Mandela Chhota, Rajasthan

Mandela Chhota is a small village 6km from Fatehpur, Shekhawati (District: Sikar) on Fatehpur-Salasar road. Access to nearby town, Fatehpur, is good and transportation means are adequate.

Population of the village is around 2000 comprising two religions, Hindus and Muslims, with almost half population of each. There is remarkable level of religious harmony between the two religious groups and it is quite common that these two groups celebrate festivals with each other. Hindu families belong to mostly Jat community with different gotras such as Budania, Dhayal, Godara and theterwal.

Villagers are mostly farmers but lately they are shifting to service and trade related occupations. A large segment of working people work in Arab counties.

The village has two primary schools. There is also senior secondary level school in Mandela Bara, Just 200 meter from the village. Mandeal Bara is its sister village and distance between the two is merely 100 meter.

Here summers are hot and arid with temperatures reaching as high as 50C. In these times, sand storms and hot dry winds, called Loo, are common phenomena. In months of May and June, Loo becomes unbearable and may cause heatstroke. Rainfall is scanty and so is vegetation. Landscape consists bare sand dunes and scanty bushes. Winters are severe cold with minimum temperature falling to 0C in January. The crops grown are mainly Bajra, Mung, Moth, Til and Gawar. Famines occur frequently.