-“There was a temple here and a big banyan tree. Holy shit! This pond! How can it be so dirty? It used to besurrounded by people every hour of the day. “
-“And those people made it dirty every hour, simple as that.”
-“These roads used to be paved with stones, right?” And these houses ……
-“Would you shut up, please? I am very much irritated with your “let’s-go-to-the-past” mode.”
My brother shouted at me as we were heading towards our ancestral house in Devpur. After so long, my family has decided to spend thesummer vacation in our ancestral village. As soon as I got off the train, the first thing I noted was the rush in the station in that hour of the day. It was mid-day and yet the crowd was clenching. As a child, my vacations were always predestined here, and I used to delight in each and every moment. Either it was cycling around the village, visiting temple every morning, playing and talking endlessly with my cousins, eating samosa chat in Raghunath’s thela or after so much of work (yes, please) reading magazines and sleeping at the terrace. I was extremely ecstatic and the thought of all these gave me Goosebumps. Thanks to the screwing personal life, education and career, I was visiting this place after 9 years.
I was exhausted possibly from the “train-lag”. As soon as I reached home, I threw myself to bed and woke up at 4 in the afternoon. Mom and dad were busy gossiping with grandma and grandpa, and my brother was busy reading newspaper.
-“Oh my god! My eyes are blessed to see you reading.”
-“Oh my god! My mind was blessed when you were sleeping.”
-“Shut up. Go outside and play.”
- “Play with? Myself?”
-“There must be someone around.”
He kept staring.
-“Got it. There’s no one around.”
My uncles, along with the families,has already moved out of the village long ago. So, it’s just grandma and grandpa in the house. I decided to pay a visit to rest of my relatives out there. After finishing my “meet the relatives” tour I was back to my room with the conclusion that most of my relatives are out of the village. Those still here are old enough to discuss politics and gossip about the new TV next door,and the rest of them are cartoon network players. Oh well, so I am a loner. I sat for a while thinking how things have changed all of a sudden. Well, not all of a sudden, it has been 9 years. I was literally bored and this was something I had not given a second thought for. I joined my brother in reading newspapers.
-“Woh….these are last year’s papers. We need to take some serious “keep-safe” lessons from grandpa.”
-“Exactly and this book has been there for 4 years.”
After an hour and another hour:
-“Didi pass me page no 8.”
-“Uh…I am reading that. Take no 12”
- “No, I…..” (Peep peep peep)
-“Train”. We both shouted in unison and ran to the terrace as fast as we can.
-“What are you running for?”
-‘It’s the train grandma. We don’t want to miss it.”
-“Oh dear, it wasyears ago you used to see trains from the terrace. Now, all you can see is big buildings.”
We both stared at each other. Grandma sensed our disappointment and boredom, so she sent Shital to talk with us. Shital was the daughter ofRamesh kaka who has been our domestic helper ever since we regain memories. Shital kept talking about how she stood first in her school and how her boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend. She pulled out her smart phone to show us her selfies and my brother almost fell off his chair.
-“Didi I need to go to parlor tomorrow. I want to havethis haircut of yours. Would you go with me?”
-“You have beauty parlors here? And there was a time even electricity was rare.”
-“Yes, didi. Our village has developed a lot and they are also planning to open a departmental storeby this year.”
-“Wow! Hey shital, let’s go to Raghunath’s after your hair gets done.”
(Laughing) –“Didi,Raghunath’s thela has already closed. He died last year and his son moved out of the village.”
-“What? Seriously?” Okay, the last best thing about the village was not even there.
-“Don’t worry didi. Let’s go to Ashiwini hotel. I am sure you will be delighted to eat there. They even serve Chinese and Italian.”
- “Chinese and Italian here? Are you serious?”
- “I think you need to tour the village once. You will be very surprised.”
Shital left and my brother was busy facebooking.
-“Bhai everything has changed. It’s nothing like it used to be. No cousins, no games, no cycling, no Raghunath’s thela, no trains, no bagans. I hate this.”
-“Is it just today or you have been mad ever since? Stop behaving like a child. Nothing remains constant. Adjust to this situation. Okay, it’s not gonna be like the childhood days but I am sure you are not gonna hate this.”
May be my brotheris right. Things which were the source of delight to me might not be there now but the things, which are there now, are the source of delight to the present generation of the village. The past cannot return but I can surely make my future content. After all, change is the philosophy of life and I should get used to it. I still have days left and wait, I have a big trip with Shital tomorrow. It’s got to be interesting.
