As things worked
out, however, I was able to learn a few basics about farming in my own
village at Parra.
My neighbours, the Kandolkars, are a peasant family and during the
rains they take to farming their own fields. They also do ploughing
work for others. Guru, the eldest son, has a fine pair of bullocks for
the purpose. It so happened that Guru was doing some masonry work at
our house and I was chatting with him about my sabbatical when he
casually asked me whether I would like to come ploughing with him. I
jumped at the offer even as he seemed a bit surprised that I had so
readily agreed. Next morning I was woken up early and we set out for
the fields which are quite close to our homes.
Holding the plough may appear a simple task but believe me it is not so
and calls for quite a lot of skill and stamina. The trick is to keep
the plough in the centre and avoid cutting the hoofs of the animals at
the same time. One needs to put the right amount of pressure on the
handle as the plough should neither be too deep nor too shallow in the
soil. Also one has to constantly keep one's eye on the bullocks to
direct them to turn around at the end of the field and to lift the
plough when it reaches a bund. Lastly (and this is most important) the
bullocks must recognise you or else they won't take orders from you.
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