Since there is no easy (read ‘untwisted’) way to tell this story, I’ll try to make it as easy and non-boring as possible. So last Friday, Neha and I were ushered to the boss’s cabin. We were informed that we had to do research in a couple of villages. Cool, I thought, we’ll be going to places around
Anyways, skipping the details again, the tickets got postponed till Monday, Rajdhani Express Second AC. Since I’ve spent most of my student life travelling in sleeper class, I was actually looking forward to the journey and was kinda disappointed that it would only last for 12 hours. So we finally reach the train, sitting across from us are two uncles, my bet is they were some high officials from the government (based on the fact that they were discussing putting 90 crores in one account and 20 crores in another). Neha had warned me that people tend to look at you like freaks, but I was no way prepared for all the psychos I met during all our train journeys. Funny thing was, we were videotaped in three different occasions. First we avoided the guy, but the next two times it was so irritating that I ended up fighting with them (Warning: It’s never a good idea to fight with people going towards UP or Bihar).
So after changing another train, we reach Munger. Neha’s dad picked us from the station
(Jamalpur). We reach her place and I actually stopped and looked around for a second. The house was built a little less than a hundred years before. Imagine the house with a living room that opens up to a verandah with a tulsi plant and everything and rooms built are the sides (reminded me of endless Hindi movies sets). Her family is the sweetest, most down to earth people I’ve ever met. Her mom informed me that Munger hadn’t seen running electricity or water for the past 3 months. Considering the heat at the place I knew it was going to be difficult. I was also greeted by Neha’s hyper, doesn’t-know-he-weighs-a-ton dog, Noody. After his few attempts at trying to jump on my lap, he settled sitting near me, provided that I made fuss of him every 5 minutes. (Okay the last bit is a lie; he would not stop jumping over me, Neha, her mom and anyone who would come inside the house)The next two days we spent roaming around in villages from 8 AM till 3 PM, going to aanganwadis, schools, doctors, retails shops and talking to anyone and everyone that we could. We went to Tikarampur, where houses were made entirely of hay, as they would be burned down almost every year, we went to Taufir, where police had been raiding recently as the natives were making illegal arms (yeah, I did not dare to go inside this village. We just spoke a couple of people and ran like hell.)
Every day when we would reach back, Neha’s mom would feed us with the most delicious food, and Uncle would tell us interesting stories about the place we’ve visited. Evening we would sit at the verandah and talk about everyday things. Nights were a bit tough because of the heat. Time moved real slow in Munger and yet when it was time for us to leave, it seem
ed as though the entire week had passed in a blur. I’ve always found it really hard to show affection towards people who have been extremely nice to me. Most times I end up blabbering inconsequential things, nowhere near to what I actually want to say. But before I could begin fumbling with words, Neha’s mom hugged me and told me to take care. I wish I had taken their photos. Two people I would remember for the rest of my life. And Noody decided that if he bites off my right leg, I won’t be going anywhere!
After a back breaking nine-hours late journey, six days later, I’m back to reality. I’m sunburned and half of my hair has decided to fall out. A bit wiser I guess, but two days was not enough for us to know much reality than what we were allowed to see.
