SYALNA
Syalna...thats the name I have been hearing since my childhood...thats the place where i have my roots.
Born and brought up in Delhi i still dnt belong to this place fully. its been 30 yrs since i first saw this world and this is the first time i went to search my roots. If am a pure Delhite then same time i feel alien to the place when every few months i hv this urge to runaway from this city of Djinns and hide smwhere in the mountains. hence am a traveller at heart. And with my limits being a girl, my office and not much of friends around I try to find ways to runaway to my adorable hills...my life. I dnt need think of recharging my mobile....no need of thinking of my computer generated graphics....nothing virtual about this place. Everything is pure...air water and land.
From concrete jungles to real green jungles...everything real!
Although i hv been travelling quiet often to hills, metros and village is not my first experience...i hv been to my nani's place a lot many times even when there was no electricity, no water pipelines and no loo! yes nature's call around nature....lol.
So coming to my village Syalna...its a village of history, of many ruins..ppl have moved out to cities and at the same time of development and destruction alltogether.
First cutting of the road to Syalna is done hence last 12 kms are a real bumpy-jumpy ride. From here its straight steep down arnd 300 mts. On the way there is smthing mysterious...along with the steps down, on the mountainwall people have kept green grass and some flowers....this is in respect to Bhumya...the god of land, fields and village. Above this wall is a small field where there are two lingas representing Bhumya. Farming being main and almost only occupation in the village Bhumya is an impotant part of their lives.
After crossing 2-3 houses we reach our house...the legend of Dabral family! Its a 200 yrs old house made of stone and wood. Old big wooden chests, old hindu religion books, some first world war period english literature, huge copper vessels, leather cased large knives(khunkri) letters old wedding invites, wedding crowns of the bride and lot more is cherished as treasure in my dad's dadi's room. there are two pinas(palanquins) too in the house....one wheat grinder(stone chakki) in the kitchen.
the floor is made up with mud and cowdung solution, its the natural disinfectant and keeps away flies. may sound yucky to concrete luving ppl....but believe me it doesn't even smells and ecofriendly too....making floor cold in day and warm in the evenings.
Few fields away is our chhanni...the cattlehouse....keeping animals away frm residence.
There is aangan(veranda) made of irregular but flat surfaced stones, where u can sit after ur days work and chat with ppl.
Adjacent to the house is our kitchen where despite having gas stove we have the chulha. kitchen is one place one would luv to sit in the evenings in these hills. having garma-garm roti with homemade butter and giving company is fresh grown green veges slightly cooked in mere oil with green chilly that too from ur own garden...or may be some fresh water fish that you fished 3kms down from the river....all this is jus above par from what we in cities talk about organic food etc. We have waterpipelines but still the water oozing out of small falls around the hills from the roots of various plants of great medicinal and mineral values is jus so very different and pure. Food cooked in this is outstanding despite being very basic in reciepe.
You walk distances and then if u stop for a minute to rest the air gets u rejuvenated...woh kehte hain na hawa mein jaadu! :)
And at last how can i forget those pahari folk music so melodious!
And at nite when the everyone unite in the kitchen for dinner there are kids from the neighbour to tell us the famous ghost stories/incidences of the region......all so mysterious..so melodious and so very beautiful!
Have a view of Syalna thru my lens...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aasthad
Born and brought up in Delhi i still dnt belong to this place fully. its been 30 yrs since i first saw this world and this is the first time i went to search my roots. If am a pure Delhite then same time i feel alien to the place when every few months i hv this urge to runaway from this city of Djinns and hide smwhere in the mountains. hence am a traveller at heart. And with my limits being a girl, my office and not much of friends around I try to find ways to runaway to my adorable hills...my life. I dnt need think of recharging my mobile....no need of thinking of my computer generated graphics....nothing virtual about this place. Everything is pure...air water and land.
From concrete jungles to real green jungles...everything real!
Although i hv been travelling quiet often to hills, metros and village is not my first experience...i hv been to my nani's place a lot many times even when there was no electricity, no water pipelines and no loo! yes nature's call around nature....lol.
So coming to my village Syalna...its a village of history, of many ruins..ppl have moved out to cities and at the same time of development and destruction alltogether.
First cutting of the road to Syalna is done hence last 12 kms are a real bumpy-jumpy ride. From here its straight steep down arnd 300 mts. On the way there is smthing mysterious...along with the steps down, on the mountainwall people have kept green grass and some flowers....this is in respect to Bhumya...the god of land, fields and village. Above this wall is a small field where there are two lingas representing Bhumya. Farming being main and almost only occupation in the village Bhumya is an impotant part of their lives.
After crossing 2-3 houses we reach our house...the legend of Dabral family! Its a 200 yrs old house made of stone and wood. Old big wooden chests, old hindu religion books, some first world war period english literature, huge copper vessels, leather cased large knives(khunkri) letters old wedding invites, wedding crowns of the bride and lot more is cherished as treasure in my dad's dadi's room. there are two pinas(palanquins) too in the house....one wheat grinder(stone chakki) in the kitchen.
the floor is made up with mud and cowdung solution, its the natural disinfectant and keeps away flies. may sound yucky to concrete luving ppl....but believe me it doesn't even smells and ecofriendly too....making floor cold in day and warm in the evenings.
Few fields away is our chhanni...the cattlehouse....keeping animals away frm residence.
There is aangan(veranda) made of irregular but flat surfaced stones, where u can sit after ur days work and chat with ppl.
Adjacent to the house is our kitchen where despite having gas stove we have the chulha. kitchen is one place one would luv to sit in the evenings in these hills. having garma-garm roti with homemade butter and giving company is fresh grown green veges slightly cooked in mere oil with green chilly that too from ur own garden...or may be some fresh water fish that you fished 3kms down from the river....all this is jus above par from what we in cities talk about organic food etc. We have waterpipelines but still the water oozing out of small falls around the hills from the roots of various plants of great medicinal and mineral values is jus so very different and pure. Food cooked in this is outstanding despite being very basic in reciepe.
You walk distances and then if u stop for a minute to rest the air gets u rejuvenated...woh kehte hain na hawa mein jaadu! :)
And at last how can i forget those pahari folk music so melodious!
And at nite when the everyone unite in the kitchen for dinner there are kids from the neighbour to tell us the famous ghost stories/incidences of the region......all so mysterious..so melodious and so very beautiful!
Have a view of Syalna thru my lens...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aasthad
Comments
By the way I did not know that shammi kapoor is your fav actor, but it is still better than my hubby's choice of randhir kapoor (tho I bet he has not seen his movie with an open eye). Abay deol is the way to go.....aasthad.......keep it coming.