Town or Village by 204454 Buddhini Rathnayaka

 

TOWN OR VILLAGE

“I will raise and now go to Innisfree

And a small cabin built there of clay and wattle

Nine bean rows I will have there,

A hive for the honey bee

And live along in the bee live gland”

               The above lines are taken from the poem “The Lake Insle of Innisfree” by W.B.Yeats.

 This piece of writing contrasts the idea what is better; living in town or village. We can consider village as an unpolluted cultural place, whereas a town is a polluted area with a large population. Contrasting the idea in villages’ Sri Lankan culture is followed. Healthy foods such as; vegetables and fruits are consumed. They cultivate healthy vegetables and sent to the town and in the town only they add chemicals to prevent from perishing and make them unhealthy. Talking about atmosphere, villagers inhale clean and fresh air which is not polluted and poisoned. Thereby they get sick rarely and they don’t prefer westernized medicines instead they use traditional ayurvedic medicines which take a significant time to recover. Moreover the atmosphere, is pleasant, calm and quiet with the natural creations such as; rivers, lakes, streams, paddy fields, shady trees. In addition a village is a place where the pollution is at a low rate compared to towns as there are no factories or any other polluted sources in villages.

On the other hand there can be difficulties in village life. Firstly in villages there is poor infrastructure facilities compared to towns. And villagers are trapped with cultural and traditional influences. They are used to do daily work in households and in fields. Most important is the education. Villagers do not gain a proper education and up-to-date knowledge since they have no technological influence and other sources to browse and gain knowledge.

Secondly considering towns, the main thing is the infrastructure. It has a well developed infrastructure facilities which enables for a smooth living. Talking about food, large variety of westernized and cultural food available. In towns there’s a high competition to gain good education. Further they get technologically influenced and receive a proper education. People in town have the ability to involve in innovations and experience in different professional sectors.

In contrast, town life also has difficulties. As we know town is a highly polluted, populated and westernized place. Foods are very unhealthy specially fruits and vegetables and mostly they have instant foods since they have no time to prepare their own foods. People in town mostly use westernized medicines which may have many side effects. Next comparing the atmosphere, they who live in town inhale polluted air that has caused due to human activities. Though there are streams in towns they are all polluted since factories add all their waste chemicals to these streams. There’s hard to find a shaddy, calm, place.

As a conclusion, even the ancestors of the people in town also come from village families. People come back to the village for their last breath. The poets have emphasized the fact that ‘the village is made by God and man made it a town.’

 

BUDDHINI RATHNAYAKE - 204454