Though born in a village in the erstwhile Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, I was brought up in Madras (now Chennai). I studied in the metropolis and so, I never had any occasion to peek into rural life. With no vestiges of family connections or other interests left behind in our native place, I had no chance of a sojourn there. And all my close relatives were living in Chennai, leaving no scope for me to visit places outside the city.
Life in the metropolis is machine-like, stressful and tension-ridden, thanks to industrialisation, population explosion and mushrooming of satellite towns and suburban areas. The monotonous city life was so vexatious that I started yearning for a holiday in a verdant, pleasant and pollution-free rural setting. When I was in my 20s, there came an opportunity through a close friend of mine who offered a month’s holiday at his native village down south on the shoreline.
Who could let the opportunity go? I readily grabbed it! My experiences of rural life were exciting. So many delights were waiting for me under the azure sky with enlivening events unfolding. The whole stay was a real fiesta—a visual feast and good music for my ears.
The unpolluted fresh cool breeze, warmth of sunrays slowly permeating all over, bubbly sea waves fondling and cleansing the shore, their frothy spray greeting the shore walkers—a typical early morning. Towering hillocks standing guard added to the serene rural ambience. Improvised gravel roads, lanes and bylanes abounded with ups and downs with hardly any vehicle movement. The gurgling sounds by the gushing watercourses amid lush fields which had scarecrows on guard, and the chirping and trilling of different birds filled the air.
And then there were the glitzy butterflies, twittering swallows, buzzing bees, quacking ducks and a variety of flowers in mind-blowing colours. There were small places of worship here and there symbolising the devout life of our pluralistic society. With dusk approaching, the sun bade adieu for the day by painting the horizon yellow. The rural landscape offered a feast for the eyes.
I had 30 such wonderful days when I was in communion with Mother Nature. Then I had to return home, though somewhat displeased, as, after all, the city was my ordained destination where I had to eke out my livelihood. Can I have such rural luxury in my city? Well nigh impossible, isn’t it?
R Sampath
Email: aarsampath.333@gmail.com