Exodus under a blistering sun in Rayalaseema

In Byluppala village of Kurnool district, four-year-old Nandini and five-year-old Harshavardhan scampered around their house, their excited shrieks drowning out their grandmother Malakka Hanumanthamma’s gentle reprimand for playing under the blistering summer sun.

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At 80, Hanumanthamma struggles to care for the two children as well as her ailing husband, Timmaiah, alone, but it can’t be helped. Her three sons and daughters-in-law work in Hyderabad as labourers and won't be back until after June, when the monsoon is well under way.

It's the norm in Byluppala, where 40-odd families leave behind their young children and elderly parents every summer to migrate to various parts of the State and beyond in an age-old tradition known as “Suggi”, which persists in the parched land of Rayalaseema. The practice is especially prevalent in the drought-prone Adoni and Pathikonda divisions of Kurnool district.“Even | used to migrate, but now | am too old to work, so | stay back in the village with the children,” says Hanumanthamma. Nandini and Harshavardhan are the children of Hanumanthamma’s youngest son.The money her sons send and the monthly social security pension keep the household afloat, but loneliness is taking a toll on the elderly couple. “I can only hear my sons [over mobile phone], but not see them,” she says, in a voice heavy with grief. When unwell, she goes to a nearby Primary Health Centre (PHC). “If | can’t even go that far, somebody [neighbours] will take care of me. If | need money, my sons transfer it to someone in the village or the doctor treating me,” she adds.

Suggi is driven primarily by Rayalaseema’s dependence on rain-fed agriculture. Land, traditionally regarded as the cornerstone of stable life, fails to make an impact here.Hanumathamma’s family, too, has a few acres, but her sons can only cultivate it between the monsoon period of June to September, and even that depends on the rainfall. The only crop they can grow is cotton.