Sugarcane

When I was a boy, we used to chase trucks bulging with the harvest of sugarcanes, lumbering their way to sugar refineries. We would hop on to the trucks, break off pieces of the cane, eat a few and trade the rest or simply share. What we needed was limited, so the whole system was not terribly abused. (The coal that fueled Indian railways used to be shared with villagers on its route who appear with their sacks along the slow-moving cars, a practice that may still exist.) I was reminded of that on my recent trip to India when I saw efforts to grow the Ethanol industry that relies on sugarcanes. I hope those trucks keep lumbering to one refinery or the other, whichever, and keep the local boys happy with their tiny feats.