Life goes on…

So it is finally the time that I waited for this past so many months- time to move out of the country home. a very tough act that I brought into my life, by choosing to live in the village. But an act which taught me a lot, as usual. One of the key learning is that to live in the country you require a lot more resources than you require to live in a city or town.

Life can be quite unexpected in smaller places and people insular, and hesitant to mingle with strangers- in other words you cannot but have a life of your own and then think of physically being in a village. If one thinks that one can be part of the life around, you really need to be able to blend in their daily lives, which have a big component of any religion!

But honestly speaking I am leaving here with a sense of relief- I was tired of the negativity and the solitude. As it is work is so serious and academic. On top of that if you cannot even step out of your confines and talk to a few people and have their perspective on life, and all communication with the world happens due to the internet- there is a reason to worry about your sanity!

So even if I do not have any one to mingle with in my neighbourhood, in future as well- the fact that I am closer to town will make me less hesitant to leave home in search of things that I require and that would ensure a greater integration with life in Goa in general- the manner I once adapted to Faridabad in Haryana. The first of these pictures is from outside a neighbour’s home where one can see the fowl roaming around, and the second is from my former home in Faridabad- a city home. Both are green, of a different kind.

We shared with all the neighbours that we are finally leaving and mostly everyone expressed surprise, dismay or even tears (the landlord especially). I think this is the best way to live a life- where you are missed for your absence and appreciated for your presence. Otherwise so many come and go from the world, without touching another. This may be my last post from Chandor, or indeed my home in the country, as I now move into a town from here.

Time to go onwards

 On 16th March 2014, we all came here- driving a few thousand kilometers from Delhi, to set up our home in a small, out the way, noiseless village home- in a serene, quiet environment. It was the lap of nature and we have been surrounded by bird songs of so many decibels and timbers that the only location they could be captured were in little poems that I could attempt. But seeing from a distance, where we came from Goa seemed so idyllic that to think of it not being perfect was far from imagination.

The picture that you see as part of this post, is what I encounter every time I go from my home in any direction, it is the paddy fields, which are currently ploughed. There is a mountain range surrounding this and when the weather is too hot or cool, you see mist around. It is strange, to see mist in summer, but then nature is so fascinating and mysterious, there can only be learning in her lap, nothing else.

But entering into the zone one comes face to face with the unusual nature of being alive and the significance of being closer to civilization- this is all too dreamy and ‘beyond’ the world in many ways. To imagine being connected to modern city life here is foolishness, or to even think that in an emergency an ambulance will reach you- is to be imaginative or wishful. So one needs to get up, do a reality check and then notwithstanding the beauty one is surrounded by, get real and decide that inasmuch as a human needs beauty and serenity, one needs other human beings to connect with and create meaning in life, work and social connections. Without that, even Adam wept in the garden of Eden- alone. So having had a bit of that garden myself, I think I am becoming a little realistic and now moving home from this beautiful, back of the beyond village to a more active and busy part of town.

Though the new home is in another so-called village too, but it is much too close to town to be really a village. Anyhow, for now I am relieved to leave from here. Whether that place proves to be more conducive to being in Goa and offers the scope for better integration needs to be found out. This may be the last of my posts from Chandor actually, if not the exact last one.