The city of joy

The old man couldn't remember how many generations of lotuses had bloomed and faded in the pond since he was born. What Prodip Pal did remember, however, was that he had once been a prosperous farmer. He had owned as many as six granaries full of rice and eight acres of fertile land. He had been able to provide for the future of his sons and give his daughters generous dowries to get them good husband. For himself and his wife in their old age, he had kept a small piece of land. "The pair of us should be able to live there in peace," he had promised her "until the day when Yama, god of death, comes to claim us."
      The old man had been wrong in his expectations. That plot of ground had been given to his father years ago by a zamindar. One day the zamindar's sonlaid claim to the land.Prodip Pal refused to return it; The matter came before the courts. But the young zamindar had bought the judge and the farmer had to abandon his land and his house.
      Further terrible trails lay in store for Prodip Pal and his family. Thier legal fights  with the zamindar had left them with only half an acre of good land, which couldnot produce enough crops to feed the family. When they ran out of rice they survived on the fruits from the three coconut tees and on the vegetables from the   high ground that required very little irrigation. There was also the fruit from the jackfruit tree. The Pals were thus able to survive for two years.