Friendship club meeting was held on 16-12-23. About 40 members requested Anjali and Neelima to share KABIR YATRA , which they told was a wonderful experience. It is as follows:
Our first night was at a place called Ghedi village. Our hosts opened their hearts and homes to host us. Their local food and the cleanliness in the homes was impeccable.The women and children of the neighbourhood came to meet and greet us, though language was a barrier. This belt is known for their cumin cultivation and are by and large quite affluent. Though the women and men do a lot of manual work in the houses and outside. After having our dinner we went for the performance at the village square, where all the elders, women, men and children sat patiently to hear Kabir songs, which they sang along.
The next morning we were to start after breakfast for the next village, Balasur. Here again the village people along with the students of local schools gathered eagerly to witness the performances. The village had very graciously and collectively organized lunch for all of us. From here we were to move to the next village called Fatehgarh. But since we were only 90 minutes away from Dholaveera – the ruins of the Harappan township. This was a fascinating site which nothing of today’s wonders could match upto.
From here we drove on the ‘road to Heaven’ , which is the Rann of Kutch , and is an open expanse of a salt desert. This site is to behold and get lost in. Since we had a 2 hour drive to our night halt village, we started back. It was getting dark and to negotiate the way without any signages was a challenge.
Our hosts at Fatehgarh were waiting outside their home to receive us. We met another lovely family, had dinner and went for the performances at the village square. The atmosphere at these venues was electric with patient listeners, beautiful renditions of Kabir songs by Shabnam Virmani , Bhavra Devi and the Boul tradition of Bengal. At the end of the evening the performers had the whole gathering dance to their simple and mesmerizing music. Our second night with the hosts was very memorable because of their warm nature.
Next morning after breakfast we were to start back for Nilpur. On reaching here we rested at another host’s house. Shared our experiences with the group under a Neem tree, had lunch and started for the airport. I am so grateful that we took this plunge and experienced the hospitality of Gujarat with the melodies of Kabir. If any of you readers ever get an opportunity to travel to far flung places of our beautiful country, please don’t think twice , Just Go , and experience it. Like it is very rightly said that Life is about the experiences!
