The clock ticked away and at around 9, the pages had diminished now, standing at a mere 18. With a sense of accomplishment, I walked off to join mom and dad for breakfast. That's when dad coolly exclaimed that we'll be starting by 10. I was totally clueless. Why on earth should i get ready? I didn't usually go out on sunday mornings, and if I had had a match, I would have known beforehand. And then it struck me, we were supposed to go to thamaraipakam to visit the small piece of land that we had bought some time back.
For starters, thoraipakam is jus about 40 km from central station, about 7 or 8 kms off alamathy road near avadi. So it wasn’t really a big deal. Dad usually goes there every week to check on the tree saplings that were planted there some time back. Another major thing that kept dad going back there every week were the birds that my uncle was taking care of in our land. The purchase of the land was a joint venture of my dad and his three brothers. Even my one year old cousin had been there but i was yet to visit our land. Matches every sunday made it virtually impossible to drive over to thamaraipakam. But this week, i got an off. Matches had been cancelled because of rains and dad saw this as a perfect opportunity to take me there.
10.15 am: with our stomachs full, me and dad set off to thamaraipakam. After an initial argument, we decided to ride to thoraipakam rather than drive. So there i was in the pillion; cap, sunglasses and ipod plugged in and an obvious dissatisfaction in my eyes at not having been able to complete the book.
The ride to thamaraipakam was quite smooth. We had to go via NH 5(i think, am not quite sure). This was the same route i travelled by when i was in veltech. So as we rode down NH5, a sense of nostalgia took over, reminding me of the fun we used to have inVH27(route 144 in srm, route vh27 in veltech ;)) the road was quite smooth but after we reached alamathy road, the ride jus got better. The heavens opened up a bit and there was a very light drizzle that followed us all the way to our land.
11.30 am: the drizzle subsided but the sky became dark, really dark. We had to make it to the land before it started raining. With no roof over our heads (we were riding remember) and with no place on the way that could provide real shelter from the rain, we were virtually sitting ducks. But we got fortunate and made it to the small hut just as the skies opened up. The hut was built bang in the middle of our land to house the birds my uncle had bought. So there I was in the hut with my dad, seated on a viewing sofa, the rain pouring over the thatched roofs. The hut was mid size, housing about 10 love birds, a pair of white pigeons and a pair of dancing pigeons(aka masakalli in modern terms ;) that were kept in a huge cage partitioned into two. And it also housed around 10 almost fully grown turkeys, that seemed to quite dislike the two strangers in the hut, that were me and my dad. There was also a separate room by the side of the hut that housed about 20 smaller turkeys. These were bought in maskaan chavadi(strikes a chord??) when they were very small. The turkeys had all grown now and were roaming about the room making a lot of noise.
With the rains finally having stopped, me and my dad ventured out of the hut. The smell of rain was still evident in the air. The scene outside was brilliant. With miles and miles of green around us and a steady breeze blowing, the photographer in me took over. I was off clicking pics. The abundant green formed a perfect backdrop for my photographic rendezvous. So there I was clicking away and posing as my dad joined in. and boy did I get some interesting clicks. The turkeys in the side room seemed to be more than willing to pose for pics and so were the love birds. The bigger turkeys were a bit afraid so it was mostly long distance clicks coupled with zoom. The pigeons had jus laid an egg so we were advised not to go too near them. So again it was long distance photography with max zoom.
We ventured out of the hut and into the adjoining fields. We caught a glimpse of a family of mongooses racing across our land. This really got me edgy. Because a mongoose on the run meant only one thing, they were preying. And what do mongooses prey on??? Snakes!!!!! We didn’t want to risk getting bitten by a snake, especially in a sparsely populated village with very little medical facilities near by. So we hung on. After a couple of minutes, we decided to proceed. More interesting clicks followed, a cow that had strayed onto the field and was now casually grazing on the weeds growing there, and a majestic buffalo that was not too happy with us wandering into his territory. Half an hour of walking across the adjoining fields meant that when we returned, the bottoms of our pants were covered with mud. The rains had caused the soil to become squishy and both I and my dad had slipped on more than one occasion, losing balance and getting our foot caught in the squishy soil.
By the time our little adventure came to an end, my mobile had totally run out of charge. We returned to the hut just to realize that the older turkeys had become bolder. They now ventured near us and didn’t run off when I took out my mobile ( I was using my 3.2 mp cam mobile for taking snaps). What followed was a stunning array of clicks, the male turkey showing off its plumage being one of my favourites. Anyways, it was already 1 pm. One and half hours had flown by in a flash. It was getting late for lunch so we decided to set off. With a final wave to our little feathered friends and mr.sambandham, the caretaker, we set off.
The ride back was out of the world. A steady breeze, a shiny sky and a light drizzle (probably the aftermath of the rains) followed us as we rode back. And believe me, it was absolute bliss. As we rode off, I realized just how much we were missing in life. In the name of modernization, we had severed all ties with nature and in a sense, deprived ourselves of those simple delights nature offered us. In the name of technological advancement, we have become ultra sophisticated beings yearning for a house in the stars when all we had to do was sit back and enjoy the world around us, the world that was already ours. As I walked back, I realized that we needed a change, a change that would transform us from the savage beasts we are now to the humans we were once. And then I realized that we could all make this happen, when people unite for a common cause, they can move mountains. All you need to do is initiate the change. A simple thing like not littering the road could go a long way in saving the world. All you have to do is contribute.
Let’s all unite to save the world, THE WORLD THAT IS OURS. Let’s make it a better place to live in.
Adios!!!!!
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