My Country Had A Village

Rahim is my name and I am a tourist guide. I am associated with an Advent tour company. The tour company every year brings around a complete tour itinerary. In this connection I also get an opportunity to visit interesting and fascinating places all across my country India, getting acquainted with the lifestyle, culture, and cuisines of that place. With time I understood why my country is called the world's most favored tourist destination.

Of course, the first thing I do is to study the rich cultural history, the historical perspective, the significance of the name, and the language and then present the same thing to the tourists in my own artistic way enriching their travel experience. With each tour, I get a chance to increase my knowledge, make new friends and clientele and improve my communication skills.

For a person from a poor background, who could only study till class 8, I was perhaps living the most favorable time of my life.

My mother told me that when I was about to be born, the village astrologer said to her that her child will go places. But my mother wondered how it was possible.It was difficult for us to manage a square meal, on top of it the burden of an incapacitated father, and five young children. The only source of income used to come from my mother working in Zamindar's house doing routine chores.

Often she used to sing while preparing food or to make me sleep:

Oh, the great sun,

And the merciful crescent of the moon,

Make my day great by coming in my dreams,

Play with me a game of hide and seek,

Bring a great morning in my village that I want to reach,

The birds that fly high in the noon sky,

Return to their home in daybreak,

Oh! the great fakir, the auspicious one,

Bless my little son as you bless everyone!

I used to admire the sweet, melodious voice of my mother singing and soon I would be lost in the world of dreams. When I used to wake up in the morning she was gone as usual.

We were a family of farmers and sometimes in the winter morning, I used to run from one stretch of the field to another till I would be soaked in perspiration. Nobody knew then that this run would land me in Mumbai, the city of dreams, in my current profession.

One day, a group of youngsters arrived at our office in Andheri West. They said they wanted to visit a village called Agnigarvha, but did not know the exact whereabouts of the same. If they remain successful in finding it they would make a documentary and plead with me to be their guide in the entire journey, considering my knowledge of major Indian languages, customs, and traditions. I would also make good money if this documentary was featured on major travel channels.

More than the money the sound of the expedition into the unknown in search of a lost village in my country filled me with excitement.

In the dead of night, we started with a full crew in search of Agnigarvha, the lost village, in a quest to re-live my childhood all over again!