ABSTRACT
From November to May or June, the village lands lie brown and arid, the wells are dry, the streams brackish and low. The thick black clay hardens, cracks, and turns to a fine dust that filters everywhere. It is a time of inactivity, barring a few desultory pursuits, and the lack of income from agriculture production brings idleness to the non-agricultural sector as well. The importance of the single resource, land, in the thinking of the villagers imposes a severe seasonal limitation to their conception of the alternative occupations available to them. Although many look for laboring jobs in the nearby towns, the chances for success are limited. When their land is unproductive, they can find few ways to productively employ their existing capital goods or labor; their expectations are therefore almost totally bound up in their hopes for a heavy crop of rice in the year ahead. There are several things which reinforce this kind of outlook, but the traditional reliance on the yield of the land is undoubtedly the main factor in the villagers’ acceptance of the seasonal idleness enforced by the lack of water.
