Song of the Firebird

Twenty three

'Our wage from farming is just enough for the meals alone. Do you know what helps with the tuition of my kids? Borrowed money. And we haven't paid them back for the last six months. My husband, here, have attempted suicide a handful of times and we are scared of the loan sharks who knock at our door and spew threats on 10th day of every month.'

'I can unde-'

'Oh, you can understand my f*cking life, here, huh? We are working hard till that last breath of ours and we don't get enough to support the basic necessities. Yet, you people make us martyrs among the entire population. We are dying everyday! Maybe you'll all realise one day about our sacrifices when you find not a single soul to do our jobs.'

'Please, listen -'

'Boy, you know what, we are ready to work with your uncles, because they promised to clear all our debts in one go. Can you do that for all of us here?'

'I cannot promise -'

'See! You cannot promise. You want my brethren to work for your well being when you don't even know how to keep them on your side. This does not stop here. At one point, I might have to stop my kids from going to school and colleges and get them to work on your farm. It continues throughout all our generations. Not one will be able to see the light and our lives are done in this farm.'

'When my father- '

'Your father was a great man. The man who promised jobs for my grandfather and his family and free meals along with the basic wage. He made sure we were all well fed and checked on us from time to time. I am never going to blame him because, during his period, we would do anything to escape the famine. Nomads like us needed only food and shelter. Times change, young man. You know what I mean. With the value of rupee continuously falling, all your money is gobbled up by day-to-day necessities. Even keeping a track of the expenditure and using only for the compulsive need, is not helping at all. All our savings are running out of our hands. There wasn't a single problem when the kids were in the government school. Look at them. They wish to continue more of their studies. They are dreaming, you know - dreaming to enrol in a good college, that in later years will get them into good firms. A lot of them are hesitating to pursue farming. They don't acknowledge our actions and the purpose behind it. If you're willing to invest more into our families, tell us now, what part of the past are you willing to change?

'We want a change as well. We have come past all the hardships and thanks to them, we are motivated with every single step we make in the field. We have this pride that only resides in us; that makes us know the techniques of receiving edible stuff from nature. We also can stop working and make the world realise the importance of our existence.

'We will not do that, because we grew up with hunger in all walks of our lives.'

Jay did not expect such a response from one of the women working in their family farm. As she spilled her mind out, he could see the radical issue.

During the past three days of his campaign, he paid visits to almost every farming family who worked under his father. The half-hearted replies on his quests drowned him with miseries. He struggled to come to the exact reason for their detachment from the current issue. Yet, he didn't give up on his visits despite facing failures. He asked them not to be seen as one of the heirs to the farming lands, but as a comrade who was able to help them out of their insecurities. People feigned silence while their sons and daughters were prevented from talking directly to him. When he was denied the voice of the younger crowd, who were crucial in his part of the plan, he was visibly deflated.

The young ones alone were exposed to understand the changing world. They have crossed at least twenty years of the previous generation, making them see things that are twenty years new.