GOOD OLD DAYS

(This story is set on GAIA2 earth’s twin about 800 years younger and evolving.)

I am a young man, handsome and well-built. I am an agriculturist and own paddy fields which are fertile and have made me rich. That day I was in the fields on my saddled donkey supervising the labourers who were working there. I was satisfied about work there and returned home. I tethered the donkey in the manger and went in. My wife was busy supervising the cooking. She was dressed in the pareyou which covered her from waist down.

I asked jovially “What is for dinner?”

As usual she wanted it to be a mystery and didn’t give an answer but said “Wait a little. You’ll know.”

In a short while I sat on a platform and she spread a leaf in front of me to serve. I saw she had cooked rice with vegetable curry and fish. As I ate I said “Haven’t I told you that I prefer fresh water fish? This dish is very salty.”

She was silent. I said “I find vegetables are less. I love peas and there is only a scattering of it.”

She said “The peas crop has failed due to infestation by insects. And the maid couldn’t collect much.”

“We’ve 3 maids.”

“There’s only one working here. The other two are laid up. I’ve told you one has delivered a child. The other is down with a strange disease which the apothecary is unable to treat. I’m managing with just one maid.”

That answer showed her dissatisfaction.

After dinner she served me a bowl of sliced fruit.

Eating it I said “You usually flavour this dessert with sugar syrup and honey but today it doesn’t seem to have been done.”

“I’ve used sugar syrup and honey but the quantity isn’t enough. Good quality honey isn’t available.”

“You know I’ve a stretch of land for flowers. Why is honey short?”

“I really don’t know.”

I said  more to myself “I should look into why there’re shortages.”

Dinner over, we moved to bed. Unfazed by any dissatisfaction my wife would cooperate with me in bed. I revelled at the bounties my wife had to offer. I threw aside her pareyou which was a hindrance and let my roving hands before, behind, between, above, below which had the appropriate sympathetic effect on me and of which she was amply conscious. The shaft of love soon extinguished all tensions in her and we started sleeping soundly.

At daybreak I got up and found my wife snoring which was unusual: She would be up before me. I turned to wake her up when I touched a massive beard on my face. I was surprised as only a day earlier the barber had come home and given me a clean shave. I prodded my wife awake and saw she looked very aged. I had obviously awakened in the future! I looked into a polished mirror and saw I had really grown old, hair having gone grey and part of my hair on the head having fallen away. What had happened to me? I looked over 50 years old and guessed 30 years had elapsed since I went to bed.

My wife had left my side and so I summoned the maid. She was a new one and I saw she was in a dress which completely covered her from neck down

I said “What has happened? Why this dress which shrouds you totally?”

The maid said “Master as per the new order of government both men and women should be covered from neck down. So I’ve abandoned the pareyou.”

“Is there a new government in place?”

“Yes. The old king passed away and was succeeded by his son. The old king’s grandson is the new ruler and has issued many new orders.”

My wife got up and said “I appreciate what the new ruler has done. Why allow men to see what a woman possesses and definitely needs. You men have to put in a little more effort before you can handle what is concealed.”

I said to myself “It’s definitely 30 years since I went to sleep!”

I walked to the fishing wharf and saw much bigger boats, more stylish with multicoloured sails. Fishermen were using much finer nets and their catch was plentiful. I moved on to see my crops. I found crops had been planted in neat rows and not randomly as earlier. Water from the river had been sent in channels for crops rendering the land fertile. The vegetable crop seemed bountiful due to layout and irrigation. As I walked around I was told “The Chief Minister has ordered that we should immediately domesticate agriculture. The days of wild rice have passed. We’ve fertiliser and insecticides to improve yield.”

I went to the flower field.   There were a lot of flowers in bloom presenting a picturesque appearance. Their pleasant smell was overpowering. I noticed that gathering flowers seemed to be  systematic  with minimum loss. Seeing wooden boxes alongside I enquired and was told they were meant for bee keeping so that honey collection would be maximum. I was stunned. How is it I couldn’t effect all these improvements?

From my fields I went and met a magistrate to know the transformations due to laws and so on.

He said “The CM has tightened laws. Offenders can’t escape the consequences of crime.”

I next went to the oil producing operation. Where I had one pit, there were now 6 and oxen were driving the heavy stone rollers.

I went to the amusement park and was fascinated by the tall ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds powered by bullocks. I was told the king wanted to expand the park and add new amusements.

I returned to my house and studied it carefully. It had been modified to look spectacular. There was a garden around the house where many flowers could be seen.

I was entranced. I told my wife “See the changes that have come? Surely I’ve been asleep 30 years. Of course it has made me suddenly old.”

“Not only you. Look at me. See the folds of flesh now enveloping me? The size of your palms wouldn’t be sufficient to exhilarate me.”

I said “It has been a real experience to see change. It has been for the better no doubt. But the old folk have vanished and it looks as if I’m in the middle of strangers.”

“Not only that. We won’t enjoy the nights together the old way. It is ‘alas’ for both of us.”

Was a forward look of 30 years a great experience? I was left speechless no doubt, but I had suddenly grown old which has left me with mixed feelings about having seen change. The old order has vanished. Sadness descended on me: The good old days would never return!

END