When
we were in my village last month, I told my wife that I’d take her out for a
date. She appeared intrigued, flattered too. In fact, it behooved us to walk on
another date as the previous one was long time back.
“Here
in the village? Huh, where?” she asked me, and her face turned in smile.
Actually
she was seriously wondering where the date would be. You know it well, like in any
other villages even my village, Chuzagang, got no decent restaurants, malls,
cinema theatres and parks. Where would the date be?
So,
one late afternoon, when the sun was already starting to descend, I took her
out for the promised date. My wife still wondering where it would be, she
appeared excited too. Born and brought up in urban places, she had a rare
experience of rural life.
The
afternoon heat has just dropped down. So instantly, everything felt pleasant as
the gentle evening was gathering around. We walked into a lush rice field, and
that’s where I was taking my wife for date - to spend some quiet time
together.
She
screamed, “Wow! I can’t believe this; it is so beautiful.”
I was glad that she liked.
In fact, I grew up as a kid playing in this place. Observing every stream, irrigational
canal, tree and footpath, I narrated to my wife some of my naughty and
embarrassing incidences connected to each of them. And she liked it even more.
Once we were into the field,
everywhere it was the vast land of ripening colors of paddy fields. The setting
sun light glowed like embers. There was something so bewitchingly evocative
about the way it danced playfully on the thin plates of rice leaves.
Truly, it seemed like the
nature has swollen to its fullest beauty - particularly for a couple like us.
We
walked around, noticing it, feeling elusively delightful and loving. As the sun
was completely buried behind the horizon, we affectionately observed the final
activities of the day:
The
birds were flying back home to their nests.
The
rustic peasants, a handful, spades on their shoulders,
were
marching home from work.
A
village yonder, a ceaseless hum of cattle returning to their sheds
heard momentarily.
And
ah, we smelled the dinner cooking.
Come
what may, this date was wonderful - way better than any of those we had in the
past. There’s something arresting and special the village life does to people.
In a
village like this, I realized we are humble, genuine, and there was sincere about
us. And it feels so good to be REAL to fully understand one another as
individuals, as a married couple.
I
wanted to say this to her, but she had understood my feelings already.
