I am back! And I have taken lots and lots and lots of pics! Before I start off with the post, let me warn you, there are about 34 pics here and its gonna be one loooong post... so make sure you have enough time to spare before you start! And you might wanna get yourself some strong coffee! :P
I had a blast at my village. Rain God was nice enough to hold back his blessings when I was there! I was told that the week I was there was the only week it didnt rain! It rained before I went and rained after I came back! Is that luck or is that luck?! (I personally feel, and I am sure clueless would agree, its a bit of both!) Anyways. Considering that I have 34 pics to describe, it think we better get on to the pics. Let them do the talking. After all, a picture is worth a 1000 words! This is a picture from the train. Its a long journey from my city to the city nearest to the village. A three leg journey which I shall describe in the next post. All you need to know for now is that this is the 2nd leg of my journey. Its an overnight train journey from Bangalore. I tell you, if you ever get the chance, you should take this train and get up as soon as the sun rises and stand by the compartment door. The scenery is the most awesome thing! And the weather! Wow! totally cool! You should make the trip some time! Its worth every paisa you spend!
My train! Well.... the rear half of it! I always love taking such photos of trains in the curves :)
The engine of my train at the same curve :)
I always thought these small stations which have just one platform with a guard were very charming... especially with the green flag!
Another one from the train
Well... I AM macho girl.... and I AM lazy... So... I forgot to charge the camera batteries at home... And they kinda drained out... and so... er... um... exactly when some of the most beautiful scenes flew past the door, the camera shut itself off. Thankfully this was one of those modern compartments with cell phone charging points... So here is a pic of my charger after i charged my batteries. Yeah I know... I should have charged it at home. I missed some excellent shots :(
A picture after charging the batteries. Proof that the previous pictures were indeed taken from the train and not anywhere else! :P
This was taken after I reached the village. This is the main entrance to the village. This is how the bus comes in anyway. And you can see a few kids making their way to school. They have to walk so much to get to school! Some kids go to the neighbouring villages to get their schooling done! And thats pretty far off! My mum says she also used to walk that much. However did they manage that?! That too without any footwear! :OBuffalo grazing. And for the record.... I HATE undiluted, concentrated, thick and fresh buffalo milk! (dont tell anyone else!)
The road that goes upto the village. Terrible isn't it? Its no wonder that taxi drivers and autos don't come this side. Bus is the only mode of transportation. I guess thats the only vehicle that can survive the roads... well... kinda! Cashew nut trees!
There was some kinda religious event going on the day after we reached. There is a small temple on the hill next to the village. This was a procession that was taking something to that temple. There was a band (as seen in this picture) and lots of people dancing around and throwing clolours at each other. Just like holi!
There are the dancers! And you know what tune they were dancing to? Jhalak Dikhalanja! Its weird isn't it? I mean, you'd think they would play something more devotional. Maybe this song is devotional in a way! They are probably asking God to give them a Jhalak! Ek bar aaja aaja aaja aaja aaaaaaaja! ;)
"What song do we play next.... hmmm.... lets see now... how about, "tum rooti raho, main manatha rahoon, ke in adaaon pe aur pyar aata hai!"" (they actually did that!)
This is what they were taking to the temple.
And this is what they were taking it in!
Ok... enough of celebrations... This is my grandparents' house. Front door view. I think it is made of mud bricks, some concrete, wood and metal. Most houses in the village are made of mud bricks. And I heard they use cow dung to wipe the floors! Its supposed to make the floors clean and shiny! Yeeeeuuck!
You see all this wood? It used to be a tree in their front yard last year. Then the roadways people cut it and now their front yard looks so incomplete without it :( I used to love that tree! After this picture was taken, me, my mom, my two cousins and their moms started shifting all this wood into a shed to keep it dry. It can be used later as fire wood in the kitchen mud-stove. That was really hard physical labour! But we finally managed it and I was so proud of myself! I normally don't do that much of physical work unless absolutely required!
More remains of the tree. This whole place used to be covered with plants. You wouldn't have been able to see those two bulls and that house. Thats how dense the growth was. Now all gone :(
This is the first room when you enter through the front. See that swing? I spend half my vacation on that whenever I go there! I just love it!
This is a semi-storeroom I guess... The last time I went there were HUUUUUUGE piles of grain. Must have been a good harvest.
And this is where I sleep. This is the other side of the semi-store room. Its a semi-bedroom! :P
This is the backyard of the house. See that concrete structure? Its a kinda pit. Every morning, a lady who helps my grandparent out comes to the cow shed, collects all the dung, puts it in this pit, pours some water and mixes it all up. Then it drains down and gobar gas is produced. This gobar gas is taken to the kitchen through a rubber tube and used for cooking. My grandmom has a stove which runs on gobar gas. Cool huh? No money wastage for LPG. Shit does have its uses! ;)
You know what I like about this house? I like the fact that when you look through the front door, you can see all the way upto the backyard. All the doors are aligned perfectly in most houses in the village. Only the more modern ones don't have this design. Me likey. This helps in ventilation. Its never too stuffy inside the house :)
This is in the backyard... A tulsi plant. I always liked this place. I always sit here and brush my teeth in the morning and in the evening, I come here to watch the sun set. (I also get a good view inside the house and get to see who is doing what and where!)
Can you spot my cousin somewhere on that tree? He's picking cashews!
A view of the farms. The entire family (about 9 of us) had taken a long walk one evening to visit our farm. It was a really looooong walk, and I enjoyed every bit of it! There weren't any proper roads. Just a few very narrow lanes to walk in. We had to walk in a single straight file most of the time. Its a typical village experience!
I found lots of these rocks in and around the village. You can produce sparks with them! While my cousins were busy picking berries, I was trying to produce sparks. And I got two! I couldn't help thinking of Sid from Ice Age... "You can call me Lord of the flames!" "Hey Lord of the flames, your tail is on fire!" And more recently from Ice age 2, "Fire God make fire!"... So here I am... Macho Girl!!!! Lord of the Flames!! (and I don't have a tail... so... HA!)
My cousins walking ahead of me through the village streets. We were on our way back from berry picking. My cousin brother, sister and I made this fence! We dug out holes, put the sticks and hammered them in, then tied sticks hortizontally. All this effort was put in to protect my sister's garden from the bulls which wander into our front yard and eat the plants. We were so proud of our achievement after we finished! Doesn't it look nice? :)
A close-up view of one of the poles.
A mud-stove in the kitchen. It is used in addition to the gobar gas stove. I always liked this one better coz it looks more traditional and is.... well..... its just really nice. Of course there is a negative side to it. It creates a helluva lot of smoke. I can't stand in there for more than 5-10 minutes without burning my eyes and throat! I salute all the ladies who put up with that and cook on that on a daily basis!
Ah... the fuse box... and important part of the house. The village has frequent and scheduled power cuts. So all eyes fall on this fuse box throughout the day when the power is gone. When its back, the red light in the fuse box glows and everyone starts announcing the arrival of electricity rather loudly! I like it. Coz sometimes you just get too bored of sitting on the swing or helping your cousins out or playing with them and all other things... watching TV can become such a pleasure in these instances. Plus, without light, you can hardly see anything in the bathroom!
Ok.. you can all breathe a sigh of relief now! Thats all for now! But remember, this is just part 1! I still have a bit more coming up! I guess I just have to write so much coz its a big event for me! This is the only time that this city girl becomes and village belle! (or whatever!)
And every once in a while, thats a welcome change! Watch out for more! right here on Macho Girl's blog! :)