So I'm back from the Village.

The first shot was Guhagar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guhagar). My grand uncle lives there and owns a plot of land. He has the beach in his backyard. And loads of coconut trees. If you thought village life was simple, think again. Sure, it seems alot simple because of the lack of technology and modern facilities. It means that you have a lot more work to do (like pluck coconuts from the backyard, tend to the buffaloes, spray pesticides, handle bockering relatives in an extended family... damn, the list goes on).



My folks also had me do this ritual (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samavartanam) which frees me from the restrictions of "bramhacharya", its a stage in life, in Hindu Culture, that's marked by studying, discipline, celibacy. You get the picture. So, religiously, I'm now liable to get married but since I'm not, I'm classified as "stage-less", I do not fit into the four conventional stages detailed by the Culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashrama) How cool is that?



We visited three temples that day. I am so sick of it though I'm glad that each visit does not last too long, the bus ride's a lot longer. The buses aren't the standard one's in Mumbai, they are the ST types. The closest analogue to those are the land rovers from *some huge local organisation*. The average folk can afford a ride so you spend most of your journey with poor villagers and little kids who need to get to their school in anther village .If they can, they do walk 20 km to school, unlike what some folks tell you. They get a bus pass.



The most unnerving bit is the "load-shedding" and the concept of walking in the dark. To cope with the power needs of the state, power is cut off for a few hours a day, sometimes its just whenever the supplier feels like. And that could leave you in the dark. We ended up walking on a street with no lighting for about half an hour on our way to dinner. Sure it sucks but you look up to the night sky and you see this :



Night Sky



And though it's really pretty. It reminds you of how small you really are. Ridiculously, unimportantly small but massively egoistic.

At Warawade (a couple of hours ride from Ratnagiri ) is where my grand uncle lives. There is a specific technical term for this kind of relationship but for the english folks, he's my dad's dad's brother. We visit two other temples (a little tooo much for an atheist), ride a camel at the beach, and shoot a hell load of funny videos in Marathi when the parents are busy with Puja. Will upload them when I am back.

Well, apparently alot of my grandfolks died this year. They were in their seventies. Its half a worying trend because although they are around there now, they should have to be dying in the same year, that's weird and it sucks.

I watch the news and feel like bitching about India alot and I miss Singapore =)

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