Middle-aged Bidhan Mandal is, by nature, a sociable man. He enjoys a good chat and rarely misses an adda. But in the final week of May, there is barely any time for conversation. The fields are heavy with ripe Boro paddy. Harvesting, bundling and carrying it home — none of it is small work, even with eight or ten hired labourers. So Mandal ties a new red gamchha around his head and gets on with it. Most of the farm workers are women.