The keepers who matter

      I like to think that we are all moving ahead;that there is progress and development and so on and so forth.

I also like to think that everything is fine with the world.Cocooned in my life here in the city,i can't think beyond good food,fashionable clothes,latest movies,in short-everything to do with the ever-evolving attractive consumerist culture!

I really would like to think that things are better now,that my people have the freedom to follow their dreams without being bogged down by economical or societal reasons.

                                   

                                                And then i was brought down to earth on seeing this photo.

My brother's keeper[caption by photographer]

          I'd seen or heard of many young girls who were their siblings' keepers,literally.The parents had to work on the fields for their livelihood.That left the children to fend for themselves.It fell on the elder girl to take care of her younger siblings.As soon as a boy was old enough to work,he had to help his parents in the field.The girl had the task of running the household:cooking,washing,feeding the pigs[almost every family rear a pig or two in the villages]and her brothers and sisters,all these while carrying the youngest piggyback if he/she was too young to walk.And the girl would be all of 10 years old!

       I remember being told of how my aunt had to look after my uncles and aunts.She had to go to night school along with the elders as she couldn't attend day school.It was she who looked after the younger ones while my grandparents went to field and dad,to school.I never confirmed what i was told about her,those were just stories to me when i was small.It does get me thinking nowadays.

      Of course,i'd seen some really young girls looking after their brothers but i never thought that they were missing out on something.I thought it was like how i would carry my small neighbour,when i was done with my schoolwork,and then drop him back to his mom when i got tired or he became cranky.I guess i missed out on the amount of work they put in in looking after someone all through the day,on why someone dropped out of school after the mom passed away,on why some came to school without the homework done because there was the household chores to complete.I didn't realize that they had no one to "drop back" the kids to when they became troublesome or got in the way.And the irony was that,it was all very normal to them and they would play around when they were free carrying their "bundles of joy"!
      
      Though those were of a different time,i know that there are some girls in some remote villages who still act as their siblings' keepers.Forget about dreams,there is still a girl somewhere who cannot think beyond her family life.If a dream decides to sow its seed in her mind,i'm sure she would root it out because its a luxury she can't afford.


Photo courtesy Khaikho Lam.More on this link.

♫♫The hills are alive with the sound of music.....♫♫["The Sound of Music"]

 The sound of music resounds in the hills of my land too,

a land of beautiful people with melodious voices.

You would seldom come across one who doesn't sing.
Folklore is all about song and dance.And the hymns in church are to be sung.
So,as i was saying,it is indeed rare to find a non-singer.

But the music i want to talk about is of a different kind-
the music in nature.The music in the sounds of nature-in the trees,the call of birds and insects,the streams..........the shrill song of the cicadas.It surprises me how the very sound which irritated me as a child automatically registers as music now.

The paddy fields in the hills

 I remember walking to the paddy fields in summer with the sound of the cicadas filling the air.There would be little boys walking around with long sticks with a type of jungle gum at the tip to catch those poor creatures.
I know for a fact that they met tragic ends:(
I also wanted to catch some but the only ones i could lay my hands on were the ones which alighted on our veranda,attracted by the reddish glow of the light bulb at dusk.

Then there were the streams,clear clean streams;how clean the streams become in my head depends on how dirty the big rivers around me are:)
Grandpa's field had a stream running right beside it and if i were to have my way,i would have spent the whole day playing near the water but going to the fields meant helping out grandma and grandpa too.
Of course,i had my share of fun with my sister and cousins.Going to the fields also meant "Photography Day"!!Our aunt would click away as we tried to pose as best as we could in the water,the slippery stones,on the way back with fruit laden baskets,everywhere and anywhere.

As we posed,other townspeople would pass us by,some would greet us,some would just smile and pass.Then they would continue uphill with "hai ho,hai ho" a kind of "heave ho,heave ho".

The tightrope of existence

I was told that they did that in order to make short the uphill climb home.It was done in a sing-song manner.Soon the hillock would be resounding with the voices of people returning from their fields.It became a little song as everyone picked up on it.Different pitches,different voices......the most natural A Capella.It was the voice of a people who were tired yet content.We would try to imitate,but never picked up the flow.
 Once home,exhausted yet excited,i would go on to narrate the happenings of the day to mom,dad and little brother and sister regardless of whether they wanted to hear about it or not :)


  As i think back,i realize that those were sounds i never related with music.Now,as i hear the noise of cars and machines around me,i think of those as the most soothing music.Just what i need when i'm in need of a little tuning of the music of the soul.
Maybe,the next time i go home,i would be able to join in the "hai ho,hai ho" and not be out of tune!


[Note:Photos courtesy Khaikho Lam.U can check out more photos here.]