The Raksha Bandhan Lunch

The beauty of small villages is that time passes slowly; you feel the gallant dawn, fresh morning, quiet afternoon, playful dusk, and finally the twinkling night. Everyone’s work is stopped not when the clock strikes seven but when the sky starts giving the slightest hints of a sunset. In every other street, you will find a cow shed or a horse stable soon followed by a flock of mynas, crows, and sometimes even koyals. While in cities, we hardly get time from dealing with dogs and pigeons of work to pay heed to the sunrise and sunset. Villages are our roots, and every time one visits them, he realizes the literal beauty of being ‘down to earth’.

One such village in my life is Chaibasa. Chaibasa, district West Singhbhum, is located to the south of Ranchi in Jharkhand. Chaibasa has a rich history to recite but what connects me more with the place is my grandmother. Presently in her sixties, she has three children, my dad, my bua (aunt), and my chachu (uncle). Our family had decided to celebrate Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi with my sister, bua’s daughter, Tisha at my grandmother’s house. Her house is a simple four-walled structure painted blue in and out. It was more or less a 2BHK on the ground floor with a verandah. I have quite a few memories with the house; I remember me asking grandma her flat number and she heartily replied, “First from the start of the street and last from the end of it!”

We entered the home to be welcomed by grandma and the enthusiastic Tisha followed by my beloved bua. The house had such positive vibes that none could resist – it was small, sweet, warm, simple, and every bit hospitable. The warm welcome was enough for me to conclude that this Rakhi was going to be my best.

The next day I woke up due to the shriek of Tisha from the verandah. At first, I assumed she was hurt but rushed out to see that she was running away from a wasp. Who wouldn’t have? After all, the wasp was the size of your thumb and was constantly buzzing around her head. Grandma said that if she didn’t shout it would have flown away but Tisha was nowhere near convinced and after finding a time frame when the wasp was at a safe distance, she made the run toward one of the rooms. I thought she would be scared out of her wits and would probably be hidden behind some curtain. I walked slowly towards the room to find her glued to her mobile screen viewing ‘Adventures of Juju’ on YouTube Kids. Well, that’s why… kids… - I thought as I saw the wasp slowly leave the verandah. 

That day, in the afternoon, I made a discovery. In the afternoon, while everyone was asleep, I was roaming around the house. I was passing by the kitchen when I saw someone on the fridge. I stealthily walked forward to find another resident of the house, a lizard! Even though it was as slim as a stick, it was as long as the width of your palm. At first, I decided to leave it and take a nap but that’s when the wave of a strange urge to film the lizard washed over me. I got my phone, clicked a few photos of the lizard and after being satisfied, crashed on the bed.

Rest of the few days passed with gossip with my grandmother, more shrieks of my 6-year-old sister due to the wasps, and planning for Rakhi.

Soon came the day marking the beautiful relationship between brothers and sisters. Dad helped in the cleaning of the house while the three-woman, grandma, bua, and mom were busy in the kitchen preparing food for the Raksha Bandhan lunch. If you’re wondering - Tisha and I were busy playing with magnets and stealing sugar from the kitchen. Morning turned to the afternoon when Grandma announced lunch. Everyone sat down on the floor, forming a circle, while lunch started to be laid in front of us on metal plates. I vaguely remember the food, most probably there was a curry of potato and tomato, puris, kheer, and some other delicacies. The food was so delicious that no one talked while eating. But right then, I felt something had fallen on my back. I assumed it to be some mischief of Tisha and ignored it but what happened next was unpredictable. The thing on my back seemed to be breathing while it jumped down my back and in a fraction of a second, everyone left their plates and stood up as a lizard of the length of the width of your palm ran between the plates from one end of the circle to the other. Mom, being extremely terrified of lizards screamed as loudly as she could followed by shouts from grandma and bua. Dad stood up so fiercely that he spilled his bowl of curry which toppled over bua’s kheer next to mom’s puris. Meanwhile, Tisha was like – I’m out of this – as she ran back to her room to not miss any of the adventures of Juju. 

Soon everyone regained their senses as they tried to control the flood of curry and khir. All plates were picked up and the floor was wiped when all of us sat down in the chairs to break into a hearty laugh.

The afternoon soon drifted to the evening when everyone gathered to celebrate Rakhi. Grandma came from the kitchen with a ‘puja ki thali’ in her hands after which Bua tied the Rakhi to Dad’s hand followed by the exchange of sweets and playful smiles. Tisha came out to do the same but the only difference remained that she wasn’t satisfied without double the sweets. Everyone was happy, Grandma completed the puja and we all once again sat down to discuss how Raksha Bandhan finally concluded peacefully. And what better time could there be for mom to give a loud shriek from the verandah?

We all ran towards her but quickly fell back. Jumping desperately and violently in front of her feet was the tail of a lizard.