The diary game. A Day of Harvest, Hard Work, and Homely Comforts in Kashmir
Hello, dear friends! How is everyone doing? I hope you are all well and enjoying your time with your loved ones, no matter where you are. Today, I want to share another day of my life with you all. I hope you find some time to read my post and that you find it enjoyable enough to upvote.
I got up very early in the morning as I have a habit of rising early, and to my help came the birds living in the vicinity, who started chirping on the open windows of my room and helped me get up. As soon as I got up, I purified myself by performing ablution and then attended the morning prayers in the mosque. Praying is an obligation in my religion, and morning prayers are particularly important and hold significance as far as the fundamentals of Islam are concerned.
After offering prayers, I headed back home and straightaway got into some gardening work. I usually do some gardening early in the day because I’m the only one in my family who loves to maintain a good garden with a carpet-like appearance of the grass and ornamental plants that need to be placed in different areas to thrive. After I was done, I didn’t go for a walk today as I have been feeling exhausted due to the work I’ve been doing over the past couple of days.
Since the harvest season is on here in the Kashmir Valley, I had been involved in harvesting apples in a far-off orchard located about 10 km from our place for the past two days. I’m quite exhausted and can still feel the aching legs and sore muscles. Today, after having my breakfast, I sat outside basking in the sun, as I could feel the cold creeping in. With every passing hour in the Kashmir Valley, the temperature drops, ushering in the winter season.
Having completed all my morning chores and breakfast, and after basking in the sun, my mother asked me to accompany them again to the orchard where we had been for the past two days. Today, no harvesting was to be done; instead, we had to carry back the apples that we had harvested and placed along the road leading to the orchard. Now it was time to bring them home and pack them for export.
It wasn’t an easy task to place these apples at a spot accessible to a vehicle. I had to make efforts to make it easier for the loader to lift the apples quickly. It took me until 1 PM to carry the apple containers from one place and load them into the vehicle. After that, I helped my parents remove any leftover apples from the garden, which could invite diseases. For that, I used a hand cart which made the task easier—otherwise, it could have been very difficult considering the exhaustion I had been experiencing over the last few days and the energy the job required.
Today, I needed some equipment at the orchard and had to go to a nearby house to get it. Upon reaching there, I found the place quite peaceful as there was no one inside. I had to call the owner from the nearby field where they were harvesting maize. Some hens were pecking grains from the ground, which made me reflect on how real village life looks—and it was quite amazing to witness.
Later, around 4 PM, I returned home. Upon reaching, I freshened up and had some tea before taking a nap. In the evening, I helped my mom pluck red chilies, which now need to be dried before being crushed into powder.
Later in the day, I went to my grandmother’s house to see her and my cousins. I returned home around 9:30 PM and had dinner straightaway. It was around 11:30 PM when I went to sleep and called it a day.
Thank you for going through my post. Have a great time ahead.
