Celebrating Differences!

My usual twilight hours are at our balcony where I could grasp one of the most charming sunset! Every day, on these hours, the hues of sky keeps changing from golden yellow to scarlet, then to shades of orange pink and then to tint of purple and ash. Most of the time, I settle here for my evening show. My sight encompasses the terraced houses, kids on top of it flying kites, one tree, shaped like an umbrella which stands midst of the houses, an orange flag that flips in the wind, a mobile tower, sabji (vegetable) selling women wearing bright Ghaghara and oxidized jewelries, northern plain grey langurs which prowl in large groups from one terrace to the other, a group of birds flocking to and fro from dawn to dusk and finally this boundless sky backing my frame!

The kids are already with their coloured kites! One or two on top of every terraces! They are practicing for the kite festival to be held in January! Beyond just flying it, intent is to cut other kites and make their kite rule the sky! Watching the show in live put me on nerves. The boys howls and screams when they cut down each other’s kite. It’s the game of high spirits………

…..Banswara, said to be the cherapunjee of Rajasthan is the place where Kannan (my husbandJ) chose to live when he got options of a transfer. A town, far beyond from the walls of city! A town with an unaltered character. A town, adherent to vagdi culture which is the mixture of gujaratis, malwi, rajasthani and mewari cultures. A scene unseen from the typical pictures of Rajasthan where there are no camels, no sand dunes, no mud coloured buildings, no parched lands! A town bordered with bamboo forests and farming is the major ocuupation, where the waters of Mahi river fills the heart of people and farmers, where Jains lives in majority, where people follow a Rajputana style of living!

Initial days were quiet embarrassing that I had to think thrice or more times to communicate to the locals here. The vagdi language abashed me that I took hours to recognize what they actually said. Learning to speak hindi became my priority! I was embarrassed with the shop keeper’s shocking face with my question of asking for eggs, I was embarrassed when we could find only one non-vegetarian hotel in and around our area! That was quite a disappointment because we were requested not to cook non-vegeterian food at our home. But that is okay!I was equally excited and embarrassed! Though not forcefully, I had entered into an ambience of differences!

Our place is quiet a silent one where noises of vehicles doesn’t influence the calm ambience. Early in the mornings the only sound spread is of the bells tied to the decorated cows. As an often adage “Aditi Devo Bhava”, every cow here are aditis. Every Ammajis of the houses would not fail to feed them with the leftover parathas and fruits! Most of the time they do not forget to get blessings from them! This is another embarrassing moment for people like us who loves eating beef, and treat cow as just an animal!

Later, I see bhabhis covering their head when they meet a man, stay away from the kitchen and ignore to sit on chairs and beds when they are on periods, who do not take rest for a while, instead engaged on works all the time I see them. They put large amount of makkas and lobias to dry on terraces, they prepare dough in machines to make pappads to consume in all meal times! They look happier for what they are and how they are! Adherent to strong traces of culture embarrass me for I come from a state where everything goes topsy-turvy! At the outset of all, what matters is how they treat people so amiably. Battiya and dal, parathas and kachodi became our new cuisines where idli dosa and appam delighted their tongues!! The bhabhis wish me to see in ghaghras and I wish to see them set mundu. They get me red choodiyas (bangles) and sindurs!

I, never expected that life would take me to this extent of differences. I smile at situations that life brings to us. I enjoy the experiences and realize that there is an aesthetic natural state in every nook and corner of the world where it prevails as it should be! We just become part of it for a while and experience things happening in life, small differences, small embarrassments, small explorations and a small realization that what a tiny space we occupy in this world!

I should probably get a kite and practice it, because it is a culture to fly kites from every house on Makara sankrati because we see differences in each other and we try celebrating the same!

Small things makes life beautiful!

Susuwrites!