Paddy transplanting in Harlimatha

The Women who bring rice to our plates

Paddy transplanting is done exclusively by women in India. And I was interested to find that in Japan, before mechanization, transplanting by hand was exclusively done by women too while the men supervised them. There was an interesting scene in 'Shichinin no samurai'  (Seven Samurai) by Akira Kurosawa where women stoop in the fields to plant rice in neat rows by hand, while the men sing and draw water for the fields. In Harlimath too, it is a similar scene and men prepare the land and drive the bullocks to get the field ready for the next batch of seedlings.

The hired women workers assemble in brightly clad clothes with raincoats and polythene covers, neatly tied scarves topped by a Hale toppi ( A cap fashioned out of Areca leaf), and a collared shirt buttoned up over all this. They look snug and warm. They are probably going to need it because they will wade knee deep in the cold slush of the fields for most of the day while the skies are overcast with impending rain. It is backbreaking work, oddly meditative when you are working but the pain hits you when you stop for a little coffee break and in the nights where your aching thighs and back will scream in protest. But the women take it in their stride and get on with the work with a practiced rhythm and beautiful symmetry. Here's to the women who bring rice to our plates.