Khajuri Chanha, Dhanusa
“I do not find joy in farming anymore. Farmers of my generation are either too old or they are dying. And I feel alone and without support. Our sons have moved on to something easier as hard work is not so tempting for them. Some spend their days with the mobile phones and many see profit as the only motivation for living. The idea of growing what you eat is no more. All my life, I have known nothing except farming. Every morning men and women would go to the field and toil all day. They would return home, dig into their grains and eat what they had grown. Food tasted good and water quenched your thirst because your bones were tired and your throat dry. But that age has gone now. You just sit and food comes to you in well-packaged plastic bags. And because it is so easy to buy food, the young do not know the value. How would they? They do not know how water mixes with the soil. They have not seen how a seed sprouts or dies with drought. Today, you just eat, eat and eat until you cannot move anymore. What kind of living is that when your feet never touch the soil and the sweat from your forehead never burn your eyes?”
