Tuesday, July 31, 2007

At a Japanese farm house!

" Kombamwa!!! Is it Nanditha san? I am Tamura ! We wait you in car.....you ready? We wait OK? ".................
"Kombamwa!!! Ok Tamura San! I 'll be right there!" I replied and took my bag and rushed down.
I was ready, as I knew how punctual these Japanese were....I could never move around according to the IST ( Indian Stretchable Time) here. We once took a wrong train and traveled in the opposite direction unaware till we reached a new place!!( all because we boarded the 7.35 train instead of 7.34!). Can you ever imagine this in India ?

Mr and Mrs Tamura were waiting for me in the car.
" Wow! Your Indian dress nice!" complimented the couple.
" Arigato!" I thanked them in Japanese.
" You Japanese good! ... Indians clever!" I bowed at Tamura San's compliment . They were always surprised how Indians could handle so many languages!! I had the extra privilege of knowing Malayalam, a language which can be credited for offering maximum flexibility to your tongue!

We had a long drive. We were heading towards the country side, and I enjoyed every bit of the serene picturesque panoramic beauty around.Each day in Japan was a new experience for me . I enjoyed these experiences and encounters.After an hours drive we reached a small farm. This was unlike any place I had visited before. I was invited to give a performance! I wondered where I would perform, for I did not see any signs of it! There were a few wooden chairs, around fifteen in the yard.

We were welcomed with all warmth and I was receiving all the attention and care of a gaijin( foreigner).
It was getting dark, and still there were no signs of any formal function! I wondered and worried what PP would be doing back in our apartment.I had not fixed dinner expecting to reach before our dinner time .....I rang him up on Tamura San's mobile and explained to him the situation I was in . He told me not to worry and that he had fixed dinner ! I felt a lot better ..!

As it was getting darker the crowd was slowly increasing .....Tamura San told me,"come, lets go for walk!"
What did this mean! Was I brought all the way here for a walk? And that too, when my stomach was grumbling , partly due to hunger and partly due to the turn of events here! I had never been invited for a performance, and asked for a walk! I would have preferred to walk with some casuals on ! Now here I was all decked up in a silk saree, with matching jewelery, and make up! I thought I was invited for a dance performance !( thank God I decided on not wearing the dance costume....) Imagine walking in Japan in a Bharatnatyam costume....with all the farmers!

"we show you the farm"....Tamura San could surely not see my facial expression in the dark....We had to be very careful....there were damp and swampy areas and I could hear ducks quacking away in their coop.
All my uneasiness vanished as I got the first glimpse of the moving stars dancing in front of me! This was a rare sight ! I had never seen something like this before! They were numerous! As we continued walking we were surrounded by them ....They had created an aura on each one of us....I was transported into a different world altogether ....They were the fireflies!... Yes ! and this was the firefly festival ..! The whole farm was glowing with their light ....I felt as if I have entered a fairy land! I remember seeing fireflies when I was young ... but never were they so huge in size or infinite in number!

As we walked backed to the farm, I felt the fire flies had kindled my spirits and evoked a sense of calm with in.They reminded me that each of us carry a light with in us....which when it glows can transform our land into heaven.....

Back at the farm house, I was not bothered about dancing with out a formal stage or a hall packed with audience! I danced under the twinkling stars and in the midst of glowing fire flies....in front of a small audience , who lived a life of simplicity! I was honored! My performance was followed by a musical symphony...which played ethnic country music! I was fascinated by their instruments and music which transformed one into a different horizon.

Later, we were served food under the stars....They loaded Tamura san's car with lot of their farm products, ! Which was unloaded at my apartment...It was their gratitude ! their token of love.....What I experienced was so precious , so valuable .....I treasure those moments , at the fire fly festival!

15 comments:

Sharmi said...

That was a great one to read. your write up is so nice to read. Loved the Indian stretchable time :)

Naveen said...

u must've really missed the camera at the fire fly festival ...

once, after having boarded a train from agra to delhi on 03 January which surprisingly left the station dot on schedule, i realised a bit late that the train was the one scheduled for 02 january and was exactly 24 hrs late .....ironically, the train was named "toofan" express ... take that for "stretchable time" ..... :-)

Jyothsna said...

If you are in Mumbai, taking the 7.35 train instead of 7.34 can take you to a completely different place :) Nice to read about the fireflies.

António Castro said...

Thanks for your work and have a good weekend

david santos said...

Nahandita, the previous commentary was made in blogue of my friend antonicastro, because mine still it was not to function
David Saints

Mishmash ! said...

Hey, that train incident did crack me up....:))) and towards the end , I was imagining the firefly festival...the child in me gets all excited whenever I see 'em.....!! :) Once we went for a symphony orchestra followed by fireworks, but the more I enjoyed was nature's firefly show :)

shn

Nanditha Prabhu said...

Sharmi ,
in india we have the concept of stretchable time right?...i have rarely boarded the train , at the said time!

Naveen,
yes , i really missed my camera at the fire fly festival!now they are only captured in my memory..
so you had a nice experience of stretchable time with the toofan exprees!

jyothsna,
thank you....yes, we have an interesting railway system in india .

david santos,
welcome ! and thank you for visiting!

mishmash...
natures firefly show is marvelous!

Li'l Lite said...

wow Nanditha..i never knew what a firefly show was until i read this post!i really look forward to ur posts abt japan..they are very interesting :)

MyVision said...

your travel impressions getting better post after post... and its really refreshing to read it again and again... yes, stretchable time is the order of the days these days and not exception... as naveen said, 24 hours late is a common happening...
you should have taken your camera and posted couple of pics of the firefly festival.

Nanditha Prabhu said...

little light
thank you!...i'll keep posting more experiences on japan.

my vision,
yes, i missed my camera!and thank you for the warm comments, mamu!

Pooja said...

This time when I was in my husbands ancestral home in a remote village I had the priviledge of seeing 100's of fireflies illuminating the garden. It was like christmas. The kiddos had fun to see the fireflies dance to the music of crickets and little river flowing near by. I tried to capture the sight in my camera but it was not even close to what I had captured with my eyes. To imagine you dancing among them wow.

Kalyan said...

It was very nice reading about your experience and the place and also learning a bit of Japanese from you!

Nanditha Prabhu said...

mocha,
you must have enjoyed natures dance!i can imagine the excitement of kids!

kalyan,
i have forgotten most of the japanese i learnt...though i try to recollect a few phrases through my posts . thank you for your comments...i enjoy your great shots too!

Anrosh said...

I am very fascinated by the Japanese - their culture, excellence, values, attitudes.Few of them were my classmates too. I have always read about them and on them in books. They continue to amaze me. Now and Then I go to the japan society in manhattan. Thank You for sharing your Japanese stories with us.

Anonymous said...

You have to express more your opinion to attract more readers, because just a video or plain text without any personal approach is not that valuable. But it is just form my point of view