Innocent infancy and hard-hitting veracity!

Hello all!

I guess each one of us would have experienced some sort of “Stone age men” times which could only be during our childhood days. Its obviously true to everyone because that’s the time the technology in India was quiet lesser than other world countries and thus we haven’t had much exposure to most of the technologies.

But once we grow up the natural resource are still the same but we are least cared about getting out of our home and staying close with the nature which we make it an alternative for being in front of out latest technologies and spending our life as a living hell.

Here is a short narration of one of my childhood memories which I would like to share it with all of you. Interested??? Even if your not interested, do take part in my journey and I guess you’ll sure have your own memories refreshed at the end of this travel J

It was the end of the year 1995 and I was all panicking as its time for me to leave this school and get myself moved to the higher secondary school. I am a student of St.Joseph’s primary school which has the class upto 3^rd standard and the students who complete 3^rd are sent to their higher secondary which is totally on the different end of the city. I have been to the higher secondary few times during the annual day celebrations and I actually didn’t like it. It was huge and I felt I am in another world where I would never fit with.

My primary school is such a heaven. It is small with around 40 class rooms build with more space and each of the corridor is separated by a huge tree which bears an orange colored flower which is our main source of tool for playing. Each of our class would have a small tree in front and it would never be boring to stay there in that school which is fully surrounded by trees. And you can also find few classes to be situated like a den within the forest. It would be so fresh and cool even in the hot summer and once if you get into the school you would never desire to come out of it. I and my friends had such beautiful memories with those trees and I felt so bad to leave it and go to a place where there are very less trees and more of classes and people roaming around making it feel more like a distant land.

“Ai why is your face so dull di?” enquired my best pal Vinaya.

“No di… Today is our last day in this school la. Next year we must move on to our higher secondary school na. I don’t like that school. I like this school only. So only I am sad.”

“Hey Maya. Are you stupid? Today is the last day in this school. Look around you. Everyone are enjoying their last day and they are excited about the new school. How come you alone feel so idiotically?”

“Look Vinaya. You wont understand. I was always surrounded with trees and plants which are my closests buddies both in my home and school. I don’t have a brother or sister like others to accompany me while am playing. It was trees and my plants who accompanied me always. But now I cant take in the reality of going to a new school where there are less trees and more of people.”

“Maya. You are human being and not a tree. Remember it always. And we have seen the higher secondary school. There are also trees and plant and beautiful flowers which smells good. And you will find it good once you go there. Just stop worrying about things like this like grown up. We are still in 3^rd grade. I am going to play with other under our tree. Are you coming?” asking so Vinaya started running towards the tree, Our tree.

“Yes. Wait up Vinu Am coming too” I followed her to the tree.

We played our Hide and Seek, Ring-a-ring-a-roses, Devil with long nails which is our favorite game and was going around scaring our classmates and had such a nice evening until we were picked up by our parents to home.

And I forgot about the whole thing about the higher secondary school and spent my entire three months vacation my roaming around our farm which is filled with coconut trees, Gooseberry trees, kodukkapuliangai tree, noongu tree and all other green leave. I always stayed up with my gooseberry tree as it was my favorite tree and a favorite fruit of mine for all time. I get up in the morning and take my brush and come over by the tree and sit beneath it and start day dreaming by collecting the fallen gooseberries and what to do with those and exclaiming over nature’s greatness seeing the various stages and growth phases of that gooseberry. I always love to eat a gooseberry which is half sweet which would be so delicious and a mouthwatering one.

And at last the holidays were over and I started having nightmares about my secondary school without trees, its shades, the smell and every little thing that is associated with a tree. But nothing could ever get changed except our thoughts. So I started wandering how the school might be and how the teachers and students out there would welcome us and so on. Finally the day had arrived and I was all set for going to my secondary school which is obviously like moving on from a small town to a metropolitan city.

Once I entered the school all I could search for was for how many trees are there actually. All I could find was a very few trees and many small plants which are kept for a making the school a pleasant atmosphere for every single eye. But is there any good with those plants? Nah… I could find nothing. But I found my new school doesn’t embarrass me much as I thought and I was easily accustomed to the new environment and its way of workings. I did understand that, in life everything happens for a reason and we must be flexible enough to adapt to the rapid changing environment with the increase of technologies which has turned to be a part of our human life unnaturally.  

As the time passes I find me getting adapted to the new school with lesser trees. And we have changed our house too due to the extra-long distance which I had to travel from my village. So now my new house has no trees either. Though I have started living a life without much trees around me, I still yearn for a nature filled environment which will be a better option for human beings to have a long-lasting and peaceful lifestyle.

P.S: I still spend some of my holidays in my village filled with trees, all my favorite trees, and I do have a nice time out there. Hope all you guys must have such visits over your childhood memories and the places and surroundings you’ve been missing in this busy daily lifestyle. Grow trees;Grow lifestyles.

Indeed a daring trip!

What do you guys think of staying in a forest without any real world exposure? Isn’t it a wonderful opportunity? Yes, indeed it is. I got such an opportunity to live in a forest where you might see long and thick tress making it look like a dense forest with houses situated between a distance of minimum 2kms.

It was in the year of 2002 when me and my sisters were on annual holidays at the month of April. So we were constantly pestering our parents to take us on a trip to some arctic place. Unable to stand over our pressure they planned to send us to one of our relative who is living in the hills of Attapadi, Kerala district.

