Return to the roots, turn over a new leaf

Everyone in office was taken aback when a colleague suddenly announced to move back to his village. It was surprising as he had shifted to the city merely three months ago from his village, some 250 km from Chandigarh. His wife was a senior government official in Chandigarh but the couple were so unhappy with city life that they decided to move to the village home.

His wife decided to leave the well-paying job and join a private college nearby and he decided to practise farming. Though everyone seemed against the move, I was happy and thought if only I had the same opportunity.

Though it has been 10 years since I have been living in the city, I have always been looking for an opportunity to relocate to my village. The somewhat suffocating life in a small rented place in the city reminds me of our big and airy village house with a lot of open space, farms full of greenery in front of the house, and the spacious and carefree atmosphere. That is what I have always yearned for.

I can enjoy these comforts every three months when I visit the village but only for a couple of days. My love for the village has led me to apply for government jobs thinking if I get the job, I would take a transfer near my village and stay there. But the day seems a distant dream as I am fast approaching the upper age limit for government job.

A few months ago, my mother came to the city to stay with us. She announced, “I am here for two months as I want to visit the local tourist spots besides getting treatment at the PGI.” But after a week she was fed up with city life as she had no one to talk to and no social gatherings. She missed the carefree village atmosphere. Then one day she asked me to put her on the bus to the village.

A number of my junior colleagues come to work from nearby villages and return home afterwards. They seem to me to be better placed as they return to their villages after work, where they have their own homes, own food, own peo- ple and own village life.

I get the same feeling when I pass by the bus stop near our house. The buses bring working people to the city in the morning and take them back to their villages in the evening. In the village, everything seems your own and personal but not in the city. Here we cannot get even a small space for parking the vehicle, what to talk of traffic blues. The same feeling seems to upset my fiveyear-old daughter, whose common refrain is, “Papa, I have a holiday, let’s go to the village.”

THOUGH I HAVE BEEN LIVING IN CITY FOR 10 YEARS, I HAVE ALWAYS LOOKED FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO RELOCATE TO VILLAGE