“The amount of time this generation spends on phone is the amount of time, I spend on farming. I recently learnt that city bred kids are sleeping at 2 am. I actually wake up by 3.30 am to feed the cattle and take them to the farm. I start ploughing by 5 am, work till 1 pm without any break. Around 1pm, we have buttermilk rice with mango pickle for lunch and get back to farming again. We work till dusk and retire for the day. Sometimes, we don’t even know how time flies by. We are always immersed in work. I am into corn maze and millet farming. I have been doing this for the last 50 years.
I was a notorious child. I never paid heed to my teachers or parents. I used to indulge in frivolous activities without studying. I learnt to be responsible the hard way. Once I crawled back on the right path, I took up farming just like my father.
Well, life has its own ups and downs and I have become complacent with life. I seen the best and the worst, so my heart can bear anything that is thrown at me. Despite the downs, I am glad about the ups. God bless the person who invented tractor and organic pesticides. It was quite tedious to plough the farm with the help of Ox. Tractor does the job in the fraction of its time. I don’t use harmful pesticides so I use the organic alternative.
My children are also into farming now. They help me with my farm sometimes while taking care of their own. My life just revolves around my farm and my kids. My only prayer everyday is to have sufficient rains and borewell water. Life is simple that way.”