When parali was about fun & games

DAY in and day out, we keep blaming farmers for burning parali (stubble) and causing air pollution. But it wasn’t so in my childhood; crop residue did not have any stigma attached to it back then.

Huge piles of parali came up in the fields after rice harvesting in my village. These piles were so cushiony that we kept jumping like monkeys from one end to the other. One could also hide in the parali and tease chasing buddies. Stray dogs, too, would join us in the fun.

There weren’t any beds or cots needed for labourers, who guarded the harvested grain in the barn. They would lie curled up in the parali in groups the whole night, without even having anything to cover them but the stubble itself. At times, even dogs found refuge in the heaps, which offered natural comfort. Village yokels were known for stuffing their pillows and mattresses with parali as a substitute for cotton.

Yes, we did burn parali, but only a small bunch to light a bonfire during the nippy nights, when a gaggle of boys and street urchins stayed out of their homes a little longer in the evening. To warm oneself up near that fire, around which the friends sat chatting, was a very enjoyable experience. There was divine glow on our faces. We baked sweet potatoes in the parali fire and partook of it gladly, as if it was straight out of the oven.

For bigger herds, there weren’t enough mangers to feed them. The animals were left free to have their share of fodder in the parali heaps, though it did not taste as good as green and leafy forage. I can’t forget the sight of a buffalo, leisurely basking in the sun and chewing the cud long after having had its fill of parali strands. For lactating buffalos and cows, parali was spread on the ground to make them comfortable. Even bitches would deliver their litter in the heaps of stubble and street boys could be seen holding the pups and then bringing them back to their mothers.

Parali wasn’t burnt then by farmers; rather, those heaps doubled as feed for the livestock. The stock would be consumed within a month or two, and there was no pollution of any kind. Though parali can be compressed into fodder pallets and has other uses as well, I remember it best for what it offered during those fun-filled childhood days.