Notice to Pests

One fine morning, I was planning to go market. Baba (my Grandfather) wanted me to bring some articles for him from the market. He prepared the list, handed me over it and he proceeded to temple (part of my house) to worship. I put the list in my pocket, took a carry bag and went outside. The moment I opened the gate, I saw Puran, a fellow villager standing at the door. Before I could say anything, he asked ' Is baba (My Grandfather) in home?'
‘Yes, he is in temple, worshipping God’- I replied.
Still he was standing at the gate. I added- ‘He just went inside the temple, it will take at least one and half hours’
‘No problem. I shall wait for him’
‘But what work you have with Baba. Tell me, if I can do that work for you’-
‘oh! That works only Baba can do in this village.’
I became very curious. What work he is telling that no one but only my grandfather can do in this village. I told him to sit on Charpoy and asked again about the work.
When I persisted then with a faint smile on face, he told –‘I want Baba to write/ issue a notice to pests. Last night I observed many pests in my field. If notice is not given to pests, they will destroy the crops’.
What! Notice to pests- I could not resist laughing, but he was serious.
‘Spray pesticides in the field, that will help your crops’- I advised.
‘That I also will do, but these pests must be given notice first’ – he replied.
‘Ok- but why baba? you can tell anybody to write the notice’-
‘Only Sarkari karamchari ( Government official ) can write notice for this purpose’
‘but there are many government employees in the village’
‘but notice written by other Sarkari karamchari are not  so effective . Moreover, nobody knows ‘kaithy language’ in the village. Notice must be written in kaithy language. Then he kept on telling how such notice helps to keep away pests from the field. What I could fathom from his talk that, my grandfather was an ideal retired Government official for writing the notice. 
I remembered Kaithy was the official language of that area before independence. All land related documents (before independence) used to be written in kaithy only. As my grandfather knew kaithy well, many people used to come to him to understand the documents. He had resolved many land related disputes in the village. Nevertheless, notice to Pests in kaithy – this whole episode was amusing for me. I did not go market immediately, waited for my grandfather too. When his worship was over, he came out of the temple. I informed him about Puran and notice things. He smiled. He told me to bring a writing pad, notebook and pen. He wrote the notice on the paper and handed over to puran.
The content of the notice (written in Kaithy) was -

Shriman Lohtan singh & Party,
It has been observed that since yesterday you and your party have attacked the standing crops in the field belongs to --son of----, village ---, tahsil---. – is an honest farmer and he pays his tax on time. Attacking on field is amount to attacking sarkar bahadur. You and your party, hereby, directed to vacate the field with immediate effect. If you fail to do so, you will be punished severely.
on the behalf of government & farmer
-------------

I laughed when my grandfather read out the content for me. Puran took the notice, stitched that notice to a red cloth and at the end the cloth he made a loop and tied it with a long staff. Then he straightway went to field to put that staff in the field. My grandfather told him ‘this notice is not enough for pests. You should use pesticides or any other alternative for pests’ control’. 

When Puran left, I argued with my grandfather.
‘What do you think this notice will drive away pests from the field’- I asked.
‘I am afraid, they won’t. Not a single pest will be able to read my notice. Illiterate lot’- my grandfather mused. Seeing me serious, he told me –‘see, thousand times I told those who come for such purpose that notice, paper – these are just superstitions. These things do not have power to control pests.  Pests are  controlled by Pesticides  , spraying neem, hot ashes or other scientific methods. Here, many farmers of my generation believe in notice system.  They also understand that without doing scientific method pests will not go away, then also they use notice too. I do not want to be rude or impolite; I do it for free and do not forget to give advice that pests can be killed / controlled through scientific method only’. 

This incident took place almost fifteen years back. My grandfather died in October 2008. Since then, very few times I visited the village. Hope, by now this weird system of sending notice to pests must have stopped in the village.

~~~ Ramanuj Dubey