Essays

I live in a city that is noisy, polluted and over- crowded, but I love it simply because I was born here and have never been to a village to know the quiet bliss of village life.

My friends who go to the village for holidays tell me that it is peaceful, slow-paced and laid back, where life is really simple and the fresh air is vibrant.

Their description of a village is a cluster of mud Houses, where a community of families', say

 hundred odd families live in peace and harmony. Where each family extends its support, help and commitment to the other.

Most of the villagers depend on labour  and cottage industries to survive. Many of them are illiterate and know no other profession except farming, which has been passed on as a means of survival for generations.

Festivals and fairs hold tremendous significance in village life, where small joys make people happy. Life is no 'cat walk' here, for often even the basic necessities are a luxury few can afford.

Clean drinking water and adequate sanitary facilities are not always available and a farmer's life is full of hardships for more reasons than one.

'Pucca' roads are often non-existent, and those that are there, are few and far removed. Electricity is provided to few villages and hygienic conditions leave much to be desired.

This is because of poverty and inadequate arrangements and facilities. Schools which provide limited education are far away, therefore, education means walking endlessly on foot to reach one's destination.

A few villagers give their children proper education, by and large, a child studies till a particular class then drops out to lend a helping hand in the fields.

Villagers are extremely religious, and regardless of the financial position, after wholeheartedly at temples which are built in every village and religious ceremonies carried out with great excitement and dedication.

The average family own cows, and they get their milk supply from these animals who are taken care of with great concern and love. Fresh vegetables are grown in the fields. These vegetables are eaten at home and also sold in the local markets.

Considerable changes have taken place during the last fifty years, and great improvement has been made in the villages, because the focus of all that is Indian has in the heart of the villages. Yet, a great deal has yet to be achieved, for the journey is long and hard to accomplish as India is a truly vast country.

The Gram Panchayats should get a free hand and be given greater powers and authority to carry out independent decisions since India is a democratic country and the villages are of primary importance.