One fine morning…

Where am i? Ufff…..this isn’t my usual time to wake up. The chirpy voices of the several birds could be heard which is against the usual silence  in my room. I can’t believe myself …i am awake so early. I am lying on a flat mat, my hands could easily make out that i wasn’t on my comfy bed.I slowly opened my eyes to look around and nor am i in my room at the apartment in the noisy city.

Now i could find the answer for my question. I am not in the city where i live for a living. I traveled several hours and reached this country side which i have only know through a travel article. Its far in the eastern side of my country and here i am leaving behind the multitude of vehicles, humans and buildings. My soul required some peace and hence i started my journey inspired by an article. I don’t hate the city where i live.  But i do believe that the moments of solitude is also a necessity to feed my spirit. The city could make the spirit suffocate on a long term run. Inspiration, followed by curiosity made this trip real within few days.

I came here last evening and prior to my trip itself i was lucky enough to make home stay by a small family. It was arranged by the local forest officer. This village is almost at the border of jungle and forest guards keep surveillance over the forest border. A middle aged tribal man led my way to a beautiful tiny home roofed with earthen tiles. The greenish black color of the roofing tiles reflected the home to be much aged. Two kids were playing in front of the house. A middle aged man came from the backyard and it seemed he was working in the field. He welcomed me with a smile since the forest officer had already informed my arrival.  He introduced his wife and children and led my way to the place of stay. Facing the owner’s house nearly at hundred meter distance, there was another small house. This wasn’t visible  since several trees kept the house almost hidden from view.

This home too was a pretty little one. Handing over the key, the man informed His elder girl to make sure of my hospitality. The girl left me after helping me with settling down in the room. The house more or less seemed vacant. It sparsely had any furniture or any other house hold utensils. The house had a room, a hall plus kitchen and veranda on all four sides.  The girl brought an earthen pot filled with water and kept at one corner of the hall. A puppy came following her. He was energetic and became friendly very fast. The radiant smile of her face made me feel comfortable enough to start conversing with her. In another few minutes, i came to know that she is in her fifth grade and her brother in third grade. They are having their summer vacation now. Puppy followed the little girl back to her home.

It was getting dark and i went back to unpack my bag. After having a light dinner with the family i got back to my temporary nest. The puppy escorted me back to my room. The cold air gushed into my lungs and i have started to feel relax. There was electricity and i forcefully made up my mind to stay away from books for one night. In no time i slipped into deep sleep.

Slowly i woke up and sat leaning on the wall having a fine glance at the room. It’s a small room with earthen walls polished finely with mud. There are big wooden windows with wooden rods on two sides of the walls. May be that’s one of the reason for the coolness inside the room. A simple room with a mat made of grass. These types of mats are no longer found to be seen anywhere. On one side there is a dwarf wooden table where i have kept my writer belongings, camera and the wall shelf holds my travel bag.I had kept the windows open last night and hence the sun shine is trying hard to gaze into my room through the lush green branches.

Paakhi came wishing me morning. She had a glass of hot tea. With her came her little brother Monu, he was little shy. We came and sat in the front veranda. Monu slowly became comfortable. Now only person left behind to join our company was Paakhi’s puppy, Akku. Akku came wagging his tail, crawled and found place between mine and Paakhi’s legs. Monu kept playing in the front side with a palm leaf ball. It’s just 7.45 am and i could spot several birds at the nearby trees and bushes. There were bamboo tree crowded at little distance.

I quickly finished my morning routines and went for breakfast. Front side of the house was embellished by several wild plants and bushes. Some had flowers of red, yellow and violet. A thick climber perched over a mango tree on the side of the wild garden. Several chickens were found running behind a mother hen.  There was a cattle shed nearby the house. I could see two cows and few goats inside. A big hay stack was standing on the side of the shed. The backyard held a vegetable farming. There i could find both the parents of the kids back to the routine farming works. The mother fetched water from a near by stream and water the plants. Paakhi helped her mother  and Monu played among the plants. Akku was testing his teeth sharpness on a small firewood.

I walked bare foot around the house and watched the entire surroundings. Here the summer doesn’t cause heat strokes compared to the cities. The sun rays tingled my skin. The wild winds brought raw summer fragrances from the nearby flora. The fluttering leaves and logs of the bamboo swayed with the wind and talked to each other. The stream had cold water coming from the sloppy mountain and ran into a pond on the far north. There were several paddy fields down towards the plain and i could make faint sights of people working in the fields. It was a beautiful feast for my eyes. I decided to take Paakhi and Monu as my local travel guides. This alluring place will sooth my soul and may be let me begin a new book in the coming days…. a journey to find my “SELF”!