Have you ever been served a cup of drink on the floor? I was riding from Haridwar to Moradabad and came across this small settlment in between the barren lands. It looked like a small village with an old entrance gate.
First thing that caught my eyes were lot of cows roaming around. It took me no time to realize that it was a herdsmen village. I rode into the village and suddenly noticed many eyes staring at me.
Houses made of mud and thatch, separated by small fences made of wooden poles, a small cot infront of the house for people to sit. An ideal home in the villages of UP looked like this. This was a very small village and had barely 10-15 houses. I stopped my bike near a home where i found a woman and child. I asked her about the village. She said its a Gujjar village. Gujjars are semi-nomadic people who lives by herding cattle.
I parked my bike and walked into another home. I found an old men. I tried to ask him about the village and its people. They speak Hindi but had a different slang hard to understand.
I walked into another home. I realized that the people aren’t that welcoming. Maybe because its rare for someone to “intrude” into the village or they aren’t used to people from outside.
An old man and women lived here along with their son. As they saw me, the old man asked me to sit. He offered me a chair to sit. He along with his wife sat on the cot. It was a little sunny but cold.
I talked to them for a while. They asked me if i am married or should find a girl soon. They asked me about my whereabouts. When i said i am from Kerala, they asked me where it is? if it’s after Dehradun. I told them its very far and takes 2 days to travel by train. It’s typical that a lot of people in the northern villages of India do not know about Kerala.
As we were talking their son walked in. I asked him how many lived here. The old man, his wife, son and daughter in law. As i spoke more he said, this house is a single room house. It was fairly large, made of clay, but has no separate rooms inside. No electricity, no water supply. Every set of houses had 3-4 huts in one compound. One is where they live, another is the kitchen, another is cow shed and then a small toilet.
Kitchens are kept separate to avoid the risk of fire. They rely on firewood for all their cooking. I walked along with the boy to see the kitchen. I saw him taking milk from a steel pot and boiling it on the fire stove.
As i walked back to the old man and his wife, he came to me with a glass of hot milk and laid it on the ground. That was the first time in my life, i was served something on the floor. I felt stunned for a moment, but then realized they don’t any furniture other than the cot and the plastic chair where i was sitting.
I asked him if he had gone to school. He said he went until the 8th. Later left school and now herding the cattle. I asked him why? The school is very nearby, like 5 -10 minutes , but they don’t have enough bus services he said. That didn’t convince me. People in villages mostly find no value in educating their children. They feel it’s better to make some money from earlier ages to help the family survive.
After a while i said bye to the family and left the place. Riding through Uttar Pradesh some what feels like riding through Tamil nadu. Large barren lands, fields in between, a small colony of houses, wide roads.
On the way i saw some kids playing in the mud. I stopped by and walked to them. They were catching fish from the mud in fact.
It was about 2’o clock in the noon and i was already feeling hungry. I was hard to find a restaurant. After riding several kilometers i found one.
That was one of the best lunches i ever had. The rotis tasted so good, along with dishes made from fresh vegetables
I started riding again. My final destination was Moradabad, a village that makes most of the brassware sold in India.
As i rode further i came across these kilns where they bake these bricks. Several thousands of bricks could be seen, some of them half dried. No humans could be seen in the vicinity.
Barren lands ocassionally turned yellow and green as i drove past.
I drove into a small farm where i saw a man sitting and doing something. They had cauliflowers, cabbages, Mint leaves and a lot more.
He was sowing seeds of Cauliflower, a very welcoming person. While staying focused on what he was doing, he talked a lot to me. He said the seeds are very expensive and they collect those tiny seeds from seed banks in the village.
I came across some celebrations on the way.
I ran into a small town in between. Found some aesthetic people and clicked some photos.
Uttarpradesh is also the sugarcane capital of India. Everywhere, i could see huge fields of sugar canes, trucks carrying canes, small factories that process them and much more. The first time that i travelled though UP was in a train at night. On my way to Rishikesh, back in 2016. I could feel the smell of sugar in the air everywhere. I had this added in my bucket list, to take a ride through the villages and explore those farms and places where they make sugar / jaggery.
This is not the first time that i am seeing a factory that produces Jaggery, but still curious to see how it works.
I rode into a factory that makes Jaggery on the way. Piles of sugar cane could be seen. One man was pushing those sticks through a rotary press that squezes every drop of sweetness from the cane.
Squeezed cane juice is boiled in multiple tanks with ocassional stirs to remove the sediments that appear on top along with the froth. The entire process was no cleaner than any other jaggery units i have seen in Kerala. The only difference being, they add slaked lime while proessing and hence the jaggery looks very lighter in color.
I could see people coming to buy the fresh jaggery being made here. It was sold at 40 rs a Kilo.
I saw a boy around my age there. Seeing me taking videos and photos he walked to me. He asked me about my phone and asked my how much does it cost. When i said its an iPhone he was telling the old man, '“Bhai, ye dekho, Assi hazar ka phone hei yeh” (See this, he has got an 80 K phone. He asked me to click some photos of him and share it with him. In exchange he also helped me with some photos.
Sun has almost started to turn red by that time. I was still very far away from my destination of Moradabad. My mind told me i should return back, because it was getting late. Maybe i will go sometime later again to Moradabad.
I took a U turn back to Haridwar to immerse myself into an evening alongside Ganges