Musings of an Idiot

Roots

Vijayawada is a peaceful little town and the silence is bliss, especially compared to Delhi where there is never a moment where your senses are not being bombarded by something or the other. The people definitely have a more relaxed way of life but at the same time you can see that the per capita income is considerably lower than major metropolitan cities (having said that there are also quite a few multi-millionaires around). When you go into the market you never see anyone rushing somewhere and everyone is strolling at ease. The roads have definitely gotten better and the traffic is saner than Delhi and not as chaotic. The downside though is the mosquitoes and they really eat you alive if you are not wearing full length pants and shirts.

The past 2 days have been spent rediscovering my roots in a way. It almost feels like a journey of self-discovery. A memory of anything is only made up of smell, taste, emotions and incidents which have taken place there – and rediscovering those things at each of those places is a joy and a good basis for grounding oneself.

Yesterday morning, we went to meet granddad {mom’s father} and it was good seeing him. It was surprising to see though that he is still the same and there is no notable change in personality. In the afternoon, all of us left for Tukuluru – the village from where mom’s side of the family is from. It was good being in the same old house where mom used to play with her brothers, sister and cousins and then where I spent a part of my childhood playing with my cousins. The house is almost 90 years old and it still looks great, though the people who inhabit it have aged quite a bit.

After a brief stopover we went to Tota – the place which I have quite a few memories attached to – both pleasant as well as bad. Grandma’s sister {mom’s side} and her husband stay there at the farm and they have been there as far as I can remember. It was again sad to see time taking its toll on some wonderful people. The funny incident was that one of the buffalos did not give milk that evening because Lance scared it to hell when he took a snap with the flash on. Everyone cracked up laughing on hearing that the buffalo did not give any milk – it was unheard of till that point. Lance also seems to be a major attraction around those areas because the kids in that area have never seen a white person before and they are usually excited, amused and curious about him. We went to Veni’s mango farm and it was awesome being in the fields again. After sometime there, we came back to Vijayawada after a brief stopover at my aunt’s {dad’s elder sister} place in Nuzuvid, a small town.

Today we went to Amravati Temple in Amravati – which is 60 KM away from Vijayawada. There was major security in the town and its neighboring villages because in a week from today there is a major religious event that is going to take place there. That particular event is important to Buddhists and happens once every 100 years. Major Buddhists from across the world, like the Dalai Lama, will be coming to that place for 10 days. What the exact details of the event are – I am not sure but will try and find out about it. On the way back we stopped at the Sai Baba temple which Lakshmi aunty {mom’s younger sister} has helped build. India depends on faith and it is no surprise that people are so devout and spend a good amount of time following their religious beliefs. For that matter – I think religion seems to play a huge role in every society, even though the biggest thing that people always seem to forget is that trueness of the belief overrides religions. Anyway, I won’t discuss religion anymore because it always turns into a head banging exercise with the deeply personal views held by everyone on that topic.

On the way back to Vijayawada, we went to Loyola Public School in Guntur – the school where I studied in 1986, 1987, 1988 and where I was a hosteller during that time. The school hasn’t changed much and it seems to be the same and it brought back a rush of memories from that period. The trip was nostalgic broken apart by a couple of office administrators, who wanted some money off me because I had been to that place after a long time.

The past 2 days have been periods of major introspection for me on where I am at this moment and what the ground realities are for me. It means that I tend to remain silent a fair bit – which seems to throw everyone off as they think that I am upset with my current situation or circumstances. I guess I just have a bad sense of timing.

Lance is having one whale of a time with the different variety of foods, people and in general has mixed really with the family. The joke is that Lance and me might swap families or he might become a farm boy at Veni’s mango farm, since he loves those farms so much.

Anyway will take leave for now, since I am being forced to go and see the Tarot card reader who uses a parrot to pick cards {especially after Lance and Veni went there a couple of days back}. Let us see what the parrot has in store for me.

Bye,
Amit

posted by Amit @ 4:51 PM