Harvesting Wheat

Wheat is ready for harvest but, sadly, field mice are the ones which harvested the crop first. I had been delighted to see the good crop but thorough inspection revealed the empty patches at the center of the field with numerous burrows surrounded by stiff stubbles. I was obviously disappointed to notice hard grown grains being looted by marauders.
 

After the rice season, there were two options, wheat or mustard to grow in my land. I preferred wheat for two reasons. Mustard had been marred by severe weather last season. Accordingly many farmers, especially ones who grew mustard, suffered heavy loss. Unlike wheat, mustard does not prefer much rain. The other reason is scarcity of wheat, one of the ingredients to make satu (food for school children supplied by Books for Nepal), last year. I thought of easy accessibility of wheat to make satu when I grow it in my land.

Crossroads

Everything is quiet. Leaves on trees are all motionless. We hear shuffling of the dead leaves as we are walking on a narrow trail through the forest. The other faint sound is a call of Collared Owlet from the distant. As the morning sunlight penetrates the mist between trees, series of light and dark patterns are shooting down like arrows. I am suffocating. Dark jumper on my shoulder not much of a help to keep me warm from the cold. The fraying edge of black coat-sleeves of Som Bahadur is moving like dragonfly. We are walking down-hill to town to find the work to sustain our family.