A Visit to a Village:
More than seventy per cent of the Indian population lives far from the madding crowd. They live in villages. There are more than six lakh villages in India. India is thus the land of villages. To know about villages is to know about India. This is what our History teacher told us. This aroused our anxiety to see a village.
Our dream was realized one day. Our History Teacher agreed to take us to a village. We hired a matador van. We were thirty students. We started before sunrise. It was temperately cold. We had hardly gone a few miles away when the sun appeared in the east. It looked like a big ball of fire. It looked bigger than its usual size. It was indeed fascinating.
We were amidst green fields. Wheat plants were waving their heads in the cold breeze. The dew drops were shining like pearls. It was the sun rays that lent beauty to them. There were big rows of trees at places. Usually, every field had a few trees. Birds were chirping in them. Some of the birds were flying in rows. The sky was clear. It seemed to move ahead as we drove. It was indeed very pleasant. We were delighted to be in the lap of nature. It was something unusual.
At last, we reached a village. It was a new world indeed. Everything looked different from what we had seen in the city. Nobody seemed to be in a hurry. People were just sitting outside their houses, doing nothing. A few were moving about to attend to their job. But they too did not seem to be pressed for time.
Most of the houses were kacha. Some of them had thatched roofs. There were some pacca houses also. But they were few and far between. However, all the streets were brick-lined. It is the village Panchayat that is doing work for village development. Work on the drainage system was in progress.
Most of the villagers were very poor. A few of them were unemployed. Most of the villagers were farmers. They are awake to modern developments in the field of agriculture. They have adopted scientific methods of farming. They use chemical fertilizers. Some of the landlords have tractors and tube-wells also.
A great majority of the people looked dirty and backward. There was no medical facility available. We were told that a dispensary has been sanctioned for the village. A veterinary hospital was working in a nearby village. The village had a middle school.
It was now getting evening. People began gathering under a shady tree. Some of them were seen gossiping and chatting together. However, some of them were discussing the burning questions of the day.
It was getting dark. We returned and passed through the lush green fields. I took pity that the village people should also look as fresh as their fields. I earnestly believe that the government should do everything to remove illiteracy, poverty and unemployment from the villages.
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