A Glimpse of Rural Life: Traditional Fuel Storage and Fieldwork in Village Kurri

A Glimpse of Rural Life, Women’s Work and Traditional Fuel Storage

During one of our village visits for a field survey, we came across this simple yet interesting structure on the outskirts of Village Kurri, Aryanagar.

At first glance, it may look like nothing more than a mound of cow dung. But for the rural household, such a structure—traditionally known as a Bitoda—had an important practical purpose.

Cow dung was not merely waste in rural life. It was carefully collected, shaped into dung cakes and dried in the sun. Once dry, these cakes were stored in such mounds or storage units and later used as fuel for cooking.

During a field visit to Village Kurri, Aryanagar — interacting with rural women and documenting their everyday lives.

Fieldwork is not only about questionnaires and data. It is also about observing the small details of everyday life—how people live, work, store their resources, care for their animals and make use of what nature provides.

Rural women travelling by bullock cart towards the fields—an everyday scene from village life.

The Bitoda – An Old Rural Practice

In villages, every part of the household's resources had its use. Cattle provided milk, while their dung became an important source of fuel and was also used in other traditional household and agricultural practices.

The making and storing of dung cakes was largely associated with women’s daily work. Collecting dung, mixing and shaping it, drying the cakes and finally storing them required considerable time and effort.

What appears to be a simple mound therefore tells us a much larger story about women's labour, traditional energy sources and the resourcefulness of rural households.

A Moment from Our Field Visit

I remember seeing this Bitoda during one of our visits to the village for our survey. It was around 11:00 in the morning when we reached the village.

The surroundings were full of ordinary rural activity. Women were busy with their daily work, and a cart could be seen moving towards the fields.

These seemingly ordinary scenes often become the most memorable part of fieldwork. When we go to a village for research, we may begin with questionnaires, schedules and data collection, but along the way we also encounter the everyday life of the people—their work, their homes, their animals, their fields and their traditional ways of managing resources.

This little Bitoda was one such glimpse into that world.

A quiet village scene: men sitting beside their cattle, with a large stack of dried branches stored nearby as traditional household fuel.

A traditional stack of dried branches stored as household fuel, a familiar sight in rural Haryana.

A traditional cow-dung storage structure on the outskirts of Village Kurri, reflecting the rural practice of preparing and storing dung cakes as fuel.

More Than Just a Photograph

Today, when many traditional practices are disappearing or changing, photographs like these become small records of a rural way of life.

The Bitoda reminds us of a time when rural households depended much more on locally available resources and made use of almost everything they had.

For me, this photograph is not simply a picture of a cow-dung mound. It is a memory of village life, fieldwork and the often-unnoticed labour of rural women.

Sometimes, the most ordinary things tell the most meaningful stories.

Happy Wednesday! 🌿