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Country Road, take me home… |
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It has become part of the daily routine of any new generation youth to plug in a music device into the ears and listening to some music. Though I haven’t yet joined the new craze of FM radio fans, I m not at all an exception. The difference is my choice of songs. Most of my friends don’t like to share an ear with me, just because my choice of songs doesn’t match theirs. |
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Every time I do the same (listening to music), this old English song starts jingling into my ears-“Country Road, take me home, to the place, I belong….” |
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And just at that moment my dear and beloved Chunati starts to enfold my mind and I can’t help wishing to get to my “home”, where I really belong. |
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I don’t know what this feeling is really made up of, but the feeling that I have for Chunati is simply something more than I can express, and I don’t think I would be wrong to say this is the same thought of every Chunatian. It’s an emotion, a passion, a sensation and all the synonyms you can add will still not give the proper explanation of the feeling we feel for Chunati. |
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Life here in the town is nothing less than rough and tough. Every moment, we are busy with this or that. “No time” is a common term always being used and where is there the time for feelings? Amidst this reality, Chunati is a picture that often pops up in my mind with its soothing atmosphere-the breeze, the green, the sky, the uncountable stars and what not! I even feel the well-known (to me) smell of her soil every now and then. Every moment it is calling me with an earnest plea. And for me, I still can’t make the time...*sigh*. |
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It’s nothing other than a shame that, living so close to her, I don’t get to respond to her call as often. The ‘busy’ schedule hardly gives the free time enough to do so. But it’s not that I was totally detached from this Chunati, which is in fact dominating my small heart. A few, though irregular visits in the last couple of months gifted me with some really new experiences: |
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The change in Chunati in the last few years is not at all ignorable. And the last couple of times I went I got the chance to realize it very closely. I will try to give a small encounter (from my point of view) of it here: |
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1. Load shedding was and is a very common problem in Bangladesh, no matter whether rural or urban area is under consideration. Chunati was always under this problem, which nevertheless gives a troublesome experience to the typical town dwellers in their irregular visits. But what I saw this time is kind of surprising, considering the normal status of Bangladeshi villages, where TV Programs still show villagers how they can make sanitary latrines! Chunati was always far more modern than any normal village of Bangladesh, and now she has proved she really IS! Most of the villagers now not only have electricity, but IPS service to provide with uninterrupted Instant Power Supply! |
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2. Another must-to-mention change is the diminishing number of Murabbi’s. I must say that it’s not an ignorable fact. I know it’s a very normal fact of life that we all have to go and the few of the Murabbis remaining now will also be going one day. Life goes on, there is nothing to say, but it’s still hard to see how the whole village is becoming “roof-less”. Yes, I will say that Murabbis are like roofs to a house, to a village. And their prayers are inevitable ingredients of success in the life of the younger ones. This time I went, I had to be surprised to see that most of the houses are lacking a big “something” and it’s nothing else than the roof itself- the elders. Many of those nani/dadi/domma/dorbazi’s are either living in the town for better treatment or visiting their grand children, or are simply gone. Many of those few who are living and in the village are sick. I think that’s one reason we need to pay more frequent visits to Chunati- just to get their do’a, for one day, we might not get them to seek their prayers. In my recent visit I went to visit such a Murabbi, who was really ill. I will never forget her tears when she saw us, and to my greatest surprise she didn’t forget my- this little, unimportant great-grand child’s even more unimportant name! |
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I pray to Allah for her early recovery and her long healthy life. After all, our busy town life may earn us great riches, but the prayers of these elderly people can never be earned through any amount. It’s their glorified presence that gives us the strength, the inspiration to go ahead. |
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There’s no doubt the last year has been very bad for us to count the number of elderly people leaving us roof-less; but still some remain among us. We pray that Allah will grant them a long, healthy and happy life. (I hope we don’t turn out to be the Baghban (remember that Hindi movie?) kids, not realizing their importance.) |
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3. One thing my little problematic eyes noticed is that there had been a few All-Chunatian weddings in this year. I better not comment any further, but it had been a thing we had missed for long (??). |
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And many more changes remain unmentioned, which, I assume, will be better told by the well experienced Chunatians, rather than this Lilliputian. |
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Source : From the Diary of a Chunatian |
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Date : 12/07/2007 |