housing plots

Perieri’s girl,Hail to her glory!

Just this morning when speaking on the phone with my co-sister in Salem, our conversation veered towards the latest news.,.the 10^th class results. Our niece’s son had scored well and I was congratulating my co-sister on her grandson’s performance in the exams. Then we  were drawn naturally to the news of a Thalaivaasal girl having scored 496 out of 500 and having become a state ranker in this board exam. Then my sister told me that the girl was indeed from Perieri our sleepy little village near Attur where we used to have all our cultivable lands .and where this co-sister and brother-in-law had spent a major part of their lives. I have loved the breezy place which had just a scattering of lonely homes in the midst of paddy fields, both left uncultivated  and  ploughed and cultivated..To even imagine that kids of this tiny hamlet would ngo to school or wish to be educated is a  farfetched  dream. That was in those days. Nowadays it is a reality that India.s villages are getting deserted and people there want to migrate to the city, a haven for jobs and education. Besides, agriculture is neither a lucrative, attractive or easy prospect..

That takes me back to the good old days when my husband grew up in Salem and used to go holidaying during the summer vacation to where else but Perieri where we had a huge farm….cows, goat, calves, bullocks and buffaloes  all included. My husband reminisced that in his youth when he and his brother used to walk up from the road to the farm house ,,,a good 2 miles  that!!!…….the village folk used to rise and wish them just because they had been to school upto or beyond 5^th class. That to them was as big a thing as going to Oxford or Cambridge! Now looking at this latest news from that standpoint, I must admit our village folks have come a long way..that too in the case of a girl child. ,I believe this topper is from our Village Perieri and attended the school very near our Perieri farm and that her parents are both farm hands. Could be the child of one of those who worked in our fields…that is their 3^rd generation.. How proud I felt that Perieri has progressed and come along way in terms of thinking.,.in giving their daughters education. But the flip side is that our farms and fields are no more being tended and where from will we get our grains from hereafter?

Another good news is the top score achieved by the daughter of Revati who used to be our house- maid , whom we taught to read and write at home…Her own son goes to a polytechnic and her daughter has scored 90%. But she and her husband are still tilling the soil but with newer methods and machines. There is yet another success story of the daughter of our ironwallah who again has scored above 85% in her 10^th class exam..These are incidents that prove the adage;.where there is a will, there is a way. Poverty is just no excuse for those who have ambition and are raring to succeed doing hard work. Here I  have to  highlight the story of an IIT IIM graduate who has scorned all lucrative city jobs with big MNCs to take up farming and cultivation on his own. He says he is very happy content and peaceful., .far from the madding crowd and teeming millions and stress of mega cities.

This leaves me pondering whether my own life in the city is worth all that much, despite the fact that we enjoy all the luxuries and trappings of modern life. Is it necessary anyway, to be happy??? Think about it seriously.

Perieri’s girl,Hail to her glory!

Just this morning when speaking on the phone with my co-sister in Salem, our conversation veered towards the latest news.,.the 10^th class results. Our niece’s son had scored well and I was congratulating my co-sister on her grandson’s performance in the exams. Then we  were drawn naturally to the news of a Thalaivaasal girl having scored 496 out of 500 and having become a state ranker in this board exam. Then my sister told me that the girl was indeed from Perieri our sleepy little village near Attur where we used to have all our cultivable lands .and where this co-sister and brother-in-law had spent a major part of their lives. I have loved the breezy place which had just a scattering of lonely homes in the midst of paddy fields, both ,left uncultivated  and  ploughed and cultivated..To even imagine that kids of this tiny hamlet would ngo to school or wish to be educated is a  farfetched  dream. That was in those days. Nowadays it is a reality that India.s villages are getting deserted and people there want to migrate to the city, a haven for jobs and education. Besides, agriculture is neither a lucrative, attractive or easy prospect..

That takes me back to the good old days when my husband grew up in Salem and used to go holidaying during the summer vacation to where else but Perieri where we had a huge farm….cows, goat, calves, bullocks and buffaloes  all included. My husband reminisced that in his youth when he and his brother used to walk up from the road to the farm house ,,,a good 2 miles  that!!!…….the village folk used to rise and wish them just because they had been to school upto or beyond 5^th class. That to them was as big a thing as going to Oxford or Cambridge! Now looking at this latest news from that standpoint, I must admit our village folks have come a long way..that too in the case of a girl child. ,I believe this topper is from our Village Perieri and attended the school very near our Perieri farm and that her parents are both farm hands. Could be the child of one of those who worked in our fields…that is their 3^rd generation.. How proud I felt that Perieri has progressed and come along way in terms of thinking.,.in giving their daughters education. But the flip side is that our farms and fields are no more being tended and where from will we get our grains from hereafter?

