New Delhi, August 5, 2002: The Kalinga-Utkal Express screeches to a halt at the Nizamuddin Railway Station. People troop out. Fat women, fanning themselves hard; Babies crying themselves hoarse; businessmen running out with small suitcases; families with tonnes of luggage, waiting for a coolie. As people thin out, you see a few groups remaining on the platform. Looking lost and confused but still smiling. Dhoti-clad, with gamchas around their shoulders, the men are in charge while the women, in their colourful sarees, look after the children running around. They are the latest migrants from Madhya Pradesh. Here in Delhi in search of jobs as labourers, as their fields parch at home.

Chippu Aherwar, 50 years old, is the head of one such group. From where? Zila Sagar, Banda Tehsil, Gaon Khatora Kala. The group comprises 25 to 30 people, including women and children. Farmers back home, they waited for the rains and finally gave up the vigil. "We grow soybean, mungfali (groundnuts), and mung. The sowing season falls around two months before Raksha Bandhan — hardly 15 days from now. Last year the yield was barely enough to see us through, so if we stayed at home this year too, we would be dead."

Mohan Aherwar, the ‘second-in-charge’ aged about 35 years, says, "We are the lower castes, you see. There are no irrigation systems. We depend on the rain or 200-feet-deep wells. Each well requires Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000. Who has that kind of money? The upper castes like Brahmins, Banias, and Lodhis have wells, planted their fields in time and so will not suffer. They have plenty of land and so lot of money."

But do they eat the mungfali and soybean they grow with so much trouble? "Nahi, we grow this for sale", replies Mohan, "I have two acres of land, and in a year I grow 2 to 3 quintals of soybean (sell it at Rs 6 per kg) and 1-2 quintals of mung (sell it at Rs 9 per kg). Groundnut cultivation is very less." What do they eat then? "We eat jowar (sorghum), makka (maize), dhan (rice), and gehu (wheat), which we grow in small quantities for our use." Out of the money Mohan Aherwar gets, he also pays the landless labour who helps out on his fields.

"Not all our women are here with us. The rest are at home, looking after the land and animals. The families that don't have land and survive on animals did not come with us", says a young man cleaning his teeth with a datun ("I got this from home").

Mohan is worried about his daughter's marriage. "She is already 15 and will have to be married in another couple of years. I will need a lot of money for that. This year, there were hardly any rains. What if it doesn't rain for the next two years. We put in almost all our money into the train tickets. Here in Delhi, I'll work, earn, and perhaps go back one day".

This group is one of the many that are migrating to Delhi or other cities. From farmers to daily wage labourers. A long journey. Mohan Aherwar and his friends smile. Finally they are here. Finally they don't have to depend on rains for their food.