My Rural Visit..Not the first but most memorable one...

Though i been visiting my dad's native place many a times so i thought doing my rural stint would be not be difficult.... and i was so wrong... which i am sure you would also agree

It all started in Mumbai, post the Marketing stint (which other than staying in Mumbai was all about polishness, suave and class) i got to know i would be moved to Uttar Pradesh. I had this weird idea that i might be put up at agra (now i think how in this world i would have got agra when i was suppose to do rural) so i was asked to go to Bareilly..pls not is bareilly and not Rai Bareilly

Landed in delhi on 14th and first shocker came as the cold... man!! anyone would freeze, spl if u r coming from Mumbai..post my meeting with boss i moved to Bareilly and this was the time i had absolutely no expectations...no thoughts just one questions ...How i m going to be there in bareilly till Dec end?

I reached bareilly around 10:30 pm..took a rickshaw that too open one... wow!! was ready to go back at that moment ..sala thandi main toh phat gayi thi I reached my hotel...thought the hotel was good (It had all amenities except running hot water) but since i was already against i cribbed a lot. The very next day 9:00 clock my sales guy was ready at my hotel...ready to take me for my first rural visit..We decided to go on bike and that was i guess biggest mistake... but if i knew it would turn out like that no one would have gone.. anyways

We were travelling at 70-80 km/hr but i thought even velentino would not be able to drive like him..since it was almost 5 degrees i decided i would close my eyes and wait till we reach the town, suddenly i felt jitters as he lost control over the bike on a sharp left turn..and as he was not velentino the bike slipped.. this all sounds regular but what was irregular here was there was a incoming truck coming from other side, and when i opened my eyes i could only see a revolving truck tyre..and before i could react BAM!!.. i banged by right shoulder and arm to the back tyre of the moving truck.. For first time in my life i realized the meaning of blackout..i was sitting on the road and totally unaware of everything...this lasted for some 30 sec and first voice i remember was of my sales guy shouting boss boss...and since i was sitting on road he tried to move me to corner and in that intention he tried to lift me form right shoulder and i yelled in pain so loudly that even it would have been heard in far far away land.

But somehow i got up and first thing i saw was my phone.. the phone my wife gifted me on wedding dont know whyi did that!

After a minute or so i realized i have terrible pain in my shoulder and for a moment my heart sank in feeling what if its a shoulder dislocated...i carefully moved across my hand in different directions to see if its moving or not. and by god's grace it was moving so i knew no bone fracture problems..somehow we moved from there, after assessing the damages, on the same bike :-)

Waise this was also the day i realized how centrifugal force works.

As soon as we reached the town which was just a km away.. i saw a man running towards us...thought my mind was occupied with pain i could not understand why someone is running towards us and from a distance and seeing him my guy yelled 'boss gir gaye boss gir gaye' and i thought wow now everyone will know, and i was so right within 5 minutes atleast 15 ppl were around us someone getting water someone running for a doctor and almost running in all possible directions...Looking at those ppl, for a moment i even forgot the pain also, It was so touching... man i never meet this ppl but just that i m a company person ppl left their own work and ran for me.

Waise i forgot to tell you two other incidents... As soon as i stood up post accident by boss called me, just coincidence and was like how r you doing...and i liked ekdum chill types.. nothing boss just meet with an accident..an accident which could have killed me and since he is boss so he needs to be super cool so he says thik hai..,reach the town and i will call u..

Another incident was my wife calling me at same time and first thing she said was 'Jai Shree Krishna' and was i like hain? wow this has to have some connection

Post this during all my stay i promised i wont travel on bike but then i realised it was just an accident, and if i dont travel then the fear will sink in forever, so i traveled on bike third day again and this time there were no hiccups :-)

The journey post that had been life changing... and i mean it.. be it travel in trains like one shown in swadesh or travel in buses like one shown in fevikol ads but its worth it.The scenic beauty in plains & fields was worth watching...i have never ever seen more than 100 wild peacocks, long muddy roads...the amazing early winter sunsets.

