pages...

KALGUDI

I've just realised that the name rhymes with Malgudi. That is just a co-incidence. Subtle difference though. It's Kal (like the Hindi for tomorrow) Probably Malgudi days was on air at that point of time. I must have been in class 5 or 6, not too sure.But yeah Kalgudi was my first brush with a rustic, authentic village, where there was no electricity after 6 pm in the evening. North of Karnataka. Literally translated, it means Stone Settlement (human), but it wasn't even remotely close to that. A lot greener though.

It all started with a bumpy bus ride to the nearest town. The bus driver relentlessly worked on aimlessly honking the horn, and all I remember is sitting with my back facing the driver. The older state transport buses used to have that. Even as a kid I was irritated and failed to understand the reason behind his stupidity. We reached the first destination. Then on followed another bumpy and scary Jeep ride to the exact location. I don't remember what exactly happened after that but as twilight fell, everyone was busy preparing for the approaching darkness. I was fascinated by the tiny lamps being lit everywhere and the preparation for an enormous dinner. Another striking incident was the largest species of mosquitoes I have seen in my life. I had settled with the argument that I would probably never see anything bigger. I guess that was what my mind could think of at that time. They must have been really huge, or maybe their shadows on the wall against the yellow lamp light made them seem ghostly and huge to my tiny mind.

I found a lone harmonium sitting in a huge hall in one corner, and after making sure that no one was around, I unfastened the stoppers and began fanning and playing it. It wasn't much different from a keyboard afterall. Hearing that, a few distant cousins of mine gathered around me and looked at me in awe. I was embarrassed and immediately ceased to play the instrument. Night fell and the ghostly mosquito shadows became longer. I clinged to my father sleeping next to me and the next thing I realised was when I woke up to the chirping of birds and a faint mooing of cows in a distance. Done with the basic cleaning stuff, I discovered a forbidden fruit. An irrigation canal just behind our house.It was knee deep for a kid my age...so it was perfect. And lo, began our escapades and events. Shouts and calls for lunch from the elders were put on hold. An amazing buddy system was starting to develop among distant cousins who I didn't even know existed. Games were varied and innovative in nature, all drawing from the way the canal water was flowing. Then my eyes fell on a tree nearby. It had some 20-30 weird looking objects hanging from its branches. On closer inspection, I realised these were the same things from my text book. The baya weaver bird's nests.

I waited until early next morning . While everyone was asleep I sneaked out and climbed onto one of the trees even as the sun was sprinkling its rays on the muddy backyard of the neighbour's courtyard. The tree was in their half so I had to be careful of that too. It was our last day there and my only chance for an upclose inspection. With all my courage I managed to pull one. Then two. Little did I know what I was doing. On seeing it packed in a polythene along with my small bag of clothes, my parents were wondering where did I get it from and what would I do with it. I got to hear lot of advice on the Railway station about spoiling someone's hard work and breaking a house. I had thought of hanging them above my study table and that they would look really cool and it also seemed like some practical knowledge gained outside text books. All I have is a faint memory of them lying unattended in the same polythene bag which I discovered years later whilst cleaning up during the spring break at school. I was ashamed at my foolishness back then, but it did bring me back sparkling memories of this wonderful place, Kalgudi.





image source:wikipedia.org