The Principles we stand by and the
Emotions within us have major influence from kind of childhood we spent. Childhood
is the time when we didn't have our own intelligence/opinions and influence of people/nature
around us was at its maximum. Our immediate reaction to a situation comes from
our upbringing, just that we ignore to notice it. ‘Rights’ and ‘Wrongs’ learnt
as a child shapes our principles and are very difficult to amend.
I was fortunate to have people
and nature of a small village which brought me up in early years of my
childhood at its refuge of warmth. A beautiful village called ‘Magegar’ at
foothills of Western Ghats, having around fifteen houses covered with betel nut
plantations and paddy fields is where I took my first steps. We were
renting one of the out houses of Hegde who was considered as leading person of
that village. My parents were teachers in primary school of next village, which
was the only school for surrounding five to six villages.
We would cross two foot hills and
two vast plains daily to reach school. In heavy rains of Western Ghats’ Monsoon,
umbrella was the mere symbol to protect us from rain. I think, that is when I
started loving rain… Completely drenched in rain, splashing water on each
other we enjoyed rain at its high intensity. An emergency holiday declared to
school due to heavy rains would be very common during Monsoon season and we would
enjoy paper boats sinking in water flowing everywhere! Umbrellas turning
upright due to heavy wind… People crashing down on slippery slopes of foothills…
Kids army laughing out loud at these small instances… are the pictures I don’t
want to forget along with Monsoon rains I love.
Even now I feel warm if I
remember those moments of sitting in front of the fireplace meant for boiling betel
nuts during shivering winters. Jack fruit seeds and Cashew seeds roasted in that fire
taste heaven. It was the time when schools would open at eight O’clock in the
morning. We would keep glowing charcoal in coconut skull and circulate between
us from one palm to the other to keep ourselves warm on the way to school!
Daily route to school taught me
the first lessons about Nature. The daily journey of passing betel nut plantation…
Crossing ‘Small Bridge’ and ‘Tiger Bridge’… Uphill and downhill of ‘Jamun Tree
Hill’… Passing ‘Sabi Plain’ and ‘School Plain’ would offer us a new experience
every day. We would chase colorful butterflies with the passion of hunters,
whenever a butterfly would die from our attack; “Poor butterfly died” - We would
regret with tears for its death! We would even carry out its cremation by
burying its dead body! We never intended to kill a butterfly but just wanted
to catch it! Pocketful of wild fruits used to be part of our daily diet on the
way to school. Climbing any tree was never taught, it was natural skill
learnt. We had an understanding of the depth of ‘Tiger Bridge’… We had sniffed almost
every wild flower on those hills… We had witnessed the Cobra crossing the
pathway many times and every time experienced the fear it comes with.
The kids army containing five to
six of us was known for all the mischiefs in the village. Doddanna Hegde’s dog
was always under our radar as a target to our stone missiles. On holidays we would
attack mango plantation with salt and chilli powder stolen from home. Along
with having feast of raw mangoes with salt and chilli power under the shades of
mango trees, we would discuss topics ranging from “Shidhar Hegde’s Gouri has
given birth to cute calf” to “Day before, Tiger caught Bhat’s cow”. These topics
were discussed as if they were not less than any international breaking news.
We always had differences in “Calf is male? or Female?”… “Tiger caught cow Or
Was it bull?”!
Names of the regions of our kingdom
were also very funny. Pond in the school
ground where we would hunt frogs in rainy season – ‘Frog Pond’… Even though
hanging cashew fruits were mouthwatering, access restricted – ‘Ghost
Plantation’… Cliff having gooseberry tree where we believed there are snakes –
‘Gooseberry Cliff’… The Bridge where we
all believed tiger is hiding – ‘Tiger Bridge’. Probably all those Ghost, Snake,
Tiger were the characters created by elders to prohibit us from entering those
zones. But, we never respected those scary names!
The Jeep which would come to
Hegde’s house once in while from town was one of the wonders of our world. We would
run behind the Jeep till the end of the village not bothering about the red
dust cloud created by the Jeep. Becoming Jeep driver was the biggest and only
aim of our life. We would practice Jeep driving sitting on still bullock cart
with at most enthusiasm. Milking machine in Hegde’s cattle shed, Huge bio-gas
Plantation drum, Gudigaar Hegde’s paintings, Vidya akka’s colorful Rangolis,
Vani akka’s melodious Songs … were the amusements we would cherish.
