Seasons of Punjab:Summers--- Today 1. A lot has changed besides the human values.Prosperity of thegreen revolution not only weakened the bonds but also the soil. The fields that lay fallow for months awaiting the monsoons get no respite today. The earthworms so important to the soil enrichment are extinct as are the vultures, squirrels and sparrows, all consumed by Mans greed and pesticides. There is never a fallow field in Punjab today. Paddy follows wheat and potatoes follow Paddy and wheat next.The cycle is unending. The Peepals & Bargats are almost gone as are the wells that quenched a parched throat of the weary traveler. No one has the time to rest in the shade or play a game ofsweep. Cars, buses and mo bikes clog the rutted roads as each vies to over take the other.Tempers run high and the cordiality is long gone. The tube wells spew jets of water and every year the water table recedes by 25 feet. The loan sharks sell dreams and keep the farmer in debt. Outwardly, prosperous but inwardly bankrupt the green revolution has gone sour! 2. We have fans, coolers and even air conditioners...but where is the electricity. People have forgotten to sleep under the stars. Joint-ness has scummed to nucleus family greed. Noodles, pizzas and colas are now staple; Sawaian, karah, Doodh-Soda, sakkar-Ghayoo all forgotten. People watch their cholesterol as exercise and physical work has been assigned to tractors and Bihari labour. Oh where have those simple laid back and homogeneous summers gone !! 3. The Loo(hot summer breeze) so essential to the winnowing blows no more, kids no longer get prickly heat eruptions and who wears Khaadi anymore. There are no drought animals, bulls/ox are despised. Diesel fed tractors are cared for lovingly! Fridges have replaced the Surahi and Matka and the water is no longer sweet. There is nothing seasonal anymore, you get everything the year around. The beers a delicate fruit of summers is despised as a poor mans diet,Mangoes and Liticihes come from Saharanpur and Malda. local tapka mangoes, watermelons & melons extinct. Good old summers gone. Even the Summer School vacations have become truncated. Where has all that goodness gone..sacrificed at the alter of prosperity!!
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 06:20:34 +0000
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