Monday, November 14, 2011

Killer Rain


RAIN,,,the essential thing in their life as the whole region rely on this for their daily needs as well as their traditional agricultural works. The collection of rain from upstream hilly regions birth a wild steam that travel all the way across the region and combine in the river of Irrawaddy. One of so many villages on the bank of the beautiful steam is my wife's native land. I only reached there about 3 years ago for our wedding celebration. The village is located by the steam and surrounded by mountain ranges. The village is generating the hydro-electricity from the steam. The steam water was quite clear as I reach there on winter season. There are so many farm plots on the bank of the steam. It was so colorful and make the curvy steam even more attractive and beautiful. It was unforgotten memory to go down in the steam for bathing. The water is knee-high and crystal clear.

However those beautiful places has been eroded by an angry rain. It took only over night. Everything gone in the next morning. We all know that these day adverse weather news are no longer strange to us. There are continuous disaster news regardless of places on this planet. Some are bearable while other are tragic. Some claims lives while other claim properties. Some get help from authorities while other have to survive by themselves. Fortunately, I have never experienced such disaster to date.

Month after failing to make successful call to said beautiful village, my wife managed to make a call last night. She was visibly happy to hear her parent's voice. However those happy couldn't be able to long as she was greeted by the sad news. As usual, she started her conversation by asking the status of cultivation as this time is to collect all the crop to home. She was surprised when she is told by his father that they have no longer farmland to cultivate now. Her father continued that the serious rain swept their farmland away for ever. Every year in the rainy season, they got experience of losing some friction part of their lands. The villagers would busy with the refurbishment of their lands once the water level downs to prepare next cultivation. However, this year disaster make them retire from their traditional jobs. They are helpless but to see the lost land. Their fertile lands had been transformed to complete sandy bed of the steam. It's really nightmare for all villagers. They don't know what to do next because they only know how to do those agricultural jobs.

They have done the same job since they born. There is no way to get further land as the village is rightly located amidst mountains. I initial thought that they only lost their current crops and able to replant later after the water level goes down. I am distraught when my wife explains me the real case. She said those lands are their heritage and invaluable. She is very much grateful to land as those farmland sent her school as well as university. Without those land, she couldn't have been educated woman. She is the proud of her family as she managed to escape from the rural village and now able to work at the one developed country. She was saddened by the news and I tried to console her all the night.

She always wanted her parent to retire from those tiresome agricultural works. So I take this opportunity to highlight her will to fulfill. However, they seem not happy to retire as this is part of their daily life. Without this, they may feel lonely or feel time goes very slow. Of course unless they found a good substitute such as meditation or any form of religious way. For the time being, I could able to sympathize their feeling with regard to this recent tragedy. In past, every morning they can be happy by seeing the blossoming field from the bank of the steam. Instead, they can see now empty sandy dry steam in their eye sight. It might take some time to cure their wounds. I hope they can find a happy life again sooner than later despite it's easy said than done.

No comments:

Post a Comment