elected every year to manage irrigation, she remains the goddess of the tank.
The erratic monsoon is playing havoc with her life as it is doing to other neerkattis' lives elsewhere in the state. Due to bad monsoon and also decline of the catchments, tanks are not filling up, thus restricting the role of neerkattis. "Earlier farmers had interest in tank, and the neerkatti, as it used to have water. But without sufficient water their interest is going down," she says