The Ritual of Welcome to Honored Visitors

A women's farm workers collective waits for project leaders and staff to arrive,
with cloth-draped table holding fresh fruit and flowers under a canopy for shade,
cameramen at the ready.

Here are a series of photos showing some of the ceremonial ways in which a guest is greeted and welcomed by the Indian host. It is a time-honored tradition that we saw repeated many times over the few days we traveled to view agricultural projects and undertakings related to rice cultivation. Some of the people shown are the farmers themselves who came out and often waited for hours for our party of rice research officials and assorted hangers-on (i.e., myself) to arrive. They appeared friendly and happy to see their efforts receive some attention from people who might be able to offer help. An individual who takes on this work, to aid people to provide needed food for their families, and in a larger sense, for the whole world, takes on a weighty responsibility. I felt this among the youngest and most novice workers trying to reach out with new technologies to farmers in the field, and among the leaders of the ag research institutes and programs, who have been striving to solve the most complex and intractable problems of rice and other crop cultivation under the most challenging conditions, for many many years.

How fortunate we are, that we do not have to lay awake nights and wonder if out children will have enough to eat this week, or this year. It is something that is difficult not to take for granted every day of our lives, surrounded as we are by so many grocery stores and suppliers of so many exotic delicacies.

In a sense, it often felt that some very important contributors were being omitted from the ceremonies of recognition. Yes, leadership and research is critically important in developing the new technologies that will hopefully enable the farmers of the world to produce enough food for all of us in the coming decades and centuries. But I also felt great admiration for the people at each site or farm or research station, who were investing their own sweat and toil in planting, raising and harvesting the trial crops or programs.

Here are just a few vignettes of the rituals we witnessed and participated in, along with some of the farm workers who came out to meet us,  More in the next addition to show you images of farming in India today.

The project leader from Annamalai University and from IRRI arrive.

A large party moves directly to view the fields.

A group of women farm workers who participated in a collective community project to promote ecomonic development and empowerment of women gather to offer their thoughts about how the project is working, and what they desire for their children. Almost to a person, no one wants their children to have to labor in the rice fields, which opens the question of who will perform the labor of staple food cultivation in the future?

A farmer and an NGO worker assisting the women's collective
waits to present their experience to the group.

A STRASA project staff person looks at samples of
new rice strains grown in the field for the first time.

A farm worker and her child

Sons of farmers

Crissan and Barbara draped in ceremonial shawls, meeting with officials at
Annamalai University's  School of Medicine.

The Vice Chancellor honors Dr. Z with ceremonial shawl and garland.

Crissan welcomed and recognized at the same ceremony.

Another project leader is recognized and offered flowers
 along with shawl and garland.

Now turns are taken lighting the ghee in the oil lamp.

At the entrance to the hall where Dr. Z presented his talk about
rice cultivation and world food security, the floor was decorated with
this colorful image made of colored rice grains.

At another location on another day, Dr.Z listens to scientists describe their research projects.

In the field at this next site, taking in the presentations.

At a third site, a sign indicating project focus, growers,
sponsoring agencies, and plan for crops.

A group of farmers drumming a welcome to the inspecting team.

               In this video, farmers welcome Dr. and Mrs Z. to the fields, with ceremonial drumming.

Crissan's favorite part, meeting the women farm workers.

A young plant pathologist and local project leader speak to Dr. Z about a fungus infecting local harvest.

A worrisome harvest points up the fragile system.

A hopeful outlook for an intensive project adding organic nutrients to rice paddies by placing ducks in wire cages over water inlets to fields, and introducing fish into the water system, so that the farmer gains higher rice yield, and has ducks  and mature fish to sell at the end of the season as well.

What the ceremonies and meet-and-greets really celebrate is the creativity and drive that have been harnessed in the effort to find and disseminate new ideas, approaches and technologies to assist farmers to grow more rice or other staple crops, with less water, on less land, with less labor, under greater stresses from climate change, so that there will be foods with sufficient nutritional value to sustain the ever-increasing number of people in our world. Food security is a most basic necessity, before any other level of security can be sustained. Progress toward such a goal is certainly worthy of honoring, whether in ceremony and ritual or in small individual acts of contribution to our greater welfare.