Mud houses and cow dung floors

When I was in primary school, my principal duty at home was to search for cow dung along the sandy roads where bullocks drawing carts left their dung as they traversed the roads - this I did once a month or once every 2 months.

There were no motorised vehicles then, save for one or two owned by wealthy residents. These vehicles used to have uniformed drivers who transported the owners to destinations they wished to go to. These vehicles were usually used on metalled roads and were rarely seen on mining tracts that are sandy. Most transport vehicles then were bullock carts which were drawn by one or two buffaloes.

I would use a bucket to fill up the cow dung that I scooped up with my bare hands. There were also horse carts that were usually drawn by a single horse.

Once the bucket was full I would take it home, dump it on the area that needs resurfacing and would have to fill up a few more buckets of cow dung before I start the work of resurfacing the floor. Resurfacing work is also done using bare hands, and a sprinkling of water. Once the floor is covered and paved the cow dung is left to dry It would take a day to dry up. Once it is dried the cow dung floor is ready for use. However I only saw this cow dung floors in Indian households indicating this is a practice carried over from India. The cow dung floors need to be swept just like cement floors.

Cement floors are expensive to lay as it requires sand and cement and one needs a skilled mason to complete the job to a good finish. It would also take time to do a good job to ensure the floor is even to enable the flow of water. Otherwise water will not flow to the drain outlets when the floor is washed or where water drips when the roof has sprung a leak.

Floors made of cow dung can be swept with a broom and does not require water to be mopped. All it requires is a straw mat to lay on the floor and a bed is ready for use.

All contents (c) Ganapathy Ramasamy, mynameisgana@blogspot.com

Images are for illustrative purposes only, and are sourced from the web. Please drop us a note if you are the owner and wish to be credited.

Comments

My first car

After my Higher School Certificate examination, I was appointed as a labour officer. This job paid well enough that I could finally afford a car for work. It involved a fair amount of travelling, the allowances for which could well cover my petrol bills. This first car was a second hand Volkswagen 1200, reg. AF 1085 in white. However I had just learnt driving and was not confident in taking out the car for my duties. So for the first few weeks, a friend of mine agreed to be a co-driver while I learnt to drive in my neighbourhood. Once I gained confidence, I told my friend that I was confident and he need not assist me while I drove around. The first day of independent driving, I reversed into a child’s tricycle. Fortunately the child had abandoned the bike in my driveway and went away to look for other pursuits that drew her attention. There was a dent to the rear of my vehicle that would require some money to have it fixed back into its original shape. ...

Pigeons always look for variety

One of my female pigeons left her nest and moved over to my neighbors pigeon Coop where she had taken a fancy for a male pigeon. I spoke to my neighbor and told him I shall trap my pigeon later that evening. But my neighbor like a budding lawyer told me “possession is 9/10th” of the law and since the pigeon was in his coop it is rightfully his. Now when I feed my pigeons I usually give a loud whistle for them to attend to their food. I told my brother to spray some green peas on the ground. My house was about 5 houses away from my neighbors where my pigeon had sought refuge with her boyfriend. When I gave a whistle my pigeon with 3 other pigeons left my neighbors coop to peck food at my coop. The neighbor was stunned seeing his 3 pigeons heading to my house. He mellowed and asked me to allow him to go over to my coop later in the evening to trap his birds. I used his same words and turned down his pleas despite his apologies. In the evening when the birds got into the coop I caught hol...

SENIOR CITIZENS AND THE QR CODE

Age is certainly catching up for me and my friends of my generation. Technology is moving fast and I find we are no longer able to fit into the fast paced modern age. The other day Ben, my friend and I set out to Bukit Damansara to meet up with an Investment banker. Both of us are retirees. I am in the 80's while Ben is a lot younger. We have been residents of KL for a long time, used to Pusat Bandar Damansara area as we had worked in that area many years ago. We decided to take a Grab to go to Bukit Damansara. As we got into the car and buckled up with the safety belt, the driver told us to scan the QR code a small piece of plastic stuck to each side of the window. It took some effort as the sticker was slightly bigger than a postage stamp while we are used to a big placard attached to the back of the front seat. It was quite a challenge to scan it as the car was in motion through some humps and bumps. To our surprise Pusat Bandar Damansara wasn't the place we knew. Our office...

My name is Gana

Search This Blog