Cutting korai in watercolour

Editor's note

Anushree Ramanathan is a student of class 7 at Anand Niketan School (Satellite) in Ahmedabad. She read M. Palani Kumar’s story published in PARI on April 9, 2021 - ‘These korai fields are my second home’ and was inspired to create this watercolour painting. She says: “I wondered how the women could lift 10 heavy bundles of grass on their heads. I thought they were very strong and determined women. I was surprised at how little they earn.” Palani’s photo story is set on the banks of the Cauvery river in Tamil Nadu’s Karur district. Some of these women have been doing this job all their life; a life of hard work with very little pay.