|
SETTLEMENTS:
“A dwelling unit is called settlement”. Hussaini developed about five hundred years ago. First of all Musofir immigrated to this area from Wakhan (Afghanistan) and settled here.
SETTLEMENT LOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION
People have been very particular about the location of their dwellings and giving importance to the sitting and situation of houses.
Old time settlements were located in the center of the village and agriculture area surrounded it, but in the past 30-50 years many new settlements have been constructed in different places of agricultural land.
The settlement is of dispersed type because the villagers site their houses on their individual fields. The area also remained safe and secure, and therefore the people did not find it necessary to cluster their houses together in selected sites. Thus the houses are scattered throughout the village from one end to the other end.
4.5 DESIGN OF HOUSE
The important house type of the village is Wakhi house type. The Wakhi house is the combination of all human activities in one open connected space. The whole structure is erected on five central pillars to support the roof. The fireplace is in the middle of the floor. The different functions of houses are located around the central fireplace (buxari)(gafe). The house has a lantern ceiling type. The roofs have chimney holes (ricen) of about nine inches in diameter, which is the only way to let in light. During rain or snow a lid being placed over it, closes the ventilator. The roof is completely flat from end to end.
The inside of the house is divided into different sections to be used for different purpose e-g. siting (nikard), sleeping (razh), store (ganz) etc. The villagers have also a separate portion for guests called “Bangula”. This mostly comprise two to three rooms for guests.
Next to the entrance on the left side we find the room or storeroom. The entrance Kunj comprises the lowest level of the house as well as the place, which is called Yorch, where all footwear has to be left on the right and the left side two elevated platforms to be found called Razh, which are utilized for sitting during the day and for sleeping at night. When one enters the house the right platform is assigned to men and the left one to women. Behind central fireplace there is the cooking platforms called Dildung. This is the special sphere for the housewife for long houses. She is occupied with preparation of food for the whole family, the preparation and distribution of food is done here and she can survey the whole scene. Behind the cooking platform there is Chikish and store, which is reserved for housewife. There all utensils are displayed in a cupboard Trak and edible are stored in special containers of the store. Guests are asked to rest against the pillars supporting the flat roof and to sit in the corner of their respective platform (Dildong Ben), which is the place closet to fire in order to importance. The animal portion called Ghel is built at some distance from the house. It consists of three to four rooms. There is also a room for storage of fodder called wueshdoon.
GRAVEYARD
There is a particular place reserved for graveyard, located in the north of the village on a high land along the KKH.
HOUSES ACCORDING TO AGE
Age of the house reflects when was a settlement established. It was found out that the different houses were constructed because of various reasons. Although the old settlements of Hussaini village is eroded by Shimshal flood in early 1960s, but some houses are still there, an age of more than three hundred years old.
The recent houses constructed in the past 10 years includes 25 % of the total houses, showing the trend of new buildings it means there is high trend of new buildings. The second important category are of those houses, whose ages are above 50 years and above, those constitute 22 % of the total houses, it means there are oldest buildings mostly people live here by birth.
There are 25 % of the total houses, these houses were built of following reasons due to:
One of the reason to be the family extension also because of the higher
families have broken into small units, who keeping in view their desire for separate living, have launched new houses.
The income of different families has augmented in the recent years. The flow
of money has encouraged a desire in many of them to built houses with considerable modern amenities.
Many older houses were demolished and the present ones have been raised on
Their foundation, this reflecting a trend to live in better houses.
STRUCTURE OF HOUSES/HOUSING PATTERN ACCORDING TO BUILDING MATERIAL
Houses are classified on the basis of their material. According to their structure, the houses of the study area can be classified into two types of houses, kacha, and pacca.
5.2.1 KATCHA HOUSES
Kacha houses are those, which are constructed from mud, stone and wooden beams. Mostly mud is used in construction of walls, wooden beams and pillars and hay is used for roofing. Materials used for construction of above-mentioned building are stones, mud, hay, and wood. Wood and hay is provided locally. Poplar trees are grown abundantly in the area, which are used for construction purposes.
In the study area mostly, roof of the katcha houses are constructed using wood, hay and mud. The percentage of katcha house in the study area is 48 %.
PACCA HOUSES
Pacca houses are constructed using stones, bricks, and cement, and the roof is constructed using wood. In the study area 24 % are pacca. The percentage of pacca houses is less than katcha houses.
5.3 NEW TREND IN CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES
In the past the houses were built in a manner that the houses and the animals rooms were attached together, but at present they are built separately.
The houses were kacha till some year's back, while Pacca houses are constructed at present materials like cement, tile etc. are abundantly used in construction of houses. The old trend seems to have finished and the people very keenly adopt modern ways.
