No water: tribals in a Chhattisgarh village take their kitchen to the river

People walking for kilometres to fetch water is not an uncommon sight in many parts of rural India.

However, there's a village in Chhattisgarh's Kawardha region where residents bring their kitchen to the river every day to cook their meals.

While most of the villages of Pandaria division are dependent on small watering holes called Jhiriyas for water supply, the tribals of Basulalut village do not have this luxury.

Situated in the thick of the hilly forest, the village has only one hand pump which dries up during every summer. This leaves the inhabitants with only one option - going to the Agar river, situated five kilometres from Basulalut.

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But as the river lies downhill, and the terrain is not exactly smooth, it is not possible for the villagers to go there frequently for water.

Therefore, every morning these villagers take their kitchen utensils and ration to the river bed and cook food on its banks.

"It is the daily routine of every family in the village to carry rations and utensils to the river in the morning. We bathe and cook meals at the riverside. We take along our dinner us. This enables us to store water only for drinking in our homes," says Nainsing Baiga, a resident of Basulalut.