No Washing Room
N lived with his wife, his two sons, and his son’s wife and child. His house made up one side of a square of thatched houses, and a vegetable patch adjacent to the square was being used to grow eggplants and mustard. Three other houses, belonging to friends and relatives, complete the square. Beyond the vegetable patch was a water pump, followed by a water filter, some supari trees and a few hyacinth-filled ponds.The water filter was filled with sand to absorb extra iron in the water and had a protective sheet of blue fishing net. Although the trees and the patch were closest to N’s house in the square, none of them were owned by N or his family. The six member family was spread over two adjoining houses; one made of mud and the other a newer, taller, and bigger house made of mud and tin. There were also some bamboo structures for drying clothes. The old house had a line of glistening, pale green squash growing across the top of the roof. N’s family also shared the square with a guava tree, some shrubs of eggplant, and various farm animals - ducks, ducklings, and chickens. N’s oldest son owned a shop on the side of a road and sells chips, fizzy drinks, and assorted snacks. Sometimes, N stood in for his son and ran the shop. The shop was not built from wood or mud but from bricks, unlike their house and most of the other shops lining the main village road.