In entire village only Vani akka’s
home had TV. Sunday evening was the only time cinema was broadcasted. Not just
the kids, even elders would gather to watch the cinema. If antenna shakes
because of the wind, then it used to be nightmare to get the signal back. I
remember the fight scenes we enjoyed from those black and white cinemas. During
Ganesha festival TV and VCP were rented from town to show Mahabharath, Ramayan
and Krishanvatara to villagers. I still remember entire village watching
‘Kalinga Mardana’ holding their breath.
Preparation would start very
early for Bull race and Kite flying competitions during Diwali. We all believed
that Bull having long and sharp horn runs faster. Depending on the size and
shape of the horn, we would predict "This time Kariya Bull will win the race" like expert astrologers. Bulls decorated with circular colorful marks on their
body, glittering paper tied to their horn… would always be in our discussion
topics during Diwali season. We would trouble Venka, Hegde’s servant to prepare
Kites for us. While all elders’ Kites would fly high in the sky, our Kites would
stumble and hit the ground… Standing helpless, we would cry at out Kite crash.
We never understood that along with under rated skills Venka had in preparing
Kites, daily newspaper we used, to prepare Kites was also the reason for Kites
to crash. We all thought, “We don’t know how to fly the Kites”!
Ganesha festival was our favourite festival. We would peep into Gudigar Hegde’s house daily on the way to school and enjoyed sensational news like “Today Ganesha sitting on lion has got eyes”! During Ganesha Festival along with special festival food we would get wherever we go; it was an opportunity to see dangerous thing like ‘Lakshmi Cracker’. Fire designs created by rain pots and fire wheels rotating on floor… Rocket crackers jumping from bottle to sky with thrilling sound… Cracker which blasts when you hit it hard on the ground – Nelagumma… Train Cracker running on thread tied between windows… created a wonderland for us. After a week of Ganesha festival we would start troubling Venka; Even though elders were against it, Venka would get into the lake and take out bits and pieces of Ganesha for us. If we get Ganesha’s hand, mouse, crown as it is then there were no limits to our happiness. From then on we would start experimenting clay sculpturing skills… Ganesha only knows what we made out of clay… Man, Jeep, Cow, Dog, Mouse… Finally we would label the statues like "This is Mouse"!
In that village my family was the
only non-brahmin family. But, I don’t remember anybody behaving in a manner to
make the difference visible. I never entered their pooja room, but I remember
Hegde saying “No Kid is different; there should not be any difference between
the kids”. I would go to Hegde’s cattle shed to get the milk daily. He would
give milk directly from milking basket. Till I came out of that village, I did
not know people mix water to milk while selling it. When we were caught by an
elder during our butterfly hunting, we were taught “Nature is Mother; every
life is given birth in this world for a purpose. We don’t have any right to
kill any life for our joy. You all love Butterfly for its beauty, killing a
beauty like butterfly is cruelty… God will never forgive you if you do it
again”. I don’t know how much we understood at that age. But, for sure we all
understood it was terribly bad thing to do.
Betel nut drying roof tops… Women
workers who would come daily from neighboring village to peel betel nuts and
the love they showed to all of us… Vatsalakka, who would give snacks whenever
we go to her house… Cowboy Rama, who showed us every corner of the foothills…
Hegde’s dog, who would daily follow us till the school… Venka, who would
fulfill all our demands while scolding us for troubling him always… Shridhar Hegde’s cow Gouri, who had holiness
in its gesture and its cutest calf ‘Putti’… Strange games we played literally
everywhere in the village… This list can go on and on!
In every sense that village was
living in unity. Even there would have been small jealousy, misunderstandings
between people… But, in Celebrations during Festivals and helps during tough
times differences were forgotten. The inconvenience of surviving alone because
of the challenging geographic location would have taught them living together.
The village and nature which showered love and affection on young heart is the root
of peace within me and my love about life.
When my parents got transferred
to my home town from that village, after thirteen long years they spent there; I
was in the thrill of travelling long in tempo traveller… There would have been
tears in the eyes of entire village which came to send us off...
Cheers!
Kiran
[ This is rough translation of
one of my blogs published long back in Kannada Magazine ‘Kenda Sampige’. My
English skills are adopted and nowhere close to what I write in Kannada. Those
who can read Kannada… better to read Original @ http://www.kendasampige.com/article.php?id=3346
]
