A Village Of Riches

A VILLAGE ? How do we define it? Over all these years, I have come across so many definitions about this word. In developed countries like UK, US etc., it’s just a smaller size than town but has almost every facility and equipped with latest technologies and assets, good. The definition changes drastically when we reach the African continent; remote areas, people living in immiseration, poor facilities and illiteracy at large. How do we define a village in India? It’s a developing country but often tagged with poverty. Natural inclination will make one assume it’s coming from under-developed rural areas called villages.

But at a closer look, nothing is what it seems. I have been sharing many photos of villages in my ‘Memories from my home’ segments which is still ongoing. They look coarse, weather bitten, simple and possible poor. Well may be some of these are true but POOR, they certainly are not!

They don’t have big departmental stores to buy all kinds of good things like brown rice, fruit juice bottles, frozen cheese, preserved exotic vegetables or fruits, canned food. Not all of them have enough to buy a car. But they do have a bicycle or a bike to help them out. Why would they need to follow a special diet plan when they have no worries of Cholesterol or Sugar!

We are suddenly conscious of organic products and paying double the usual prices for fruits and vegetables when we actually have no idea of their origins. In these villages, latest technologies are lacking and so are the ideas of huge profit business. Someone has planted some fruit trees when the time comes; they are actually sold at throwaway prices. No special pesticides or any such fussy business, and children actually climb the trees of guava and mangoes to pluck their fruits. So, there it is organic and exercise .Wonder if we compensate it by high prices 😉 What I am getting as a city-dweller, in actual it’s a village wrapped in polythene wrapper.

Every day, early morning, a small market is set up when vegetables, fish, fruits etc. are sold and every single item is sold in less than half an hour. One has to be really active to grab the deal. 😉 While my grandpa enjoys fresh juicy vegetables every day, I sigh when I see the vegetables wrapped in transparent sheets in freezers looking diseased, water sprinkled now and then to make them ‘farm fresh’.

Coming back to the original question, are these villages poor? They have farmers, laborers, workers of other professions but they get 4 times meal (not our processed food menus), respect their work, own a house, big or small and get education enough not to be illiterate, they lack the variety but are resourceful and above all they don’t complain of life. They look uncouth and pastoral but they know they don’t have to run for their jobs everyday in fear of losing them. They can always work out something else in case of odds; can we do the same with ease?

Why I wrote about this? Very less is known about India and still lesser known about the towns and villages. The cities has so much sensational things to display, unemployment, hunger, greed, huge population, crime and sophistication that a different aspect of living is altogether ignored which I daresay is much simpler and happier one.

Many Thanks if you have reached this far,have a great day ! 🙂