.. even to visit a village. My first time was when I got married and had to accompany my new extended family to get the blessings of the family deity. The only pre-condition was that I had to adhere to the dress code very strictly at all times – that did not sound bad though. So after a 5 hour journey most of which we breezed through on the high way, and some of it on the kaccha roads, reached the destination in one piece. The entire family in the village had turned up to welcome the new one into its folds.
The house itself which is located very close to the village pond (huge one) has scenic surroundings. When I saw the house and went inside, my reaction turned from ‘awesome’ to non-chalant acceptance to pleasant surprise to shocked disbelief. The outside of the house has an open verandah, where one can sit and relax, leads into a big hall with openings to many rooms leads to a big kitchen with an even bigger attic (overlooking the kitchen – its beautiful) leads to back yard where the rest rooms were located at the very far end and hence the shocked disbelief – little did I realize at that time that it was just the first of the series….After lunch and chit-chat, went for a long walk along the tank-bund during the sunset. It was a great stress buster. You see I was under tremendous pressure – this being my first visit.
With electricity only for 5-6 hours in a day, the evening and night was spent is just talking. The very interesting story of how some treasure is supposed to lie underneath this very house and hence so many snakes (what???!!!) keep visiting the interiors of this house was narrated with flourish and also ensured that sleep totally eluded me that night – almost dreaming that I would wake up to see some snake nearby!! Finally the bright sunlight came as a welcome scene. Seeing only the local language newspaper, I gave up after 5 minutes of struggle, shifted to the only section I could understand – Suduko and promptly finished it. Morning was the visit the village temple and then to the fields – acres and acres of mangoes and coconut trees. Had about 5 tender coconuts at one-go – no exaggerations - felt as if my bladder would burst!! And then went off to explore far end where the water had flooded from the tank. Being adventurous, I went deep into the water and wanted to go on the other side of the road (the water had breached the thin wall, flooded the road and then entered the field). Almost thigh deep into that water, I got the next big shock of the trip. I small water snake, green colour (it is eco-friendly I suppose), reared its head, saw me and went under water immediately. I still wonder which one of us got more scared!! I was just rooted to the spot with wide eyes and no sound emanating, literally speechless. Gathering all my wits, I gingerly made my way back to the fields. Believe me every small plant, stick, anything at all – felt like a snake!! Couple of hours after that experience – was just a blur. Evening was the main thing –the deity worship. The deity came into the head priest after a lot of cajoling from the elders. Since this topic is very controversial, I will restrain from getting into the details. Let’s just say that the deity blessed me and I felt, hmmmmmm, “blessed”.
Thoroughly enjoyed my stay there – with multiple trips to the attic, playing in the water (this was before the snake episode), savoring the organically grown mangoes, plucking flowers in the huge garden, snuggling the cats (3 kittens and their mom) and generally getting the feel of the village life. Now this has become a ritual – atleast 2 trips in a year – for me, it’s a much better and healthier option to expensive resorts and clubs.
The house itself which is located very close to the village pond (huge one) has scenic surroundings. When I saw the house and went inside, my reaction turned from ‘awesome’ to non-chalant acceptance to pleasant surprise to shocked disbelief. The outside of the house has an open verandah, where one can sit and relax, leads into a big hall with openings to many rooms leads to a big kitchen with an even bigger attic (overlooking the kitchen – its beautiful) leads to back yard where the rest rooms were located at the very far end and hence the shocked disbelief – little did I realize at that time that it was just the first of the series….After lunch and chit-chat, went for a long walk along the tank-bund during the sunset. It was a great stress buster. You see I was under tremendous pressure – this being my first visit.
With electricity only for 5-6 hours in a day, the evening and night was spent is just talking. The very interesting story of how some treasure is supposed to lie underneath this very house and hence so many snakes (what???!!!) keep visiting the interiors of this house was narrated with flourish and also ensured that sleep totally eluded me that night – almost dreaming that I would wake up to see some snake nearby!! Finally the bright sunlight came as a welcome scene. Seeing only the local language newspaper, I gave up after 5 minutes of struggle, shifted to the only section I could understand – Suduko and promptly finished it. Morning was the visit the village temple and then to the fields – acres and acres of mangoes and coconut trees. Had about 5 tender coconuts at one-go – no exaggerations - felt as if my bladder would burst!! And then went off to explore far end where the water had flooded from the tank. Being adventurous, I went deep into the water and wanted to go on the other side of the road (the water had breached the thin wall, flooded the road and then entered the field). Almost thigh deep into that water, I got the next big shock of the trip. I small water snake, green colour (it is eco-friendly I suppose), reared its head, saw me and went under water immediately. I still wonder which one of us got more scared!! I was just rooted to the spot with wide eyes and no sound emanating, literally speechless. Gathering all my wits, I gingerly made my way back to the fields. Believe me every small plant, stick, anything at all – felt like a snake!! Couple of hours after that experience – was just a blur. Evening was the main thing –the deity worship. The deity came into the head priest after a lot of cajoling from the elders. Since this topic is very controversial, I will restrain from getting into the details. Let’s just say that the deity blessed me and I felt, hmmmmmm, “blessed”.
Thoroughly enjoyed my stay there – with multiple trips to the attic, playing in the water (this was before the snake episode), savoring the organically grown mangoes, plucking flowers in the huge garden, snuggling the cats (3 kittens and their mom) and generally getting the feel of the village life. Now this has become a ritual – atleast 2 trips in a year – for me, it’s a much better and healthier option to expensive resorts and clubs.
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