“Maushi” in Marathi means my mother’s sister. She is often called Mangal Maushi or Mangal Bai. “Bai” is also used to mean lady or maid servant in Maharashtra. By profession, Mangal is Mangal Bai and has been working at the IofC (http://www.iofc.org/) center in Panchgani, India, called Asia Plateau for several years. I wish I could give you a figure, but what if she cannot tell you her age? So I will guess that she has worked here for 45 years. Once upon a time, there used to be a farm at the center where Mangal spent her younger years working. Due to my interest in farming, I asked her about her work. She told me about the days when the center was completely self-sufficient and produced all kinds of vegetables using only cow dung and compost as soil additives. She feels horrified by the use of chemicals now in the fields. Her eyes glowed as the memories of the early years flowed through her and she described how the center did not have enough money but they always had a lot of food. So for the extra work they did, they received 4 kgs of potatoes instead. When I asked her if she preferred to have received money instead of food, she merely responded, “Work is not for money, it is for personal satisfaction. Those were the days of abundance.” There were 20 cows, and 500 chickens that once lived and all of them slowly died. She looked pained as she thought of the cows that died. She felt that she had a special connection with them. Then she said something that moved me so much, “ माणूसच प्रेम तुटतो पण गायच प्रेम कधी तुटत नाही" Love and loyalty between people breaks but the love given by a cow never breaks. Times have changed. How we live, how we love, and how we grow food has changed. Instead of working in the fields which she loves, she folds laundry and cleans rooms. She dislikes the newer maids; they do not understand what working with integrity means she says. They only work for money. Gone are those days, when we harvested 100 sacks of potatoes, 100 kgs of cauliflower, and went home with happy hearts and full stomachs. Mangal Maushi is living her long life, as I look towards the future, hoping not to be laughed at again and again when I propose a chemical-free, simple life.
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