HARVESTING SEASON

 

Harvesting is simply the process of cutting off the crops that are ripe and accumulating them in a safe storage. This is the process that could be seen frequently at village areas of a country. Every year, farmers plant various kinds of crops and harvest them in proper time for their own consumption as well as for economic benefits. When it the time of harvesting the crops, there arises a different kind of environment of joy.

Since I am far from my village, I don’t usually get involved in the harvesting activities. But I have many experiences from a decade ago when I used to participate in the harvesting activities. I could recall a lot of memories form past years when I used to joyfully harvest the crops.

It is the time of Ashar when there arrives the monsoon rain. In Nepal, the monsoon rain arrives from the bay of Bangal which is at the east. The hot wind that arises from the bay of Bangal travels at high pace towards the cold place of north i.e. the Himalayas. The wind then collides with the great Himalayas and travels towards southern as well as western parts of the Asia creating a massive amount of rainfall at various places. The rainfall received at this season is a blessing for farmers because they could plant the paddy in their fields. To produce 1 kg of rice, it requires 1500 litres of water. So, the rain is very essential to grow paddy and other food crops. After the plantation of the crops it takes about 3-4 months for the paddy to get ripe. It gets ripe in the month of Ashwin and Kartik.

The harvesting season is the month of Ashwin and Kartik. During this time the farmers of a locality gather at anyone’s house and discuss about the date of harvesting. So, it is like a mutual cooperation to help each other in need which could be seen in village. Everyone agree on the specific date when the harvesting would take place.

When the day comes for harvesting the crops from the fields of one farmer, then other farmers arrive at his fields to harvest the crops by taking agricultural tool called sickle. Each and everyone gets busy for the whole day to cut up all those ripen paddies.

I was in my village during the time of harvesting crops. During that time I was pretty small and had no clue about how to cut all those paddies. I, then took a sickle given to me by my grandfather and moved towards fields. It was about 10 am in the morning and the temperature was moderate. All other farmers had already gathered at those fields. I was quite excited to see all those people gathered over there to help cutting up all the paddies. I was grabbing the sickle given by my grandfather and started cutting the paddies. While cutting those paddies, at first, I felt that it was quite easy to cut them. Slowly, I realized that it was quite difficult as it took a lot of energies and powers to cut paddies frequently. After sometime, I cut my palm through the sickle. I got my palm bleed and couldn’t participate in the harvesting activity for that year.

Another year, again I took the sickle and went to the field to cut up the paddies. That year I harvested a lot of crops easily. During the harvesting time, the owner of the field i.e. the farmer and his family prepare various kind of foods for the helper farmers. The food are quite tasty and eating the food with other farmers at the field creates some different kind of enjoyment and excitement. The farmers play madal and a few of them sing folk songs while other dance at that field. It is quite interesting to participate at harvesting activities because it is like a festival for the farmers. It is like a picnic as it takes place at the fields near the river. This harvesting festival has created a great impact on me. It has shown that what is the village life and how it is different than city life. It has shown what the attachment actually is among the neighborhood at village. Such great care and friendship among the neighbors cannot be seen easily in the city. So, the season of harvesting is very important for farmers as it provides the crops to the farmer for consumption as well as for economic benefits.