The Laat & The Fields of Cumbiem Morod

 

THE FIELDS OF CUMBIEM MOROD, GUIRIM, BARDEZ, GOA.

I remember when I was a young lad in the 1950's in Goa, my mother joined the other folks of our village community in growing vegetables like cabbage, cauli-flower, eggplant and radish, and also chilies, onions, corn, sweet potatoes and water melons in our own demarcated fields. In the center of our  vegetable patch, my father had installed what is called locally as the 'Laatt' - a unique irrigation system with the help of his inventive friends in this field! It consisted of a main wooden pole pivoted off-centre on two V-shaped uprights, with abamboo pole for the bucket on the top end, and a pre-cut round heavy laterite stone as counter-weight on the bottom.

To make this clever and proven device work, the fully adept 'operator' tactfully lowers the bucket, with its handle secured in the receptacle in the bottom end of the pole, into the square-shaped well, with little force. Once the bucket is filled with water, he gently lets go of the pole with slight ease, guiding it up through his fingers, and the weight of the laterite stone does the rest effortlessly hauling the bucket up, full of water. The process is carried on with repeated see-saw actions as required. This water is channeled to collection points at both ends of the field, or filled in clay pots to be hand-carried to other locations for watering various kinds of vegetables or fruits. The dug-out earth was heaped up on both sides of the well and a neat bed was shaped from it with a thatched hut to rest or sit under the shade from the hot afternoon sun, an ideal place sometimes to study for exams or read a novel.