break for lunch and rest. He too would eat his tiffin with them. The memories from his recent past often used to haunt Joshi at this hour. He would recall his comfortable days with the UN and wonder whether it was really right for him to be in this setting. He suggested to the labourers that they together might sing some bhajans (hymns) every day after lunch. They loved the idea. It was always a part of their culture. They began to bring with them their musical instruments and everyone used to enjoy those bhajans. One reason he suggested that idea was to keep his mind occupied, so that he could escape from those tormenting thoughts at that hour. But it also brought him closer to his labourers. It was shocking that such abysmal backwardness should prevail in a village barely 40 kilometers away from a city like Pune which prided itself on being called Oxford of the East. Electricity connection was available in just a handful of places and often power outage made it redundant. After sunset, entire village would plunge in darkness. There would be a kerosene lantern in homes but in that flickering flame hardly any work was possible, forget about any entertainment. In absence of power, water from the well could not be pumped. Diesel pumps were used by those who could afford but even diesel was in short supply. To get it you had to procure a permit, which was never easy. Quota used to be for just twenty liters a month; that was just 700 milliliters a day. It was hardly enough even to wash the pump! So adulteration in diesel was rampant. This adulterated diesel used to damage the engine. Then one had to spend on repairs. If you didn’t run the pump, you could not water your crop and in hot weather the crop could easily get burnt. Not a single home had a toilet. Even ladies had to go out in the fields searching for some dark corner. No home had tap water. Even outside, potable water was not available. People 80
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Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
