I took a walk along the road leading to a village from the guest house I was staying, during the weekend fifteen days ago. It was the dawn time with the twilight giving enough glimpse of the scenes ahead and on both sides of the road.
I watched the hills turning visibly green and the trees receiving the sunlight to reveal the thickly covered foliage and brightening the landscape on both sides of the road. The incremental visibility of the sights and scenes brought to my awareness of the change of colours, which the sunshine brings to the grass and foliage.
The darkness turning into a golden hue of the morning, which artists and poets refer to as a mystical experience, is indeed a sight worth watching. For those who are oblivious of this happening every bright morning, it is a sight to behold and stay absorbed in this dance of hues and colours, which change every few seconds till the sunshine covers the landscape. The view of the horizon at this transition, is a rare sight of exquisite beauty because the brightness adorns the trees and flowers.
The sights I watched during this one hour walk engaged me that I did not feel the distance of about three kilometres covered to reach the gateway to the village.
The fields ready to harvest, Ragi millet along with marigold flowers on the edges of these farm lands offered a visual feast!
I noticed a senior citizen unleashing the cows from his courtyard and a lady herding the cattle along the road to graze.
I presume this rhythm is the routine for the household in the village!
For the last ten years, the political leadership that governs the nation of India brought a grand idea of developing smart cities, for which a lot was invested with marginal benefits for the common man. Offering wireless net work and phone links seem to have happened. But many essentials to make life healthier or air cleaner or roads safer or traffic getting regulated with better public transport seem to happen at a snail's pace.
Seeing how people live in villages with limited facilities, how is that the leadership of the nation does not think about fostering 'livable villages' as a vision for the nation!
At day break, I watched the motor cyclists skilfully riding on roads damaged by the monsoon rain. That too without helmets!
On my return walk, I found these two friendly dogs on their morning stroll!
The day break time is also a time to watch birds. I did not have the zoom lens to capture the morning flight movements of the birds. I was greeted by a pair of sparrows on the road!
That completed a glimpse of the spectrum of social life in a village.
These sights that I got to watch while visiting a new place reminded me of the contrast between urban and rural life!
The urban life has a different rhythm than what we encounter in a village at day break.
I felt that those who live in such situations are also our 'neighbours' to us, about whom we ought to carry a sense of awareness about the challenges they encounter in their daily life!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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