Journey to maulo 29th November 2006

One day he was asked to meet his distance grandparents who lived some 20 km away. As it is his first time to visit his mother grandparents. He was very excited, as his mother used to tell him how her parents longed to see their grandson. He was only 3 years old when they saw him. So that night he prepared by preparing the dough for tomorrow cooking. As it would take around 3 days to reach his grandparents house, they have to carry food for the journey as the only transport was by walking because it was a mountainous region. Once he finished making the dough, he was partially drunk too. As it was winter, he had to drink alcohol to meet the harsh winter. It would heat up his body. As he had only one pair of cloth, which was only very thin to prevent the harsh winter. After all was set, he made sure every thing was spike and span and checked if his parents were in bed before he could tucked in. Finally after half an hour later, he was ready to bed himself. He lay on the tin mattress which was passing the cold from the floor to his body. He could feel the cold, but it didn’t affect his sleep as he had already gotten used to it. Now his mind was wondering the journey which he will be taking tomorrow. While imagining, he fell asleep peacefully. It was dawn and he got up from the sound of his parents shouting to him to get up. By the time he got up, his parents were ready to do the morning work. His dad had to get fresh grass for the herds and his mom to do the laundry of his baby sister. Now he was awake, he rushed to wash his face. It was chilly cold, but he poured the water on his palm and plashed it on his face. Now he was much fresher and was ready to cook. He quickly grabbed the firewood and stuffed it in the burner. He bled the charcoal to start fire the fresh wood. It took some time to start. Now it was very smoky, but it didn’t affected him due to normality. Once the fire was on rage, he prepared the wok and added the oil to heat it. After five minute, the oil was ready and he started by adding the dough to fry it. As it was cold, he had some alcohol and roti in between the cooking. . He was half way done, when his mom came in after her laundry and scolded him for not waking up late. He didn’t responded and carried on cooking. But he asked her to taste the roti for its texture. She said it was fine and went out the room to do her other chores After which his dad also arrived from attending the herds. He drank the alcohol and tasted the roti. And told him to rush, as the dawn was breaking. After half an hour later he finished with the cooking. He gently packed the roti in the bag, which he would be carrying. And filled two bottle of water and packed it in as well. After which, the wok was cooling down, he removed the wok from the stove and placed it beside and covered it. He sprinkled some water on the charcoal to extinguish the red burning. Now that he finished the cooking and the chores, he was ready to get dress up.While dressing, his parent were already ready and left the house shouting to him that they had left and asked him to hurry up. He rushed up and lifted the bag and exited the house. Now outside, he locked the door by padlocking. He started to walk in a fast pace to catch up with his parents. About 5 minute later, he saw the sight of his parent. He quickly followed them. Finally he was just behind them. They were having a casual chat while walking. As they walked, villagers asked where they were heading to. His dad would respond by saying, they were going to another village. It was noon and they were getting a bit hungry and his dad suggested that they stop for lunch. They found a nice shady spot to rest and have their dinner. After settling on the clean grass, Suman took out the roti and water. Than he distributed the food to his parents and himself. He had 4 roti and some drink. They had a casual talk of the family member of the maiti house. He asked a lot of question of who were in the family member, what he was supposed to call them as respect. Finally after some time, they decided to continue their journey. They came along a lot of places, Suman tried to capture the route, so that he can take this route in the future. While they were traveling, Suman dad saw a jackfruit tree and asked his son if he wanted to eat jackfruit. They all agreed and Suman dad looked at the tree to decide which fruit could be ripe. After deciding, his dad started to climb the tree. He finally reached the location, and used his left hand to twist free the fruit. Finally after around a minute, it came crashing down. Suman and his mom went to the site and picked it up and bought it out to a location where it was safer to pry open the jackfruit. While doing that, Suman dad descended his climb. While opening the jackfruit, the place was filled with aroma of the fruit. It was so strong that suman mouth was filled with water. His mom selected the seed and gave it to Suman. Than his dad arrived and ate the jackfruit. They had their fill and the rest they tried to stuff it in their bag, the rest they threw it away. As there was no place to stuff it in the bag. They started to continue their journey. It was around 5am, and it was getting dark. They decided to rest at one of the villager’s house. The house was open and the landlord was outside. His dad asked the landlord for a night stay and in exchange, he will pay Rs10 for the accommodation. For food they had to pay an extra Rs2. Since his dad had only Rs40 left, and they had one more night to travel and back after that. They had the roti, which Suman cooked. After that they had a early night so they can start their journey earlier. It was 5am in the morning and they left the house after paying the landlord. So this continued for another night. Finally the 3rd day came and they looked forward for the journey. It took them around 6 hours before lunch to reach their destination.Finally they arrived their destination and they were welcomed with open arms from his grandparents. Especially for Suman, he was being hugged and kissed from his elder. Finally they entered the house and lunch was served. This was Suman great experience he will never forget..