Aachman now understood the suffering of a salaryman every day going to work when they are not super enthusiastic about it.

Currently, Aachman was rushing to his work. This time, he made it to the village chief's house on time before daybreak.

Aachman's felt today's atmosphere differed greatly from previous days. There were many villagers present in the chief's house, and they were talking excitedly about something.

Bholu, the chief's secretary, was present, and he was giving orders to the farmers. When he took notice of Aachman. "Go back. There is no work today."

"Why?" Aachman enquired.

"The old man predicted rain tomorrow. Go back, we don't have time to waste."

Aachman runs back to his house. Now he knew there was the possibility of rain. He could see the signs of all the villagers getting ready to do last-minute work on their farm.

When he came back to his house, it seems his father had already gotten the message. Everyone was gearing up for work. Aachman's mother, Bhumi, was making a large quantity of porridge so that she could join them at work. After all, they need all the help they can get.

Many romanticise the farming work, but in reality, it was pure back-breaking labour.

Farming in ancient India was not that different from modern India. The only difference was how it was accomplished, for example, in ancient India, ploughing was done with the help of bullock and in modern India, tractors did the job.

Aachman and his family worked on drainages, sowed the seeds and used fertilizers on the land. This work took most of the day and part of the next day to complete.

Every family member needs to contribute to the tasks to be completed. When all family members had the same common goal and worked together and helped each other, it creates bonding to a level that cannot be achieved in modern India.

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"Aacha, let's go," Aabha called energetically.

"I am tired. The work was too much," Aachman complained.

Aabha frowned. "You are getting weaker. It does not differ from last year"

"Did you take a bath? We need to purify ourselves before attending the rain ceremony." Aabha reminded his younger brother.

Rain ceremony, where the villagers pray for rain on this day to the Rain God, Varuna.

The rain god was one of the old gods. They were once prominent and had a lot of devotees in these parts of the country that was before the Trinity gods became more popular because of priests’ teaching.

Farmers were loyal believers in rain gods to this day, even though other communities abandoned the old gods in favour of trinity gods.

Aachman grudgingly purified himself and went with his family to attend a rain ceremony.

They all assembled outside of the village at Lord Karuppu’s temple, the patron God of the village Anjar.

Lord Karuppu was a minor god who protected villagers from evil spirits. Anjar villagers also considered him a bodyguard god, and people prayed to him for minor things. His divine weapon was a billhook machete.

All villagers assembled, and they did not enter Lord Karuppu's temple as it was the day they prayed to the rain god.

A few moments later, two bullock carts arrived. The village chief and his granddaughter alighted from the first cart and on another cart, a fat man and old priest got off.

The villagers became silent due to respect for the chief. The crowd parted for him so that he could reach the front without hassle.

When the chief arrived in front of the crowd, "Our eminent and knowledgeable Priest Nithyananda predicted the rain would be today. I will allow him to start the ceremony," the chief said without fuss and allowed the old priest to take centre stage.

The old priest hobbled to the front and spread his hands: "Oh, people of Anjar, the rain would arrive soon, but with too little rain we would face drought and our children would suffer from the shortage of food. Also, with too much rain, we would suffer from floods, and our crops will be in danger of being destroyed by floods."

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The priest paused and looked at the villagers from right to left.

Aachman was dumbstruck. The priest's voice was ceremonial, but it had the power to make people listen to him. Yesterday, the same priest was making them sleep in his lessons, but now he enthralled all the villagers effortlessly. This transformation is enormous. He felt the priest who was in front of him was a different person.

"For adequate rainfall, we must pray to the Rain God, Varuna, with all your heart, mind and soul."

All the villagers took a praying pose (🙏) and closed their eyes to fervently pray for rain. The priest chanted in some archaic language, which was soothing. Aachman opened his eyes and observed as all the villagers were chanting the name of the rain god, along with the priest's chant.

Aachman observed the priest, who was still chanting. That might be the reason for Aachman to be stunned when the drum sound accompanied the chant.

