There are three issues in Saurashtra: water, water, water!
Elsewhere the BJP talks of bijlee, sadak, and pani, (electricity, roads, water), but while the former two are available, the latter is scarce. And it is scarce even this year despite the fact that the last monsoons, in 2003, saw the maximum rainfall in over 50 years. "My father said he has never seen so much rainfall in his entire life," said photographer Jayesh Tankaria, whose family has been based in Rajkot for generations.

The massive rainfall did see rivers gush and groundwater levels rise, but alas not enough to undo years of drought and excessive depletion of water. And the gushing rivers have turned into a trickle in most cases, though the dam on the Aji river that runs through Rajkot has abundant water. Not surprisingly, Rajkot has sufficient water, but not the rest of Saurashtra, certainly not the villages.

Ambaben said she makes at least two, often three or four, trips to collect water, under the hot sun. She and fellow women trudge sometimes up to 3 kilometres to collect a pot of water (at best, a woman can carry two pots; more than that it is unbearably heavy).

And since mornings are spent preparing breakfast and lunch, Ambaben said the women make the trip to collect water late morning or early afternoon; a time when the sun is painfully hot and harsh.

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