Gao ka life !

How would life be in the old days? Now Im not gonna go back millions of years
ago.We have enough movies to prove that us and dinosaurs just dont go well.Im
talking about 100 of years ago.I wouldnt even say when the british ruled us,coz my
grandma was born during that phase and she never once in her life,told me about
seeing any gora.It was just her,the deep thick jungle she lived within all her life,her
husband and 5 kids,her fields and animals she tended to ,till the very last day of her
life.(May God bless her soul)

Unlike my parents ,for that matter,just about all of us,I never heard my granny
say,she had it tough.The only life she knew was hers and that around her and I think
,she always thought life couldnt get better than what she was living.I always
imagined what it was to have lived in the past.We live a damn good life now and Im
very thankful for it always.Its a pretty easy life both on the eyes and body.

We found it very hard to live at our granny's place,there was the eternal toilet
problem.Even though my granny never understood,what our problem was,there were
acres of land to do our business unlike sit in an enclosed room with a hole in the
center.I still remember,when my folks bought the flat in the city and I moved out
from the hostel into it,my granny was asked to move in with us.Mission was to be
able to care for her than taking 2 hours of journey in her village to visit her.The day
she came in to stay,she looked at our squeaky white hall and bathrooms and
bedrooms and she was like,it feels so small and closed.She stayed for 2 days and
asked my dad to drop her back in her village.Even though we explained to her,she
didnt have to do anything but sit back and enjoy and everything would be done for
her,she just didnt like it.She refused to use the bathroom.

I didnt get it but what if we were to stay at her place.Waking up to the damn cock

going mad on the rooftop,being able to hear all those birds chirping away in the

morning.Then its off the the well,where water had to be pulled out for brushing and
washing our face.Then its off to the forest to find the one spot,where in,you had to
make sure,someone else wasnt parking to do their business or where one couldnt be
spotted in the midst of one's ahem ahem difficult chores.Then to come home to
breakfast which means everything made of rice.It took a while to make it and eating
something so heavy....we eat 2 toasts for breakfast and maybe an egg.They look at
this and wonder,if we are facing financial troubles for not putting well made meals
on the table.

Eventhough its all organic,but baba,we arent used to this.We maybe twice the size

of a south indian person but we eat way less.I always felt like a giant walking amidst

my cousins and relatives back when I was in India.Maha thanks to them,not a single
day went by,when I wasnt asked,what kind of food do you actually eat out there
which makes you puff up this way.Have you considered not eating? And I would think
in my mind,why not be tied to a tree and left to starve instead and I was 68kgs at
5.3.Living in the village meant being constantly on your feet,doing work the whole
damn day,you never have time for anything and by the time,its all over,you have
deflated every muscle in your body.

The whole time I was around,I sat under trees or besides fields and imagined being
Sridevi in Justice Chaudhry.It was weird - no TV,no radio,nothing.I thought ,wow,my
granny did all for almost 75 years of life and never ever complained.

At my place,Im like,damn the telly,doesnt have a good programme,or I need this and
that every second of the day.Im wishing I had tons of cash to spend on selfish
self,wagera wagera....I mean I aint all content sometimes.It took a woman to do so
much back then.Imagine living a life like that,working the whole day,helping your
husband out,your inlaws out,living in a joint family,cooking,cleaning and raising kids
on your own.I always tell,many women say this,that the generation before them had
it hard and bent forward and back to make life going.

When I watch these nat geo channels where they show making fire or cooking a meal
over it and then gathering wood and on on,it goes on for hours and one cannot afford
to take a break,fearing it will put other things on the list on waiting.I dont know if it
were fair to say that we have it very easy.Everyone in he family is working now,things
are getting way to expensive,life sometimes seems unaffordable coz now we know if
we struggle that bit more,we can earn more and have the fantasy life we always
wanted...bangla ,gaddi,sona,angrezi school for our kids,foriegn de chaddi waddi,that
4 star hotel and what not,isnt it ! People back did whta they thought was best ,as
are we,who are doing the best of our capable selves to buy the best life can offer us
in this lifetime.

When i visited family in villages back then,I thought everything looked like a museum
item.The chakkis and stone mortar pestels and blah blah blah.....Very soon,it will be
displayed in museums as things of the past.I dont find that even a bit starnge to
imagine this happening to our aane wale peedi.Arey,really yaar,my great grandma
lived in kuwait ,in a teeny apartment and used a hand mixie to juice and grind
stuff.See those cars,eeyuck ! how must have my amma managed in that dabba car of
theirs ! See people back then had no mandey(brains)|,they destroyed every forest and
animals.No ,I think with extinct animals,like polar bears and many other species,they
will be like,"AAhh ! really your great Ajji saw them,when was this,millions of years
ago !" Thank gosh ,I wont be alive to hear that im a gazillion years old from
someone.

I looked at my mom as a kid and I thought,whats so difficult about their life,but now
as a wife and all,I know,life isnt very easy.Im grateful to that,thank gosh it isnt very
easy,otherwise none of us would have any kader(respect) for this lifetime we have been
given.My granny had it even more hard than her and the list goes on.

Im glad not to be born in the time when swords and beheading and chopping off parts for this and that were used.This is a good life,and before God begins to think,Im a nashukri ( Unthankful),better stop at this and say,Thank you God,Im glad to be around now.