Rain Halt Food Halt - A Short Story

 Rain Halt Food Halt

         "The ground-water level has decreased", said Pritam. Pritam was a farmer. He lived in the village Panishal. His family consisted of his old parents, his wife and three kids. Cultivation was the main source of his livelihood. Pritam had two bighas arable land. His income was not much, but it provided them abundance to eat. Occasionally he used to work in others' land also. That added to his income. Pritam was living happily with his family as their demands were less. They, like other neighbours, just wanted two meals a day. That was all. So, they were Happy.

           Days passed. Population increased. The surrounding gardens of his village were wiped off to meet the increasing demand and the material greed of the people. There was a large tree in the temple of his village. That too was felled for its wood. Pritam saw his village increasing in size year by year. His village which had 50 families, increased to 150 families. For that arable land was used to build houses, ponds became dry to meet the accessive demand of water. Almost all the houses had deep tube-well. So ground water level decreased.

   

           Weather cycle began to change. Turning of the seasons was not felt like before. The weather became warmer and warmer day by day. At first, villagers did not feel the heat of the summer season much, but after the change they began to feel the heat even before the summer season. That had adverse effect on their livelihood. Their main occupation was cultivation which gave them abundance to eat. For cultivation, they mainly depended on rain. During rainy season, they used to saw paddy, which was their main crop and during the rainy season, the ponds were filled with water, which helped jute cultivation.

          But, with the destruction of nature, rain almost vanished and the weather became hot and dry. The fields were so dry that they developed cracks. The result was a draught-like situation. Cultivation delayed. The villagers were eagerly waiting for the rain to start tilling, but not trace of it. One day while sitting in his house, his old father came to him and asked, "Son, what have you sawn now?" Pritam replied, "The ground-water level has decreased."

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