Living in the pollution capital of the world rain is always a welcome relief, irrespective of the time of the year. It cleans our air and offers us NCR-Delhiwallas relatively clearer skies and somewhat cleaner air to breath.
Last night,
sitting in my comfortable chair, as I heard the sound of falling rain, the
feeling wasn’t of relief. The clouds have been overhead for a while, and had drizzled
briefly for a few seconds already, but it hadn’t poured. But this was the sound
of them coming down with vigour. 5-10 minutes of rain, not too long to make
much impact in the life of the city dwellers, but long enough to put the life
of farmers camping at borders difficult, put it out of what little order they
have managed to provide themselves in these camps of resistance.
It was my third
semester at college, and I was doing Indian Writing in English as part of
humanities courses. For the final evaluation we were required to read, review
and present a book of our choice. Browsing through the shelves of hostel
library I found a few books by Indian authors. Even with a very limited
knowledge and understanding of literature at the time, after reading Kamala
Markandaya’s ‘Nectar in a Sieve,’ I knew that both the author and the book were
special. The smile on the course instructor’s face as I put the title slide on
the glass projector was an affirmation of the same.
Nectar in a
Sieve is a story of an Indian peasant and her struggles. It is the story of
Rukmini and her family, living from one challenge to another, their life a
daily struggle as they till the land to make ends meet. Natural disasters,
floods one year, drought a few years later test them, death of children, theft
of what little possessions they have, eviction from land, a long journey to
city, back breaking work at a brick factory, death of her husband, a long
lonely march back to the village hut she had left behind, Rukmini faces each
new adversity with high spirits and hope.
As the
presentation came to a close and I had answered the few questions that came my
way from the class the instructor asked one last question. ‘Explain the title
of the book, why is it called nectar in a sieve?’
‘Nectar is the
drink of gods. Nectar in a sieve – an attempt to purify what is the purest of
the pure. The story highlights how nature puts hardships on those whose lives
are the hardest of all to start with. It is like nature testing these humans
who are the most tested in the society.’
As the rain
came down, the tractor-trolley camps came to mind, the images of them trying to
keep themselves and their goods dry from the rain a few weeks back came to mind
and Kamala Markandaya’s immortal title came to mind. Nectar in a Sieve.
#KisanEktaMorcha
#StandWithFarmers
#SpeakUpForFarmers
No comments:
Post a Comment