"Often the journey is filled with experience that we reflect on a right time"
- Nirmal Shah
I have lived most of my adulthood in the city of Ahmedabad and majority of my experience's has been a mixture of travelling and harsh reality of the world that I tend to observe involuntarily - it's almost like a divine intervention that always leads me to understand it positively, take some learning from it and that keeps running in back of my head constantly, almost like the end credits of a movie which on a right time or on a right moment that come's in my life, certain text's from those credit's rise and emboss in front of my thoughts. I have learned over the years of my life to imply them almost immediately.
It was a very arid month of august, 2024, and rain's had not yet step in, we were experiencing an heatwave, it was hot and everyone was wishing it should rain any day, I was too wishing it since long the summer had started (laughingly), as monsoon is hand's down my favorite season from all the other season we are blessed with. I fondly remember this particular month because of two reason, I had just upgraded my bike to a cruiser from a Classic Royal Enfield and the second reason, I was waiting eagerly for the rain's to start so that I can have my first ride on the new bike and it was getting delayed, until I lost my patience.
I love to explore the back road's and non touristy places whereever I go, I personally believe that these region's on the map are majority of the time not marked or highlighted but where most of the cultural, historical and vivid experience's are tucked away in. I enjoy most of the time taking a walk or going my bike to these place's and vlog about it and take memory photograph's that I cherish on the way back to my home or the hotel.
Once such experience I still fondly remember, I braved into the arid region near by to my hometown but a bit of cruising distance one can enjoy, I had meticulously planned the whole route few days before my departure and fed it to my navigation so I can properly time my visit, transit and take care to that I don't miss out on anything so that I don't have do that route again. That's how I plan my ride's, I select one sector and juice the whole place out of its all the interesting points and never look back at the sector again until and unless its worth visiting the second time with family.
On this particular ride I made sure the Aravalli ranges were always in my sight even though I am a beach person but monsoon and mountain's go hand in hand. While on this ride I visited beautiful dam's, local forest, lakes, reservoirs, a beautiful Jain temple and a man and his buffalo.
Apart from all calculation's, I faulted on my water intake. The weather and wind's were so dry and hot that I drank my whole 7 liter camel pouch, just to realize I was in a remote village in middle of nowhere with no shops around, the road's where intact though, majority of Gujarat village's now have concrete or tarmac road's, rarely have I come across a broken road, but this village lacked a shop, none had I passed by which was a walking distance to where I had stopped to take water break under a small shade of a dusty tree. I was so thirsty that my lips had dried up but I knew I was not dehydrated, there was still moisture in me but I was craving for water.
I saw a small home near by to where I was standing, my bike was extremely hot, I remember it because my thigh's were burning from the fresh engine oil being burnt inside, Well, I said it's better to stop for few minutes and let the body and bike cool down, till I can find water too drink - I opened my predownloaded map and saw that there was no water body near by nor any shop, while my phone was having no signal I couldn't access the internet and do it's thing, this is where the beauty of exploration start's - off the grid (technically).
I unbuckled my camel pouch from the rear seat and walked my way to the home that I saw near by, it was a mud, dry grass roof home of a near by farming family of 4, parents, a young boy and his wife. I was aware of the village families being very protective of their ladies in the house so I kept my distance from the front gate's of the house and I could see the father sitting on the ground - legs folded - smoking his bidi and I softly asked " Kaka, May I get some water? I have sadly ran out of it." to an immediate response the father replied "Come inside, have a sit!", looking over to his shoulder he asked his wife to bring a chair from inside which she promptly brought out, it was a plastic chair, blue in color and an arm broken. I replied to him "No trouble kaka, I just want bit water and I will leave!" and the father insisted with a firm voice "Come inside and sit for a while, till then fill the water too."
I resisted as I didn't see his son around and there were two female's assuming one was the son's wife as she had a red sindoor on her forehead but with reluctancy I entered his front yard where a dog was sleeping and few squirrels where running around small plants on the perimeter of the house. I said "thank you kaka, Just water, I am very thirsty" kaka immediately laughed and said "you won't get cold water here!" he must have assumed with the riding jacket and high ankle shoes I was wearing and the bike just up head - I would definitely need something exotic like the cold water in middle of nowhere.
I said to him assuringly "haha! No worries kaka, I would love to have earthen pot water or even well water is fine." in the moment I too assumed he must have a well somewhere in back of the home and he said "We don't have well here, but give your bottle, she will fill it up for you" he was amazed with the camel pouch I had and asked a few question seeing this interesting thing that carries water and asked "How does water stay inside this bag?" and I explained that there is a plastic bag inside and you have to open the knob top on the bag and simply fill the water or whatever you want inside it, he was happy to have learnt that day I could see it on his face while the two ladies a bit far, just below the front shed of the house were listening and smiling to our talks and probably seeing me dressed like we all bikers do for a bike ride.
