I remember when i was 7 or 8 years old my village looked like a garden. A garden with many green crops and living cattle, farmers showing spirit of morning sunshine. The roads were not cemented but covered with bricks, cows and buffaloes used to walk clumsily. Farmers took enough care of doing 'hurrrr', or 'hollew', or 'hoye'. My house was spread in acre i guess, consisted many families and their relatives. Life was as easy as grazing goats in dried field. My father was a high school teacher and he had to move to Patna as he was transferred. It was hard time to leave Dehari but had to leave. I remember I was watching those mangoes and bamboos trees... those roads and grasses in the field. Those hunts and trees... those people I knew... my young friends were still playing in the playground, I saw them they saw me... and moved on. In which words I can tell what I was feeling while traveling in the local buses to railway station. It seems I was listening to those Bhojpuri folk songs for last time what was being played in buses and shops.
I was in Patna, in evening time. Those honking vehicle and sparking lights were new to me, I was looking at them like stupids do. Yeah... crossing roads was not as easy as in Dehari. My father used to give us many instructions while crossing roads. The rented house was not enough for me so was not to my brothers and sisters. Of course we started missing our homeland Dehari. 'when will we go there ?' was frequently asked question by us. Life goes on, I completed my matriculation, intermediate, graduation. After matriculation I hardly went to Dehari, that time I had sensed that Dehari is changing, but not much. After completing my graduation I got some job to do and earn some money, of course, not enough. Working as a sales/marketing guy in city like Patna is never easy. You be always on go! sweating like hell! work like demon!
20 years back I had left Dehari, now it was time to leave Patna. If I say from my heart I never liked Patna as a living place. never. Patna is a kind of pesky place live for me since early days. It's a city packed with poor people, ignorant people, less educated people. For many people small shops and rickshaw or auto-rickshaw were way of life. I do not say that there were no people living good live with good living means.But, those were not the identity of city. I dreamed about going to Bangalore, where my brother lived for past 2 years with his job. It was evening time to leave home to railway station. I sat in Auto-rickshaw with my father and I could not stop my tears in my eyes. Oh god, I lived in this city for many years, saw many lives of my own and others, I studied in this city, I got my friends in this city, I saw this city changing with time... but I never knew that I loved this city, Patna!
I was in Patna, in evening time. Those honking vehicle and sparking lights were new to me, I was looking at them like stupids do. Yeah... crossing roads was not as easy as in Dehari. My father used to give us many instructions while crossing roads. The rented house was not enough for me so was not to my brothers and sisters. Of course we started missing our homeland Dehari. 'when will we go there ?' was frequently asked question by us. Life goes on, I completed my matriculation, intermediate, graduation. After matriculation I hardly went to Dehari, that time I had sensed that Dehari is changing, but not much. After completing my graduation I got some job to do and earn some money, of course, not enough. Working as a sales/marketing guy in city like Patna is never easy. You be always on go! sweating like hell! work like demon!
20 years back I had left Dehari, now it was time to leave Patna. If I say from my heart I never liked Patna as a living place. never. Patna is a kind of pesky place live for me since early days. It's a city packed with poor people, ignorant people, less educated people. For many people small shops and rickshaw or auto-rickshaw were way of life. I do not say that there were no people living good live with good living means.But, those were not the identity of city. I dreamed about going to Bangalore, where my brother lived for past 2 years with his job. It was evening time to leave home to railway station. I sat in Auto-rickshaw with my father and I could not stop my tears in my eyes. Oh god, I lived in this city for many years, saw many lives of my own and others, I studied in this city, I got my friends in this city, I saw this city changing with time... but I never knew that I loved this city, Patna!
After a 3-day journey I reached the city of Bangalore. Wow! Bangalore. ' In Bangalore, there would be no power cut, beautiful roads, only riches, foreigners' I used to tell my friends. But, I was happy it was not like that.We all are aware of the feeling of joining new place and people. Mine, may be , is not different from you. In rainy nights I dreams I go to Dehari, I see my childhood, I see people who represented Dehari in their own style, I feel that silence of those fields with dried long grass, I smell the unique fragrance, I see my young friends playing in grounds and some going to school, I hear the mild sound of Bhojpuri Birahas... then I see the road which led me to Patna.
In Bangalore, I miss Dehari more than Patna... someday I will go to Dehari and hold the soil and I will ask 'tell me why do I miss you this much?' I wonder if I come back from Dehari.