In Hussaini 98% of the room walls are constructed of stones, while the bricks, is used only in 2% of the houses.
5.4 TYPE OF HOUSES
It is further divided into single and double storey.
5.4.1 SINGLE STORY HOUSES
In Hussaini 47% houses are single storey houses in the region while the new trend does dot encourage the old design houses in the region.
DOUBLE STORY HOUSES (BILDI + MARA)
Although, there is no concept of double storey houses in the village, but in traditional houses, the upper portion store (Mara) is used for storage of dry fruits and other needs of life. While another portion (Bildi) is used for sleeping in summer season, and also use for the prevention of dry fruits like dry apricot etc. in rainy days.
In the study area 53 % houses are double storey types (house including Mara and Bildi). These are mostly kacha houses.
5.5 LIVING ROOMS
The traditional living rooms (houses) are used for multi purposes i.e sleeping, dining, sitting, cooking food, and storage of foodstuffs.
The field study show that 65 % houses have two or more living rooms per household, while 35 % houses having one living room or single traditional open house. Average number of living room is 2 while the density of living room is 4.06 per house.
5.6 BATHROOM AND TOILETS
According to this field survey 44 % houses have toilet system and 23 % have attached bathes, mostly in modern houses.
5.7 GUEST ROOMS
In the study area guestroom comprises 40 % of the total household. It also seems that some modern houses have an annexed guestroom with traditional house and attached bathroom for their personal guests.
5.8 ANIMAL SHED
Animal shed (Ghel) plays a vital role in their lives. Since keeping of cattle is common, therefore they need space for their sheds. They are found in different shapes. In most of the cases, a number of small rooms are found in the corner of the cultivable fields.
5.9 HOUSING FACILITIES / UTILITIES
Almost all the houses in Hussaini have the facilities of electricity and fuel.
Water Supply, Electricity, Fuel Consumption
5.9.1 WATER SUPPLY
Drinking water is obtained from glacier and piped water only in summer season, because the glacier water freezes in winter for three months. Therefore the villagers meets their need of water from the Hunza River. It is one of the main problems of the village.
5.9.2 FUEL CONSUMPTION
There are five categories of fuel used for cooking and heating purposes. The important source of fuel is as follows:
Fire wood, Electricity heater, Gas Cylinder, Coal
5.9.2.a FIRE WOOD
It is extensively used as a source of energy in Hussaini. Almost al the villagers have there own-planted forests called "Zakh" thorn is obtained from three different sources:
That which is brought from natural vegetation surrounded the village. It is still used by those, who are financially poor.
1. That which is obtained from the planted forests.
2. That which is purchased from outside, this trend is increasing day by day, with the improved transportation system. However only economically sound people can afford to purchase the wood from market.
5.9.2.b ELECTRIC HEATER
Electric heaters are used for heating and cooking purpose throughout the year. Economically sound people mostly use it, but it's also consumed by the low income people too.
5.9.2.c GAS CYLINDER
Gas cylinder is used as a source of energy. Gas cylinder is brought from Gilgit and China.
5.9.2.d COAL
In winter because of intense cold, coal is an important source of energy. It is used for heating purpose and it is also brought from China.
SOURCE OF LIGHT
Electricity is available in the village. Every house is facilitated with electricity in Hussaini, but in Zarabod there is no electricity available. Due to the lack of infrastructure like road, bridge water supply, and electricity, Zarabod is a seasonal settlement for the inhabitants of Hussaini.
The electricity is supplied by Khyber hydel Power station that is far away from Hussaini. This station has a capacity of 4oo-k.w. and for Hussaini it supplies 50 k.w. electricity.
5.11 DOMESTIC GADGETS
Different domestic gadgets reflect the economic situation of a study area. In the study area nine types of domestic gadgets are found in which radio, iron oven etc. are common.
In Hussaini 83 % household have radio, 71 % electric iron, while 96 % of the household have sewing machine. As most of ladies sew for themselves. T. V. and V.C.R. is watched in 5 % household, and Dish is found in 3 % of the total household.
|
SETTLEMENT PATTERN
Settlement pattern concerns with the character of the settlement that is weather they are clustered or dispersed pattern.
In the study area there are three types of settlement patterns.
Clustered, linear settlement pattern, and dispersed settlement pattern
CLUSTERED PATTERN
In clustered pattern all the houses are grouped and attached to one another. In the study area, clustered pattern has developed at four different places.
LINEAR SETTLEMENT PATTERN
Settlement constructed in a line along the road, come in linear settlement pattern. In the study area, eight houses were constructed in linear type, along the un-metalled road.
DISPERSED SETTLEMENT PATTERN
These types of pattern are found to the north and south of the village.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
