I went to visit my friend in a small village/town near Bikaner called Loonkaransar. I got to see some very unique places and also got to taste some amazing food at their home.
First question in my head was, how can we have a farm in a desert. How can you grow crops on sand. The answer was simple. All that was required was water. And some fertiliser. Once water is available plants can grow. Basic biology. Once the Indira Gandhi Canal was built, it allowed faming to flourish in Rajasthan.
The mustard plants with its green leaves and yellow flowers against the blue sky is a killer combination. And here, you can see acres of it. 😂
We got to taste some fresh Jujube/Ber fruits in the farm. The tree had humongous quantities of fruits on it. Personally I am not a big fan of the fruit. But it was good to taste it in the farm.
I was walking and Maneesh just plucked out a radish. I later noticed that I was standing amidst so many Radish plants. It was a new experience for me to pluck out fresh radish from a sandy farm. I liked it.
The temperature had reached sub zero in the night and the radish had frozen. The leaves had ice on them. The white colour on the edges of the leaves is actually ice.
Since the previous night had gotten extremely cold it caused the mustard crop to freeze and dwindle. This meant that the yield this year would be less. Three to four months of work wasted in a night and you have no control over it. Maneesh’s father Mr.Tara Chand was saying that farming humbles you and makes you understand that you can’t control a lot of things around you. Yet you need to do your work and hope for the best. If you don’t get it this time, next time god will give it.
It was a jolting moment for me. This is what is said in philosophical talks and also in the Bhagawat Gita. We attend lectures to understand it. However the farmer lives it on a day to day basis
We later went to the next farm. It was not an irrigated farm. And we could immediately see that it was nothing but a desert. It has dry and sandy soil and it’s used only during the monsoon time. So, if you want to see the desert, all you need to do is to go to the neighbouring non-irrigated farm.
The time at the farm was very new and also very enlightening. As a person mostly brought up in a city, even understanding the farmers world was difficult for me. I liked the experience.
Endless thoughts 