Sujata Village Fan Club -Indian Life-

Nice to meet you! I’m yokko staying at SACHI HOME  in Sujata village for a while. One day I said,  “I want to make chapati for lunch!!!”.  Chapati is common Indian thin bread.  It goes with vegetable or bean curry same as rice.  I shall ask someone how to cook. Oh, how good timing! Parween-ji comes! As I asked,  he started mixing whole wheat flower  without any word.  It’s very simple to make chapati. Water + Whole wheat flower  ↓ Knead dough ↓ Hold together the dough ↓ Roll out the dough ↓ Bake A small frying pan is used to bake with high heat. Wow, brilliant!! The chef left again without a word. Simple and tasty. I could feel the good taste of wheat flower  so that I even could eat without curry. Smells so good!!! April is harvesting time of wheat in Sujata village.  The village has one milling machine.  So, the ...

Morning starts very early in India. It is 3:30 and still dark. Who wake up earliest in the morning? They are …  wild birds   which said to exist more than 40 kinds in Sujata village. There you are…! Found you!! Beautiful songs of wild birds wake me up. It’s just 4 o’clock. I can hear the sound of Mantra. Mantra is a sound  that is believed to have a special spiritual power  from the universe  and sang from ancient times. Would you like to hear the wild birds singing  and sound of Mantra…?  Please close your eyes and enjoy the sound. At the same time, babas(elder men) get up  and come out to outside wells for washing faces.  Their new day starts. The leaves of mango trees are shining  and very beautiful under the moonlight.  I regard the leaves are gift or present  which brings good luck from God to the Indian people  who live tough and ...

I’m experiencing first Indian summer.  In April and May,  I thought it was better than I thought  and I could bare days of over 40℃! But monsoon season has begun  and now humidity is mixed with high temperature,  it’s very hard to stand… June is rainy season and also the hottest season  in Sujata village in India. It’s so hot that even Indians say,  “Its’ hot!!!” time to time. But field work never waits  whatever you say it’s too hot. The other day,  I thought something would happen soon  to see this field. An elder man is mixing soils by his hands. The following day,  water was added more  and the man was plowing with a hoe. In the afternoon of the same day,  the water level raised more. I thought transplanting rice seedlings  would be carried out like in Japan,  but I was wrong. Because transplanting rice seedlings in Japa...