Well there were two more incidents happened...Will put it in next blog :-) trust me u will also say..wow what a trip

Trip back in Time

What started as a mere obligation towards my family, actually turned out to be a very grounding experience...waise before i start i would like to tell u , I really have no affinity towards my relatives...some may be offended with it but thats how it is...why its like tht ..well may be in some other post..:-)

Now coming to crux... i went to Wadner Bholji...its 15 km from malkapur..which is 498km from mumbai and its in maharashtra. I used train, bus and bullockcart (Baiil gaddi) When i reached malkapur i took a bus which was just like the one showed in fevikol ads..and when i covered 14km there was a baiil gaddi waiting for me with my paternal uncle (chachaji)

The one whole bus and BG trip was just like the one we see in movies... and i still remember the swadesh movie - yeh jo desh hai tera song... small children who are scantly dressed running here and there...the whole area seems to be a gazing field for cattles .. it just a picture perfect of harmony between man and beast...

Once i reached my home (small old palace, i can even say dungeon..cause it has 12 rooms though only three r occupied & rest r store rooms and also.. its ready to crumble - its been standing since 1950) it was just the typical family drama where in all relatives would flock to get a glimpse and shower their blessings on me with few tears rolling down.. but i would say it touched me a lot... don't know why but there was a certain warmth in everyone's blessings..

And it was perplexing to see how much the village ahs changed...at one end we have mud houses and no electricity for 14 hours a day and at the other end we have TATA Sky and amazon generators..so the small town was changing or not.. difficult to answer. they use lux liquid soap and pears face fash but still prefer to use the ash as cleansing agent for utensils. So does that mean they r changing selectively or this is force change.. i guess only time will tell..

Then in afternoon came the dreaded time.. Lunch time.. i ate (mirchi ki daal and jawari ki roti) Lentils with lot of spice and maize cooked in indian style.. and i was sure now i would leak form all possible holes. After frequent visits to LOO and few glasses of sweet lime juice... it stabilized.Then i took leave with everyone's heart filled ..like i might not come again but then that's the way INDIA is... Love is always in abundance.. its ppl who don't recognize it and few who do end up abusing it..only few lucky one's can make its glory shine their lives and live with it.

So after two hours of tipsy topsy bus journey i reached my mother's home town...Well though i never wanted to land up there but cause of my wife and mom i decided to go..after 8 yrs.. my point of view was simple.. if they don't care why should i, Ppl also assume that respect is what they should get by virtue of age and not their deeds which is so wrong...And then comes their arrogance and a worse habit of taking credit of all good things and cursing /fault finding with things which are beyond anyone's control..And yes all they are interested is MONEY..

The first thing i was greeted with was, How much u earn ?, How much ur brother earns? , ur wife? and so on ..boy it was like Hot seat with questions flowing form all directions with no life lines no buzzers. Just siting their and hoping for things to come to an end.

Then came the time.. doze of lecture, taunts followed by plastic love..This time i was all ready..I was not gonna lie down and take it from them..I had it for all my childhood and i promised myself of no more nonsense.

And the round of pot shots started through the how Raj Thakre killed his own mentor and father figure.. Bal Thakre.. by formign his own dreaded party. Never in my life i bothered about them but this time i knew why they were being bought in the discussion and i had to take a stance opp to it to preserve my dignity. And it ended in a very heated discussion..

i don't know why i did that.. may be i did wrong but somewhere deep inside i was ok.. no regrets.. was not cursing myself this time and not asking god as why they did this to me..And i also know next time they will think twice before getting into any nonsense..I know all of you would think i did wrong but then point is i think i was not wrong .

Then in all this it was time to take leave...but not without last glitch.. the train which was suppose to reach mumbai at 5:30 in morning actually started at 7:00 am from the source station itself.. the whole night at waiting room with men women children sleeping in any place possible was another experience in itself..

However i realized that god plans everything.. the scenic beauty i got see made up for the painstaking 9 hrs delay..With rains slashing all over the place and climate turned into a typicall Honey Moon climate.. what should i explain more... :-)

Thus sitting there i realised the beacuse of my mother and my lovely wife i had another big lesson of life learnt in best way possible..
Never let ur head rise high over ur shoulders..Everytime time now i spend 500/- in a hotel i would feel the pain that i saw in my villagers (Now i will call it even my village) How i should never look down on any human being as i might not realize it but will leave that individual with lot of life long pain.. and most important how i should always look at happiness of others.