{"id":245663,"date":"2026-10-04T19:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T19:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=245663"},"modified":"2026-10-04T19:24:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T19:24:45","slug":"how-halma-breathed-life-back-into-indian-village-kesarpuras-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/how-halma-breathed-life-back-into-indian-village-kesarpuras-pond\/","title":{"rendered":"How Halma Breathed Life Back into Indian Village Kesarpura\u2019s Pond"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen the village acts together, even a dry pond smiled again.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

About 22 kilometres from the Petlawad block headquarters in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, the village of Kesarpura has a story to tell, one about the confidence of an entire community. A Halma (an ancient tradition of voluntary collective labour and mutual cooperation) was held here on May 19, 2026, and what followed convinced the village that the solution it had long sought from outside had been within it all along.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Halma is a word from the Bhili dialect, often translated as a \u201ccall for help<\/em>\u201d, and it means collective voluntary labour. When a family in the Bhil community is weighed down by a burden, whether raising a house, bringing in a harvest or facing a calamity, the word goes round the village and people come, unpaid and with their own tools, to stand by them. The message is simple: you are not alone. In Jhabua the tradition has also been turned to the work of saving water. Since 2009 the local organisation Shivganga has organised large Halmas for soil and water conservation, and one in February 2020 drew some 20,000 people from about 500 villages.<\/p>\n

Kesarpura\u2019s only pond had been waiting for exactly this tradition. Years of neglect had left it so choked with silt and unwanted weeds that its depth was shrinking, and so was its capacity to hold water. Seepage through one stretch of the embankment quietly drained away the rainwater it collected. This is a tribal district, where Scheduled Tribes made up about 87 per cent of the population at the 2011 census, and a hilly one: as the district administration itself notes, water runs off the slopes instead of being held by the soil, so even good rainfall can leave villages short of water. In such a landscape a failing pond meant a direct threat to a full year of farming and to the water that livestock depend on. As summer set in, the pond bed would fill with cracks, and the village\u2019s hopes would slip into those cracks along with the water.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Before the Halma: a dry pond bed, heaps of silt and seepage along the embankment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The village knew the problem was big, but they also knew the solution lay in their own hands. With the support of the Gram Swaraj Samuh (village self-governance group) formed by Vaagdhara, a village-level group of ten women and ten men, it was decided that a Halma would be held at the pond. The idea was not new to the area: less than a fortnight earlier, on May 6, villagers of Borpada, also in Petlawad, had used a Halma to clear a silted public well after repeated appeals to the panchayat brought no result. On the morning of May 19, Kesarpura showed its true strength.<\/p>\n

It began not with speeches or formal announcements but with the beat of the dhol<\/em>, kundi<\/em> and thali <\/em>(traditional percussion instruments played together in folk and tribal music ensembles). A rally wound through the village. Children ran ahead carrying a banner that read \u201cTraditional Halma Method<\/em>,\u201d with the slogan beneath it: \u201cSave water regularly, and the future is secure<\/em>.\u201d Behind them walked elders, youth and women, with someone from every household carrying a pickaxe, a spade or a metal pan.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The rally sets out to the beat of the dhol and thali, with a banner reading \u201cTraditional Halma Method\u201d; enthusiastic children lead the way.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Around 150 people gathered at the pond for the Halma. There is no attendance register and no list; people come of their own accord and leave having done more than they thought they could. Under the blazing sun, heads were covered, yet faces glowed instead of showing fatigue. The work divided itself. Some waded into the pond to cut the weeds, others dug out silt with pickaxes and spades, and the silt was loaded into pans and basins and handed to a long line of women. The pans passed from hand to hand and head to head, and the silt made its way out of the pond.<\/p>\n

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Men wielding pickaxes and spades on the pond bed, while women stand in line holding pans.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Women with faces covered and pans on their heads, carrying silt without a thought for the sun.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The role of women was the most remarkable part of the scene. Amid their household responsibilities, they stayed at the pond all day. Recalling that day, Basanti Ninama says that when the dhol<\/em> sounded she could not sit at home, and standing in line with a pan on her head, it felt like work in her own courtyard. \u201cI was tired, but my heart felt light. I felt I was doing something good for my village<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone also worked together to pile soil on the embankment where water had been seeping out, pressing it down and strengthening it. Clearing silt and weeds and strengthening the earthen bund are the standard steps in restoring a village pond, and those who know water conservation understand that the strength of the embankment and the depth of the pond decide how long a water body lasts. When noon came, the tools were set down, but the bond of togetherness did not break. Lunch, too, was cooked by everyone together on the pond\u2019s bank. The women wove plates from tree leaves, and then everyone sat in a long row on colourful mats. An elderly woman and a small child ate the same meal on the same mat, and the true meaning of Halma came alive right there. Here, trust takes the place of accounts, and hard work and celebration blend into one another.<\/p>\n