A bald man with gorilla-like hands played the drum. He must be the bald lackey's father and blacksmith of this village.

Aachman noticed the priest danced, it was a slow dance, but it was harmonious with chants and drumbeats.

All this made the atmosphere somewhat ethereal. Every time the chant and drum sound made the Aachman's heartbeat spike. This also affected the people of Anjar and prayed more fervently.

Aachman also went with the flow, closed his eyes and fervently prayed for rain. Aachman did not know how long this continued. It could be a minute or hours as time becomes fluid during the rain dance.

When Aachman opened his eyes again, the chanting and drum sounds were stopped. He was surprised because dark clouds blotted the sun and it became so dark in the afternoon.

The priest was tired after a session of a rain dance. The fat man offered some water to the old priest while the people of Anjar became accustomed to their surroundings.

"Oh, People of Anjar Rain, God blessed us with clouds. Rejoice, but the ceremony is not over yet. We need to please Lord Varuna. Bring the envoys of the rain." Priest’s voice boomed.

The young lady, dressed in the most resplendent dress, moved near the priest, holding a silver plate closed with a cloth.

Aachman failed to notice the fatty because the young lady was cute. Fatty also brought a similar silver plate and stood near the young lady.

Aachman was curious about what was on the plate. The priest asked for the envoys of lord Varuna, but these two children brought silver plates.

They both kneeled before the priest and the priest took some holy ashes from one of the many pockets and started chanting again.

He threw holy ashes on them twice before the cloth cover was removed from the plate.

Aachman had a strange expression. He looked around, but the villagers did not think it was strange. He looked at his father, who was nearby, and he looked like everything was normal.

"Why are the frogs here?" He whispered to his father. His mother and elder brother also heard it. They looked at him.

"Aacha may be too young to remember last year's rain ceremony," Bhumi whispered to her husband.

"They are envoys of the rain god. Don't speak unnecessarily and be respectful," Kari harshly whispered to his son and looked around to see if anyone noticed his younger son's antics.

Aachman was curious about frogs. He could not understand what was happening?

"Aabha, what are they doing with frogs?" He whispered to his elder brother.

"Frogs are getting married," Aabha replied in a whisper.

"Marriage?!" Aachman asked in a louder voice because of his shock.

Kari glared at his sons. Both of the boys became silent.

Aachman wondered what would be the life of frogs now they are married. He randomly thought the priest might ask the frogs and audience about anyone who had objections to this marriage, but nothing like that happened.

The priest suddenly grabbed the frogs in both hands and raised them in the air.

"Oh lord Varuna, these frogs are married. Please take them as an offering and take them into your kingdom," the priest shouted, looking upward at the dark cloud.

The old priest suddenly brought his hand down on a spike-like instrument that penetrated the frogs one by one.

This senseless brutality shocked Aachman. He was fantasizing about frogs’ married life, but they had sacrificed abruptly for rain.

"Why were the frogs killed?" He asked his family. The priest's and villagers’ voices drowned out his shouting.

Bhumi somehow understood that Aachman was shocked - brought him closer and hugged him.

"Don't worry, frogs went to heaven and lord Varuna's kingdom. Observe the frogs carefully. You will understand what I am saying," Bhumi consoled her devastated son.

Pretty soon a mild drizzle started, and all villagers shouted in happiness and jumped in joy to welcome the first shower of the monsoon season.

Aachman was not happy, but since his mother asked to observe frogs, he looked at them carefully without blinking.

When the drizzle changed in to shower, the frog's dead body drenched, completely melted into water and disappeared.

Aachman was more shocked by this incident than the revelation of the young lady's prodigious strength to him.

"Mom, frogs are dead, but their body disappeared in the rain," Aachman shared the news with his mother.

Bhumi patted Aachman's head. "See, I told you there is nothing to worry frogs are safe in rain god's kingdom."

Aachman looked at his father, and Kari and his elder brother were dancing in the rain. He looked at his mother, who nodded and allowed him out of her hug. He ran and joined them in their rain dance.