Every story has a little bit of its author's life in it. More so in the case of Yashodhara Lal's latest, How I Became a Farmer's Wife (HarperCollins; Rs 250), which details her family's adventures in a farmland near Delhi. "I may have fictionalised seven per cent of the book, but the rest is what actually happened," says the author.
What happened was that her husband, Vijay, decided to rent land surrounding an ashram and start dairy farming. Their entire family, including their three young children, were temporarily uprooted from the coziness of the metropolitan life (in Gurugram) to the rustic life of a farmer.
"Through 2016," Lal says, "we went through this crazy rollercoaster ride when my husband decided to actually go ahead and follow his passion for farming. But it was actually a year later, when that experience was drawing to a close and there was a defining moment where it looked like this experiment may shut down, that I realised there was a story in here. In a period of 17 days, almost like a catharsis, the book just came out of me." In an experience that was full of surprises, there were a few incidents that really stood out. "The were two or three experiences," she says, "which I thought I would never have to face, including one that had to do with a snake - a six-foot cobra - which made an appearance inside the ashram where the farm was. That's a defining moment that's described in the book, which helped shape the story."
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Nevertheless, as exciting as the farm episode was for Lal, she still considers herself to be a 'city girl'. She adds, "I need the farm life as a break and as a way to slow down. Many of us lead this hyperactive and hyper-connected lives, and I am no different, so a weekend getaway at a farm to disconnect from it all is important. But I can't imagine myself living at a farm."
Her husband, though, is of an entirely different view, for he has started another experiment, in agricultural farming, in Bhopal. Lal adds, "He has bought 10 acres of land, which is two hours away from Bhopal. He goes there frequently, and loves it there. So, I think, farming will always be a part of our lives."