Chapter 2
Fear and worry though heavy couldn’t be left behind
When they first arrived at the place they didn’t bring with them much of luggage. No one of them had much of material possessions to carry along. They could carry all of their movable property in their shoulder. The heaviest of the moveable property were the bulls and they walked along with them carrying their entire material burden. They were left only with the burdens in their minds which were no less heavy. Saona bought one bullock cart and Fedela borrowed one to be returned later with some rice as rent. These two bullock cart was sufficient to carry all the belongings of those who were shifting to the new village. Their minds were burdened with memory from past, worry for the present and the hope for the future. The undecipherable prophesy of Mangala was weighing on their mind. They walked towards their future with heavy hearts. They felt the burden and they felt the pull of what they had left behind. Their eyes were full of dreams. They dream of paddy fields full of young green paddy making waves in the wind till the horizon. They dreamt of golden harvest and the smell of new rice. They dreamt of crop store full with harvest. They were happy that the river was nearby. It was beyond their ability to comprehend the wrath the river was capable of. They dreamt of a more secure and comfortable life. The land was fertile and they were allowed to develop as much paddy field as they wish and in the bank of the river there was lesser numbers of trees to be cut and uprooted to turn the place in to a paddy field. The dream of a secured and comfortable life with lesser worry and scarcity give them the energy to venture in to the unknown. They wanted to start a new life.
In the initial years the place was more like a farming camp site then a village with very basic structure of bamboo and thatch. They were lucky to find a place to build their houses which was not inundated by flood in the rainy season and close to the river as well. Bamboo and thatch were abundantly available nearby. Only resource that was not naturally abundant for building a house was human effort. All the new migrants helped each other to build their houses. Learning the art and skill of building a house was part of the culture and tradition. With time bigger and wider bamboo and thatched huts were built and a village came up in the mirror image of the villages they have left. When people started living in those houses they slowly but surely turned to home. One house, one cow shed, one grain store surrounding a courtyard was the standard household. Along with the man cows and bulls and goats and ducks and pigeons and hens and cocks also inhabited the village. Some dogs and cats migrated with the people to the new village. Beatle nut and coconut trees and bamboo of various species were planted along with many other fruit bearing trees. Bit by bit a village grew. Along with Saona, Gobar and Fedela twenty odd other households came up in the village. Gobar and Fedela shared a hut, but Saona objected.
“Fedela is getting married after the harvest. If you don’t learn to survive for yourself you will be starved to death”, he said to Gobar, “Build your own hut and learn to live alone, or bring a wife. You didn’t come here to remain a guest forever.”
People came from different places but they have brought with them the same dreams and aspirations and fears and worries. The uprooted people’s root began to take hold on the new land and went deeper. Their efforts bit by bit take shape of a village and vast paddy fields surrounding it. Gobar, Fedela and Saona built their houses close by. When they saw Moina, Saona’s wife, she still retained some of her youthful beauty. They find it hard to imagine that a graceful woman like could be deaf and dumb. Moina transformed Saona’s hut to a home. Fedela and Gobar’s huts due to the absence of the magic touch of a woman remained mere shelters for the night.
“No hut ever turned into a home without the magic touch of women. You two now should get married. Only a woman could change your stinking cowsheds to homes. Saona said.
“I have seen butterfly landing on him twice. His wife is not too far away, and his cowshed of a house is not far from having a bed of flower.”
Gobar said with a wicked smile in his face. Another settler in the new village whose name was Ahina, as he was born in the month of Ahin, which is in autumn, made good friends with Gobar and Fedela, from the beginning of the village. He was accompanied by Senimai, his sister, a dusky beauty. This beauty spellbound Fedela with what he describes as a long stare. But according to Gobar it was just a passing glance. Fedela dismissed Gobar’s observation as malevolent resulting out of jealousy. She certainly looked at him, eye to eye, straight, for eternity. Fedela explained to Gobar unsuccessfully that she was interested in him. Gobar thought she is too beautiful to fall in love with Fedela. Fedela lost everything to this dark beauty, his heart his sleep and his appetite. His mind was so full of her that anything else needed extra effort to make a place in his mind. He was lost in her. He longed for her. He felt pulled towards her, the attraction was physical. He invented various ways to get close to her and touch her. He fantasised her in his lonely nights. He imagined every parts of her body and he knew that it will not be possible for him to go on this way any longer. Ahina’s hut was next to him. Every home has its own fireplace. Every house kept a fire that was never extinguished in that fireplace which was an essential part of every household. Fedela purposely extinguished the fire of his hut and went to Ahina to fetch fire, especially when Ahina was not home. Gobar once caught him red handed putting off the fire.
“She set your heart in fire and you are putting off all the fire around. Better put off the fire in your heart. I can go and tell her brother that you need her to put the fire off that she has set in your heart, and start a fire in your kitchen.” Gobar told him.
Usually Fedela was not the shy type but when it comes to that black beauty he can’t stop himself from blushing. All his blood rushes to his temple and his limbs behaves awkwardly. Gobar was doubly delighted to see Fedela blushing.
“I know why butterflies are landing in him. I have seen that he is lastly very interested in some household jobs like fetching fire.” Saona said.
Fedela blushed. How could Saona kai knew? Did Gobar tell him? If Gobar and Saona knew may be the whole of the village knew. He felt like hiding somewhere.
“You know about the fire? How?” Gobar was surprised that Saona knew already.
“As they say, forest fire is there for everyone to see, but nobody see the fire burning the mind. I didn’t see the fire burning in his mind but I smelled the fragrance of love emanating from him.” Saona said.
“Fragrance emanating from him? He smells terrible.” Gobar was not convinced.
“You have to have a trained and experienced nose for that. Love enwraps the lover, and immerses him in its fragrance. Fragrance can’t be hidden. The lover can be known by the fragrance of love. I can straight go to the brother and arrange the marriage, but why ruin all the romance so early? What you are experiencing now is love, and you will never experience something like this again. So remain a lover till the harvest. Fedela remained a lover till the harvest. As soon as the paddy grains found their way to the stores, the dusky beauty left her home and found her way to that of Fedela’s. Whole village celebrated the change of home. Fedela’s marriage was the first festival that the new village celebrated. People from their earlier villages came as guests and the whole village played the host. Saona after a long break played the dhol and made Moina danced. Memory of some happy time came back to them.
Fedela discovered the fragrance of the soil wet in the first shower of spring in his new bride. Together they climbed the highest plateau of their desire and from the top they glimpsed fragments of eternity for brief moments.
