PUNJAPURA
Punjapura is a small sleepy hamlet in the remote areas of Madhya Pradesh, a state which still had a fair share of forested area in those days, when my uncle was posted there as a Forest Ranger. A Forest Ranger is a small time govt officer, but like all govt officers, they enjoy the perks and privileges which go with the assignment. A retinue of servants, a jeep and a huge bungalow to boot. The village was bereft of any civic amenities, not even electricity. I was all of five when we visited him, an impressionable age and have some vivid memories of that back of the beyond place.
Summer vacations were the time to go visiting the uncles, unlike these days when kids have to suffer the tuitions and workshops, which they endure, but parents prefer it purely because it is better of the other evil, where they are confined to the four walls with their umpteen electronic gadgets and literally turning into couch potatoes. But those days we were fortunate, there were no such choices and we really looked forward to these vacations, as uncle moved to a different location every other year and being a Forest Officer, these places were quite interesting though not in the thick of the jungles as you would presume. Forests in Madhya Pradesh are not the thick woods that we normally associate them with, instead they are deciduous Sal and summers they are generally bereft of the foliage and appear rather barren. Anyway, we could not accompany him on his tours which we presumed would be taking him to the densely wooded portion of his Forest Range.
This account pertains to our experiences in this small village, as we came across petromax lamps for the first time. Although we did notice these when we got back to civilisation at Indore, where the Kulfi vendors carried it at night to light up their cart. Kulfi, for the uninitiated is the country cousin of ice cream without any artificial stuff, just pure milk frozen in an earthen pitcher, but delicious and mouth watering and old timers would prefer it anyday over the ice cream. In fact since those days most households did not have a refrigerator, the kulfi vendors were much in demand and one eagerly awaited their call. The kulfi making process was an intricate do, a bucket full of ice with a handle which one had to constantly operate, which resulted in the setting of milk. Kulfi though has survived the onslaught of ice cream with many of us still preferring it over its more suave cousin the ice cream. Getting back to Punjapura, those days running water was not available in these villages, well I am not sure if it is available today also. So when we landed up we witnessed the digging of a well, for the first time. The area was rocky and hence we also heard about dynamite for the first time and even saw it being used for blasting the huge boulders to smithereens. In fact we were so scared that we literally ran like mad capers fearing the debris would injure us grievously. It took a while for us to return after the blast and when all was quiet on the well front.
There was a servant called Pooran, a very loyal and affectionate soul. My younger brother was all of two and a half and would invariably doze off by dinner time. Pooran dutifully fed him, before putting him to sleep. It was also quite hilarious for us kids to observe the sycophancy of the subordinate staff, who would go to absurd limits to keep the boss and his lady in good humour. We also got the opportunity to watch a “nautanki” for the first time, “Sultana Daku”, I still can recall the name. These plays were the only source of entertainment and the the team would stay on for a few days perform a few of their shows and wind to move to the next village. The format was the same, some dances on popular Hindi film songs, a story line adapted from couple of movies, but all the same an interesting fare. All these in a makeshift tented stage lit up with petromaxes made it even more intriguing.
Once on a trip with our uncle, we came across an uprooted banyan tree, some people were busy cutting some branches to clear the track, and lo and behold, the tree as though suddenly woken up from its slumber, started to rise and got back on its trunk. The locals were initially petrified and then started to pay their obeisance calling it a miracle hence an indication by God that this was a holy tree. Later the Conservator explained the science behind such miracles. How I wish we could provide our kids also with such carefree times, when they could be indulged by their uncles and aunts in such exotic places. Being in the Army one was fortunate at having been posted to some very interesting places, Kashmir, Ladakh and Wellington to name a few. However, since me and my spouse both are the eldest siblings, the nephews and nieces could not enjoy these places. Our kids though got a taste of it!
Summer vacations were the time to go visiting the uncles, unlike these days when kids have to suffer the tuitions and workshops, which they endure, but parents prefer it purely because it is better of the other evil, where they are confined to the four walls with their umpteen electronic gadgets and literally turning into couch potatoes. But those days we were fortunate, there were no such choices and we really looked forward to these vacations, as uncle moved to a different location every other year and being a Forest Officer, these places were quite interesting though not in the thick of the jungles as you would presume. Forests in Madhya Pradesh are not the thick woods that we normally associate them with, instead they are deciduous Sal and summers they are generally bereft of the foliage and appear rather barren. Anyway, we could not accompany him on his tours which we presumed would be taking him to the densely wooded portion of his Forest Range.
This account pertains to our experiences in this small village, as we came across petromax lamps for the first time. Although we did notice these when we got back to civilisation at Indore, where the Kulfi vendors carried it at night to light up their cart. Kulfi, for the uninitiated is the country cousin of ice cream without any artificial stuff, just pure milk frozen in an earthen pitcher, but delicious and mouth watering and old timers would prefer it anyday over the ice cream. In fact since those days most households did not have a refrigerator, the kulfi vendors were much in demand and one eagerly awaited their call. The kulfi making process was an intricate do, a bucket full of ice with a handle which one had to constantly operate, which resulted in the setting of milk. Kulfi though has survived the onslaught of ice cream with many of us still preferring it over its more suave cousin the ice cream. Getting back to Punjapura, those days running water was not available in these villages, well I am not sure if it is available today also. So when we landed up we witnessed the digging of a well, for the first time. The area was rocky and hence we also heard about dynamite for the first time and even saw it being used for blasting the huge boulders to smithereens. In fact we were so scared that we literally ran like mad capers fearing the debris would injure us grievously. It took a while for us to return after the blast and when all was quiet on the well front.
There was a servant called Pooran, a very loyal and affectionate soul. My younger brother was all of two and a half and would invariably doze off by dinner time. Pooran dutifully fed him, before putting him to sleep. It was also quite hilarious for us kids to observe the sycophancy of the subordinate staff, who would go to absurd limits to keep the boss and his lady in good humour. We also got the opportunity to watch a “nautanki” for the first time, “Sultana Daku”, I still can recall the name. These plays were the only source of entertainment and the the team would stay on for a few days perform a few of their shows and wind to move to the next village. The format was the same, some dances on popular Hindi film songs, a story line adapted from couple of movies, but all the same an interesting fare. All these in a makeshift tented stage lit up with petromaxes made it even more intriguing.
Once on a trip with our uncle, we came across an uprooted banyan tree, some people were busy cutting some branches to clear the track, and lo and behold, the tree as though suddenly woken up from its slumber, started to rise and got back on its trunk. The locals were initially petrified and then started to pay their obeisance calling it a miracle hence an indication by God that this was a holy tree. Later the Conservator explained the science behind such miracles. How I wish we could provide our kids also with such carefree times, when they could be indulged by their uncles and aunts in such exotic places. Being in the Army one was fortunate at having been posted to some very interesting places, Kashmir, Ladakh and Wellington to name a few. However, since me and my spouse both are the eldest siblings, the nephews and nieces could not enjoy these places. Our kids though got a taste of it!
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