Agricultural work follows the sun and is hence determined by rhythms that remain constant at home as well as in Bardhaman district, where Soyjuddin offers his labour twice or thrice a year in correspondence with the rice harvest. When they are staying at rich landowners', he and his fellows wake up before 6 – breakfast is served already by 6 o'clock in order not to lose any time – and short after that, go to the fields. The morning session lasts until 12.30-1pm, when lunch, equally provided by the employers, is served. The time to wake up in Raninagar doesn't differ much, but he would stay back in order to take breakfast and almost more importantly, to play with his three small boys until 8am. Generally, Soyjuddin knows for whom he's going to work, so he doesn't need to report himself at respective employers', but simply walks to the concerned fields and starts attending to the agreed tasks.
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It goes along with the fear of sudden rains or changes of weather, but also with the early sunset in these latitudes as well as the wish to keep the costs for hired labour low, that the big landowners try to speed up the pace; so, all go back to the fields directly after lunch. Back in Murshidabad, hardly anyone owns so much land that the pending works cannot be done on time: this suits Soyjuddin, who takes two hours off after lunch. Apart from paddy work, the fertile soil of his district supports a variety of other agricultural activities that follow one another during the year: after the sowing of aman paddy will come the harvest of jute; in winter it's the round of aman, mustard, spinach and vegetables; wheat will be cut before and sesame just after the boro paddy harvest in April; and the guavas ripe and are plucked in early summer.
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As everything – including the biri – is provided by the employers during the 10-14 days of harvest, Soyjuddin and his mates don't even visit the bazar and they spend the evening in their quarter, gathering energies after the long day of work, chatting and especially, listening to music from the mobile phone; they all go to sleep short after dinner, at 9.30-10pm. But he doesn't spend much time at the tea-stall in Murshidabad either, like some other men do, partly for want of money to spend there, partly for he's happy to dedicate time to his family. After dinner though, when the children are sleeping, he frequently visits his in-laws' home, as Yanush, his brother-in-law, is also his best friend.
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