India is a land of villages. More than seventy five percent of the population lives in villages. The main occupation in villages is agriculture. Entire family works in the fields in the agricultural work of ploughing, sowing, watering and reaping. Ours is a family of farmers.
Ours is a family of five members. Our house is in the one corner of our field. My father is fond of keeping a cow at home. Last year he bought a pair of bullocks and pure white cow with a small calf from a village animal fair. In the morning and evening he prepares fodder to feed them. He cleans the shed daily in the morning. Then he goes in the shed again with a bucket. He washes the teats with water and milks the cow gently and leaves some milk for her little calf. He takes his bath then and within half an hour he is ready for his simple breakfast. In the breakfast he takes two loaves of bread, butter and butter milk. Now he is ready to go to field. He leaves for the field with bullocks. He works very hard in the field till noon. Then he takes rest under some tree.
My mother carries his lunch to the field. It is generally four or five big chapatis, some dry vegetable and three to four glasses of lassi. He rests up to 4 o'clock and again starts work which ends uptil sun sets. He returns home milks the cow and gives her the fodder. Evening time is a gossip time with the family members. He goes to bed by ten.
The life of an Indian farmer is very hard. He has to bear hot winds during summer season, bone eating winds in the winter and rains etc. In return he gets very little. He leads a miserable life. Now government is trying for their upliftment and bringing out some changes to improve their lives. As the Indian farmer is dependent on rains for the survival of their crops, if rain fails their crop fails and they have to bear all the risks. Now government has started the. Crop Insurance Scheme.
