The need for a complete overhaul of the roof

It became apparent that the roof did not have the incline required of a tile roof, especially to prevent leaking during heavy rainfall. I had to therefore completely rebuild the roof by making the incline steeper.

The work took about 2 weeks as there was some masonry work involved to put some concrete beams across as well as raise the roof at the middle by about 3 feet. The contractor lives in the next village and seemed to know what he was about, which on reflection was more than I can say for the person who initially did it. Either way the photos are a pictorial of what went on and now it is finally finished, I have only to put the finishing touches and get the place furnished before it becomes habitable, a not easy task these days.

Despite the rain in the South and Western part of the country, there has been little rain in the past few weeks here in this village. It is the time of the North-east monsoon here, but it has not and the tank here in the village is not sufficiently full for the farmers to prepare the fields for ploughing. They are awaiting the rains before they are able to work the fields. This is the best season for them as it is the rainy season here, and if they do not get adequate rain it will be a catastrophic period for the locals many of whom are still dependant on working their fields at least once a year to enable them to survive.

The electric fence seems to be working with the people taking turns to man the entry to the village to ensure that the elephants do not come along the road marking the only brakes of the fence that are often opened by those entering the village and not closed due to stupidity of laziness. There have been occasions when the elephants have come into the village, and as the exit is the same as the entry, caused much havoc and destruction before they have been chased back this way. It is therefore very important that the gates are guarded at nights, the usual times when elephants try to make their entry stealthily and unannounced.

The temple again has a priest, and in the six years I have been directly associated with the village, 5 priests have passed through. The village temple adjoins my property, so it is in of concern to me that the spiritual well being of the village is also husbanded and the Sunday school is held for the benefit of the local children. I try to be mindful of this presence in my actions.