Essay about VILLAGE LIFE VS CITY LIFE

VILLAGE LIFE VS CITY LIFE

Life in Villages

A village is a collection of small huts in the midst of fields on which the village farmers work. Some villages are big while others are comparatively smaller. They are generally cut off from the cities and have a different kind of life. The villagers live in the midst of natural surroundings. In a village, as we rise early in the morning, we can listen to the sweet songs of birds; enjoy the beauty of the rising sun and the sweet breeze of day’s dawn, the flowing of the river with a murmuring sound, the beauty of the greenery of fields. These are the various pleasures that abound in the countryside.

The villagers pass a healthy and peaceful life. There is no smoke and noise of the city factories. They breathe fresh air which promotes their health. They also get pure milk, milk products and other fresh eatables. There is no hustle and bustle and no worry as in the modern city life. The villagers, therefore, are happy and healthy. They lead a simple life and their desires are few. They are satisfied with what they have and they usually never dream of those luxuries and comforts provided by modern science. This makes their life even happier.

Village life is plain and simple. Villagers are content with the necessities of life. They have no liking for luxury. They manage with a few pieces of clothes. They prefer the plain food. They discharge their social duties in the simplest manner possible.

Life full of difficulties: Such is a typical day in the life in an Indian village. The life of an Indian farmer is full of difficulties too. In spite of his hard labour, he lives a life of extreme poverty. ‘He is born in debt, lives in debt and dies in debt.’ His crops are at the mercy of rains. Famines or floods often take away the fruits of his hard labour. Still he is contended and god fearing. When he falls ill, he finds that there are no medical facilities (but there is an exponentially rise in medical facilities at Indian villages nowadays and more work has been going on) for his treatment. Often he dies untreated and uncared and there are also only a few schools for the education of his children. Though the ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ (Education for All Mission) is doing very well, but still it will take some time to cover all the rural regions of India. The mud huts in which he lives are very vulnerable to natural disasters and they often fall down during rain and his humble belongings are all ruined.

The Brighter Side: But the above mentioned is only one side of the picture. The life in an Indian village has a brighter side also. The inhabitants of a village enjoy fresh pollution free air and sunshine, which are the two great blessings of god. Village people get more wholesome food than those who live in cities. Moreover, the villagers are sympathetic and extend greater cooperation to each other in times of distress. Such fellow feeling and brotherhood are not heard of in the city, where even the next door neighbours do not know each other. They are far away from the stress and tensions of the thoughts of being richer, famous and popular. They just live their routine life in a happy manner despite their hardships. This makes their life full with positive energy.

Life in Cities

Though India is mainly a land of villages, there are many cities as well in the country. Some of the cities like Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata are very big. They have a population of several millions. Life in these big cities is quite different from the life in a village. Let us consider here, in brief, the life in a big city and point out some of its important advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

In big cities we find good arrangements for education. Big colleges and even universities are found here. Even a person of ordinary means can give his sons and daughters the highest education according to his financial capacity. There are also a very large number of schools both for boys and girls in every city. They also provide well-equipped libraries and reading rooms for public use. Such arrangements do not exist in small towns and villages.

Cities also provide ample medical facilities. In every city, there are good hospitals in which the poor get free treatment and medicines. Many well-qualified private doctors are also there to serve the sick and the suffering. Lack of such medical arrangement is a drawback of villages.

Besides this, cities also provide many line opportunities for amusement and recreation. In every city there are a number of cinema houses and theaters, where we can enjoy the best pictures and dramatic performance. There are also a number of restaurants and hotels where we can get food, tea, etc. of the finest quality. There are also many parks and gardens where we can enjoy natural beauty at its best. The markets of the city, especially when brilliantly lighted at night, are better than many exhibitions and fairs.

The most important advantages of cities are the availability of avenues of employment. They are centres of trade and commerce. There are big offices as well as large number of factories and mills. Persons with every kind of qualification can easily find jobs to suit them. No such opportunities exist in villages where the people depend mostly on agriculture.

There are many other advantages of city life. City people are more cultured and refined. There we find opportunities to mix with people from every corner of the country as also from foreign countries. We meet people who have different nature, different ideas, and different ways of living and thinking. In this way, our outlook is broadened and our views enlarged.

Disadvantages

Cities have many disadvantages also. The remark of the English poet Cowper “God made the country and man made the town” is quite true. In the city, we cannot enjoy the beauties of nature as we can do in villages. City life is artificial. Man lives cut off from nature. He cannot appreciate the charms of birds and flowers, or the beauty of the day-dawn and the sunset as in villages.

City life is extremely unhealthy. Air pollution, water pollution and sound pollution have converted the city life into hell. The smoke coming out of a number of factories makes the atmosphere dirty. The sky is always covered with black clouds. The people get no opportunity to breathe free and pure air, or to enjoy clear sunshine. Besides this, food in the cities is dirty and adulterated. We cannot get pure milk and ghee. The food sold in the market is entirely unwholesome and unfit for consumption. The villages suffer from no such drawbacks.

Conclusion

In spite of the various drawbacks, the life in a village is a better life than that of the city. The government has already taken in hand various measures to improve the conditions of the villages. “Jawahar Rozgar Yojana” and “Panchayat Raj” are two of the important steps taken in this direction. It is said that country life is sweet. It is true no doubt. The greatest of the poets have sung the praise of it. Prophets, too, have the greatest admiration for the village life. Great thinkers and philosophers have spent their invaluable lives in the countryside. Hence, village life is highly cherished in all ages by every soulful man.