Kaka suddenly stood up and went Infront of the gate's where I just walked in from and shouted to his son in the near by farm "Vaniyaaa, Oh Vaniyaaa come here", "Vaniyaaaaaa" he shouted again before coming back to exact place where he was sitting earlier and explained to me "called my son, he will come" at that time I did not understand why had he called his son while the lady was filling up my camel pouch with a steel jug she had conjured from thin air, as I had not noticed where did she bring the water filled steel jug from but was happy that my pouch was getting fatter by the weight of water.
As soon she gave me the pouch back through kaka, I asked his permission if I can drink the water first as it was theirs and we were in middle of some conversation and he lovingly said "yes! yes! beta go ahead, do let me know if you need more." the pouch was filled to the brim, I even dripped it on my t-shirt while drinking it directly from the top knob as sucking from the pouch's pipe would not satisfy my thirst. Having drank the water, it was the rare moment I found the water sweet - probably because I was so thirsty and it must have been from some river that must be flowing near by that they usually fill up from. Kaka said "Give your bag, they will fill it again" and they even gladly did returned back to me directly and I said "thank you" to no response but all three of them smiling.
In the mean time the son had come with a dusty buffalo following him like a child and kaka said "this is my only son Vaniya" as he made his way inside through the gate and both of them smiled while I didn't get the meaning of the name first, its natural habit of mine when someone tells me their name I immediately search for a meaning and attach to their name so I can remember it, before I could ask for their leave the son threw a question at me "Where are you coming from?"
I said "From Ahmedabad, currently exploring this region for my sake, for travel and adventure."
He replied "That's amazing, we rarely find someone here from the city on their motorcycles here, we are a small village"
I said "Yes! I came across this place on the way and ran out of water till I found your home and asked If I could get some water." clearing my intention and presences in his home.
He immediately turned to a pot tied on his buffalo and his wife suddenly went in and brought a steel bowl and gave it to him, he tumbled the pot with a fat white liquid which I first thought was buffalo milk for his family and he said "Bhai, Drink this butter milk", I was immediately taken back - buttermilk? being shared with a stranger like me who just came for water, I said to him "Buttermilk? No, No, that's too much, I just want water." he insisted giving the bowl in my hand "its hot right now, buttermilk will do more good then water." and I drank it peacefully with a heart filled with unknown satisfaction and love and respect. Till I bid them goodbye with a very cool body of mine and new energy I went ahead on my journey, and an unexplained happiness with in me.
Manier time's I have experienced such warm and fulfilling event's in my life and adventure's on my motorcycle and most of them are from village's and none are from the city. This makes me believe and simultaneously put me in a wonder why the difference is there in city and village, I am not saying people aren't welcoming in city - there are many families and people such but majorly you don't get entertained let alone these experience's and help easily and randomly in city. No one has got that time in city.
I think its because our heart have become closed such as our home's for such experiences, due to life events, rat race, probably day to day tension's, there's is too much to think in small brain of ours that no new thought's or warmth can find a small corner about it and even have very less space left in our heart's and minds and infact in our home's in the city that we cant help it but has become our passive nature which act's actively. The difference in a village life and city life is I guess 'Content' not the one's we all keep scrolling on the mobile phone's but that which one feel's within, a satisfaction similar to what I felt when I drank the water and buttermilk.
There is a constant tug of water between village life and city life, where either of them wants to settle out their life in each other's eco system and astonishingly they find 'content' in that, yet having not lived it completely and still find it difficult to settle out in the either. City dweller's imagine a house and farm land to live off in a far off village while a 'Vaniya' from a village somewhere wants to settle down in city for a better life. Both of them have found a bore, a level of monotonous experience in each of their ecosystems, their dwellings and a human's crave a new experience, oblivious of the consequences.
What I feel is both of them are yet far from getting accustomed to what each of the ecosystem brings to the table and the culture that needs to be followed to be accustomed to, not just to be the crowd but to settle down with sigh of relief at the end of the day both these ecosystem need's work to be done and each requires a different skill set developed over the year's, that has to come naturally, which I believe come's from truly living in it over many years, while in the initial short time both will have an immediate crash course which could develop a mindset and if it goes haywire then it could send the thoughts in a spiral.
What's important is to maintain warmth, openness to experience it. Forgetting what is already known but be empty again to be filled a fresh.
I once read a quote in a bookshop:
"A Traveler travel's the world in search of it, only to return home to find it"
To my reader's I suggest keep your heart and mind open to all form's of experiences in life and I guess it should help make your city feel like a calm of village, A hep of a city in the village.
Diving into the abyss for more such experience, until then Que Sera! Sera!
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(The image is AI generated by my prompt using Gemini)