My parents took us to the Coimbatore bus stand and we got a bus to the place called Anaikatti. It was really exciting for us as we have gathered all the favorable news from our parents regarding the place. We were expecting for a place like some Ooty or Kodaikanal as my mother said it will be greens everywhere and we could also feel a cool breeze of climate all through the day and so on. 

After taking up a travel around some 3 hours we reached that place and we found there only road and nothing else. On the sides we also found huge mountains with so many trees which would actually look like a thick forest during night times I thought. Then my parents hired a jeep from Anaikatti to the place Attapadi. And once we got into the jeep and started to travel I found the jeep heading towards a road amid the mountains and after a half an hour travel over the mountain we finally got down on a place where there is no more traces of any pathway and there was also no houses as far I could see. I felt a bit of fear running through my eyes and thought I am going to be dead during the night and decided to run with my mom once she starts.

Then my parents asked us to follow them in a single path which was with mud and there were so many bushes and trees where so many weird sounds were coming from and at one point of time we were walking in the midst of trees and only trees all around us. Even if someone kills us we could not get escaped from this place I thought. Then we suddenly came across a stream where the water was flowing just like the silvery threads with a sweet sound and the place was so calm without a single distraction and I could hear only the sound of the water flowing as a crystal clear.

We were still walking by crossing the stream in a crooked path and when the path is wet we were probably getting slipped down and struck deep within the mud which made us feel irritated and all our dress was a mess. Then after half an hour walk we finally saw a small hut which is where we are going to stay for a week. HELL NO I thought loud. I have never been in a hut before and after all these walk in this dense forest how could I stay there. Never!

We were greeted with full of smiles by the old grandma and grandpa who lived there all alone. And there was no electricity as well. And it slowly started to get dark outside the hut. We were sleeping tiil 7 p.m as we were quiet tired over our long walk in the woods. When I woke up I saw the hut was lit up with a kind of lantern and the dinner was kept ready. And know what? The rice they offered us was just so hard and big unlike our city rice. But in that hunger state I was not able to investigate all those things about the rice and so we speedily engulfed what was offered to us. And it was a high time that I have to pee. But I was really afraid to go out as I already heard those weird sounds of animals at night. So I asked for help from my mother and when I came out I was dumbstruck. It was pitch black and I could not make out even a single thing which is kept out there. A sudden sting of fear caught my nerves and I hurried inside the hut saying I will not go out. So that grandma accompanied me with the lantern and I was half-hearted and somehow came fast running back.

I was not able to sleep even for a minute as my entire heart and mind was like haunted. And suddenly around the midnight I heard a sudden thud of nice over the hut and as the seconds passes the sound was becoming faster. So I woke my mother and I was literally crying to her regarding the sound. And at that time the grandma got up and asked me come lets go and see like that. I was already in fear and when she called I said no. But she allegedly took me with her outside of the hut. And there I saw a big elephant and one small one standing and making those sounds. And when the elephants noticed the grandma coming it stopped making noise and came to the entrance of the hut and stood like a little child which made me astonish. The grandma gave some bananas and was speaking to the elephant as “hey can’t you see who has come to our home? It’s our relatives. See this kid is frightened hearing the sounds you made. So better be quiet for few more days and don’t disturb these kids ok” like that. I am not sure whether the elephant understood or not. But it was standing quiet in front of her and after she returned into the hut the elephants started moving back somewhere in the dark. It was an extra-ordinary scene which I could never see in my whole life.

The next day I said to my mother that I will not stay there alone and so asked them to stay that day alone and the next day we all can go back home. After so much of pleading my mother accepted and so me and my sisters were quiet happy. After having the breakfast the grandma said we can go to the stream for bath as the water would be clear and we could have some time to pass there. So we were happy about it and we took all our things and started with grandma.

After so many collapse due to the wet mud we finally reached the stream and found it such a mesmerizing scene and I really felt bad that I have forgotten to bring my cam to capture all these lovable memories. So we all started to play in the water which was flowing towards the stream and we were advised not to go near the slopping places of the stream as we might get slipped and get washed away with the force of the flowing water. So we were playing in the water safe and secured for more than an hour. In the midst of this the grandma asked me to take care of my sisters as she is going for getting jackfruit from the tree which is near to the stream. I too accepted it and we were playing happily and all of a sudden one my younger sister started screaming as SNAKE! SNAKE!

I was under a big shock seeing the snake which was around 4 to 5 feet in length and it came floating in the water and as we were playing in between the stream flow it hit my sisters leg first and passed to my other sister and rounded her leg slowly and when it started tightening her leg only then she realized that there was a snake. And as she started screaming for help I was not sure of what to do as it was the first time in my whole life I was seeing a snake of such a length which is so near to us. And after few seconds I got back to the reality and somehow managed to say her not to move and be silent as it would not harm us. 

I know it’s a lie but I just made up my mind saying that and I rushed for the grandma for help. In the meantime a person from the tribal community who came by that side saw my sister drenched in fear with the snake that is crawling over her leg. As he approached her my other sister cried out for his help and though she could not understand the language he spoke she somehow managed to say what has happened. And after some kind of techniques which I am still unaware of, the person let my sister freed from that snake and he was waiting for our arrival like a guardian angel. And when I found my sister safe I was into tears as I was into hell of fear and literally crying with a thought that the snake would kill my sister.

And when I remember this incident now I regret for one thing, it’s that I haven’t even thanked that person who saved my sisters life and I was busy consoling her and speaking her about this. If I get another chance I would like to wish that great Samaritan a big thanks.

After this incident even our parents got a bit of fear and so we stayed there that night and the next day early morning itself we were on the bus for Coimbatore with such a terrific experience. 

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