Excerpts of Village Life

There are many amongst us who have never been to a countryside and others who have not breathed in a clean green environment which gives the pure 'mitti ki khushboo' or heart warming fragrance of our Motherland.

Here in this post I will try to take you in a village of Punjab and bring in front of you some excerpts from village life. Last to last weekend I went to village Dhaliwal, near Noormahal, Punjab. Was good to see that there are still villages which are far from the city/industry influence yet uses all the modern methods of farming. Inspite of using modern methods it has such a clean pollution free environment that I loved to be in that environment in first breath.














Don't believe me?? What else can be a better example to show than this photograph I clicked. Just have a look and lets see if you can guess what is it. Anyone guessed? Looks like a pond isn't it? But wait.. its not a clean pond of water .. its a place where in village all the waste water is collected and you wont believe I could stand near this waste water collection(called as 'chappar' in Punjabi) for hours without covering my nose or making any sort of faces. It wasn't stinky at all.. And another good thing I would like to mention is that we stepped out of our car at the place this photograph was taken and I just loved my pollution free first breath :)

The very next thing I had my eyes on was a 'gadda' better called as bullock cart. Bullocks are attached to its front and they move pulling this wooden frame to carry the load. First I thought that people here still use this old way of carrying load but was relieved to find out that this is not used much and is used to carry some stuff from house to farm and why not its easy and pollution free way to move load for small distances. Moreover it doesn't require any sort of petrol.













Just beside that gadda was a shed made where cows were merrymaking in their own houses.. Yes you guessed it right someone has made shed for its cows near his farms. And if you are wondering what are those machines used for in the photograph, then let me have the honor to tell you that those are used to make food for cows. Its feeded from the back end and the round wheel is rotated manually by hand which contains sharp blades that cuts the feed(or pathe as we call). Its really a good physical exercise to do which keeps people fit and healthy and its fun to do too. Aaahh.. i remember my childhood.. We all cousins used to get together and had to have a race to see who does faster and longer and prepares feed for cows. Wish to relive those days once again. :)
















Now before I get lost into my dreamland its time to show you what the lady is upto in this photograph. If anyone one of you is wondering if thats the shit she is working with then you guessed it right. Its cow dung.. source of manure in fields and source of fuel in kitchens. The lady here is making 'pathis' thats what is called in Punjabi. As you can clearly see the shape given to them, as some of the cowdung is given a shape of a pathi its kept aside to dry. Once dried in sun its used as fuel in kitchens. Just in case if your thought process is wondering then let me quench your thirst and tell you that yes, I have even worked like the lady in this picture when I was a small kid who loved to help her grandmother.














This one clearly shows what it is. A farmer ploughing his fields with a tractor while the white migratory birds are resting peacefully. No wonder birds love to go to villages than to stay in cities. I wish I was a bird who could easily breathe in a clean fresh air. Uncle whom we visited also told that there were two peacocks often seen somewhere near this field but my tough luck.. there was none seen that day :(


















You all might have seen this hut shaped kind of structures in fields while traveling. These are known as 'koop' in Punjabi. The seeds from crop is removed and the leftover remains or stalks of that crop are collected and stored in it(leftover is known as 'tudi' in Punjabi).

This kind of structure protects it from eroding away with rain or wind and is used for many purposes one of the major one being mixing in cows feed.













How can I not tell you about the plane shaped water tanks made on roof top in many houses in villages. Houses whose sons are gone abroad can be easily identified.. you just need to check the roof top if it has a plane shaped water tank. Of course it isn't the case with everyone but yes most of them are like that.

But I was astonished to see this plane of Air Canada, and am sure you will also be.. Why? Because its not just a water tank shaped plane, its a room. Yes, a room made in the shape of an airplane . Strange yet true. A flight not to be missed!















We don't need any water purifiers!
I am not saying this but this photograph is. Carefree and life full of physical exercise leads to a healthy health. These children and all other villagers who dont have any purifier but a handpump in their houses dont require any aquagaurd. They drink natural and pure water. Aren't they leading a healthier life than us?

By the way what does a child want? No restrictions and full time masti.. that is to live a childhood full of kiddish things.. No stopping from anything just letting children to be children.. I wonder if I have spent such a care free life. Have you?

We and our government are lazy but villagers are not. Have you ever seen rain water harvesting anywhere? I have and its always been in a village not only because people have a lot of space over there but because they know the true value of Water.

All of us have seen a brick factory and for those who haven't can see it in this photograph. But what many of you might not have seen is water collected before it. This is not done through pumps and stuff but its rain water which is collected. Does this not sound great?















Finally we started from village for entering into an unpeaceful environment which is full of educated intellectuals but lacks the basic sense of living to keep our environment clean and beautiful.

Wonder why we call ourselves as educated when we could not even do 25% of what villagers do to live in a healthy and pollution free environment saving all what they can, not only consuming but also trying to return to Mother Nature all what they can.

This was a small excerpt of village life from my and my camera's eye. My experience in being a village had always been excellent. There are a lot more things which occur in a daily village life. I didnt had time to capture all those but I tried all what I could to show my readers.

Have you ever been to a village? How was the experience? Do share your views/thoughts/experiences with me by just typing it out in the comment box.