Free from School | Page 6

made for them. As a present I decided to take five pairs of guppies from my garden tank. Imagine my shock when I found that the tank was just as I had left it, with no fish at all to inhabit the lovely quarters. I was glad I had brought along the guppies and these became the first lot of fish to inhabit the tank. I also fixed the light and the regulators and set the plants properly.
Juliet's little daughters crowded round me as I stood back to admire the now complete aquarium: fish swimming happily with newly installed plants and air filters bubbling away in a corner. Juliet soon joined us and thanked me warmly and to my utter surprise slipped a 50 rupee note into my pocket. I protested that she should not pay me for this as I was having great fun but she insisted that I take the money and this became my first earning.
In similar fashion I set up fish tanks for a few other family friends. Besides having a lot of fun and gaining valuable experience, I also earned pocket money! Avdoot and Rekha Munj in Mapusa have a lovely big tank which I helped set up for their daughter; Alvito and Celine Santiago from Parra also had an empty fish tank which they wanted to put back in use and I organised the fish for them too.
There was also the large fish tank in the office of the Principal of my school (St. Anthony's at Monte Guirim), which I had maintained during my school days. I continued to keep watch over it through my younger brother Milind, who, like me, is also a fish fan.

Chapter 2
: Learning a Bit of Farming
One of my plans for the rainy season was to go to RUSTIC Farm which is in Thanem, a small village near Valpoi in the remote north-eastern district of Sattari, so that I could gain some experience in farming. RUSTIC Farm holds a special attraction for me because I was born when my parents lived on this farm and we stayed there till I was three years old. Although I have no real recollection of that period, we have many photographs of my baby days on the farm and many stories that my parents tell us of those times. We still visit the place at least once a year and also maintain contact with several of the villagers who worked then on the farm. Yesu, our domestic help for the past 16 years comes from that area. In 1985 RUSTIC Farm was sold to the present owners Shyam and Ujwala Achrekar. I had intended to stay with them for a month and learn about farming first-hand. Unfortunately due to some personal difficulties they could not have me visit them. It is one of the few regrets I had during my one-year sabbatical. As things worked out, however, I was able to learn a few basics about farming in my own village at Parra.
My neighbours, the Kandolkars, are a peasant family and during the rains they take to farming their own fields. They also do ploughing work for others. Guru, the eldest son, has a fine pair of bullocks for the purpose. It so happened that Guru was doing some masonry work at our house and I was chatting with him about my sabbatical when he casually asked me whether I would like to come ploughing with him. I jumped at the offer even as he seemed a bit surprised that I had so readily agreed. Next morning I was woken up early and we set out for the fields which are quite close to our homes.
Holding the plough may appear a simple task but believe me it is not so and calls for quite a lot of skill and stamina. The trick is to keep the plough in the centre and avoid cutting the hoofs of the animals at the same time. One needs to put the right amount of pressure on the handle as the plough should neither be too deep nor too shallow in the soil. Also one has to constantly keep one's eye on the bullocks to direct them to turn around at the end of the field and to lift the plough when it reaches a bund. Lastly (and this is most important) the bullocks must recognise you or else they won't take orders from you.
The bullocks knew Guru very well but I was a stranger so Guru made me keep shouting cries of "heeree heeree" which is how they get the animals to move-so that they would at least begin to recognise my voice. Although I went ploughing with Guru for several days in a row, he never let me plough on my own because getting the right