I am not much of a traveller but sometimes it feels good to get out of the monotonous life and meet the people close to you. Well, I finally decided to go to my village after a long time, it had almost been around two years since I last visited and I finally got time to visit and meet my family.
You see, when I was a kid I used to go visit my village during summer and all my cousins and everyone else used to be there, it used to be a hell of a time. We used to go to jungles, climb trees, eat raw fruits and drink running water. We used to play different kinds of games and get into useless fights and then split into different teams only to reunite later. It was all perfect and then we grew up. Those frequent visits stopped and the all most of the families of the villages migrated towards urban areas and then it got boring.
My family still visited but it seemed so barren, I missed all that good time and then I moved to Delhi to pursue law and then it became hard for me to get back to my home let alone go to the village. We still used to go to the village for Deepawali but ever since my class 12th boards something happened during that time and it became impossible to visit during the festival.
Last year I had dengue and this year Covid and when I recovered we finally decided to pay a visit to the place full of so many great memories.
So, on 21st January we finally made a plan to see my village and meet my grandma and my uncles and aunts and all the other people still living there. So we set off from Nainital at around 12:00 after eating aaloo ka paratha and Dahi and we made a stop at Kainchi.
Kainchi mandir is one of the most beautiful ashrams of Neem Karoli Baba an Indian saint and one of the greatest seer of 1990s. My visit to Kainchi felt different this time may be due to Covid or because I was visiting there after a long time but after staying there for some time we moved towards Ranikhet to visit my bua ( Father’s sister) and we reached there at around 2:00.
It was so good to finally meet my bua after so long. We drank some pineapple juice and ate Pakori and biscuits. I even went to the Haidakhan temple to meet my cousin( bua’s daughter) and after spending an hour there we finally left for my village.
Telling you about my village, the name of my village is Ghungoli, it lies somewhere in the cultural city of Dwarahat and is surrounded by trees and greenery. It takes about 10 minutes to walk from Busbheera to reach my village. It feels like trekking. And finally, we reached my Village at around 6:30 in the evening. I remember I was completely worn out of the long walk and was very tired. But the moment I saw my grandma it gave me a different kind of energy and when I hugged her it felt so good.
Well, we spent a week in my village and every day was slow and peaceful. It is sad that there are only two families that live in my village now, rest everyone has moved on. Though it felt good to be with my grandma and aunts and uncles, it was spooky as well because it was too quiet and as a cherry on the top, there was no internet or network in my device.
The village life teaches you a lot of things, how you still need to use wood to boil the water, how you still need to carry water, how you still have to work to grow your own food and what not but now due to the lack of development and the need of money people have left their villages, everyone has moved out, their houses have been dilapidated and the villages have become the dwelling place of the wild. I am wanted to write about this trip as a memory but it made me realise that I need to write another one on migration and the conditions of the villages.
Well, I spent those 7 days with almost no internet and no connections but at the same time, I got to spend time with my family and read books. Before I left I took a small interview with my grandma. She is about 80 years old and she told me about her life experiences and the struggles she had to face during her life. I have uploaded the same in youtube. It’s in pahadi language and therefore it’s hard to grasp but nothing is worth more important than memories.
Also, we found a cute kitten, which now lives as the newest part of my family.
