After Peter picked me up at INS RAJALI, Arrakonam around 12 AM. We drove for 45 minutes, it rained pretty heavily sometime before. We found an uprooted palm tree which hindered our path while Peter was trying to find an alternate path we found a small snake near the tree!! Woah quiet a start isn’t it? We reached the farm around 1:30 AM and spread out the sheets and tents for the night, with women occupying one of the tents.
We all woke to a chilly morning, I brushed my teeth using neem stem so long it has been doing so. Following Peter’s instruction we started out to the field. Our first task was to de-weed the farm around the fence, after sometime we called for a tea break. After some elachi tea prepared we were back on the field. We started fertilizing with muddy feet (actually it was amusing feeling to do so), the fertilizers were pure organic (predominately goat dung). I surely can tell, the prices at which the famers get for their produce is very much unfair. It takes so much of toil to work under the sun.
We finished our work for the day and logically enough we took a bath! Nope not some bathroom bath! Isn’t it too mainstream to do? Hahaha! We took the irrigation pump! Woah! Best part! It was very much fun! Everyone started applying mud to each other. Someone said applying mud would make your skin soft! Nah! I didn’t believe it. I did take the mud bath along the gang and then i realized it really make my skin soft ! woah ! Pure fun! Posing for groupfies!
We had wheat upma and steaming idlys with spicy chutney for breakfast and rested till afternoon. It was cloudy and soothing to spend time under a tree with slight breeze passing you. We drove to the town for lunch. We planned for a trek to a random hill after lunch. We drove to a mango farm, while most took nap under the tree, others roamed around the farm And yes, we stole a few mangos before the gardener himself gave us few! Sweet of him.
At 4:30 PM we started out to a hill with everyone joining us. The trek was fairly simple, Its been two months since I did so, we talked all through the path. How easy it makes the trek. The more we climbed up the better the view! With us, a little kid was also trekking it was awesome to see him trek. He effortlessly climbed up with swiftness, but he cried for once because his mother was lagging much behind. It was necessary to click pictures with such exhaillarating view in the background! Manish had his DSLR camera's memory full in no time. I have great time with naresh, Dan, tarun etc. Learnt few tips and tricks from Prabhu too on photography and what not! Enjoyed.
After spending some time at the top of the hill, we started to make our way to the bottom. It was a two and half hour trek but actually felt like only half the time was spent.
It was a day well spent, doing something out of ordinary and spending the day with 'strangers turned friends' rather than sit at home or go for a movie, which is pretty cliche nowadays. While the rest drove back to farm Peter dropped me at panjeri since I could only spend a day of the two days planned. I took a bus to Arakkonam and then a Train back to my home.
Indeed it was a day well spent.
more pics @ https://www.facebook.com/shaik.shahnoor/media_set?set=a.867138060014513.1073741847.100001549805851&type=3
Indeed it was a day well spent.
more pics @ https://www.facebook.com/shaik.shahnoor/media_set?set=a.867138060014513.1073741847.100001549805851&type=3
