Love of Two Farmers
Pakri Samy alias Samy was so thrilled over his impending visit to Delhi to participate
in the famous protest struggle by farmers spearheaded by Punjab Farmers against
the notorious three Farm Laws passed in the Parliament by the Barathya Janatha
Party led Government. Though the government has blocked all the information about
the highly effective organized people led protest in the media – Television channels,
Newspapers and All India Radio – Samy has been getting updates of the protest
proceedings through social media, particularly from the You Tube channel and
WhatsApp of Amritha Gaur from National Highway 1 where she has been camping
with her parents.
Whether the Farmers protest that pushed him towards Delhi or Amrtitha Gaur who
attracted him , it was difficult to judge now.
Samy travelled back through the five year old memory bridge and recalled his first
ever meeting with Amritha Gaur during a workshop conducted by Fr. Servatius on
Sociocracy in Ashram Dialogue Centre in Kanyakumari – the beautiful beach and
pilgrimage centre in the Southern tip of India.
Samy was stunned and speechless by the beauty and charm of Amritha Gaur during
the very first sight. She looked like the 1970 Bollywood dream girl Hema Malini.
There was an inhibition in the mind of Samy to interact freely with her – his dark skin,
crooked eyes, a tooth jutting out from the left upper jaw and last but not the least his
scheduled caste identity. All these physical and cultural factors combined together to
instil a sense inferiority complex in him.
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Little was he conscious that Nature was so compassionate to compensate his
defects by bestowing on him immeasurable gifts as a musician, lyricist, a dramatist
and a fire brand social activist. Besides, he had an excellent academic track record.
But Amritha Gaur was not concerned about these trivial things of life. He interacted
freely with everybody and appreciated the talents of Samy in public that made him
ecstatic at times.
The workshop on Sociocracy was a turning point in the lives of Samy or Amritha
Gaur.
Fr. Servatius was so practical at the outset.
He said thus: “You might have heard about democracy but democracy failed us.
Why? It is handled and managed by politicians. We, the people are ruled by a band
of politicians selected by us. We are not ruling us. They control our thinking, our food
habits, our jobs, in short, our life style through mass media and political power. They
cannot be recalled for their misdeeds for five years because bureaucracy, judiciary,
are mass media are under their control. Politicians and capitalists work out an
unholy alliance between them for five years and swindle the public wealth. We are
powerless spectators for five years and elect another corrupt regime.
Another great evil of democracy is that it breeds violence in the name of patriotism.
First they divide mother earth through imaginary lines called boundaries and give
names to the geographical regions within these boundaries, say India, Pakistan,
China, Germany, France etc. Now the people are divided against each other.
Politicians are addicted to power. They control power through violence. They
instigate war between different communities living within different boundaries. The
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history of mankind is a history of violence justified in the name of patriotism. Yes!
Patriotism is the great evil fabricated by politicians to plunder wealth of the nations
and retain political power. Is there a way out? Yes, there is a solution to this evil
called democracy. It is Sociocracy. Let us play the game of Sociocracy tomorrow.
Now you can ask for any clarification.” Thus he concluded the first session. Samy,
Amritha Gaur, her brother Pratab Singh and many other participants raised many
questions and some of them reacted harshly over the remark that patriotism as an
evil emotion. Somebody defended democracy and asked for ways and means to
strengthen it, rather than discarding it.
Little did they know that everybody would experience a cultural shock and total
transformation the next day.
The game of Sociocracy started the next day. Father Servatius divided the 30
participants into two groups with each group consisting of 15 persons. Each group is
a Neighbourhood Community Network, abbreviated as NCN. Each NCN has
members from different caste, linguistic and ethnic communities to ensure that they
lose their socio cultural identities. Samy was in the group of Amritha Gaur and her
brother. They sat in small circle and faced each other. There was no need for micro
phone to address. English was selected as the medium of communication to
overcome the hurdle of diverse languages of different states in India.
Each NCN has one minister for the issues confronting the people in India, say a
minister for water/sanitation, minister for health, minister for education, minister for
communication, minister for finance, minister for environment , minister for child
protection and so on. Finally, the entire ministers selected a Prime Minister. In short,
it was the base unit of Peoples’ Parliament at the grass root level. This Peoples’
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Parliament or NCN certain noble principles not heard of in democracies. First
Principle is equality: everybody is equal in NCN. Second any decision is taken not on
consensus but on consent. Consensus belongs to Democracy and it is violent as
majority determines the decision. But in NCN, it is consent. If 14 members agree on
an issue but one person disagrees, he/she has the right to articulate the reason for
the disagreement. Finally, he/she gives consent for the sake of the Parliament. The
third important principle is that each for all and all for each. All the 15 members of the
NCN work as a single entity. Principle of Recall is the corner stone of Sociocracy. If
all the ministers are convinced that a certain minister is not discharging his/her
duties, the Parliament convenes a pass a resolution to recall that minister, even if the
member concerned is the Prime Minister.
