The Pond That Was Dug By Hands! How An Elderly Couple From Madhya Pradesh Turned Barren Land Into Green Zone
If Dashrath Manjhi's determination made him make way through mountain, Deepchand and Gauribai dug for water successfully on a dry, parched land where nothing grew.
Published : October 31, 2025 at 1:24 PM IST
Tikamgarh (Madhya Pradesh): What, for years, was beyond anyone's imagination, Deepchand Adivasi and his wife Gauribai accomplished through sheer determination and hard work in five years. The elderly couple successfully dug up a pond and used to it change their fortune.
At 65, when most people slow down, this couple from Jamunia Khera village, about 28 kilometres from Tikamgarh, decided to take on the earth, that was known to be dry and parched. They had been struggling to use it for farming but due to lack of water, earning anything from it seemed out of question.
Five years ago, poverty hung heavy over the family and the couple was on the brinks with the very thought on how to feed the family. "We had no option but to remain hungry," recalls Deepchand, his weathered face bearing a faint smile.
That was when Gauribai, his wife seeded the idea in him to do something that seemed impossible at the first thought. “Let us dig a pond. If water comes out, we can do farming and our land will turn green,” she suggested. And the trust on the partner was so deep that Deepchand simply picked up a shovel and got going.
It took them five years, day after day, under the scorching Tikamgarh sun and through monsoon rains, to finally complete the digging.
After backbreaking effort for years, the earth relented. Water gushed up and lit up the couple's life. Without wasting any time, they started farming on their patch and slowly the land turned into a patchwork of green where crops grew abundantly.
Since the pond has not been plastered with cement, heavy rains caused the soil to cave in at places. “We will do some repair when the water level goes down,” says Deepchand. “For now, we are happy it is full and helps us to meet our basic and farming needs,” he adds.
"We are not worried now about sustaining ourselves. We have a green patch and grow grains," says Gauribai.
Despite being eligible, the couple does not receive any government assistance - no housing, no pension, no ration card. “Schemes are for poor people like us, but we have not got anything," says Deepchand, who is happy that he does not have to depend on anyone to survive.
When he is not farming, he goes to other cities for labour work. The income helps run the house and the couple has started repaying old debts.
He and Gauribai have four daughters and one son, all married. “We married our daughters by taking loan and repaid them gradually through farming and hard work,” the couple says.
Today, their only wish is to see the pond permanently built and protected. “We have slogged to get water to our land. This is our only hope. We want it to last forever so that the family will not go hungry,” says Gauribai.
Today Deepchand Adivasi and Gauribai sit next to their water-filled pond proving that if determination can be personified, it is through people like them.
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