A flying bus as good as PRTC bus

The excitement of flying across the Chicken Neck comes from an opportunity to look at the highest peak of the world, the Mount Everest. Not that I could ever tell the world’s highest peak from the clusters of dense clouds that gather in this part of the sky.

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But for me, this skyscape breaks the monotony of an otherwise dull two-and-half hour flight. As I sat in the crammed economy class, I tried again in vain to find out which was which. Earlier, during the Air Deccan days, when boarding a flight meant running to grab a seat of your choice, most people would try to get a seat on the left side that allowed them a look at the peak. As the pilot would announce that we were about to fly beside the world’s highest peak in Nepal, passengers from the other side too would get up and crowd the left side.

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Talking of familiarity, the aircraft reminded me of the PRTC buses in which I frequently travel between Chandigarh and Patiala. The seats were as uncomfortable as the non-AC coaches. Even the announcement of the air hostess to donate to some organization which is working for the uplift of the underprivileged reminded me of the Sardarji in white kurta pyjama asking the bus passengers to help out the children of some orphanage.

The air hostess was, of course, a lot more smartly dressed than the Sardarji, but looking at her and recalling the earnest face of the man on the ground, I could not help but think, what’s next in store for us? A bunch of musicians singing, “Gareebo ki suno, woh tumhari sunega….?

Black magic in Assam

Progressive farmer Upendra Rabha was introduced to me by a common friend as someone ‘who is set to give my sasuraal a run for money when it comes to rice export’. By my sasuraal, he meant Punjab. We Assamese people prefer small-grained aromatic joha rice or a lesser variant, aijung, to long-grained basmati.

The story of Rabha, a farmer from Goalpara district and his experiment with black rice make for an interesting reading. Aged 50, he has been into farming since 1985. He took fancy to a variety which was once called the forbidden rice in China. It’s the black sticky rice which goes by the scientific name Oryza Sativa. In ancient China, black rice was reserved for the Emperor and nobles who lived in the Forbidden City. Hence the ‘forbidden’ tag. 

Rabha chuckles as he recalls his anxiety. “I found out that the 

seeds were boiled before handing over to me. One seed must have escaped the process. The hand of God, as is mentioned in football.” He planted the sole seedling at a corner of 

his paddy field. The seedling produced 15 panicles from which he harvested 150 gm of seed. 

In 2012, he harvested 48 kg of paddy from the 150 gm seeds. In 2013, it went up to 1,600 kg rice from a 0.8-hectare area. Rabha then persuaded 30 farmers of his village to plant the variety. Together, they produced over 1,200 quintals of black rice from 160 kg of seeds in 13.2 hectares. Rabha’s persuasion worked. Now 500 of them till the variety in 2,000 bighas under a Central government scheme, Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) 2014-15. They work under the banner Amguripara Black Rice Production Committee. Rabha was honoured with a national award by Union Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh in March last.

Fair and lovely

As the BJP government is settling down in this part of the Chicken Neck, TV anchors have been busy asking ministers about their agenda. Some anchors keep reminding them that the people’s expectations are high and the level of patience low, rather aggressively, modelling themselves after you know who! 

In the meantime, Angoorlata Deka, the MLA from Batadraba, manages to make news as the glam face of the BJP. She became popular nation-wide as her photos from her modelling and acting days became viral and filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma tweeted about ‘acche din being already here’ with the entry of such a beautiful face.

Now who said ‘if you are fair-complexioned, beautiful and can speak fluent English, you can fool anybody in India?’ Whoever said it must have been a sexist and racist to the core, but he did make sense.

parbina.rashid@gmail.com