Another good news is the top score achieved by the daughter of Revati who used to be our house- maid , whom we taught to read and write at home…Her own son goes to a polytechnic and her daughter has scored 90%. But she and her husband are still tilling the soil but with newer methods and machines. There is yet another success story of the daughter of our ironwallah who again has scored above 85% in her 10^th class exam..These are incidents that prove the adage;.where there is a will, there is a way. Poverty is just no excuse for those who have ambition and are raring to succeed doing hard work. Here I  have to  highlight the story of an IIT IIM graduate who has scorned all lucrative city jobs with big MNCs to take up farming and cultivation on his own. He says he is very happy content and peaceful., .far from the madding crowd and teeming millions and stress of mega cities.

This leaves me pondering whether my own life in the city is worth all that much, despite the fact that we enjoy all the luxuries and trappings of modern life. Is it necessary anyway, to be happy??? Think about it seriously.

gramaulaa/driving along a village road

It is strange how things hit you hard on the head and bring you back to terrafirma..We just went to worship at Nattamangalam , a village which really used to be like the back of beyond some years ago. we have been going there for the past 30 years every year sometimes once, twice or even thrice.. The small temple to our family goddess or kula deivam is there.From there we go to Mallasamudram, a bigger village where my husband grew up.and went to school till his 11th class.

What has always held my  fascination  has been the innocence and simplicity of the village folk. This time, I seem to have been enchanted with a lot more things which have obviously eluded my attention all these years. I could attribute it to my growing years or my better sense of observation honed and sharpened over the years with experience.

I immediately decided to write a blog on this because i felt that it might provide some useful insights to the younger generation most of which is city-bred., the first thing that i remember is the road which is lined on both sides with tamarind trees, most of which must be at least 80 to 100 years old. The  green foliage and branches of these trees form a lovely arch overhead and a cool green canopy. . It must have rained just a week ago and the green shoots were a tender light green .Else they would have been scorched by the unrelenting and punishing sunshine of the southern summer in May. We had travelled a long distance on the super highway and all we saw were a few carsm trucks and buses. There were no trees or shrubs at all except for the newly planted arali bushes in the median that separates the to and fro traffic. ,Although its fun to speed along the wonderful new toll roads, I still miss the treelined avenue type roads. The village roads have potholes and are insome places dusty and the ride bumpy ..but thats the fun..no racing or crashing! see the point?The other splendid sight is that of young village belles happily riding their bicycles or going doubles with their husbands or friends or brother. Its lovely to see the girl sit on the cross bar holding on to the handlebar and the boy peddling the cycle with her weight too. Perhaps thats his incentive or just romantic. I find it so simply romantic and chivalrous.!!There is one sight that we rarely see nowadays. ..the fire wood shop. I wonder who still uses firewood as fuel.in these days of gas and induction stoves.. Even my maid wouldn't deign to use kerosene stove or worse still firewood or coal. The answer was soon got..the brick kilns have plenty of use for jungle wood and that too rough hewn and in big chunks,,The small paan shops,the grocery stores, cycle repair stalls, cycle rental stands and  small tea shops are what make a village so delectable, delightful and delicious. The aroma of the morning coffe/tea wafts from a nearby stall as we stop to buy some flowers for the temple. The flower stall has its own colour and perfume but the best part is their smiling face and  hearty greeting ..We pass through green fields waiting to be harvested, ripe and luscious rice plants heavy with the grain and almost buckling under the weight, We also catch a glimpse of the fields being mechanically harvested with modern farm equipment and some that are lain bare after harvest, conical sheaths of corn , maize and sugarcane heaped up like a red indians wigwam..As we sped along I also noticed the village templesand the fervour and devotion with which people went topray there. The colourful and resplendent statues of the village watch Gods called Ayyanar did not escape my eyes.They are said to guard the village from evil and are mostly placed at the far end of the village..the boundary to be more precise. Thesight of the innocent village boysplaying with the wornout cycle wheel is a source of endless joy for me. I can go on and on about the charm of villages and its simple people and how we seldom care to give any of these sights a thought. Let us learn totake in the beauty of the cows grazing lazily, the sgeep bleating, the goats and the chicks crazily crossing the road just as a vehicle is about to pass, the cowherd with his minion and the rustic scene as it unfolds before you as we drive by. The cool fresh air is meant ot be taken in , the smells to be sniffed in and the sights seen and etched in our minds so that we remember to keep our cities as clean and pretty as our villages.....