A Heaven on Earth - The Story of a village.

Let me tell you the story of the most beautiful village that I chanced upon.

But I must admit I have not seen many a village. Though the place I grew up is described by the city dwellers as a village,but its actually an industrial town. Even after marriage I live in places many describe as village. But they are not the traditional villages. The picture that comes to our mind when we say village is quite different and I think I am fortunate enough to see one such among many.

It so happened while we were returning from The Limestone Cave in the Baratang Island of the Andaman Islands the young guide, the boatman realised its becoming a little tough for me to walk such a long stretch through the ups and downs of the forest. So he decided to take me through a short route, in silence, no one must know or else they might follow and break the silence and peace of the village. And I thought I was the lucky one,the chosen one .

That's our guide leading me through the village. The beautiful bamboo fences of the gardens and we making our way through them.

A closure look at the fence.

And now the house. We call them the hut. Beautiful with its thatched roof, mud walls or of bamboo strips. Perhaps not much space inside. Simple people living with minimum needs. Cloths drying in the courtyard. And betel nuts   drying in the sun. Two men were sitting outside ,doing some work,as I passed through.

A closure look into the hut and you will realise they are not even that strong. A strong wind and they can just be blown away.

Perhaps a small family stays here. A father ,mother,children,may be, and some old people. The population of this village is very less with only a few houses. Life is simple but not easy. Means of communication is only boat as it is surrounded on all sides by water and as the guide said,he had seen crocodiles basking in the sun in the paddy field. God bless me, did not meet one of them on my way, or else I would have made a great lunch for them.

This beautiful place will always remain in my heart for ever. A piece of heaven on earth. Perhaps the abode of God. Surrounded by Nature's gift. And when my body and soul is tired I would wish to rest here a bit.

Our Country Mourns.

Today is an extremely sad day in the history of our country. 42 CRPF personals were killed in the worst ever terrorist attack in the Pulwara district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Our country has passed through many sad phases and this is perhaps one in recent times. Few months back there was another attack on the military personals in the place named Uri of J&k, which our country retaliated with a surgical strike. We all thought this would be fruitful, there would be no more terrorist attacks, no people would die in the hands of terrorists.But we were so wrong.

What has become of our heaven, Jammu and Kashmir, J&K, the most beautiful place in our country! I visited with my father when I was so young. Had a wish to show this piece of heaven on Earth to my children. But it seems this will remain a dream.

And the thing which bothers me the most is the battle of words going on after this. Our country ,it seems, is divided between two groups of people. Some want immediate revenge, an attack on our neighboring country, once our part, and some want a diplomatic solution. I am among the second group of people.

 Does this make me less patriot?
 Does this make me a coward?

No, only that I care for the men of our armed forces. May be having  a son is the reason behind my softness. I don't want any one to die for us. They are our sons or husband or father of others. The don't deserve to be killed for the foolishness of our political leaders. Enough blood has already been spilt. Enough horror stories we have heard during our Kargil war. We can bear it no more. We can't afford to lose our sons anymore. Lecturing and declaring war with our mobile in hand is too easy a task. How can we even imagine what goes on in the mind of a soldier in the battle field?

I had my relatives in the air force, heard stories which no one would believe.
Once while travelling in a train with a soldier as a friendly passenger in my front seat, heard many a stories. No, it is not patriotism which drives these men to join army but its a job to maintain their families and they want to live, not die in the battlefield.

We call them Martyrs. We talk about their sacrifices. Are we hiding our incompetence behind the word Martyr? They are victims of a terror attack. And we must find out how and where we failed our soldiers. But logically. When our rages subsides.

Till then let us wait. Let us mourn our soldiers. Let us pay our tributes. Let us console the bereaved families.

And then let us strengthen ourselves.
Let us find our lapses.
Let us promise that we will not let any of our boys die this way.

" What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr' s cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet. No wrongs ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero,and an uncontrolled or uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness , not the voice of people."
Robert Kennedy.

Life, full of thorns.

Beautiful ,isn't it ! But full of thorns.
Just like life. Beautiful but full of hurdles.
We love to see the it, love to keep it in our home, love to touch it, feel it at times and it may leave you bleeding, painful can be  that experience of yours.

No ,this is not my home.
I found this in the verandah of a beautiful hotel, a hotel in the form of small cottages, had a lovely restaurant where we had a lovely lunch and a lovely garden and then in the middle of that long verandah this cactus.
Do you want to see the garden?

A big papaya plantation. How surprised we were! It looked so beautiful. And the trees were so short. Just stretch your hand and you can get a papaya. But you won't for sure. There was a board hanging. If you get caught for each papaya you will be fined ₹500. Funny, isn't it. Too much a risk for a papaya. And of course they were not personal consumption, must be for business.

And there were other flower plants too, but my eyes were stuck on first this papaya garden and then this cactus plant. Life , they represented. Vibrant, colourful, on one side, painful, full of sorrow and unending sufferings on the other. Happiness on one side, which can just vanish into the thin air.b

Twitter here ,you can say, represents life to certain extent. The joy it can give, meeting different people, experiences and the sorrow of being judged continuously. Backstabbing. Friendship with a purpose and so on and on.

 But actually you should not complain. In real life or here. It may be just your shortcoming , to identify the real person behind the mask.

So don't complain about life. In spite of its thorns , life is beautiful. It comes to us just once so let us enjoy the beauty of the flower saving ourselves from its thorns.

A Day In The Life Of Rini.

"What have you achieved in your life? Anything? You are nothing but a failure."

