By Yamini Krishna

In these cities, can u even dare to imagine–cladding yourselves with thick rugs & going to the temple to attend, crazily, harikatha programme late in the nights??

Well, am proud of my experience with my grandmother’s place, Thakkellapadu in Guntur (dt). why i am keen verily is the places and traditional values in our village! yeah….. i am proud to use’ our’ in these sentences!! There, in our village, one can find in the adjacent street of ours… ‘a lake, always full of water, bearing a wide outline that v repeatedly failed to round-up even with our looks!!’ A stage infront of the temple, in the wide open compound…i.e. “mandapam” , what absolutely catches one’s looks conveniently! ‘s’ its a ‘heartthrob’! v feel elated to say ‘v’ r the die-hard fans for that ‘holy mandapam‘.

One can find a gentle sparkle in the eyes of those villagers whenever ‘sankranthi’ creeps in to their calenders! Twill not be’ an empty talk if i express my gratitude over ‘Sankranthi utsavalu’ , as ….. “it downs the heaven to our village” by gifting the natives with artis’ , telling harikathas late in the nights & of course several cultural programmes have also had their ‘own-say’ in utsavalu !!…..

But tears , wells in my eyes, if i have to describe the present situation there!

Unlike the past, There is no encouragement for artis’ [advanced technology might b the cause] But still, We, the natives, can hear the footsteps of those talented artis’ from the holy wift, surrounded the stage!

Unlike the past, now, ours loving lake has no water in it at all, causing sufferings to ‘our’ villagers. we can do nothing, but starring at the dry land, as am speechless!!

The most hard thing, to digest, is……

Now, i can’t find our wide ‘varanda‘ with my grand paa teaching ourselves Ithihaasas, slokas, stories…whatnot??! And my grandmaa, serving ourselves with everything! But ‘s’ still v remember that “Vudukuneelu” she supplies… in the every winter night before our attendance at the cultural programmes!!

Somethings are easy to digest But not everything! who knows what lies in the womb of time! Yes, ‘losing my grandparents’ bears the life-size evidence for that! Still…. i don’t get, what has taken away those both assets from our lives!! But still ‘a kalidas’, ‘a lord rama’ & ‘a lord sambasiva’ rushes to our memories, while v r getting conscious, when v note the aarubayata proudly, having my grand parents & my village artis’, still alive in our memories !!!