Naanke

Naanke - punjabi word for maternal side of relations has held a special place for me. Under the strict regime of my father, it was at my naanke that I was allowed to do what I wanted to, when I wanted to and as I wanted to. My naanke are in the village called JARG, which lies on the Khanna - Malerkotla Road.

Bullet with Massiji sitting far behind

JARG is famous for its mela which happens once a year and in my younger years, I have attended it. The naanka house is not exactly inside the village but about 500 meters before it, by the road side, with fields surrounding it. My maternal side has my massi Amar Kaur (eldest), mama ji Fateh Singh (second), my mother Daljeet Kaur (third) and finally Kaki/younger massi Kuljeet Kaur. My maternal grandpa Choudhry Didar Singh expired in 1987 when I was 6 years old and grandma Bachan Kaur left us in 2004 when I was 23 years old. Currently the house is being looked after by my elder massi ji, wherein mama ji keeps making his monthly trips every now and then.

As a kid I have fond memories of Jarg. I would look forward to going to the place during my vacations, much to my father's detest over not going to his place in Ludhiana. Then there was this OLU (small water reservoir next to water pump) where I would love to bathe; jumping from the upper one, down to the lower one. My Bebe ji (grandma) would send wheat, ghee and sugar to a halwai at adda (village downtown) where he used to make these delicious biscuits. The agenda was clear; play and sleep, play and sleep.....interspersed with forced eatings by elders. What ball of a time we and our cousins had.....amazing days. Now things are different with even bird sightings going sparse, but earlier, finding a peacock in the fields was pretty much normal, and I am talking about good old 20 years back. This one time when I was very little, I was at Jarg and everyone was sitting around when I saw this peacock in the fields. I simply ran after it, what to do of it I had no clue, but I ran after it.... from one khet to other and other and other with my relations tailing me lest I got myself hurt. I hear that so many times, when I go back there.

L-R: Mamaji, Misha, Bebeji, Me, Massiji and Mum

We were pretty much regular to Jarg, until found myself entangled in the rigmarole of professional studies and then profession itself. Then Jarg to me was alive with the spirit of Bebe ji, my grandma. Bebe ji, was one person who would shower love on all us kids, with absolutely no conditions and with a completely clear heart. Doff the hat to her spirit, that even in her 90's she used to learn english words from us kids and would try to use them........and I am talking about a lady, who had been brought up in an opressive society of early 20th century Punjab, where women were supposed to wear ghagra with ghund and all that. We were more open to talking to Bebe ji about our issues, than with our parents; she had that patience and ear to hear us out. I would always remember her as a person with clear heart, and hold her in high respect. After her demise, for me things were not the same with Jarg.

On 28th, I was asked to arrange to get some stuff from Jarg, and usually what I would have done was to ask someone to get it if they were coming from that side. The absence of a ride for long (on account of absent HOG), the change in weather, me recovered from my wounds and surgery; all accounted for me deciding to ride to Jarg on my Bullet. I had not ridden Bullet for a while now, especially after having the FATBOY, and my intial reaction to its ride was something noteworthy. The bike felt so light, so under-powered, so making noise for nothing, so toy like........but again, the bottomline was that it was there when the need was. The ride was un-eventful but for my decision to not take the face wrap and feel the air, as it went awfully wrong once I approached Gobindgarh. As I reached Jarg, the blackened towel because of the soot on my face, was evidence of my wrong judgement and poor decision. Massi ji was mighty happy to see me there, as in my 29 years of existence it was my first ride to Jarg.

Nice it was to reconnect with this side of my heritage as I relived the memories of yester years. The two dogs; Browny and Tiger....yea I remember them.