The Better India · 11 days ago

How Sharvan Patel Helped Build 130 Ponds for Rajasthan’s Thirsty Wildlife

A wildlife photographer watched blackbucks stumble toward dust where water once pooled, and in that moment of collective thirst, Sharvan Patel made a promise the desert would remember. He began building khaiilis-shallow rainwater ponds-across Rajasthan's parched sanctuaries, discovering that survival architecture requires more than cement and soil; it demands tankers in summer, crowd-funded rupees, and the patient faith that animals will return to what humans restore. Nearly 1,000 strangers now give Re 1 daily to keep water alive through months when the land offers none. "Wildlife appears where there is water," Sharvan notes, a truth both obvious and revolutionary in its implications-that presence follows provision, that ecosystems hinge on small mercies repeated. Across 130 ponds, his cameras capture what charity looks like when translated into hoofprints at dawn.