Journal of A Farmer - Bharat

Day 1
The crops seem to be coming along well even in this heat. The biosphere seems to be a good investment even though I am still paying off the debts. Three more years and it will be all mine. Maybe I can even sell it to someone and buy a better one. That would mean more loan but for me, what doesn’t ? The good thing is at least I have a rain right at my finger tips when I want it. The feeding machine stopped working again and had to feed all the cows by hand. Asked Mintu for a hand but he still seems to be disappointed for not being able to go to college. I don’t blame him. The poor boy studied hard all his life to become a space scientist but bad luck has usually has a good timing. There was The Great Storm and all that. I don’t know why I keep on wondering about it but life would have been less harsh if the storm hadn’t happened. My wife will be coming back the day after from her mother’s. I hate to admit but I am sort of looking forward to it. I’m tired of eating this machine made food. There will a power cut in about half an hour so I guess I check up on the cows once and then turn in to bed.

Day 2
Mintu was gone all day. Came back at night. Says he is working on a project of his own. I don’t know what the heck is going on in his head but if only he could give up this crazy idea that he can still become a space scientist. With all these regular power cuts I could really use a hand. I don’t understand how the boy thinks. Says he is trying to create a new kind of space pod that will only be manned by one person. I don’t understand any of that science but I understand that with all these power cuts I could really use a hand. I have been lenient with him till now to give him some time but if he continues I swear I will give him a good thrashing and for a 20 year old boy that is such not a nice thing. I don’t know where he is getting the money from either. And I don’t like that he goes over the hills. Its not a nice place to be. The people there are all mixed breeds, half humans. They are the ones that chose to amalgamate. None of them is pure. They are all shudras. I think I will take him to pujari baba for a talk. Maybe he can fix his head. I will be leaving early tomorrow morning to Delhi to find some parts for the machine. Mintu will have to go to pick up his mother from the station. Maybe I can give him the keys to old hover tractor. That might make him a bit happy.

Day 3
This was my second trip to the city after the Great Storm. It still is pretty much as it was the last time. Nothing but ruins and old buildings. Its hard to believe that this place was the capital in the last century. Right now all that remains of the capital is a couple of scattered museums that no one really cares about. Even school refuse to take kids on a trip there. But this place is great for cheap second hand stuff. The entire place is underground and stretches out for miles in any direction. I had to hire a guide to take me through it. Most of the place is actually empty and goes like catacombs. Thank god that a found a guide. Sometimes you can’t even get one to take you. They refuse. They simply refuse. This guide told me its all because of the government raids, that they have to careful. I asked him what if I was a government official. He looked at me for a second and laughed it off. It ticked me off but I didn’t have much of a choice. These people think too much of themselves. Just because they run this little illegal business doesn’t make them any better than me. I still have a higher caste. At the shop I easily found the parts I needed, paid the dealer and was on my way out. I didn’t want to really stick around any longer than necessary. The air down there is really fowl and it gets suffocating after a while. My wife would have been back home by now and I gave the keys of the tractor to Mintu. I’m staying at a small inn for the night and it stinks worse than anything. There is nothing but the smell of piss and dust in the air. I decided not to eat anything. Tomorrow I will have to start early tomorrow morning.
Day 4
My wife was home when I got back and it seemed like a good day. I had made it in the time for breakfast. Mintu for some reason hung around at home today. Mostly brooding over his notebooks but it was nice to have him around. In the late afternoon I replaced the parts of the machine and the cows could be fed and milked automatically again. In the evening I went out in the village to meet Ramnaresh. We both sat and smoked hookah. After ages hookah still hasn’t changed and I’m thankful for that. He was talking about some revolution being stirred by the shudras about how they want equal rights. He spat at their names. He is always full of these big talks of change and revolutions for worse or for good. Revolution! Ha! The way I see it they should be exterminated. All of them. God did not make machine. God made man. It is not right for a man and machine to mix and create something else. They are all monsters. He started to ask about my son. But then stopped suddenly. I think I know why. Tomorrow I am taking him to meet pujari baba no matter what. While leaving Ramnaresh told me to be a bit careful. I don’t know about what though. He is slightly crazy. I had a small talk with my wife after coming home. She seems happier. I told Mintu that we are going to meet pujari baba tomorrow. He did not argue for once. Maybe he does have a bit of his head in the right place.

Day 5
My son! My son! There was nothing but smoke and my son had disappeared. My son cannot be found. Why is this happening? When I woke up I could see smoke rise from over the hill. So much smoke that it blacked out the sky. I could see figures moving up on the hill. That stupid idiot getting mixed with these wild people. OH GOD! What have the shudras done to my son? I searched for him all day and I can’t find him. What have they done to him? I will kill them one by one. All of them…
Day 6
There is still smoke in the sky. Ramnaresh came in the morning and we both went to the police to file a report. We took the elevator up to the station. A long elevator ride and I could see a bit over the hills. Everything was burned down. There was no one to be seen. They had all moved. The station looked over the entire district like a watchtower. The place had always frightened me. I can’t imagine being locked up two hundred feet up in the sky with these ruthless people. Kalki , they call themselves. They told us that a search party had already gone to look over at the ruins and no one had been found but no sign of anyone being dead either. Hesitantly I told them that I think my son was with the shudras. They looked at me with such cold contempt. I would have run away at the instant if not for my son. They said they cannot file an abduction report because my son had to have been abducted from the house, if not then he went there by his will. I refuse to believe that. They said that they will come tomorrow to take a look at my house. It took us all day and again there is no electricity. My wife has locked herself in a room and I left her to it. That is how she deals with loss. Tomorrow they will come.

Day 7:
Why would my son do such a thing? I still can’t believe it. I refuse to believe it. I mean he said he was going there to work on some goddamn space pod. Why would he? I should have never gone to the police. They came and searched his room. And now all of a sudden my son is a fugitive. He is to be blamed for the fires. I can’t believe it. But they found writings in his notebooks. He was nice boy. I could have never imagines him to do this. Oh god. What am I going to do?