The number
of small land holders who have given up rice cultivation in our area is increasing at an alarming pace. No longer do I have my farm hand or maid
asking me –“So and so…. Has a stack of hay to sell – do you want to buy it?” This would be followed by a description:
·
Which Rice variety (Red rice is a shorter
plant and the other white variety has much longer hay),
·
What
type of bundle (kaat as it is locally called) – the roughly tied bundle that has just been tied for threshing OR a Post threshing
tightly tied bundle meant for piling hay in a compact manner
·
How
many bundles
·
And
finally the rate per bundle – have watched this grow from Rs3.50 all the way to 10 or 12 over the past few
years.
So the small land holders would have about 800 to 1000 kaats, meaning a reasonable earning of about 8k to 10k from the sale of the hay.
 |
| Ready for sale - any takers? |
We would buy from several
farmers and sometimes have interesting
trips to their farm to collect
the hay.
 |
| A sight rarely seen in the village these days - everyone gathering to help harvest and thresh each others rice fields. |
So this morning I was pleasantly surprised to receive a call from one of the locals –‘A truck with hay has arrived in the village – do you want some hay?’
Sure! I
said.
I left my half
eaten breakfast aside and went out to move the car out of the drive way. If they were willing to stack the hay in the
attic of the cow shed, it would be lesser distance to cover on each trip.
I was about
to go back to my breakfast when the truck arrived. It was
not a very large one, two men inside the cabin and 2 riding atop the high pile
of hay at the back.
I asked to
see the size of the kaat and the rate – it
seemed very expensive. Nothing
less than 70 Rs each! The size was
definitely much larger than the local kaats yet the price did seem exorbitant. I checked with the other people who had
purchased it just before they reached here and found that they had paid the
same amount but purchased only 50 kaats.
I decided
to do the same – 50 kaats would help tide over the immediate need and maybe I could get some at a reasonable
rate from the interior villages. The
men looked disappointed when I said that I found it expensive and I would take
only 50. One of them tried to convince
me to take 100. We have come from very
far, the cost of fuel itself is so much,
we are not really making much money - he
said. And they were in a hurry, so they
would only pile it up in the driveway and not stack it up in the attic.
Where have
you’ll come from? I asked.
Haveri. Was the answer.
Haveri!
Hay all the way from Haveri! That
is over 200 kms away – almost a 5 hour journey.
And here were these 4 men with their weather beaten faces, probably
having driven through the night to have reached Chitrapur so early in the
morning, going from farm to farm selling the hay.
I counted
the kaats as they piled them swiftly in
the drive way, and when they reached 50, I said “Go ahead, make it
hundred”
“Aivat
ondu, Aivat yerdu…….” Briskly the pile grew.
At 100 they
all paused and wiped the sweat streaming down their faces and asked for water
to drink.
As they
drank the water, one of them perched on top of the pile asked “Will you not
take another 50…?” . I did not have that
much cash with me – oh no problem Google pay will do he said. (I am still amazed by the reach of Cashless
transactions!)
“Will you
discount it if I do so ?” I asked jokingly.
“Oh no amma……we have to bear so many expenses “ he lamented
I thought
to myself – a meal for 4 at an upmarket restaurant in Mumbai would probably
cost the same as what I need to spend on
the hay. 4 well fed people in the Airconditioned ambience of a nice
restuarant and 4 tired looking men
having purchased the hay from probably several small struggling farmers
in distant Haveri, travelling so far to make a living. 4 satiated people who would forget what they
had eaten at the meal in a few days. And a huge bovine family who would
gratefully munch on this hay at least till Rice harvest time.
Go Ahead,
I’ll take another 50 I said. And was rewarded with a vigorous head nod and an
extra kaat at the end of the counting.
The whole
procedure took about 30 minutes and off they went busy getting the directions
of the next farm on the phone.
So now I
have Hay from Haveri for the cows. I
wonder whether it tastes any different from the hay from Chitrapur. If my cows tell me I will surely let you all
know!
