Himalayan Times (1954)

Hx $ta«tft$a«March 14, 1954
_j_

THE PEDONG MELA AGAIN

The acrid smell of
smoke is in the air.. Smoke
that, mishrooms up . fr. m'
burning stubble in the
fields !and Ifang- languidly
in an indolent haze. Most
of the fields are ploughed ■
up; the freshly turned
soil, dry and crumbly,
thirsts for moisture. The
phdledo (Erythriua) trees
are in bloom Their crim-
son bl ssoms aro tradi-
tional pointers, indicating
that the maize sowing
season is at hand Before
we are aware of it, the
young, green spikes of
germinating corn seeds are .
piercing through the earth
Tbu relentless cycle of '
life goes on—. ;

After harvesting, •
threshing and s'.oring ot
millet, buckwheat and
paddy, picking and dis-
posing of our orange crop,
we, bustiwtillahs, enjoy a
brief respite It would be
more convenient for us
if the I'edong Mela is
held during this lull period, '
before the sowing of maize •
arrives. However, the lure
of the mela is too strong
far me. -Though' I make
a start with the ploughit g
of my fields, ,1 join the
crowds flocking 'to the •
mela. The yoke may rest
for a few : days.

BY "MOOSA"

T notice a marked
jleerease in the quantity
of exhibits. Quality, I
grant, appears to have
improved."'Attenda-we, ^po,
has thinned,: local peop'e
constitute a .vast majority.
People have developed an
apathy towards the exhibi-
tion. The, number of
poultry exhibits is misera-
bly low. Moreover some
of. them are, mere cook* •
rels or pullets.The recei-
ving personnel and the
judging officials are put
to the embarassing task
of trying )to determine
the proper sex of these
exhibits. Inside, too some
stalls are conspicuous in
their stark emptiness,
.others monotonous in their
established ruts. There
seems to be a growing
market for dulls; the
Industries stall looks very
much like a nursery of
these, toys. Dolls in
frocki and sarees are
tolerable. We are certainly
■ becoming more qwadnhi
when we have dolls in
dhntis. Many are enqui-
ring after the much cove-
ted tea sets. There is a
rumour atloat that only
the chipped and damaged
articles are being sold
during the daytime; the
good ones are to'.be sold
by night. Something Mack

somen hole?

There is some discon-
tent felt at the fact that
owners of exhibits and
other unauthorised persons
swarm around the judges
and stalls wnile judging
is going on This certainly
calls for stricter control.
It obstructs unbiased jud-
gements and fans . th>-
g row Is of dissatisfaction.
Also, in my humble opi-
nion, it soems a wrong
concept to take sixe as a
yardstick in the judging
of field and truck crops
An exhibit should "repre-
sent the average ' of a
crop, not bo a freak or
off-type. Nor should it.
be a 'pet' individual nur-
sed, fed and trained for
an exhibition. Our natu-
ral weakness lor novelties,
delights in the fantastic
and the extraordinary; no
exhibition wih be quite
complete without these.
But they should be kept
in a class apart and given
special awards.

While 1 am gazing
open-mouthed at a ' im-
pounds cabbage, I happen
to see a person coming
in from cattle stall entran-
ce. . I have not seen him
for the past four months.
I suspect he- has been
avoiding me deliberately.
There is a matter . of a

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