NCN is a grass root level training module to train the people in democratic values
and electing responsive and accountable governing system. The macro level
governing system should start with NCN. Many NCNs form, to begin with, a village
level Parliament with representatives from NCNs. All the village level NCNs form a
Panchayat level Parliament. As the circle grows wider and wider, we will have State
level Parliament and then national level Parliament. But the basic constitution of
NCN will not be altered even at national level. If all the countries replicate this model,
then the real Global Parliament will eventually emerge without boundaries and
patriotism.
The game was so appealing to Amritha Gaur, her brother, Samy and many others.
But certain agnostics dropped out as they thought it to be too much utopian.
After the training, the members returned back to their respective villages with a
commitment to promote NCNs in their Panchayat and then in the district. The
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common thread was that they should be in constant touch through social media and
strengthen the network.
During the five years after the training, Samy had promoted 150 NCNs in Tamilnadu,
particularly among the Scheduled caste dominated villages. Amritha Gaur and her
brother promoted 205 NCNs in Punjab and Haryana. Hundreds of Twitters,
Facebook messages, WhatsApp texts and You Tube demos had been exchanged
between Samy and Amritha during these period. But the outbreak of COVID – 19
prevented a national level NCN Conference on May 2020.Samy was disheartened
as he was denied the opportunity to meet Amritha.
But September, 2020 was a black day for Amritha Gaur and Samy as well as millions
of Indian farmers. The Indian Parliament passed three Farms Bills known as Farm
Acts 2020. Punjab farmers first sensed the dangers behind the heinous laws that
would, in the long run rob the farmers their right to agriculture produce, farm lands
and finally the 276 billion dollar Indian agriculture and allied services economy would
land in the hands of a few multinational companies. .They reacted swiftly and the
Federation of Farmers Associations called Sanghatana launched a march towards
Delhi on 24 th December. Amritha Gaur texted a message through WhatsApp to Samy
that she was also marching towards Delhi along with 205 NCN Parliament members.
She also solicited his support for the cause.
Samy was very much excited and thrilled to get the message, shared it with NCN
members through Twitter and WhatsApp and sought the permission of Fr. Servatius
to proceed towards Delhi and participate in the protest.
But Fr. Servatius was a man with practical wisdom. He feared that the Union
Government might use force to crush the farmers’ agitation. Fr. Servatius would,
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time and again, insist that Neighbourhood Parliament was his dream which might
take hundred years or more to be realised. But we should sow the seed and water it
right now.
Finally Samy agreed to the wait and see policy suggested by Fr. Servatius. As days
dragged on, there was no news of the Farmers protest in Delhi in the printed media
or electronic media. The newspapers and television networks maintained a studied
silence over the Delhi Protest by Sanghatana of Farmers from Haryana and Punjab.
But the You Tube, WhatsApp, and FB pages of Amritha and her brother portrayed a
different picture. Several lakhs of tractors with more than million farmers had pitched
their tents on National Highway 1 and the protest had been gathering momentum
every day.
Samy was a bit puzzled and he became suspicious of Amritha for the first time. He
shared his dilemma with Fr. Servatius. He cleared his doubts and misgivings. “ See
Samy. Do not trust the media. The Government has ‘purchased’ the media through
money power and Income Tax or Excise Duty raid threats. All media bosses are not
holy. They are as unholy as the politicians. Their economic interest is more important
than freedom of speech. I am getting updates from Northern Dioceses. Amritha Gaur
is right. The Farmers protest is almost destabilizing the government which is in a
dilemma. Use of force will be counterproductive. What are you going to do?”
“I am going to Delhi” said Samy with a determined voice.
“Okay! Go ahead. Are you going to manage the expenses?”
“ I have faith in Amritha”
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Finally Samy and four friends from local NCN left for Delhi on September 27, 2021,
exactly one year after the promulgation of the Farmers Act.
