Photo 3. When necessary next, they carry this stored water up to the first floor again === It was in October 2005. With a camera in hand, I was exposing a few RWH works at Chitradurga, Karnataka done under the guidance of my good friend, RWH activist Devaraj Reddy. "Don't you want our photo?, suddenly, an elderly voice hit our ears. When we looked around, a middle-aged person was waving at us from the first floor of the nearby building. He pointed out to a PVC pipe that hung from top of his floor. "What's it?", we asked, "It's our rain harvesting arrangement, come on take a photo," he told jovially. By this time his wife too joined him. "But there is no water", I teased him. "Just a minute", he ran to the terrace, after instructing wife to hold a bucket below the pipe. Within seconds, water started flowing down. The husband and wife held the bucket together. "It has rained here day ago", Devaraj informed me. He must have fitted a gate-valve away to store the water on the terrace. Must be opening the valve whenever necessary. "Wait", shouted our hero, "Don't you want to see where I store it actually?" As we waiting shooting his actions step by step, he physically brought the bucketful of water and poured to the ground level tank from his first floor house. Whenever required, he has to physically climb a floor with bucket of water from the tank, but he doesn't seem to mind! The arrangement might appear quite cumbersome to many, but the couple is happily doing it without a murmur. Maybe, they can't afford to spend more on storing water, but then, it's okay. Thanks to Devaraj Reddy who has spread awareness about RWH in this drought-prone district of Chitradurga, just by seeing, a poor family has designed a simple, damn low cost method that is helpful to them. I don't know the names of our hero and heroine of this story, but the episode is unforgettable. Photos and story by Shree Padre, water journalist. For more information and usage permisson contact shreepadre@gmail.com with cc to portal@arghyam.org

Photo 2. Bucket is manually carried and emptied to the tank below === It was in October 2005. With a camera in hand, I was exposing a few RWH works at Chitradurga, Karnataka done under the guidance of my good friend, RWH activist Devaraj Reddy. "Don't you want our photo?, suddenly, an elderly voice hit our ears. When we looked around, a middle-aged person was waving at us from the first floor of the nearby building. He pointed out to a PVC pipe that hung from top of his floor. "What's it?", we asked, "It's our rain harvesting arrangement, come on take a photo," he told jovially. By this time his wife too joined him. "But there is no water", I teased him. "Just a minute", he ran to the terrace, after instructing wife to hold a bucket below the pipe. Within seconds, water started flowing down. The husband and wife held the bucket together. "It has rained here day ago", Devaraj informed me. He must have fitted a gate-valve away to store the water on the terrace. Must be opening the valve whenever necessary. "Wait", shouted our hero, "Don't you want to see where I store it actually?" As we waiting shooting his actions step by step, he physically brought the bucketful of water and poured to the ground level tank from his first floor house. Whenever required, he has to physically climb a floor with bucket of water from the tank, but he doesn't seem to mind! The arrangement might appear quite cumbersome to many, but the couple is happily doing it without a murmur. Maybe, they can't afford to spend more on storing water, but then, it's okay. Thanks to Devaraj Reddy who has spread awareness about RWH in this drought-prone district of Chitradurga, just by seeing, a poor family has designed a simple, damn low cost method that is helpful to them. I don't know the names of our hero and heroine of this story, but the episode is unforgettable. Photos and story by Shree Padre, water journalist. For more information and usage permisson contact shreepadre@gmail.com with cc to portal@arghyam.org .