Every summer, during the school vacations, we would plan a trip to my village Badbar. Thus we would not only enjoy family time together but also help my Dad who was at this time in the process of summing up his farm accounts with the farm Manager/Aarhti. This was a long and gruesome process involving months of hard labor for him.
I remembered in my younger days, how rejoiced me and my sisters were when he arrived back from his farms in Badbar after living continuously in hard conditions for two to three months. For days, Dad would tell us many stories of his harvesting season and how he tackled many problems alone. There was no piped drinking water, no Soda, no ice and only power for a few hours. Even smaller towns around the village lacked basic amenities of life. There were no mosquitoes bites in the village though, as per my Aunt Bai Ji on her routine visits to Badbar, the village had so much filth and garbage that mosquitoes hardly could get time off to get away from the softer targets. Hence the humans would be spared. But She loved the water from the hand pump, after drinking hard and polluted water in Delhi, she would be relieved to drink the hand pump water and even named it as Coca Cola. The life carried on smoothly.
For us, It was always really a fun time as the wheat crops would have been harvested/sold by now and my Dad Sardar Vasdev Singh felt contented to collect the income from his farms. My uncle, Sardar Inderjit Singh usually would also reach there at the same time, as I would drop him a line about my schedule.
Grandma Karam Devi (1900-1987)
Our grandmother Karam Devi in her 80s was still fully in charge of her small abode and her kitchen. My Dad/uncle would bring fresh raw vegetables from the local village vendor and she would really cook an unbelievable finger-licking fried or curry dishes. The neighbor would offer fresh Lassi and we would enjoy amazing lunch by 11.00 AM and all of us will go for an afternoon nap thereafter. We were lucky if the power was still available for our very small 28" ceiling fan to work. But I also recall it was not that hot anyway in semi-mud thick walled houses in Badbar.
Grandma Karam Devi was a great cook and the vegetable dishes she cooked were really awesome because water and air quality were comparatively pollution free in those days. When we praised her cooking, she would react with a remark that the dish thus made was only meant for throwing in the drain otherwise She was much better cook if she cooks them seriously.
So it was like village side camping to be with older family members. My uncle and father were too happy and excited. My Dad would keep telling everybody in the village that his son younger Sardar and his family had finally arrived. I had to explain to many fellow villagers why I delayed my arrival as my Dad was missing and waiting for me every day. My usual answer was my commitment to Government job in New Delhi, and I could not get off from the same that easily.
It was also thrilling to see my father at the helm of affairs in the farms business by giving his decisive orders. On my intervening, the workers refused to take down my orders and wanted an order from older Sardar. With time I have attained the stature of Older Sardar, while Shivi continues as a younger Sardar. My third sister Bobi whose husband Dr D S Choudhry was posted in nearby Barnala town would also be meeting us in Badbar. Bobi one time mentioned me that our father, while walking through the fields, looked much younger, energetic and commanded his people well.
My uncle Sardar Inderjit Singh would often love to go to the city and bring bags full of grocery, fruits and toys for Shivi. When asked why he had gone to city, his crisp answer was that after all he had to have fun in the city without getting rotten in the village. While the city had hardly anything to boast about. We laughed at the remark calling Barnala as City, as it had only one Halvai shop, a few fabric shops and lot of hardware shops for use of surrounding villagers to buy their irrigation pipes, motors/engines and other related tools. Tractors and their related supplementary part shops were mushrooming. No Cinema house!
Uncle had his own separate village house but both retired brothers in their 60s would love each other too much. They had amicably distributed their inherited lands and other assets appropriately among two of them - the only two heirs. The two brothers had absolutely no dispute claims on other's property. They would always have lunch and dinner together along with their mother. Every day they had ample bickering though. My uncle would have a big list of complaints against my father for wrong handling his affairs and only with uncle's intervention, all was finally well. Uncle was so proud of his law degree and after his Government job retirement practiced at Punjab & Haryana High Court, Chandigarh. He was hence more exposed to Public dealings and street smart. My dad, however, was low lying, grounded and brilliant in Accounts. While taking me out for a walk in the village, uncle would vomit out his complaints. When confronted my Dad would look sarcastically at his brother but without a comment. Next moment they were the same enjoying pleasantries and sharing together some snacks like cucumber, carrot or radish by cutting them into equal pieces sprinkled with salt and pepper. I miss my uncle Sardar Inderjit Singh a lot.
Before starting for back journey to Delhi, all of us would go to Gurdwara Mastuana Sahib at a distance of 5 miles. Grandma Karam Devi would be glad and lead our troop. The first Crops would always be kept aside to present it for the Guru's Langar every year. We would love to take a walk in the mango orchards where you could see many peacocks and enjoyed their singing. Thus ended the Grandma picnic.
Next day we repacked every thing along with some raw grocery in jute bags, got them loaded on the roof of the Bus at 1.00 PM. The same driver became friendlier and would happily take commands to stop/start as we requested.
We would reach Delhi by 10.00 PM as BADBAR RETURNED.
2 comments:
I have faint memories of Badbar, Bhabhiji and Nanaji bringing fruits for us.
Next time, we should all go for one day trip, for a picnic in farms.
Train leaves 7.00am and returns 10.00pm.
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