I am pursuing my Masters in Social Work at Christ University, Bengaluru now.
It has been 9 months since I wrote the last time here. I did feel like sharing in between but I would not have a beacon to keep me writing for long enough. Right now, however, I have a soothing music jam session being played by a few friends and their music team from University where I stay . A couple of melodious voices with the violin and the tabla adding the ingredients. They sing "Dheere Chalna..."
It has been 9 months since I wrote the last time here. I did feel like sharing in between but I would not have a beacon to keep me writing for long enough. Right now, however, I have a soothing music jam session being played by a few friends and their music team from University where I stay . A couple of melodious voices with the violin and the tabla adding the ingredients. They sing "Dheere Chalna..."
Last month, some of my classmates and I were staying at a village called Yeldur in Kolar, Karnataka. We had to do our fieldwork as part of our course curriculum. We worked with the Kolar Project of the University's NGO that takes care of around 18 villages in the region. We would work in the project office in the day with reports and move out into the village and meet the villagers to observe, interact and take part in their activities. Several of these villages would be atleast 5km+ far from our project office and there have been times we have had to cross more than 30km one way to reach some villages.
Yeldur and the places around have a dry land vegetation with a lot of green agriculture that man has introduced there. You can find either acres of flat barren land or land with some cultivation going on. In between you can find curves and the land around giving you a desert feel with the land around looking like a lake or huge water body that dried up once upon a time. You can find plenty of tamarind trees there but that is a natural though. You can also see a lot of the ragi yield everywhere on the road being grounded or blowing into your face while travelling. The mornings begin cold with the fog and mist that passes slowly until the sun breaks through after which it is only the sun striking down on you with a cool breeze. Bike riders would like the kind of travel experience the place would offer.
Certain things which make an impression in my heart, I love to share these things exactly like how I saw it to a very few people I feel I need to share with. I'm taking a part of my conversation with such a person because I felt recently that maybe this experience could inspire more to explore the world around them.
"The ride to the village in the evening was amazing. The sunset had begun by the time we left the agency and it was shining on our faces by our side constantly while I rode to the village. The reddish golden light filled everywhere and broke the trees, the plants and tall grass in the fields from our right crossing us and falling to the fields to our left. Again the rays felt warm while the air was getting cool in time. It was just spectacular since I was listening to songs from CokeStudio in the background so I felt like being in a traveller movie. It pretty much felt like my display pic in WhatsApp now. I would keep riding calm at a decent pace watching the nature move while I kept moving to my destination. From good roads to broken roads. A horizontal flight of pigeons from left to right from a bit above while an autorickshaw sped across towards my direction. We met a crossroad and got to the next road and there were school children walking home. There were these three children from the lot walking home who were toppling on each other while walking trying to bug each other being their naughty selves. Also I noticed these birds of prey (Idk whether it is a falcon or eagle or a kite) that seemed to be gliding around all chill similar to my bike ride but then take a sudden drop and split to different sides when they spotted something.
The ride back to the agency was more beautiful. All the roads back in darkness but the star lit sky made it hard for me to look at the road and ride. I've never seen so many stars altogether. There were bright ones and then bit bright ones and fading ones and then stars like shades. How can they come in shades? I had never seen these many stars from Kerala even. I would keep calling Shashank (my friend) who sat behind by my hand and point to the sky quietly while I rode and he would shout all the possible words of exclamation in his vocabulary covering for me too. Hehe.
The ride back to the agency was more beautiful. All the roads back in darkness but the star lit sky made it hard for me to look at the road and ride. I've never seen so many stars altogether. There were bright ones and then bit bright ones and fading ones and then stars like shades. How can they come in shades? I had never seen these many stars from Kerala even. I would keep calling Shashank (my friend) who sat behind by my hand and point to the sky quietly while I rode and he would shout all the possible words of exclamation in his vocabulary covering for me too. Hehe.
All the while, while I rode to the village and got back to the agency I had in mind that you had to see this. Maybe because of how we like to observe things.
Around 40 students are staying over at the agency here. They've a soft skills training program at our campus in the morning and they will leave in the first bus from here. The agency will wake up in 15 mins now to get ready. The first bus is at 0430.
We had to give an orientation session to the youth about soft skills after we got back from our villages around 8 p.m. After the session, while all of us guys looked back at the sky we realised we might be looking at constellations and Shashank got this app to spot the stars and we found out that we were looking at Orion and some other names. Hehe.
It is still beautiful to watch now. I'm stargazing as I write. I woke up from sleep somehow seeing your reply and remembered I had not written to you as I had planned and wondered how I fell asleep. So I set out and started writing it all down. It is such a chilly night. The half moon and the stars shine so clearly that I feel I could climb up the agency building and jump and catch the moon and fall down lol
We have a much cozy place to sleep tonight. We were moved from the garage next to the agency office to the upper room within the agency office. This agency building is another thing that is interesting to me. At times I feel like I'm in a villian's lair cum office that was made from a previous small sized factory building.
The upper room is smaller so it is easier for heat from our bodies to accumulate and make us feel warm. Yet I woke up from the cold and I'm outside where it is much colder. I'm so awake now hahaha I feel like something that was put to frost in the freezer. I'm going in now before the youth guys wake up and get shocked seeing me outside. They'll have to take bath in this cold. I shudder at the thought of it.
I'll be sleeping well now that I've written all this down. Idk if it would make sense though since I wrote alot to process in such small space or if I missed anything that I had thought to write.
Hope you read this in a good time or it makes you feel good if the time isn't so.
Guess you would be sleeping now and then waking up to the Azaan there! God is Great! :)
Haha the cold has blocked many noses here. I'm hearing snores in unison and in parts. Such harmony! "
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