An Ode to My Village | Soham Mitra

Paddy Cultivation.

Chanik Bagdi, a marginal farmer.

Manasa Puja, a fertility cult observed in the hope of good rainfall.

Rajen Konra, an agricultural labour.

Vijay Konra, another agricultural worker.

Vanjo, a cult observed for good production of crops.

Kshudiram Bagdi, a Vaishnava preacher.

Hunting ritual of the indigenous Santhal community.

A pet hen in a corner-shelf of a house.

Joydeb Bagdi, owner of a poultry farm.

Mayna Bairagya, a housewife and tailor.

Bankimchandra Mitra, a homeopathy practitioner.

Gayatri Bagdi, a widowed housewife, weaves a talaai, coverlet made out of date palm leaves.

Panchan Karmakar, one of a few remaining ironsmiths of our village.

Satya Bairagya in his bakery, the only such facility available in the community.

A flowering ridge gourd field.

Girls pluck ripen chilli peepers.

Binay Bagdi and Puspa Bagdi, a farming couple.

Kurani Bagdi, a housewife and casual fisherwoman.

Mohan Thander, an aged day-labour, with his cow.

Manikchandra Das, a traditional musician determined by his caste.

Hasan Sekh comes to sell plastic goods.

Rajiblochan Ghosh, a retired government employee, in his garden.

Sishir Chatterjee, a senior Hindu priest.

Rabi Das, a farmer and horse-puppet dancer.

A village fair.

Migratory street performers visit our village.

Mature paddy.

A farmer with his bullock cart, on the way to bring harvested rice crop.

A Gadariya shepherd, with his flock, arrives.

Heaps of harvested paddy.

In the early school grades, there was a typical question used to appear in the annual tests. It read, “Write a paragraph on your village in your own words.”

We wrote, “The name of my village is Barah. This village is in the Birbhum district of West Bengal. More than 3000 people live in my village. In my village, there are two primary schools, one high school, one public library, and a health centre.” That way, the answers were elaborated with inchoate details and repetitions until the provided space on the answer sheets was not filled.

But as I grew up, realised my village is more than that essay task; it is a breathing entity, an evolving relationship. We are together an agriculturalist community. Here the course of life rolls on with crop cycles. Occupations, rituals, and farming practices- by intertwingling with each other, form a symbiotic ecosystem where everyone has roles to play.

This is my tribute to the people and space that shaped my identity.

An Ode to My Village (2018)