THE village visit
This village visit was different as everyone was assigned to the same village. We had to make a list of disputes and find out if the villagers were aware of the new amendments made. There were over 600 houses that needed to be surveyed. I wasn’t looking forward to the whole trip for 2 reasons (a) we had to travel for almost 50 kms in this heat, (b) Spending MORE time with my classmates is not my idea of fun.
We decided that we would all leave together as most of us did not know the route and the roads weren’t all that good so we knew there were chances of punctured tires, accidents and instances of people running out of petrol. The basic idea was to stick together because the chances of at least 2 of the above happening were very high. My friend and I constituted the “in-between people”- the ones that neither go too fast nor too slow. With us was this other girl who ended up in an accident the very first time she took her wheels for a spin. She is a bad rider and I didn’t want to be anywhere near her when we were on our vehicles. Unfortunately for me for a whole stretch she managed to be right in front of me with out letting me over take. She cannot even stick to one side of the road. There were moments when I told my self, “Ashwini Shenoy, THIS is going to be your THE END” Now I have pictured myself dying, but in a very peaceful manner. I have pictured myself old and grey going to sleep one night and not waking up. I have decided that I don’t want to die of ailments or accidents and definitely not of heart attacks. I want to go peacefully. I could see my 78 year old image crumbling when this woman was riding in front of me. There was this one phase around 2 years back when my friends and I were discussing about suicide and hypothetically if we decided to die what means would we choose? We had just lost a friend who decided to write his own ending. If one has to kill themselves they have to do it in a manner that will ensure their end. There are people who have tried killing themselves but then survived, makes me wonder how they must feel. If I had to kill myself I’d choose to go because of a drug over dose. I have never done drugs and I KNOW I’ll never do drugs so I’m back to wishing for a happy peaceful ending. All of this was going through my mind while I was riding. My friend and I were actually talking about this on our way to the village. It helped keep our minds off the fact that we had no sensation what so ever in our rear ends. Once we reached the village we had to wait for everyone to arrive and then begin the survey. The survey was uneventful; each house we went to offered us fresh fry-yums, tamarinds and lemonade :)
While we waited for lunch, the kids from the village gathered around us and they decided to entertain us which initially I found amusing but as they went on and on and on I just wanted to get duct tape and put it on their traps. My friend once asked me, “Do you like babies more or doggies?” Dogs! Any day. When we were done with lunch and finally heading back home I decided to plug my ears. I had no energy to make conversation with my friend. The roads are so bad, there are plenty of pot holes and my activa now needs plenty of tightening of all the loose nuts and bolts. I have never looked forward to the Varuna Lake like I did yesterday. The moment I saw the water I knew home was closer, the roads would get better and that there would be plenty of trees lined about to make the ride pleasant. We stopped for a bit and had tender coconut water, hopped and jumped to get some sensation back in our legs and resumed. When I got home I swore I’d not sit on my vehicle for at least the next 24 hours but I was back on it in 2 hours because I had some last minute errand to run. :(
We decided that we would all leave together as most of us did not know the route and the roads weren’t all that good so we knew there were chances of punctured tires, accidents and instances of people running out of petrol. The basic idea was to stick together because the chances of at least 2 of the above happening were very high. My friend and I constituted the “in-between people”- the ones that neither go too fast nor too slow. With us was this other girl who ended up in an accident the very first time she took her wheels for a spin. She is a bad rider and I didn’t want to be anywhere near her when we were on our vehicles. Unfortunately for me for a whole stretch she managed to be right in front of me with out letting me over take. She cannot even stick to one side of the road. There were moments when I told my self, “Ashwini Shenoy, THIS is going to be your THE END” Now I have pictured myself dying, but in a very peaceful manner. I have pictured myself old and grey going to sleep one night and not waking up. I have decided that I don’t want to die of ailments or accidents and definitely not of heart attacks. I want to go peacefully. I could see my 78 year old image crumbling when this woman was riding in front of me. There was this one phase around 2 years back when my friends and I were discussing about suicide and hypothetically if we decided to die what means would we choose? We had just lost a friend who decided to write his own ending. If one has to kill themselves they have to do it in a manner that will ensure their end. There are people who have tried killing themselves but then survived, makes me wonder how they must feel. If I had to kill myself I’d choose to go because of a drug over dose. I have never done drugs and I KNOW I’ll never do drugs so I’m back to wishing for a happy peaceful ending. All of this was going through my mind while I was riding. My friend and I were actually talking about this on our way to the village. It helped keep our minds off the fact that we had no sensation what so ever in our rear ends. Once we reached the village we had to wait for everyone to arrive and then begin the survey. The survey was uneventful; each house we went to offered us fresh fry-yums, tamarinds and lemonade :)
While we waited for lunch, the kids from the village gathered around us and they decided to entertain us which initially I found amusing but as they went on and on and on I just wanted to get duct tape and put it on their traps. My friend once asked me, “Do you like babies more or doggies?” Dogs! Any day. When we were done with lunch and finally heading back home I decided to plug my ears. I had no energy to make conversation with my friend. The roads are so bad, there are plenty of pot holes and my activa now needs plenty of tightening of all the loose nuts and bolts. I have never looked forward to the Varuna Lake like I did yesterday. The moment I saw the water I knew home was closer, the roads would get better and that there would be plenty of trees lined about to make the ride pleasant. We stopped for a bit and had tender coconut water, hopped and jumped to get some sensation back in our legs and resumed. When I got home I swore I’d not sit on my vehicle for at least the next 24 hours but I was back on it in 2 hours because I had some last minute errand to run. :(
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