It’s wheat harvesting time here on Navdanya’s farm so I’ve spent the last (full) five days in the field using every bit of my body – squatting, chopping, hauling, bundling, and balancing more wheat on my head than I ever thought possible. My hands are cut up, my feet are dirty, my thighs, back, and arms are sore… and it feels amazing.
Everything on the farm – and most of India – is done by hand. It’s been an interesting experience learning to cut wheat with the mighty sickle doing the “squat and waddle” (as I’ve termed it) – you squat, grab and handful of grain at the base, give it a quick blow with the sickle, pile it to the side, and then waddle ahead…all day long. It’s exhausting yet strangely addicting.
Aside from my adventures in the field, I spent a bit of time cleaning the grain this morning with Bija Didi – the grandmother-like guru of seeds and all things related. After the grain is bundled and threshed, they lay it out to dry and then sift through it to clean it off before storing. It’s phenomenal that despite how labor intensive agriculture here is, so much gets done. I’m not saying that the team of Indian workers I’ve gotten to know in the field could rival a combine…but they certainly impressed me.
I’ve been constantly in awe at what the human body is capable of doing and how far away most of our jobs in the West take us from experiencing that. The sense of satisfaction I’ve gotten this week is one that I certainly don’t get from sitting in front of a computer, finishing up a report – not to discredit report writing. What made the satisfaction so unique was that at the end of each day, I got to share it with others – because with every task we had to rely on each other for help.
But what has left the biggest impression on me this week was the sense of community that gets instantly built when you’re faced with a physical task no one person can accomplish. There wasn’t competition to see who was the fastest or the strongest and there was this general recognition that each person had different strengths and abilities to fill different roles. Extra hands were gladly welcomed and chai and water breaks are as important as finishing. Obviously, I’m overlooking how hard – on so many levels – farming is be it by hand or machine…but, regardless, it’s been a good week of learning, of helping, of doing. I dig it.
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