History keeper of Beni Ka Purwa

Small farmers aren't able to till their land anymore because of water scarcity.

I am increasingly fascinated by ‘lived’ oral histories, especially, the ones told to me by people who have been on this planet for almost a century. Some time ago, while in Beni Ka Purwa, a tiny hamlet in UP’s Banda district, I met 95-year-old Mulia Devi. Bent double but surprisingly spry, she’d just finished cleaning the village temple when we saw each other. She invited me to sit with her in the shady courtyard. I did and she rewarded me with her story.

Mulia Devi came to Beni Ka Purwa (named after her late husband) as a 12-year-old bride. She recalled