Perhaps each of us has gone through such feelings when we do anything out of the way, which is not compatible with present trends of the society. One of such works is to visit your native village where your ancestors spent their childhood. When you live in a glittering city, it is difficult to trade its glamour with simplicity of an Indian village where scarcity of common amenities is very likely. However, for me visiting my native village is like returning to my basics. It was not only an ordinary visit and it was a delight.
Lahsania - a village on Northern boundary of India, close to Nepal is situated on the bank of Bhagmati River in district of East Champaran. It is very unlucky to get flooded almost every alternate year. However, to a great surprise in 2004 when almost the whole of Bihar was in flood, Lahsania was the only village safe and secured. The population of the village is nearly 3000 and people generally speak Bhojpuri. The soil is very fertile so the chief occupation is farming. Banana grows in abundance and is even exported to the nearby markets. But apart from this at least one or two members of each family lives either in Mumbai or in Saudi Arabia to earn a better a livelihood.
This was a brief description of the place where I celebrated Id ul fitr this year. This was not my first visit to Lahsania but this time I tried to study this village. It was not a difficult task; in fact, it turned out to be very interesting experience. Soon after sunset, a blanket of darkness covers the village but that brings out the best part of the day. How? This is the time when one is compelled to believe that peace and harmony does exist in some part of the earth. Whole of Lahsania gets into groups five to ten. They acquire places anywhere they find suitable - on the roadside, teashops, in frontyards of their houses etc. They discuss different topics, their own problems and talk about social matters. This usually lasts for two to three hours every evening.
Children of this village are very attractive. They are very much curious. Curious for what is unanswered. Most of the children carry transistors wherever they go. Radio is used for hearing songs and cricket match commentary only. Once I saw a video song of a popular artist Himesh Reshamiya, in company of some other boys. One of them commented “ ee itna hero bantan ki topi kahiyo na utar tan”(he thinks himself a superstar that he never puts off his cap). Once I heard two boys conversing that Sharukh Khan looks very smart in Munna Bhai MBBS. The ignorance about cinema and other mode of communication is because there is no electricity supply in the village. My grandfather told me that once the government tried to supply electricity to Lahsania but some old people stopped it due to the fear of catching fire. Interesting to know that Lahsania is prone to flood and fire both.
One thing I found very odd bout this village. Life style of members of the same family greatly varies. Elder brother sports casual t-shirt and jeans while the younger brother does not even have a vest to wear. I was surprised on Eid when I saw Jumman wearing branded jeans and t-shirt and while his younger brother was wearing a kurta hardly pressed. I asked Jumman he said that he works in a factory in Mumbai. His Seth (boss) has discarded the clothes and gave it to him but he has no money to buy something good for his brother and family.
Everything was good and satisfactory except one thing; the village is going backward day by day in the field of education. No sooner, a child reaches the age of nine or ten his parents send him to Delhi or Mumbai to earn money. I just counted that my friends with whom I used to play in my childhood days on my fingers. I found that thirty-one of them are working in Mumbai only. Those who are not working are studying in Madarsa or Maktab. They can hardly do anything for development of society because they are not living in a good environment. Even now, child marriage is practised here though it has decreased a lot.
Overall, Lahsania is a good place – geographically, socially and to some extent even economically. Hope it will progress and advance towards development.
Shahbaz
Lahsania - a village on Northern boundary of India, close to Nepal is situated on the bank of Bhagmati River in district of East Champaran. It is very unlucky to get flooded almost every alternate year. However, to a great surprise in 2004 when almost the whole of Bihar was in flood, Lahsania was the only village safe and secured. The population of the village is nearly 3000 and people generally speak Bhojpuri. The soil is very fertile so the chief occupation is farming. Banana grows in abundance and is even exported to the nearby markets. But apart from this at least one or two members of each family lives either in Mumbai or in Saudi Arabia to earn a better a livelihood.
This was a brief description of the place where I celebrated Id ul fitr this year. This was not my first visit to Lahsania but this time I tried to study this village. It was not a difficult task; in fact, it turned out to be very interesting experience. Soon after sunset, a blanket of darkness covers the village but that brings out the best part of the day. How? This is the time when one is compelled to believe that peace and harmony does exist in some part of the earth. Whole of Lahsania gets into groups five to ten. They acquire places anywhere they find suitable - on the roadside, teashops, in frontyards of their houses etc. They discuss different topics, their own problems and talk about social matters. This usually lasts for two to three hours every evening.
Children of this village are very attractive. They are very much curious. Curious for what is unanswered. Most of the children carry transistors wherever they go. Radio is used for hearing songs and cricket match commentary only. Once I saw a video song of a popular artist Himesh Reshamiya, in company of some other boys. One of them commented “ ee itna hero bantan ki topi kahiyo na utar tan”(he thinks himself a superstar that he never puts off his cap). Once I heard two boys conversing that Sharukh Khan looks very smart in Munna Bhai MBBS. The ignorance about cinema and other mode of communication is because there is no electricity supply in the village. My grandfather told me that once the government tried to supply electricity to Lahsania but some old people stopped it due to the fear of catching fire. Interesting to know that Lahsania is prone to flood and fire both.
One thing I found very odd bout this village. Life style of members of the same family greatly varies. Elder brother sports casual t-shirt and jeans while the younger brother does not even have a vest to wear. I was surprised on Eid when I saw Jumman wearing branded jeans and t-shirt and while his younger brother was wearing a kurta hardly pressed. I asked Jumman he said that he works in a factory in Mumbai. His Seth (boss) has discarded the clothes and gave it to him but he has no money to buy something good for his brother and family.
Everything was good and satisfactory except one thing; the village is going backward day by day in the field of education. No sooner, a child reaches the age of nine or ten his parents send him to Delhi or Mumbai to earn money. I just counted that my friends with whom I used to play in my childhood days on my fingers. I found that thirty-one of them are working in Mumbai only. Those who are not working are studying in Madarsa or Maktab. They can hardly do anything for development of society because they are not living in a good environment. Even now, child marriage is practised here though it has decreased a lot.
Overall, Lahsania is a good place – geographically, socially and to some extent even economically. Hope it will progress and advance towards development.
Shahbaz
No comments:
Post a Comment