Our View:
It was hot and dry as we drank deeply from the bottled mineral water and stepped out of our air conditioned vehicle to walk the last mile to the tiny village. Udhav, as it was known was one of the extremely rare villages in the region without electricity only four miles away from where a cluster of high tension towers announced that the district was fast moving towards urbanisation. Election promises had speeded up the rural electrification work in the area and engineers were frantically working to meet a deadline barely a month away. With a population of less than 200 families living in thatched huts, Udhav was possibly one of the few villages in rural India that still did not have the metalled road or the electric bulb.
The walk through the dirt tracks besides the green & browning fields was surprisingly easy. The lush fields, ready for harvesting were swaying in a easterly breeze, heavy with drooping stocks pregnant with wheat. A few hundred yards to the left a giant combined harvester was moving in towards a neighbouring field, the footprint of mechanisation dwarfing the vast stretches of golden brown grain fields that went as far as eye could see. The draught kept us cool and fresh despite the blazing sun above. Soon we were close to the cluster of the mangrove trees and the village well that nurtured the human habitation.
Keeping our backpacks & bags on the wide brick lined parapet around the well, we looked in, almost all at the same time, at the depths below. Not far, the water was crystal clear, inviting and cool, with a few freshly dropped leaves, from the “neem(margosa) ” ……..a tree famous for its herbal remedies, floating on the surface. The bucket latched on to the pulley at the well had only to be freed as it hurtled down with surprising momentum to create a splash. A little bit of manoeuvring and we had filled the bucket enough for washing our by now dusty hands and faces. However the sweet taste of the well water was so compelling that instead of using it as a face wash we drank deeply, so deeply that it satiated both the tired body and mind.
Sixty hours later when we set off to return home, this journey to rural India had also touched our souls. No lights, no laptops, no cars, no shopping yet so much to savour and rejoice. There could be no better way to celebrate of the earth hour, the return to nature, that will be forever embedded in our hearts. I look forward to such celebrations each year.
This is our opinion
We could be wrong. Tell us if we are & why? We encourage diverse opininon
even if it is from commercially interested groups opposed to our thinking.
No comments:
Post a Comment