Heading to Moga

After Inder picked me up at Ludhiana station, we walk into the car, freezing..thankfully the car had a heater..we drove through some 70 odd kms to reach Maddoke village in Moga district. The roads were very good, wide..and with no traffic, the drive was very smooth..rather fun with some great Punjabi music to our company. I did see one part of Ludhiana..the one that resembled much like my city Coimbatore. There were huge shopping malls though..

The 70km drive was done in 45mins. We passed through many marriage palaces..yeah you heard it right..marriage palaces indeed..people in Punjab spend a lot of weddings..and one thing for sure..they definitely know how to live and enjoy their life..I counted the number of limousines on the way. Phew...I could count on and on..

We stopped by Haveli for a coffee..its a nice quaint restaurant with huge domes and splendid architecture..As we entered the village, I could only see green fields..wheat and mustard farms..bullock carts in plenty..haystacks..I just felt out of my city life..the radical change enticed me, enthralled me and took me into a new world..the yellow flowers on green fields happily danced..it was a sight to watch..as we were driving a few people stopped us..sharada, do you want tea, inder asked..why not I said..its so perfect for this weather..I grabbed a cup of tea from a little boy who was wearing turban..some more people came and offered us pakodas..I turned to Inder and asked him..why are people giving stuff to us..This is called Seva, he said..where people donate food..this way no one stays hungry in Punjab..I had no words..This was so wonderful..imagine in a place like India, if middle class families does it..we can actually save people from starving..

We soon reached home..This is our farm Inder showed. We walked into the house...and right outside his house were farms..what a place to live..I quickly went home and hugged Aman, aunty..met more people..We quickly freshened up and headed to a Gurudwara. It was a beginning of a new month. After praying in the village Gurudawara we had some rotis made in the community kitchen and some chai..I was already full by then. I went home and crashed for two hours. It was the 14th of Jan. My journey had already begun and I had started to like it. I skipped my lunch and in the evening we went to Inder's uncle's place. We had more tea. We went to the terrace and I saw the mist covered fields and the sunset in the backdrop..it was picture perfect. Some parakeets were flying and some rested on bare leafless trees on the cold winter evening. Some girls were playing..with their heads covered in dupattas..some men were riding a cycle...wearing thick turbans on their head, protecting themselves from cold..There were buffaloes in the house and soon a lady came a lighted a choola..to make her dinner..we had another glass of milk..some boys were playing football on this winter evening..We went back home and had some dinner and hit the sack after lots of talking..I met Gurpreet, Inder's brother after long and we started chatting like it was the end of the world..the night was freezing..it was my first winter night..harsh winter night..and i tucked away into the blanket..after a great day...