..but, where does the city begin? Meaning, is Barasat a town, or not a town?
Barasat is a town. Now, from Calcutta, Barasat has become a town. Now, the area we go [by train], from there on, Barasat has become a town. For us, Barasat has become a town. Now Barasat has become Calcutta for us.
And where does the village start again?
The village starts from Moina, from Moina, you see from there you have a village with a chashi [agricultural] area. Meaning, there’s a haat [local market] there every week, Friday and Monday… but it’s not a town, it’s a gram [village]. Friday-Monday there’s a haat…
Can you tell me, what is beautiful about the village and what in the city?
What will look beautiful in the city for us…. The city looks nice and in the village, there are different types of farming, we like this very much. In the city, it’s all pucca [solid] there…there are pucca ghor/bari [houses], there is no mud, this is what looks nice to us. Cars and vehicles, this looks beautiful to us. In our farming area, mud gets on our legs, we have to trap the water, we have to control the mud. In the farming area there will be vegetables, paddy, the vegetables look nice to see… there isn’t any breeze in the city. The city air is hot. In our farming area, here there is a tree, it is cool. All these things are good here, these things only are good here. Here in this farming area, we are sitting under a tree, five people sitting under a tree, trading five stories, this is what is good for us. This breeze is good for us, this place is cool…. But for you people, in Calcutta, there is no sitting under a tree, in the heat, you just stay inside your house, in the heat you sit under the fan. And in our farming area, people will not stay inside the home, they will not stay inside their homes. All here in Amtala, this place will fill up in a while. Now, in the afternoon, they are all eating, eating lunch, then this place will fill up.