He reached SinguTikri border in the late evening of 29 th September. He was puzzled
to hear that he was outside the Singu – Tikri border. Normally two countries draw
border line. How is it that a border was drawn inside India. Para military forces
guarded the border line that separates India from the agitating farmers. Samy
murmured unto himself. “ Am I in India that boasts of democracy and freedom of
speech. The local media in Tamilnadu never visualised such a picture of the protest”
He sent a text message through WhatsApp to Amritha and he got back a quick reply
which read as follows: “ Turn to the left and walk for two kilometres until you see an
auto. Get into it and say ‘ Amritha Gaur’. He will bring you here”
He acted as directed. The auto trudged along an uneven terrain and finally reached
the edge of a buzzling township. Samy could not control his amazement. He opened
his mouth with the words “ Oh! My God”
Pratab Singh greeted him with a tight hug and led others into the town defamed by
the media as the farmers agitation ground. Already heavy cold had set in since it was
autumn. Pratab said” Samy , first have some tea in the Langar. You need heat. Then
we shall get some woollen clothes for you”
He took him to the nearest Langar. Samy was astonished to see Amritha Gaur
serving tea and snacks. On seeing Samy, she shouted aloud. “ Ohhh! Saaamy”
Samy was so excited over her cry of recognition. She served hot tea and enquired
about her mom and sisters. After the tea, Pratab took him to the dress section
handled by an international donor agency. There was a long queue. When Pratab
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said the words “ from Tamilnadu” all the members gave way and he took Samy and
his friends to the dress room and asked them to take as much thick woollen
garments as possible with a warning word” Samy! You had no taste of snow and
chilling cold here. Be prepared for that”
Then he took them to a tent, arranged for food and asked them to take rest.
Next day morning again he met Amritha. She took him around the Farmers Protest
arena. Samy thought whether he was in a wonderland. He asked her “ How large
this area is?”
“This national highway is half kilometre wide and 13 kilometre long. This is our
protest ground. It is more than 6.5 square kilometre .It can accommodate two
smallest countries of the United Nations – Vatican city and Luxembourg – still it can
accommodate two countries with similar size” She winked her eyes and smiled.
Samy gazed into her eyes with his unbelievable look and asked “ How many people
are here?”
More than two lakh tractors are tied up one by one along this highway. About one
million farmers are here at a time. But they are here on rotation basis. Some stay for
one month, some stay for three months. and so on”
Sensing the puzzle in his face, Amritha explained “ Saamy,” There was a tone of
intimacy in her voice. “ Our mainstay is agriculture and Indian Army. Boys go to army
and return back as retired middle aged officers and become farmers. This is our
socio economic life. So we need farmers back in home. Hence this rotation system
helps us. Now clear”
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“ How your people are managing this huge township in the middle of the highway.”.
She noticed a sense of amazement in his voice. The entire .logistics are managed by
retired army officers. My grandfather is a Param Veer Chakra medallist for bravery in
the army. He is in charge of water and sanitation. Do you know his age?” she
paused for a moment and said with the same winkle and smile “just 84 years old but
you cannot handle him” again she winked.
“Okay Samy! Now I will take you to the NCN formed by me and what proactive role
they are playing to promote freedom of speech without any fear both inside this
protest area and connecting this protest outside the world.”
She took him to the Amritsar NCN. There were 10 women, mostly girls and 5 boys.
She introduced Samy and his friends to them and vice versa.
Then she said “You are lucky! Today is meant for the Minister of Culture and
Communication. If you want you can join” She then explained the theme and
presentation in English as the program would be presented in Punjabi Language
which would be Greek to Samy. It was about the three farm laws and how they
would rob the farmers about their rights. Moreover, the heroes of Punjab history
would be honoured to motivate them to action. The entire program would be
presented in the Punjabi traditional Bhangra folk dance and song form.
Amritha soon transformed into colourful Bhangra dance attires. She looked angelic in
the eyes of Samy. Soon the dance accompanied by song started. Amritha danced
with a stick in her hand and started jumping with the rhythm of an expert dancer.
Samy had a” para” instrument in his hand. It was made of cattle skin seasoned over
months. It was equivalent to the bongos of the African musical instrument.
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Samy, being a born musician, could not resist the North Indian Bhangra beats. He
took up his ‘para’ and started beating it to match the dance movements of Amritha
and her friends. There was a roar of approval from the audience.
Then she asked Samy to perform a musical program. Samy explained to her the lyric
penned by him about the plight of a bonded labour agriculture woman. Samy’s
grandma was a bonded labourer. He explained the lyric to her in English but sang it
in Tamil, his mother tongue. She, in turn, explained it into Punjabi to the local
audience. .Samy sprang up and jumped from side to side, beating his para with high
decibel and fast pace like a rock music drummer. His voice vibrated and brought out
the anger and agony of the bonded woman labourer. Now Amritha also joined him
and accompanied to his music with her dance movements.
Till after noon, he enjoyed a lot of folk programs honouring the heroes of Punjab
including Baghath Singh.