As if the words were still echoing in the air. Rini sat at the corner of her room,a cup of tea in her hand, already cold, the words still ringing in her mind. Innumerable times she has heard them, they have but little impact on her anymore. But still she thinks sometimes ,are the words right! She has done nothing in this life! Achieved nothing!

She is not the one who listens mutely though. But answers at times.
"My greatest achievement is staying with you this long," she lashes out, " have maintained the family which could have been broken long back."  She continues," I don't earn money but I have earned the family with my patience and hard work, may be not always physically but mentally."

Am I right in thinking so? Rini thought. Have I burnt myself out completely through this journey of mine, adjusting myself constantly, fighting crazily at times. Did the dreams I  had once all fade away , turned into ashes in this fire?

Or are they just excuses? As some say, you haven't tried enough, you gave up too early, you are lazy ,used to an easy life. Easy life? Looks like. But we all have our struggles. Looks simply from that side of the river, Rini says in defending herself. But some even struggle more, they say, you get everything, you complain more. Rini laughs silently. Hardly can she say everything.

Its eleven in the morning. Rini gets up hurriedly. Need to prepare lunch, special for the girl. If only some day the girl becomes one she always wanted to be ,independent ,happy, upright, she will get her payment from life, her achievement. Till then she will not stop hoping.

But now she must run into the kitchen.

The Part 2 of my December tour.- A picture story.

A little late. But let me say about the second day of my visit to the Andaman Islands and the most fascinating part of my journey.

The Baratang Island.

We started from our hotel at 5.30 in the morning and it was a long long drive through villages , 45km through the forest. And here let me say permit is needed , a row of cars start their journey,  no stepping down, no stopping in the middle,  no taking any photos. Here ,  in the jungle lives the Jarawa tribal community,  with their bows and arrows and spears. Previously they remained completely naked but now some of them are learning to dress a little and the children are even picking up hindi. You can google to see their pics as we are not allowed to take any or give them anything,  mainly food, but let me say,  we gave our tiffin to the children silently when the police were not watching , yes,  we all were escorted by the forest guards.

Then we had to take a launch and then a speed boat which speeded through the mangrove forest to take us to a forest area. And from there a long walk of 2 kms through the ups and downs of the forest to reach the LimeStone cave. First time for me. The wonders of the world.

The mangrove forest.

Through the jungle.

We are entering the Lime stone cave.

And this is the cave. Absolute darkness. Our guide shows us light. Its slippery ,its salty by taste ,though you are not allowed to touch, but its too great a temptation. Guide said previously it was about 100 metres long but now only 40% is visible, the rest has been eaten up ,its the guides language, no more visible, the path is closed.

Look at the shapes. They take different shapes and our guide keeps telling us .

And this! Wonderful ,isn't it. Fascinating!

And the little rays of light that enters. 

My return journey was no less beautiful.

But some other day.

A mother's letter.

My dear  girl,
                         You birthday has just passed. Your 16th birthday. How time flies. It seems just like yesterday. On a cold afternoon of January I was admitted to the hospital and you arrived three weeks before the scheduled time. The tiny you. So small and thin that I could hold you in my palm. You hardly had any voice and I remember one day ,among my seven days hospital stay,I became so anxious just because you wouldn't cry ,I could not feed you, and then when the doctor hit you hard on your toes to wake you up I was a bit upset with him. That's how mothers are. And on those days ,as I stared at your tiny frame I knew I will have to live, live long just for you. Not even for your brother ,but for you, anyhow, somehow ,because I always feel a girl needs a mother more than a boy needs her. And now I realise a daughter completes a mother, a family ,as a sister her brother.
                You have changed a lot in the recent years. If something has not changed its your fragile health, your thin structure. You loved to play ,was not that naughty or talkative but loved friends. And you had many of them, from your age to younger ones,you always mixed easily. Can I call it a teenager problem or blame the place we are staying now ,you are becoming an introvert, you love spending time to yourself with your mobile and your family around you.
                      Earlier you always wanted a party on your birthday,and we had one until we were transferred to this place. You loved to go to school in your best fancy cloth, loved a little show off, distributed toffees among friends ,but this time you preferred your school uniform ,no toffees , not even to our neighbours but satisfied with wishes from your friends and a very private family dinner.
                        I wish you to grow up into a fine ,strong and independent lady. I wish you to be successful in life. I wish you to be everything that I wanted and could not attain. I wish you to be brave enough to fight back every odds of life ,to face every challenges of life bravely. I wish you to be a kind person ,a true human being, having all the values of life. These are my little prayers.
                

My winter holiday - Part 1

As I said earlier everything that ends well seems perfect. All through the year I have been through many ups and downs, many because of my own faults but the last 10 days of the year 2018 turned out to be fabulous.
And that is mainly because of our trip to the Andaman Islands.

We were trying this tour for a long time but something or the other were coming our way. But at last we made it.

It was a six day tour and we reached the Port Blair airport at 9 in the morning. The 1st thing that jolted us was the absence of net connection. Another thing, we did not see any newspaper throughout our stay. Truly an island. The sun was strong and there was no chill even in these last days of December.

But all our initial surprises were washed away as we stood in the small beach in the evening with lots and lots of people around. What a picturesque view it was. My words are not enough to description. See for yourself.

The cloudy sky, the reflection on the water, a perfect setting.

Lots of people around. Young people with their fashionable cloths playing around.

The lines of coconut trees all around.

And even our favorite evening snacks is present. Can you see the man selling  jhalmuri.

The bamboo bridge. Basher sako,we call it.

And we return to our hotel fully satisfied, looking forward to some heart moments in the coming six days.