Life's Good!

Finally, the long wait comes to an end! I’ve been waiting to write.

The long vacation (a little over 2 months) came to an end about 3 weeks back. All of us, more so the children were desperate to return to Barkheda. We ended up spending more than a month in Mumbai. With nothing to do, no one to meet, it turned out a bit more than we’d have liked. I bought  a battery for my laptop, something I badly wanted. But I’d left back the laptop in Barkheda. On returning, we found that rats had turned our room into their home and had laid their teeth on almost everything they could, including my laptop adapter. I managed to buy a new one just a couple of days back and was thus out of action on blog and mails for almost 3 weeks.

I spent the first full week cleaning up, while Rekha took care that we were fed and taken care of. Rats are a menace – far more than what I’d imagined. The stink was such that the kids and I developed allergic cold in one day! That experience, among others I’ve mentioned in a blog earlier, should serve as a statutory warning to those, who think they’d like to move from a city to a village. Our farm and the house had become a jungle. Tall grass had grown everywhere starting from the wall of the house. There were thousands of insects, reptiles and some jungle animal (possible a jackal), who had delivered a few babies under a tree in the farm. It was a full eco-system and I felt guilty of encroachment. All trees I’d planted, before I left had grown well except one (jackfruit). Banana, papaya, drumstick, jamun, chickoo, custard apple, mulberry, guava, all had grown. The bottleguard, which had grown, but did not fruit through the entire summer, had crept all over the fence and gave us a 2 kg plus desi bottleguard. It was very tasty. The pleasure of eating self-grown vegetable was phenomenal.

After cleaning our room (in common area), I spent almost the next week making our house habitable. Fortunately, there was no damage inside the house due to rains. We’ve been staying in our house for almost a week and we love it. Rekha is at peak excitement. Kids seem to be in their own world throughout the day and don’t feel the need to go anywhere or miss any company. Currently, we stay only during the day. Hopefully from tomorrow, we’ll spend the nights also there. We’ve decided to take it very easy with regard to the work in the house and the farm. We have to prepare the beds for sowing a few vegetables around the house and cut the grass in the fields and use them for mulching. No stress, though, neither physical nor mental.

Rekha and I are very happy about having been quite disciplined during the last 2-3 weeks. Waking up at regular time, exercises for Siddharth, Rekha and I, all meals, one hour of academic activity for the kids, work in the house and farm.

The vacation was a good break. We enjoyed parts of it and did not enjoy a few parts, but what we’re sure of now is that we feel at home in Barkheda and don’t long to visit a city too often. The kids are so involved with the cows and dogs that they almost hate going out.

Life is good.