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Lockdown tales ii

"I don't quite like our generation, do you?", asked my cousin.
"Well…", I fumbled for I didn't have any answer.
"Everything today can be bought with money, I want to know what it feels like to long for things which we can't buy and yet need them", he added wisely
"Did amoi( grandma) teach you this?", I enquired, curious.
"No, I thought about it on my own", he smiled.
…

I was dumbfounded by my ten year old cousin. This kid had learnt his lesson on life. He has been my "walky talky" these seven days. I chose to call him by that name because he briefs me about everything that's escaped my notice. He perhaps senses my off minded behavior. For he jerks me time and again, pulling by my hand clicking his tongue in disdain.

Each morning, we hit the paved village roads crossing green paddy fields and muddy ponds. My grandma's place is a farmer's paradise. The fields are lush green with rice being planted. The ponds are filled with fishes. The backyard has juicy "outenga" and "kothal". And all hail to the incessant downpour, the air is soothing and the village looks calm.

I see the mud clad village girls sheepishly exchanging smiles with their loved ones. My heart goes out to my childhood days when I could freely roam around in the fields running after cows, today I no longer belong to their world.

My cousin often asks me in our stride about how the village looked like when I was a kid like him. His eyes would grow in wonder when I explain to him about bullock carts, the merrymaking of harvest season, the abundance of fruits in orchards,  the unavailability of private cars, the enthusiasm of riding a bus and watching "Shaktiman" on t.v. during weekends and above all the absence of a mechanised lifestyle.

This ten year old kid longs for my childhood of the 90s. Well, I can't take him back to those days but I for sure can weave stories from my past for him. That way, I stay rooted to my past and he gets a fair picture of what life looked like when he was not yet born.

Time and again our conversation takes unexpected turns. Today, he wanted to know what causes anger. Well, I told him a story which grandpa had told me long back.

As far as I recollect, the story was about a conversation between two people where one abuses the other verbally. The other person stays rooted and doesn't give any reaction to the wrath he receives. He, at the end, addresses the person who had been abusing him saying, "You said whatever you wanted to, but my friend I wouldn't accept any of them. You are free to take those words back with you." This left the abuser in shock, guilt and dismay and thus, he had learnt his lesson.

I turned towards my cousin to see his smiling face, he probably had realised that anger not only affects the person we abuse but also the abuser. It probably is wise on our part to hold back whatever we feel while angry, for once we spit it out we can't have those words back.

#lockdowntales#morningsessions




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