I quit my job without a new job lined up. My last day was 25 May. It was the first time in my life to be unemployed. Surprisingly, I was not at all concerned. I thought I would take a month or two off to enjoy rural India. Without a job, technically, I was supposed to leave India immediately according to the rules of my work visa. I did not know if I would ever come back once I left.
I joined my friend in his village where his family manages mango and licchi farms. These are really forests/jungles, not farms or orchards that you would imagine in the US. It is a natural environment, and harvesting techniques are very primitive (climbing trees with bare feet, picking the mangos with a hook and stick, collecting the mangos by hand from the ground).
I had the intention of helping out on the farm, but in reality I didn't do anything useful. I just observed, relaxed and enjoyed. It was an amazing time for me. Not easy, June is one of the hottest months in India. I am used to India heat without AC, but here we didn't even have fans. There was no electricity in the farm, and only 30% of the time they had electricity in the village. Granted, I was not my prettiest self during my 4 weeks here. Mosquito bites, heat rash, bad hair... But I can't even explain how happy I was during this time, just having simple fun with good people. The family is Ami (Mom), Papa, 5 sons, 2 daughters, and one adopted little girl. But also there was the oldest son's wife/kids, so many aunts/uncles/cousins/friends/neighbors are constantly visiting. I love this tight community of people who take care of each other.
The family went to a lot of trouble to make me comfortable. They installed a hand-pump well in the farm, so I could drink 10L of water each day in the blistering 115F heat. They retrofitted one of the bathrooms in the village home with a western toilet and shower (even though I am accustomed to bucket showers and indian toilets now). Every meal that was sent to the farm in tiffins had the food that I liked best (roti only - no rice, omelet every morning, tomato and onion with every lunch and dinner). And the guys on the farm were constantly bringing me the best tree-ripened mangos. In return, I am bringing a fortune of gifts for them from the US.
Before long I was famous in the Uttar Pradesh village of 10,000 where I was maybe the first whitey ever. People were dropping by all day every day to get a glimpse of the "American Runaway". Few spoke english, so I didn't have to answer too many questions. I drove the bike back and forth between the farm and village, and went to the cigarette shop to buy smokes for the farm workers (not for me), and surely these are things that the village girls never do.
I did see a huge fight in the village where men were beating each other with big sticks. One of my friends was targeted and got a bad head injury. We brought him to the village home, and had to clean too much blood from the ground. Thank God he is OK. It scares me how dangerous it can be here. This family is my family now, and I worry for the safety of the young men.
Right now I am in US. After some time on the farm, I realized that I CAN'T leave India. So I accepted the job in Bangalore that i had previously turned down. Bangalore is not as good as Mumbai, but the job is really good. I am returning to India on 22 July.
Below are photos from my time on the mango farm.
I joined my friend in his village where his family manages mango and licchi farms. These are really forests/jungles, not farms or orchards that you would imagine in the US. It is a natural environment, and harvesting techniques are very primitive (climbing trees with bare feet, picking the mangos with a hook and stick, collecting the mangos by hand from the ground).
I had the intention of helping out on the farm, but in reality I didn't do anything useful. I just observed, relaxed and enjoyed. It was an amazing time for me. Not easy, June is one of the hottest months in India. I am used to India heat without AC, but here we didn't even have fans. There was no electricity in the farm, and only 30% of the time they had electricity in the village. Granted, I was not my prettiest self during my 4 weeks here. Mosquito bites, heat rash, bad hair... But I can't even explain how happy I was during this time, just having simple fun with good people. The family is Ami (Mom), Papa, 5 sons, 2 daughters, and one adopted little girl. But also there was the oldest son's wife/kids, so many aunts/uncles/cousins/friends/neighbors are constantly visiting. I love this tight community of people who take care of each other.
The family went to a lot of trouble to make me comfortable. They installed a hand-pump well in the farm, so I could drink 10L of water each day in the blistering 115F heat. They retrofitted one of the bathrooms in the village home with a western toilet and shower (even though I am accustomed to bucket showers and indian toilets now). Every meal that was sent to the farm in tiffins had the food that I liked best (roti only - no rice, omelet every morning, tomato and onion with every lunch and dinner). And the guys on the farm were constantly bringing me the best tree-ripened mangos. In return, I am bringing a fortune of gifts for them from the US.
Before long I was famous in the Uttar Pradesh village of 10,000 where I was maybe the first whitey ever. People were dropping by all day every day to get a glimpse of the "American Runaway". Few spoke english, so I didn't have to answer too many questions. I drove the bike back and forth between the farm and village, and went to the cigarette shop to buy smokes for the farm workers (not for me), and surely these are things that the village girls never do.
I did see a huge fight in the village where men were beating each other with big sticks. One of my friends was targeted and got a bad head injury. We brought him to the village home, and had to clean too much blood from the ground. Thank God he is OK. It scares me how dangerous it can be here. This family is my family now, and I worry for the safety of the young men.
Right now I am in US. After some time on the farm, I realized that I CAN'T leave India. So I accepted the job in Bangalore that i had previously turned down. Bangalore is not as good as Mumbai, but the job is really good. I am returning to India on 22 July.
Below are photos from my time on the mango farm.
Cots were a place to sit during the day, and our beds at night. Mine was covered with a mosquito net.
We made a special sweet rice dish to give to the village children. It was supposed to bring rains to help with the mango crop. So many kids came, it was really fun.
Swimming in the bhamba (irrigation canal) was the best way to cool off. I would swim in my pajamas, then keep them on until they dried. 2 hours of being cool.
Usually food was sent from the village home, but sometimes we made chicken at the farm. It was delicious.
Juned is raising a beautiful horse for Muharram. He ate some underwear and a motorcycle seat while at the farm (the horse, not Juned).
Haleem Biryani in Meerut. Meerut is a very very bad city. The biryani is very good though.
Visiting AK-47's home in the village
Drums to scare away the fruit bats from the licchi trees at night. Guys had to stay up all night in shifts to scare away the bats.
Laal kida (red insect) loves licchi trees. Everyone had a few rashes from these disgusting bugs pooping on them.
A jackfruit tree happened to be on our farm. I chopped a few down. We cooked it up for dinner. It was the first time my Indian family or me had jackfruit.
The farm also had chickens. We ate 2 to celebrate my acceptance of the job in Bangalore.
My birthday. Best birthday ever.
Post head shaving party. Everyone got 151 rupees and a hat for shaving their head.
Razi bought a new bike, a beautiful Royal Enfield Bullet. I tried to drive it, and fell over just trying to stand it up! But I did drive it after I recovered. I think a small bike is better for me...
