Segundrabad is a small, primarily Muslim town surrounded by rural villages about 40 km southeast of Delhi. Karly and I took a rickety bus ride there one Friday morning with a co-worker from Navdanya. He works in Delhi during the week and returns to his family home on most weekends. The Payal homestead is located in a small village, which we reached by taking a taxi from the bus stop through the market (where many services were provided including bike repair, cotton processing, weaving, building, weighing of various materials like huge bundles of cardboard, etc), and past vegetable fields. Cauliflower (phool golbi in Hindi) is a popular ingredient here although broccoli is hardly seen. The village has a population of about 2000, housed in either thatched grass huts or gated homes with yards for buffalo and houses made from concrete. The two different types of households represent the two castes of the community- the laborers and the land owners. The buffalo are huge, gentle, creatures present throughout the village at at homes. The buffalo area of the home is sectioned off by a gate, but is integral to the household. There is a feeding trough on the sides along the fence and a small canal that for water and urine runoff. The buffalo supply the family with more than enough fresh milk doodh in Hindi) each day. Throughout the village are areas where cow dung is fashioned into neat cakes that are a mixture of dung and straw and serve as cooking fuel.
After passing through the second gate, leading to the house, we met Rajiv's mother, wife, son, brother, brother's wife, and two nephews. Soon after, his father arrived, who also works in Delhi during the week. In this patriarchal community, men stay with their families and daughters move to their husbands family's home (there are also matriarchal communities though fewer and located in north-east and southern India). The Payals have farm land on which they grow the cash crops of rice and sugarcane. It is rice harvest season and we headed out to the fields to check it out. One the way, I asked if they farm organically. Rajiv said they use some fertilizers and GMO> seeds because the yield is higher, though they have never tested this assumption by comparing it with organic yields. The larger structure of crop buyers does not generally encourage this type of experimentation. Field workers were out harvesting rice using a systematic method of bunching paddi (rice) for later removal of the grain. There are ancient festivals and rituals associated with the rice harvest. Surrounding the fields are bunds, traditional ditches that are reinforced for irrigation. The ground wells provide water for the crops and is also the source of the village water.
Back at the village, we made the village rounds, visiting Rajiv's aunts and uncles (family friends), who served us up chai and many ceremoniously brought out the wedding album for us to admire. Though we didn't speak the same language, we communicated with smiles and warm regards.
For dinner, we had a thali (plate with dal, rice, chapati, and veg dish) similar to what we'd had elsewhere-- this chapati was maiz-based instead of flour-based, a bit heavier but equally tastey>. The food was generally a lot spicier here. As night fell, all of the family gathered around and lounged outside on the back porch in the peace and quite of the village night. The family conversed and laughed. Karly and I dozed restfully and finished off the night with a glass of sweet, warm doodh. Oh, so good!
In the morning, (Mom, stop reading here), Rajiv and his friend (he calls him his cousin-brother) took Karly on motor bike rides to the nearby hydroelectric dam, where there is a confluence of three great rivers, one of which is the Ganges-- mother Ganga. Before leaving, I collected some neem leaves from the large neem tree in their yard. Neem is a highly regarded tree here, whose leaves and bark are used medicinally and culturally for diverse purposes ranging from skin disorders to fertility rituals. Don't worry, my interest is in the medicinal value for the skin!