Famine: Darkness of the day, Drying live body.

Famine.

Kunjan was living with his family in a village situated on the banks of a river. The family consisted of Kunjan’s old mother, his wife and their three children and were living comfortably. It would not have been bad if they were spending time somewhere.

Neither did the family have big dreams, nor did they think of competing with anyone else. Kunjan used to grow enough food grains for his family by working in his fields, so that he did not feel the need to beg in front of anyone.

Day after day, years passed like this, but even today the condition of his family was stagnant, stuck like a needle’s pin.

Somehow Kunjan got his two elder children married. The debt of all of them had now fallen on his head.

Both husband and wife worked hard day and night to pay off the debt, but it seemed as if nothing was going to change.

Meanwhile, Kunjan’s mother, who had been with him for years, left him forever.

For a few days, he would sit dejected, but for how long!

He had to take care of his family too.

This year, it seemed that the rain would be less. Not only was the rain less, but the crops standing in the fields were also ruined.

Now, along with his family, Kundan started worrying about his animals too.

There was no grain for the family, nor fodder for the animals. Somehow, Kunjan and his younger son would go to the jungles and collect dry leaves from the trees and feed them to their animals. Days passed like this.

Slowly, fodder stopped being available in the jungles. Now, slowly, they were suffering from hunger and thirst. The bones protruding from the animals’ bodies clearly indicated that they would not be able to live for long.

Today, the animals were seen eating the soil of the fields. Due to the acute shortage of water, they were forced to drink muddy water.

Helpless Kunjan was unable to do anything. One day suddenly both the bulls fell down unconscious on the ground one after the other, both kicked as if they were begging to be spared and someone was forcibly pulling their lives.

Kunjan could not see all this, suddenly tears started flowing from his eyes.

Tears were clearly visible in the eyes of the bulls lying on the ground.

After some time of struggle, now their bodies became still.

One by one all the animals of Kunjan became skeletons and started leaving Kunjan.

Now Kunjan started worrying about his family. Today there was no food grain left in the house. There was no way left to borrow from the neighbors.

The government started famine relief work, in which food grains were given in exchange for work, which was to be given at a fixed time.

Kunjan somehow arranged for some food grains. When the rotis made from the flour would be cooked, a different kind of stench would calm the hunger of the stomach.

Kunjan’s younger son would also pretend to eat the roti with a sad mind, as if it did not matter to him.

The lack of vegetables was not a problem at all, the younger son would make chutney from the old moong grains kept in the box and divide it with chillies and eat it with great relish.

Days passed like this. Everything was changing.

Today the dark clouds in the sky changed their direction and heavy rain watered the earth.

Slowly everything started getting better due to good rain, but those days of famine left an indelible mark.

Moral of the story – Time has never been the same, nor will it ever be. Famine will keep coming in some form or the other.

The way Kunjan lost his animals, no one should have to lose in the future. We have to save emergency money for this time.