This photograph is that of a very close family friend who is among the very few still farming in my native district and close to the farm house where my father had lived post his retirement. Most of his contemporaries as well as mine, have moved out to cities in pursuit of other more remunerative and less strenuous / risky occupations. But this intrepid man has literally ploughed on and has been quite successful.
The machine at the back is a Paddy Harvester. I have never seen one before. What I remember of harvesting of paddy is of women manually harvesting in many parts of our country.
Yes, mostly handled by women and I in fact don’t remember seeing men harvesting ever.
My friend is wearing what we call a Veshti in Tamil Nadu. My readers will be more familiar with dhoti.
The advantage of wearing veshti is that it can be folded up and tied around the waist to provide the ease comparable to wearing shorts over trousers. This method is called wearing it half-mast in jest!
He and his supervisor are wearing turbans on their heads. These are actually towels cast over their shoulders when indoors but used as turbans when out in the sun. It is a multipurpose piece of apparel that comes very handy in hot climates.
There are times that I wish I could be like my friend in our rural parts. Those times however are very rare now that I am at the twilight of my life and can not be as active as one needs to be in those parts to just survive!