The owner appeared from within, curious to know who the dog was barking at, and looked at Amar. He smiled warmly and hugged him. Amar explained him the reason and he warmly welcomed Sajjan.
Sajjan explained to him that as of now, he just wanted to go around and check the details of the soil in that area so that he could study what would work in that area. It will take few days for him to study the entire area from Bhama to Dheemapur. Once that was done, he would return with a plan which should do wonders for all the farmers in that area. He sniffed at the glass of water offered to him and nodded with some realization and thankfully gulped it, down his parched throat. He toured along with Amar and the local person who acted as their guide. He noted on the copy of the map of that particular area with some strange looking symbols. He looked at Amar who seemed ready to move on along with him. They walked back to the bus stand and boarded the bus back home. They stopped at couple of more villages. The entire scene repeated as it had on the way.
For three days they travelled around in busses till almost all the pockets of the region were covered. There were a few pockets left out and Amar explained that he wouldn’t be able to travel there and advised Sajjan to avoid those. They weren’t safe enough. The residents there were unfriendly.
In the meantime, Leela was bored confined within the boundaries of Amar’s house and outhouse. She was counting days and awaiting the day when it would be safe for her to venture out. The only moments when she felt happy was when little Leela played with her or her outings to Amar’s farms with Sajjan after dinner or when he was around. She liked chatting with him even more now and the way he appreciated her voice when she sang those adivasi songs. Her trust and respect for Sajjan was growing as the days passed. Lajjo, whenever she had the chance, tried kindling the flame of love and romance in Leela’s heart for Sajjan.
Sajjan had a tough time balancing his work and taking time off for Leela so that she stayed within the boundaries of Amar’s house. After few days, Sajjan relieved Amar of his accompaniment as a guide and introducer to the people and started going out alone. Amar wasn’t accustomed to this kind of tedious walking around and slowed the pace of work. He now knew routes and timing of busses. He wanted to try out trains to see if he had missed out on anything. He tried leaving early and returning by train. He tried express train leaving Bhama at 4pm. It reached him to Dheemapur around 7.30pm. He tried the passenger train leaving Bhama at 5pm – it reached Dheemapur around 9.30pm. He was getting more interested in these trains and their average timing. He also realized that reaching the masses using trains would hamper the speed of his initial work. He had a time limit for the completion. He started keeping train as an option of return, to reflect on the day’s work and jot down his notes. This enabled him to spend more time with Leela. She always wanted to go out to Amar’s farm, sit on the machan and chat with him endlessly. He was able to make all relevant notes he wanted and also physically see the samples of soil he wanted. He was almost ready with his homework now. A few pockets remained…
His studies showed that a river started to flow from southern parts of the hills where the jungle started toward the east of Dheemapur and then it circumvented the exterior region from the south, swirling away to Bhama where a dam arrested its flow. After that, it turned and flowed toward the jungle again from the northern portions of Dheemapur region, circumventing all the seven hills on their northern side, flowing eastward again. The major portion on the southern side of Dheemapur and Bhama was occupied by the back waters of the dam.
The river wasn’t dependant on the seasonal rainfall and flowed all year round, thus the jungle wasn’t affected by the dam. Many irrigation canals crisscrossed the farming lands in and around Dheemapur. The soil was rich and water was abundant. He also realized that the railway track was laid almost parallel to the flowing river. The tracks and river parted ways only when they had to circumvent the hills. He tried crossing a road bridge to inspect the soil on the other side of the river. He had started to check on the soil when he was rudely interrupted by a group of people. They asked him to cross over back to Dheemapur side. They informed him that a special pass was required to be on this side of the river. They threatened him with dire consequences if he was seen again on that side of the river without a proper pass.
They hadn’t noticed that he already had picked up a sample of soil and had collected it in a bottle he carried along with him. This incident made him curious as to what was so confidential about fields on this side of the river. He crossed the bridge and trekked alongside of the railway track toward Dheemapur, trying to get as much view of the fields on the other side. He didn’t see anything abnormal. He took a bus as and when he hit the road…
During his intermittent travel by trains, he noticed that about 3kms before the main Dheemapur railway station, all trains halted for a couple of minutes. There was no additional track as a pass over for another train – no platform. He wondered why…
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- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/