THE LONGING OF PRAKRITI

I’m Prakriti, 8 years old and I’m living happily with my grandparents in their village. My parents are working in an MNC. So, my grandparents are taking care of me.

My grandpa takes me to school and to the places wherever he goes. He teaches me cycling, swimming and Yoga. My grandma cooks well. I learn to cut vegetables, cleaning the vessels and cooking simple dishes from my grandma. My grandma prepares my favorite dish Paneer Butter Masala very well. I love that dish.

My grandpa is a voracious reader and a great storyteller also. I love to hear stories that are narrated by him. He narrates the story from our epics, history and folk tales. I ask silly questions to my grandparents.

“Why is the sky in blue colour?”

“How do the birds fly?”

“Why, can’t we fly?”

They will answer my questions.

My grandpa is a landlord in the village and has 5 acres of land. He is cultivating paddy, wheat, corn and vegetables. Behind my grandparent’s home, there is a kitchen garden. My grandpa teaches me to take care of these plants, watering and other gardening work also. I’m very proud to say that my grandpa is a farmer.

There is a dog in my grandparent’s home. Its name is Bubblu. Bubblu is so naughty and wants to play with me only. First, I was afraid of Bubblu and then I’ve started loving it. We play together in our land, backyard and everywhere. It follows me wherever I go.

I’m so happy to be with my grandparents and my Bubblu.

One day my parents came to take me back to the city. I didn’t like to leave my grandparents, my Bubblu and go with my parents.

I cried: “Daddy! Please leave me here; I don’t like to come with you. I want to be with grandparents”. But they took me with them forcefully.

With heavy heart, I bid goodbye to my grandparents.

“Swapna Vilas, D.No. 18”- this is my new address where I’m going to be.

“A big hall, a kitchen, a spacious bedroom, a balcony and a study room for me. My room is filled with my favourite colours like pink, white, sky blue, and cherry red”.

My room has many toys to play with. Even though my parents have changed the room as my favourite place, my heart longs for my grandparent’s home and their love only.

My parents enrolled me in a nearby school. But I didn’t like to go there.

Daily, I’ll talk to my grandparents without fail. They will be looking for my arrival and I’ll also be waiting for my holidays.

I worry how my grandparents live without me. I’m a naughty girl and doing pranks with them. My heart is longing for my grandpa’s stories, my grandma’s cooking and my loving Bubblu.

On weekends, once in a month, I will go to meet my grandparents and spend time with them happily. My Bubblu will also be very happy to see me. Those days are like heaven in my life.

Days pass by, my grandparents are becoming old now and they need to be together with us also.

One day my grandpa spoke to my dad, “My son, we are growing old now. We can’t go anywhere and I can’t take care of our land. So, please, you come and take care of everything”.

My dad replied, “No dad, I can’t leave my job and come there. I can’t do agriculture. If you can’t do it, you sell it”.

On hearing this, my grandpa felt very sad.

Unfortunately, one day, my parents lost their job due to recession. My father was thinking what to do next, how to run the family. My mother also didn’t get any idea.

I could understand what was going on there at home. I asked my father, “Dad, why don’t we go to our village and do agriculture?”

My teacher told that, “Agriculture is the backbone of our country. And we should protect it”.

My father spoke about it with my mother. She also accepted it. Then, we returned to our village.

My grandparents are very happy that we return to our village. My father takes care of the land and cultivates paddy, organic vegetables and so on. My father learns new methods to increase the production. My mother supports my father. She takes care of the gardening and teaches it to our village women.

The villagers start doing kitchen gardening and raise the position of their life. Our vegetables are so fresh and organic. No pesticides are used. We export it to other places also.

Now, I’m very happy to be with my grandparents and my Bubblu. My grandpa also feels very happy that my father takes up agriculture at last.

Agriculture should be protected now, unless our future will be a very big question mark.

Don’t forget our forefathers’ tradition and dwell in the present. Go back to the old one. Old is gold.

MORAL:

IF YOU SAVE AGRICULTURE NOW, YOUR FUTURE GENERATION WILL BE SAVED IN THE FORTHCOMING YEARS.