Those years of searching

The nicest messages I get are from youngsters saying that stories from my village give them a sense of direction.

I remember myself young and seeking ways to create meaning for myself and for the world around me.

Overwhelmed by the disparities around, and by a sense of loss on how to act. It was a difficult lonely phase when one just had a vague idea of what one was grasping at, and there was no companion at all in the quest. Friends in school and college had different dreams, and looking back I did not even articulate my questions and search to anyone.

And i remember how i searched out people based on stray newspaper reports of people working in villages. And how the jigsaw puzzle slowly fell in place. Through persistent years.

These were days when PCs were shared between students in college based on reserving hour slots, a few hours a week. Even in the computer engineering department. There was no internet to connect over. Those were times when one needed to simply go and stay and learn with people living in villages. And doors were always wide open and welcoming. As I travelled from villages in Himachal, to Narmada, to Ananthpur, to Dindigul. Meeting and making friends. Guided by senior friends who had walked the road. And in that process met Uma Shankari, and took her and Narens openhearted welcome into their village and home. And thus found my own village ...

And today all youngsters searching for villages are welcome to our village and home .... Anytime 🙏