I'm born and brought up in Delhi, so has been the case with 2 preceding generations of mine. Father and Grandfather have served in the Government of India in Simla and New Delhi and I have spent my times in the environs of the bustling South Delhi. Hailing from Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, I've never lost touch with my roots and at least an annual trip to my ancestral village is a must. Ours is arguably the most respected Brahmin family (being a Pant) in the region and known for being straightforward and perceptibly in your face.
It was just like a routine trip to my village here in the frontier district of Champawat in Uttarakhand, till I decided to go a little further, on foot. This was a place called "Shalla" which was a half a day walk from our residence. We stopped to take rest in some small and seemingly poor village en-route. We introduced ourselves to a person of the village and said we would be grateful if we could get some water. He belonged to a backward caste (or scheduled caste as we know them, called "doom" in local parlance) and was shocked that we could accept water from his hands. Upon our insistence he agreed and bent down to touch our feet (including mine). He took us to his house which was the poorest I've seen till date in our part of the world. Not a single piece of furniture to be seen. Just a raised platform where he spread out a dari for us to make ourselves comfortable. He disappeared into another room and emerged with a lota of water and a few mishris in a saucer for us. The eldely women (one was possibly more than 85-90 years of age) of the house came out to touch our feet. We tried to stop them but they insisted upon it for if they didn't do it, unko paap lagega. This was as shocking as it could be and we were aghast to see the still prevalent systems which we so easily ignore in the cities. In his effort to welcome us, the person made sure he didn't merely present water to us, going beyond his means would permit. Such incidents come as an eye opener in an age where we fail to give a thought to things beyond our microcosm.
It was just like a routine trip to my village here in the frontier district of Champawat in Uttarakhand, till I decided to go a little further, on foot. This was a place called "Shalla" which was a half a day walk from our residence. We stopped to take rest in some small and seemingly poor village en-route. We introduced ourselves to a person of the village and said we would be grateful if we could get some water. He belonged to a backward caste (or scheduled caste as we know them, called "doom" in local parlance) and was shocked that we could accept water from his hands. Upon our insistence he agreed and bent down to touch our feet (including mine). He took us to his house which was the poorest I've seen till date in our part of the world. Not a single piece of furniture to be seen. Just a raised platform where he spread out a dari for us to make ourselves comfortable. He disappeared into another room and emerged with a lota of water and a few mishris in a saucer for us. The eldely women (one was possibly more than 85-90 years of age) of the house came out to touch our feet. We tried to stop them but they insisted upon it for if they didn't do it, unko paap lagega. This was as shocking as it could be and we were aghast to see the still prevalent systems which we so easily ignore in the cities. In his effort to welcome us, the person made sure he didn't merely present water to us, going beyond his means would permit. Such incidents come as an eye opener in an age where we fail to give a thought to things beyond our microcosm.
2 comments:
Great Job Pant! Nice to hear from you. It just reminds me of movie Swades. Seems like you encoutered in real life what was the best part of movie
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