Rajasthan – palm trees and wheat

We are on our way from Delhi to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Heading out of Delhi we cross over the Jumna River, the lifeblood for the city. The city slowly gives way to the suburbs, the suburbs to industry, industry to hi tech mini cities and finally hi tech mini cities to farmland. Of course much of this is accented by huge shopping malls and the odd concentration of hi rise apartment blocks.

What becomes most impressing are the wheat fields on both sides of the freeway. It is almost harvest time. Scarecrows hover over the fields while egrets fly beside the river looking for the next feeding hole.

It is harvest time. Colourful saris dot the landscape fluttering in the light breeze. Bundles of wheat are gathered in lines across the fields. On closer inspection one realizes that as you speed by on the private freeway these bundles are not the result of the work of machines but rather the handi work of individual labourers. It means the last 40 kilometres of wheat fields are hand cut. Small groups of workers canbe seen in the fields cutting the wheat then the threshing begins. Thankfully, I am sure, the threshing is done by machine. But the cutting, bundling, gathering is all done by human labour. I feel like I am in a time travelling tube looking out on something the western world has not seen in 100 years. Truly amazing.

And then there was Agra and the Taj Mahal