Jan 14th 2009.
After spending almost 5 months in Hyderabad finally I got a few days leave to go HOME, and the reason was my cousin’s marriage. On a fine winter morning of Hyderabad, I and my room mate Samrat boarded a Cab and reached Samsabad airport to board a flight to Calcutta. I had been to this airport on the night of its inauguration and then almost a year after, I am taking a flight from the same. I was pleased to hear that photography was allowed inside the terminus and didn’t waste any time to take out my camera and make full use of the occasion. I took some pictures inside the newly built airport and also of an aircraft which was just taking off.
My cousins marriage was over by 18th and I was willing to visit my grandfather who lived in the small town of Katwa. Considering the fact that busses will be crowded and the freedom of roaming around will be cut short, I decided to travel on a bike.
On 21st morning I took the bike of my brother in law and rode on. The cold winter morning greeted me with chilling winds over my face and after a long time I felt the chill of the winter. It was a bit foggy and Sun was just rising from the horizon behind the palm trees. A sight which I saw after a long time. I was riding through a single lane road through the country side amidst fields green with potato crops. The thatched houses and the cattle greeted me while I passed through the villages which were just awakening from slumber. In few villages the villagers had erected check post with Bamboo so as to stop heavy vehicles and collect donations for the upcoming Saraswati Puja. I was also stopped at one of the check posts by some children.
I passed through the mustard fields full of yellow flowers, it reminded me of the scenes that are often shot in Indian commercial cinema. Its just I was passing through some of them rather than sitting in the theater and watching any movie. Every passing vehicles blew a storm of dust on my face, but I liked it because it was the dust of my mother land rather than the pollution of the cities. I had to stop at few villages to confirm from the villagers the route that I was traveling was correct.
Enroute to my grandfathers place I stopped by my native village and had my breakfast. I haven’t visited our house for more than 2 years, and I enjoyed every moment of my stay over there. I prayed in our mandir and then started my onward journey.
After meeting my grandfather after almost 2 years I felt how much I miss them. I lost my grandmother just a couple of weeks back and it was my misfortune that I couldn't see her for the last time. Grandpa is alone now and i wished I could have stayed back. I admire him a lot and I wish that I get some of his qualities, if not all, so that I can consider myself a human being worth living in this world. I doubt whether me or any of my cousins can ever reach the human level that he had reached. He will always be someone whom I will respect and look at even when he has traveled to some other world.
I bid goodbye to my aunt and rode back home. On my way I touched Burdwan University Golap Baag Campus, where I had studied for a brief period. I loved the campus for its greenery and its trees. The sun was setting and after I met one of my cousins who was studying Masters in the university, I rode back home.