Evening he joined the artists who drew cartoons on the draconian farm laws and the
greed of multinational companies. These cartoons had been photographed and sent
instantly through WhatsApp to friend circle in India and abroad.
As dusk settled in, a group of children flocked around Amritha with pencils, crayons
and notes. Yes, they are from the nearby slums. She, as a post graduate in English
literature and Hindi, taught them languages free of cost. Samy recalled the services
of the Veranda Teachers in Tamilnadu during the Independence Movement. They
cooked food for the children of the agriculture labourers and also taught them
.literacy and numeric skills. In the evening, they would teach them independence
movement strategies of Ghadhiji. What an amazing similarity. Gandhi is still alive so
he consoled himself.
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Time flew like lightning. It is almost one month since his arrival. No body wore masks
and no trace of COVID – 19 in the area. Many times, Samy got opportunity to walk
shoulder to shoulder with Amritha and danced with her in groups. He secretly
entertained a wish in his heart a deep rooted love affair with her. But he would not
dare to reveal it as he feared that she would react badly.
One day, he suffered a headache followed by running nose and body pain. In the
afternoon, he felt feverish. He whispered into the ears of Amritha about his illness.
She touched his forehead and raised her eyebrows with concern. “ Don’t get panic. I
have an uncle by name Uttam Sigh. He is a doctor. Let us go to his clinic.”
It was a well maintained clinic in the thick of the agitation field. A hall erected with
wood and fibre glass constituted the general ward. The doctor had a cabin separated
by cloth curtain. The general ward was sub divided into small cabins by wooden
walls. Dr. Uttam Sigh tested him for COVID -19. Four hours later it was confirmed
that Samy was COVID positive. However, he cautioned Amritha not to create any
panic among the people by revealing it. Rather he tested people who interacted with
Samy including Amritha. Only Samy’s two Tamilnadu friends tested positive.
During the Quarantine, Amritha got permission and nursed Samy with all preventive
measures taken. She had already taken two vaccine shots of Covishield. After the
Quarantine, she gave him adequate nutrition supplement and even massaged his
body for pains.
For the first time in his life, Samy felt the love of his mother after her death while he
was just five years old. Dr. Uttam Singh advised him to go back to Tamilnadu and
take rest. Amritha also insisted on this. So he mustered his courage and decided to
reveal his love towards her. So he whispered “ Amritha , I LOVE YOU” into her ears.
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His heart palpitated and throat dried up and he was prepared for any eventuality. But
he was astonished to find a smile in her face.” Is she willing” or is it a sign of “ damn
idiot how dare to love me. Black, crooked eyes, one tooth jutting out, most of all a
Scheduled Caste guy”. What does it mean? Her smile outsmarted the mysterious
smile of Mona Lisa.
After a brief pause, she talked. “Dear Samy, there is nothing wrong to love anybody.
I know you well. You suffer from a terrible inferiority complex. Throw this damn
complex out. Of course, I too love you. But the harsh reality is that I cannot marry
you. We have our own traditional Punjabi village committees. My father is the chief
of the Committee. You can contest the verdict of High Court or Supreme Court but a
Punjabi boy or girl cannot contest the verdict of the village committee. If so, the
entire village will excommunicate her and her entire family. The father has only one
option – commit suicide. A sardarji will not live after losing his honour. I have two
younger sisters. What will happen to them? Shall I bring disgrace to them and
damage their future.? Tell me Samy, do you want my body or my love?”
Samy was in a difficult situation. After a long pause, he said in a faint voice, “ your
love”
“Yes! I expected this answer. I give you my love keep it. Okay” She took his hand
and kissed it.
“ Samy! Do you know why Romeo and Juliet is still a romantic classic and immortal
.lovers? They were never married. If they married, Shakespeare would not have
penned the tragic drama. Similarly, let us remain as lovers. I will marry a Sardarji
from the Indian Army. You also marry a girl from your community. But we focus on
strengthening Neighbourhood Community Network and live for the future world.”
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She combed her hair with her fingers and soothed his anguish.
Samy bade good bye to Pratab Singh, her grandfather and finally Amritha and left.
Back in home he shared the ground realities in Delhi Farmers Protest and motivated
the farmers to stage similar strikes in his district.
On November 20 th , 2021, he received a WhatsApp text from Amritha with two happy
news.
The first news read as follows: The Union government will repeal the three notorious
Farmers Acts in the winter Parliament session.
The second good news was that her family has finalised her marriage with a Second
Lieutenant in Indian Army.
For a moment a surge of tears enveloped the eyes of Samy. Whether it was the
tears of agony or ecstasy, his heart alone knows.