Near my home a farmer was working
in his field, collecting wheat bundles and dumping at a place. One day I just
observed him, while some children were helping him by collecting wheat bundles
one at a time. The next day I saw the same farmer along with another villager
doing the same work together. The task being an easy one, I decided to help
them in collecting the wheat bundles and therefore approached them. They were much
greeted but tried to stop me from working, saying my clothes will get dirty, or
dust will stick to my body etc. But I said no, let me help you, there is no
need to worry about me or my clothes. So I started helping them with their
work. After collecting a few bundles and hardly after 5 minutes I realized, “that
it’s not as easy as I thought”, and Mr. Helper is in trouble. Realizing my
breathing condition and the sweat on my face, the farmer again said, it’s too
much for me and offered me some water to drink. But looking the ages and
condition of both the farmers, I felt ashamed, and said no problem, I am fine,
let me do you as much as possible. After few more minutes, I was exhausted but
the other two were working as active as they were. At that time I started
praying in the heart “Jaldi sy Maghrib ki Azan ho taky meri jaan chooty”, (Let
the prayer time come soon, so that I can escape the work). Looking the condition of myself and them, I started
to think where is something going wrong. By secretly observing them, I realized
that my method of holding the wheat bundles is what I’ve seen in the movies but
the way the farmers were working was somewhat different. By adopting their
method, I felt that I can pick one additional bundles with much less effort
than before. This was one great learning for me. I paced up my work and worked
till the collection of the final bundle.
Back in home, laying on my bed, thinking
over the day, I felt a little happiness, a little satisfaction but at the same time
somewhat a feeling of shame. Alhamdullilah,
we have enough to eat and again Alhamdullilah can easily afford to eat whatever
we want. But did we ever realize, how the flour, that is used to make the
pizza, burger, breads etc., is turned into flour. No we never think about this
because it’s not the topic of our interest. Sitting in a decent restaurant, in a cool environment, why should I bother how the flour is made? Let me enjoy my food. I can never feel, coldness of the day when the seeds are sown, the dark shivering cold nights when the fields are watered by the farmers, the waiting of 5-6 months with uncertain hopes for the crop to be ready, the fear of bad weather, the scorching heat of the sun when the crop is harvested, the tough labor work required, the hope of getting a good price for crop, the expectations and unlimited desires waiting for the crop’s income. I never bothered to know about this and never felt ashamed about being ignorant. My concern is only with the food I eat and the way I should eat and being ignorant about not knowing how to eat is a matter of shame.
I know how to make and eat pizza, burgers, sandwiches made from wheat flour but what I don’t know is the easiest task of how to pick and hold the wheat bundle in the field. Today I really feel my ignorance.
