An Experience etched on my Soul & to be cherished forever :)

It was my 40th birthday last week and I really wanted to make it a memorable day. Thanks to my ever-supporting husband who always gives in to my random plans & he couldn't deny this one too. So, we decided to travel to my ancestral village in the interiors of Odisha. Every summer vacation we had this set tradition of spending time at our village called Aalala, district Bhadrak. This is the place where my father was born and raised. There was no electricity back then and no motorable road towards the village so we used to walk from the highway with all the luggage, under scorching heat in the month of May, however, the excitement of meeting grandparents, uncle & aunt ( I call them Sana Bapa & Sana Maa) and cousins and being pampered with all the love, always gave us the strength to run and reach home. It was a beautiful mud house with an earthen stove where meals for the entire family were cooked with pure love. Even I had tried making potato curry once or twice as a growing girl. As children, we used to roam around the entire village barefoot and never used to keep a watch on the clock. Taking bath in the village pond, picking up tamarind and raw mangoes, eating lunch/snacks in almost every household topped with a shower of love and only love. This is how the entire summer vacation was spent until I completed my 12th standard. Then I went on to study and got engulfed in the rut of life and though I always wanted to come back here and spend some peaceful time, but everything else took priority.

So, finally, when it was my milestone birthday, I knew exactly how I wanted to celebrate it. Another reason was also to connect my daughter with her humble roots. With God's grace today we have progressed well in life and especially everything has come very easy for my daughter, because of the hard work put in by the earlier generations. My father went on to become a doctor and joined the Armed Forces because of this we all had a very good & comfortable life. I realized that I value every penny because I have seen how much effort goes around, earning it. But that has not been the case for my daughter who was born with a silver spoon. This thought of introducing her to the village was lingering on my mind for a long time. Also, though I had been narrating stories about our childhood and her great grandfather as well as grandfather's hardship since her toddler days, I realized that nothing makes much impact compared to a first-hand experience and with this agenda on my mind, we took this trip.

So much had changed yet so many things were the same. The roads are much better now, there is electricity in the village and people have few of the latest gadgets. The unconditional love that we were showered with was the same. My father is called Chagili in the village and the moment I arrived I could hear a few people around saying in Oriya " Ary Chagili Jhia aasichi " which means Chagili's daughter has come. Believe me, I have no idea how could they recognize me after 2 decades. Everyone was asking us to come home for a cup of tea. One granny pulled me by my hand and made me sit on her lap. She stroked my hair and had tears in her eyes. I was not able to recognize her, that is when my uncle told me that when I was born, she was the one who used to come for my maalish and bath. After I grew up, she would always get me homemade sweets, every time we visited the village. Diya was in the center of all this overflowing love. She observed everything with amusement and surprise, as this was completely new for her. Every lane of that village felt so nostalgic. I could actually see a little me running around with my sisters barefoot, taking bath in the pond, the air filled with our giggles, not bothered about what time of the day it was, sitting on the porch and watching cows & buffaloes run down the street in the evening after grazing the whole day, singing evening prayers with my grandma and then going to the village math (temple) to seek the Goddess's blessings, listening to ghost stories by my uncle, sleeping under the stars and falling asleep in a split second. All of these memories came flooding and left me teary-eyed. The most touching experience was hugging my favorite tree. It's a huge banyan tree overlooking a pond which is famously called Chakhunda pokhori (Pokhori in Oriya is a pond) where we used to bathe and wash clothes. This was the place where we used to gossip with my sisters about the entire village's affairs, come crying to, when scolded by Maa, and sometimes just sit quietly under the cool shade and listen to the chirping birds.

I have also experienced that once you mature in life, the older generation starts treating you equally and converses with you like adults. This was a change I noticed in my parents as well as my uncle. I had such an amazing conversation with him this time, where we spoke about numerous topics, starting from how Odisha is progressing in the field of agriculture & other aspects, how he has been managing his farming life, and what all has changed for good, he also shared all the funny stories around my father's & his childhood which were completely new to me. We were immersed in these deep discussions the entire afternoon. He generally is a very serious person & not very expressive, but this time I saw such a different side of him. He was laughing at silly jokes and his eyes were shining bright to see all of us, especially Diya. He greeted us the same way with open arms and a packet of my favorite sweet " Chena Mudki". It's a famous Oriya sweet made out of cottage cheese.

My aunt is one of the most loving human beings I have known. She cooks amazing food for the entire family on the earthen stove and is so cheerful in spite of all the hardships she has faced throughout her life. I sat down for a heartful conversation with her too and discovered after so many years that she is a poet at heart. She has been writing numerous poems all these years and described her deep emotions through them, in classical Oriya ( Odia is the sixth Indian language to be designated a classical language, based on having a long literary history dating back to the 13th century).

Below is one of her poems in oriyaenglish (Unfortunately, I can't read or write Oriya, so I noted down one of her poems while she narrated it)

Haste lekhani te dharidele khaali, bani jiba nahi kabi,

Hrudya maa krupa na karile, kabita jharayi nahi,

Hasa kaanda bhara yeh duniya vrukhe,

Hasichi mun jete baara, ta tharu jibane adhika kaandichi,

Kiye hisaab rakhe tara,

Haste dhari thiba hathiyara taku,

Aakata kare hasta ra, Unde khasi jiba katha padatiku,

Aakata sadhiba kara

Khyama tu deyichu apara ku jete, udaarata gune toro,

Nijara doso ku nije khyami dele,

Mrityu hue se khyama ra

Translation :

Mere holding a pen doesn't make one a poet,

Without the blessings of the Goddess, a poem cannot be written,

In this world of happiness & sorrow,

I have cried more number of times than I have laughed,

Who keeps an account of that?

A weapon held in the hands is only to scare someone,

However, once something derogatory is spoken out, no one can take the demeaning impact away,

The one who always forgives others has a Godly nature,

But if one forgives his own mistake, to repeat it in the future,

It's the death of that forgiveness!

This trip has been an overwhelming experience filled with tears of joy & nostalgia.

Iam happy that as a family we could take a small step towards connecting with our roots irrespective of all the progress that we make in life. I am so grateful to my parents for instilling this teaching in us from childhood through first-hand experience and this truly helps me in my continuous pursuit of staying humble always.

The biggest gift I received at the end of this trip is, Diya telling me that she wants to come back here & spend more time. This made me realize that we all seek only & only love. Rest everything is secondary. The unconditional love that we all received in these few days is something that I will cherish forever.

Ending my post with few heart-touching quotes:

Source: Anonymous-

"The village is the heart of our culture and heritage, where traditions are passed down from one generation to the next."

"The village is a reminder that there is beauty in simplicity, and that not everything needs to be grand to be meaningful."

"The village is a living testament to the resilience of the human spirit, as people continue to thrive despite the challenges they face."

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