You might have stayed in some village (in India) and woken up to a faint smoke in the air. It comes from the water boilers that use ash and some wood to boil water. The water gets piping hot and there's a smoke of the burnt wood n ash, mingled with steam ... a delicious aroma. At the same time you might see a lady making tea on a chulha (shegdi) - an Indian stove that uses dung cakes as fuel.... again a superb mixture of aroma of tea and the smoke from the stove.
I remembered Sachin and Seema today and my mind went back to about 15 years ago, when I had visited with Seema, to her native place in Akola.
Seema is my closest friend and Sachin her younger brother. Right from my childhood, me and my sisters religiously tie rakhi to Sachin each year. Sachin hardly forgets the occasion to visit us.
Oh, I remember the near 14 hour cramped ST bus journey to Akola with Seema very much comfortable amidst the crowds, Seema’s mom trying to give me a banana during the journey and me refusing it for fear of its obvious retreat from my stomach.
In Akola, Seema's ancestral house was 3 floured building with the wooden structure matching old lavish homes. It even had an old styled fan made of cloth on a wooden bar attached to the roof. You had to pull the roop at the wall to fan the room. We visited lots of other houses nearby, saw some great temples, walked through farms and went to the river for play. It was a new experience, especially since I hadn't seen anything but metros and other cities. None of my relatives live in villages and all have settled long back in cities for livelihood.
Reminiscing those days...
No comments:
Post a Comment