(This story originally appeared in on Mar 08, 2018)

NELLORE: Who said farmers are not creative? A vegetable farmer, A Chenchu Reddy of Bandakinda Palle , a tiny village in Nellore district, has come up with an out of the box idea to protect his crop from ‘evil eyes’. He believes his trick has done wonders for his crop yield.Reddy has put up massive flex boards of bikini-clad Bollywood actress Sunny Leone in his 10-acre agriculture field to protect his crop from dishti (evil eyes). People travelling through this small village are now unable to turn their heads away from the glamourous pictures standing in the field.“I got a very good yield from my 10 acres. The bumper stock in my field was drawing unnecessary attraction. After struggling to divert their attention for few days, I decided to put up the flexes of Sunny Leone,” Reddy laughed.He said he got inspiration from farmers putting up similar flexes to ward of birds in their field. “You know, my trick did the magic. Now, no one is looking at my crop,” said a relieved Reddy.The flexes with Sunny Leone carry a tag line written in Telugu: Orey, nannu chusi edavakura (Hey, don’t cry after seeing me). Normally, farmers used to set up disti bomma (scarecrow effigy) to ward off ‘evil gaze’ of onlookers, as well as to scare birds and animals. Reddy said he wanted to do something different, and approached an internet cafe in Duttalur to get a picture that could divert the attention of the people.