Yellow flowers. As far as the eye could see. I asked a farmer: “What's the news in Sonipat?” He pointed to the field. “This is the news.”
Sonipat is a small city in Haryana. Not famous for much. A university. Some industries. Mostly fields.
When I read “sonipat news” before my drive, I saw:
A road accident on the highway
A property dispute in some colony
A political rally in some ground
A waterlogging complaint from last year's rain
I expected a boring, troubled town. Then I saw the mustard fields.
The farmer who doesn't read news
His name was Sukhdev. He had been farming for 40 years.
I asked: “Do you read ‘sonipat news’?”
He said: “No. I read the sky. I read the soil. I read the mustard.”
“The sky tells me when to sow. The soil tells me when to water. The mustard tells me when to harvest.”
“That's all the news I need.”
What the mustard field taught me
I walked through his field. Yellow flowers. Bees buzzing. A gentle wind.
He said: “You know what ‘sonipat news’ never writes about? This field.”
“This field has been in my family for 100 years. My grandfather grew mustard here. My father grew mustard here. I grow mustard here. My son will grow mustard here.”
“No headline has ever mentioned this field. But this field has fed my family for 4 generations.”
“The news writes about a broken road. It never writes about the crops that feed the people who use the road.”
The one time news came to his village
I asked: “Has any journalist ever come to your village?”
He laughed. “Yes. 5 years ago. A politician came to inaugurate a road. News crew came with him. Cameras. Microphones. Big rally.”
“The politician left. The news left. The road? Still has potholes.”
“They never came back to ask why the road wasn't fixed. Because that story doesn't sell.”
“But the mustard field? It's still here. Still yellow. Still feeding people.”
What I saw in Sonipat
No major accident on the highway. I drove it twice. No property dispute that I could see. People were living normally. No political rally on the day I passed. No waterlogging – it hadn't rained in weeks.
What I saw:
A new school building. Children playing.