Oh the bank of the Red River!!

An emotional fool ... I may be that. But I also am glad I can feel those very humane emotions every time I hear the Bihu songs, every time I hear Bhupen Hazarika, Jayanta Hazarika...sometimes I wake up in the morning and try to imagine the sounds that I heard when I was growing up in the village...the sounds of the villagers walking past our house in the village of Pakorkona in Hajo in the crack of the dawn, on their way to the bus stop to catch the 5 AM bus to Guwahati where they would sell brinjals...amongst many other sound. But I remember this sound particularly as this is the first sound I would hear in the day. I would be still on the bed. Those days all the kids would usually sleep with Abu or Bordeuta. I must have been around 3 years old ...that's the image I've in my mind. The villagers would walk all the way from Roumari, a nearby village, as there was only one road where buses could stop for miles and miles. I often used to wonder how could they be all ready with their brinjals nicely stacked on those balance-type of carriers made of bamboo while I was still sleeping. There is absolutely no light outside, but you can see the silhouettes pf the people - all cheerful and optimistic about the business that day...all but two baskets of brinjals balanced across their shoulders!

By the way - no one any longer sells brinjal from Pakorkona or Roumari - they have or spend their time looking for a "government" job - one that would pay for no work whatsoever. No longer any kid goes to pick potatoes on the fields like we used to.They go to schools and institutes which do not give them skills but qualifies them for some jobs which again would require no skills. Why is when I want to go back to Pakorkona after having seen the land across 7 oceans and 13 seas (as is the proverb), they want to go away? Why progress is moving away from roots?

For the matter of fact, no one any longer walks to any other house in the same village, forget about walking from Roumari.No one any longer needs the bus, they all have bikes and cars! My sister and I often talk about how to make more and more people aware of the defining environmental issues of the 21st century - of global warming & carbon footprints. We will be called mad women if we even tried. But then we will make our attempts!

Why did I write again ...just to understand why do I feel so strongly about the love of my land, about Bihu, about the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra..