Peace amidst the silence.
Simplicity’s complex.
I am one of those people who has never experienced village life before. I mean I have heard stories from friends and family about people living in villages, their lifestyle, their beliefs, practices, and simplicity but never actually experienced it.
So, recently I came back from this place called Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh. It was my grandparents’ idea for the entire family to reunite in the old family home. I know I have come to this place in my childhood (Probably 7 years back) but I didn’t quite remember much of what was it like at that time so I just wanted to visit it again and see how the things might have changed.
This is what Wikipedia tells you about the place -
Tikamgarh is a town and a tehsil in Tikamgarh district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The city serves as a district headquarters. The earlier name of Tikamgarh was Tehri(i.e., a triangle) consisting of three hamlets, forming a rough triangle. In Tikamgarh town there is locality still known as ‘Purani Tehri’ (Old Tehri). Until Indian independence in 1947, Tikamgarh, formerly called Tehri, was part of the kingdom of Orchha, which was founded in the 16th century.
On 17.03.2019, we took our flight to Khajuraho group of Monuments, which is one of the most popular tourist spots in Madhya Pradesh and a heritage site under UNESCO. It is famous for its ancient temples that depict some of the finest art in the world.
After landing in Khajuraho, we looked at some temples around and in the meantime also got to know about how the locals earned their living in such a place full of tourists. Khajuraho has this unique blend of Traditional practices and Western influence that makes it a quite amazing place to explore.
Tourism acts as the ancillary income to the household apart from agriculture. Since the region falls in the midst of the jungle belt of India, there is a close connection of the locals with the nature.
The temples are known for their elaborate and intricate carvings and sculpture. While these sculptures depict various scenes from everyday lives, the Khajuraho temples are primarily known for the artful and erotic depiction of the female form as well as various sexual practices of the time.
The very next day, we took a train journey to our actual destination Tikamgarh. On our way, we encountered this surreal view of Betwa River.
We reached Tikamgarh in the evening and it was almost getting dark. Surprisingly, on our way to the home, I noticed an interesting thing- Presence of street lamps. I still remember when I came here 7 years back, there was a mere existence of 24-hour electricity supply, let alone the street lamps. To me, that's an indicator of development.
The primary source of income is Agriculture based and there are several Dairy Farms along with it. Apart from this nearly 8–10% percent of income comes from small shops and businesses.
I also noticed that the proportion of Kaccha houses has subsequently decreased by a major number. Instead of huts, most of the living spaces have been converted into Concrete and Brick walled rooms (Unlike the 7-year-old condition). Out of every 10 homes, only one was a Kaccha house.
The Village people were really friendly and great story-tellers. I was flabbergasted to find out that despite the lack of so many privileges and facilities, these people were really cheerful and extremely satisfied with their simple sense of lifestyle. They had Zero (0) complaints about anything.
In order to better understand the structure of Agricultural-land paperwork and inner-workings, I visited a local tehsil officer. Everything was paper-based and there was zero usage of computer-based medium for storage of resources.
It was really mesmerizing to notice that almost every public wall here was painted with these social awareness mottos and jargons. Its the inception of a more literate society in itself.
So while roaming around, I came around this big house in the local neighborhood. Since I was clicking pictures around, this very old man, probably 75–80 years old, asked me about why I was moving and clicking pictures around.
I told him the entire story and surprisingly he just laughed and said ‘Bade Shehar Ke logon ke ajeeb shauk hote hai. Hamare yahan, gaon se bache shehar bhag rhe hai aur aap gaon ghoomne aaye ho!’.
This translates to ‘People from big cities have strange Hobbies. Young people from the village are rushing towards cities and here you are visiting the village.’
Then he welcomed me into his home and introduced me to his family. They were kind of a well-off family in that neighborhood, financially. Their house was big, spacious and well built. They even offered me an evening meal. We had a wonderful discussion regarding how things have changed around in the last few years.
So, this is altogether a very happy story for me. The last time when I came to Tikamgarh, I remember very few houses including ours, had an underwater water supply and that too not motorized through the water pump. Women of the village had to walk nearly 10 Kilometers (round-trip) for fetching water from the nearest hand-pump. Moreover, there was this limited capacity that they could carry in a single go so it was really upsetting to view all this scenario. So, the old man, whose guest I was, told me that his family took the initiative to install the handpumps in the local neighborhood and it was such a successful mission. I could see the presence of a handpump in every 10 houses.
One thing that I found very astonishing was the employment of a house-maid in the house of this old man. I thought this was only part of the city culture. But no, it exists here too. The financial hierarchy can bring its magic almost everywhere, I guess. (FYI, it was sarcasm, for those who didn’t notice :|)
Culture is something that is very sacred to the existence of each and every individual here. People here appreciate the traditional and historical musical rites, poetry, tales, ornaments, superstitions, and dances. The kid in the below picture played the instrument called Dholakia in the nearby temple and he was amazing given his age of just 5 years.
Belief in religion and old traditional practices is something that you will find everywhere here. I didn’t find a single radical atheist in all the people I met over here. You will find small temples in every small locality and several other large temples located nearby. There was this religious guide who showed me around a new temple that was being constructed. He said that the construction has been going on for the last 2 years and it will go on for the next 2 years as well, until completion. It's surprising to see the construction of such large gigantic temple given the economic level of the entire place. Clearly indicates the uneven distribution of wealth.
Our family house is itself very old (Nearly 50 years or so) but it doesn’t look like it due to the renovations it has been subjected to. I kind of like old and vintage artifacts and I think they must be preserved and not changed much to retain the dignity of the past. But never the less, I was told from a good friend recently that you must embrace the change so it doesn’t bug me anymore.
Regardless of all this, I found pretty cool stuff in this old house. Probably untouched for a long time. Like the Lantern or Wall clock from the last century. I also found an old YASHICA film-roll camera, some old photo albums, and a radio/transistor. Furniture from the last century was very much inspired and developed through bio-mimicry. Like you could easily appreciate the curves and intricacies of the wooden parts.
Out of all this exploration, I managed to take out just the right duration of time to experience The Nature and the Scenery. I could literally appreciate the sound of the silence and gradient of the evening sky along with a glass of Chai (Tea) in the hand.
Out of all the complexities of the village life, people are still able to lead such a happy and joyful life with extreme simplicity.
Such holiday vibes made me respect each moment of my life since my birth into this beautiful planet.