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Women making leaf plates: even the preparation of the meal was a collective effort.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
A communal meal in rows on the mats: children, women and elders together.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The simplicity of the leaf plate is a lesson in itself. A plate made from tree leaves will let no plastic waste and need no water for washing. Leaf plates have long been part of community feasts across India, and researchers describe them as a renewable alternative to plastic disposables. At an event whose very purpose is to save water, this goes beyond symbolism and becomes practice. Traditions often carry such eco-friendly solutions quietly, without any announcement.<\/p>\n

For Ganga Ninama it was an emotional day: generations of her family have drunk this pond\u2019s water, and it pained her to see it buried under silt. \u201cThe day the pond was cleaned, I felt we had repaid our debt<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very hot, but nobody complained. We want our children to see how work for the village is done<\/em>\u201d said another woman from the village, Devli Mori.<\/p>\n

For men like Sukhram Maida and Anil Maida, the experience transformed the way they thought. They used to believe that work on the pond was the government\u2019s job, but on the day of the Halma they realised that when a village comes together, it has no one to wait for. \u201cBefore the Halma, we thought the government would do this work. This time we understood that when the village becomes one, we don\u2019t have to wait for anyone else<\/em>.\u201d. The thought was not unique: someone had remarked that waiting for the government could cost another three years.<\/p>\n

During the event, Paramesh Patidar, Implementation Leader at Vaagdhara, spoke with the villagers and explained that Halma is not merely voluntary labour but a tradition of standing by one another in joy and sorrow and sharing collective responsibility.<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, Block Facilitator Mukesh Porwal and his team also played a vital role, working at every level from mobilising people to planning the work. The steady guidance of Team Leader Dharmendrasingh Chunawat gave direction to the entire effort.<\/p>\n

After the Halma, the village returned to its routine, but nobody expected the result to show so soon. The monsoon turned out weaker than hoped. The India Meteorological Department had forecast a below-normal season. There was fear that the pond would once again be left only partly filled. But about three months later, around August 2026, when villagers looked toward the pond, it was filled to the brim with water.<\/p>\n

The greatest joy was that the seepage through the embankment had also stopped. The water that came had stayed. For farmers like Sunil Katara and Mansingh Ninama, the meaning was direct: their fields will get irrigation and their cattle will have drinking water.<\/p>\n

One may also ask why such ponds last. Studies of India\u2019s water infrastructure describe a recurring cycle of construction, neglect and rebuilding, with upkeep after construction as the weak link, and village ponds that were once maintained by the communities who used them fell into disrepair as that responsibility moved elsewhere. Experience shows that when a water structure is built from outside by a contractor, its upkeep often becomes nobody\u2019s responsibility; the embankment breaks, the silt returns, and within a few years the pond can be back to its old state.<\/p>\n

A structure built through voluntary labour creates an emotional bond. Someone who has put soil into it with their own hands cannot bear to see it deteriorate. This is Halma\u2019s greatest invisible achievement: along with the structure, it raises a whole generation of guardians. One good season in a poor monsoon is encouraging, but it is early evidence rather than proof; how long the pond lasts will depend on the desilting and embankment care the village now commits to.<\/p>\n

The hopes ahead are considerable. When fields need irrigation the most, this stored water can become the farmers\u2019 mainstay. With water standing in the pond, groundwater levels in nearby wells and hand pumps may also improve; case studies of desilted village ponds report that nearby borewells recharged and the irrigated area grew in both the rainy and dry seasons.<\/p>\n

Greenery is returning to the embankment, and guarding it is now the village\u2019s shared responsibility. Remove the silt, bind the embankment, hold the rain, raise the groundwater, then irrigate the fields: this entire cycle of water conservation now appears to be complete in Kesarpura.<\/p>\n

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Greenery on the strengthened embankment, with still water on one side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One sees the tradition of the elders and the labour of the young, the support of women and families, and above all a collective resolve to do something for one\u2019s own village.<\/p>\n

Kesarpura\u2019s story is a reminder that development does not always wait for help from outside. In a country where some 600 million people face high to extreme water stress, and where even large investments in water structures struggle with upkeep once they are built, examples like this show that the key often lies in local knowledge and community ownership.<\/p>\n

Three elements together have given this pond a new lease of life: tradition meeting present-day need, institutions staying in the role of facilitators (in Borpada, too, the Samuh gave villagers room to decide for themselves rather than handing them ready-made answers), and a village that regards its resource as its own. Halma did not remove only silt and weeds from Kesarpura\u2019s pond; it rekindled hope in people\u2019s hearts, and today that hope is as clear as the pond\u2019s water.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yogaesoteric
\nOctober 4, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen the village acts together, even a dry pond smiled again.\u201d About 22 kilometres from the Petlawad block headquarters in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, the village of Kesarpura has a story to tell, one about the confidence of an entire community. A Halma (an ancient tradition of voluntary collective labour and mutual cooperation) was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-society-1602-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245664,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245663\/revisions\/245664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}