An hour later, at around 5 pm, Kewalbai has managed to fill two pots.
She picks up one pot and walks up to him to hand it over.
“There were two hand pumps at the start of the summer,” she recollects, while washing clothes outside her home.
It is 9 am before I begin my household chores.” Five hours in the morning and three hours late-afternoon – Shalubai spends eight hours of her day fetching water for the family.
Eight hours of farm labour would earn Shalubai Rs 200, the standard daily wage here.
“My husband cannot walk, and can hardly work as a labourer.” Three days a week, Dolare spends four to five hours storing enough water to last for seven days.
The water source, a private borewell, is about a kilometre from her home.
Dolare pays Rs 2 for a pot.
Dolare would have to pay more than three times as much for 1,000 litres of water, and walk for 35 hours to collect that water.
She takes Ramu by the hand, picks up the two empty pots, and they begin another trip down the hill.