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30. Getting to Know Our VillagesThis is the story of Kripal Singh and Kamaljeet Kaur who had been brought up intowns all along and were quite ignorant about conditions in the villages. This is also astory for many of our boys and girls who know so little about the real India, the India thatlives in our villages.For a long time Chacha Harinder Pal had been inviting the children to his home in thevillage, for unlike his brother Gurminder Singh who sought the comforts of town life,Harinder had settled on his farm. He occasionally visited the town to meet his brother’sfamily and at times he let his son Devinder accompany him. Devinder was a very simpleboy studying in the eighth class in a rural school, very bright and very contented. Hefound it a little difficult to make friends with his cousins, Kripal and Kamaljeet Kaur,because their language was different, their interests, he thought, rather strange and theirmanners quite funny. Devinder would tire of the town very soon and crave to get back tohis village, to his friend Surinder with whom he could play gulli-danda or ankh-michoniand be perfectly happy all evening.This time Kripal and Kamaljeet made up their minds to visit the village during one oftheir holidays. In fact their father insisted and they made the trip, half-excited, halfdoubtfulfor they felt there were many more exciting things to do in their own town.Nonetheless they arrived there and the first morning they were quite disappointedalthough their uncle had a pucca house with a lovely courtyard, overlooking a sparklingstream. By evening they had such good things to eat — fresh amrud (guavas), bhutta(roasted corn) huge glasses of lassi (sweetened buttermilk), cream, the kind they hadnever had before, and later the most delicious makki ki roti and sarson ka saag (rotismade of maize with spinach to go with it), that by night they were won over. Youngpeople don’t nurse prejudices for long. They are willing to observe and learn and makefriends. They now saw Devinder in a new light, as a fine, healthy boy and Devinder toowas overjoyed that his home had something to offer his cousins. By night they wererelaxed and chatted happily. Uncle promised to show them round their own farm and thevillage, the next morning, if they could get up early.Kamaljeet was the first to be up by five in the morning, a time unthinkable for them inthe town, and being a lover of nature she walked out into the courtyard and beyond andlooked up at the vast skies which she had hardly noticed before. Her aunt was in the cowshedsupervising the milking of the cow and Kamaljeet found it most exciting and novelas she watched the milking for the first time in her life. Her aunt gave her some to drink,even without boiling, and she couldn’t imagine that such things were possible. Milk, totown people seems to come in bottles, never from the cow!The boys were up by this time and the whole house was agog and soon after a snack,they were ready to move out. To their utter surprise they saw a vast expanse of wheatready for harvest, golden wheat that spoke of prosperity and well-being. Farming, inuncle Harinder’s farm and in many others’ had been mechanised. No longer was theplough or the bullock to be seen in plenty. There were a few scattered here and there, butthe bulk of the work was done by tractors and there were little machines of various kinds