The hinterlands of Punjab…

The rustling of the leaves, the chirping of the birds, the rumbling of engines of vehicles zooming past, the distant sound of a mooing cow – the sounds around me, as I relax under the shade of a neem tree with a gentle breeze blowing around. As far as the eye can see, there are the lush emerald green expanses of the paddy fields which meet the clear sapphire blue skies at the horizon. These are the sights and sounds from the hinterlands of Punjab. I am reminded of the following lines from a song titled “What a Wonderful World”, sung by Louis Armstrong in 1967.

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

This was my first every visit to a village in rural Punjab. Each of our earlier installations has been at village level collection centers, but this installation for Nestle was at a milk farm. I got the opportunity to witness cows being milked using automatic milking machines. It’s an amazing experience to see how well trained the bovines are as they are aware exactly when and where to go during the milking sessions without being told to do so. The love and care with which the farmers take care of their cattle creates a bond between the two. It’s a relationship in which both creations of god (the animal and the human) have a sense of respect for each other.  The human – animal interaction I observed reminded me of a few lines I read in a book by James Herriot :

All things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small

All things wise and wonderful

The Lord God made them all

Each of my sojourns into rural India never ceases to amaze me. Such experiences always teach me to appreciate life’s simple pleasures. As I finish writing another memoir, the state of my mind can be summed up in three words, cheers to life!