City, Village & 100 Rupees | Amethi | Uttar Pradesh
Just a few days ago I went to visit my in-laws in Amethi. On the way, I saw a small confectionery kind of shop on the roadside. I thought it was not good to go to my in-laws house empty-handed. Stopping the motorcycle in front of the shop As soon as I reached the front of the shop, I saw seven eight Samosas getting fried in a pan, 10-12 samosas were waiting in another pot nearby to be fried. I asked the confectioner the cost of Samosas? He said, one for ₹3. I felt as if I had heard something wrong, so I asked him again how much for one?
He again replied ₹3 per Samosa, sir!
I had previously thought that there are a total of 6 people in my in-laws' house, I will take 10 Samosas so that if there are small children nearby then I can distribute some to them too. But I was so surprised to hear the price of Samosas.
"Please pack 30", I said !
The confectioner's eyes turned brighter with glow on his face as soon as he heard of the order of 30 samosas. He loudly called out to his son, "Hey Puttu! Make 20 more Samosas quickly". The son picked up the boiled potatoes and started making Samosas and the Confectioner put more oil in the pan to make it ready to fry the Samosas.
After some time the Samosas were ready, and the Confectioner wrapped them in a Local Hindi newspaper, packed them and put them in my hands. I kept the parcel in my bag and took a hundred Rupees note out of my pocket to pay him.
In the cities, for these 30 Samosas, we usually have to pay at least ₹300, but here in this small town I got it for just ₹90.
Before the confectioner could return me change of ₹10, I got out of the shop and kickstarted my bike. I signaled the confectioner to keep the ₹10 change with him and started the motorcycle and left.
In a short while I reached my in-laws and met all the family members. Then I opened the bag filled with Samosas. Seeing so many samosas, my mother-in-law got surprised and asked why did I bring so many. I smiled and replied, "Just brought it home".
Mother-in-law said, "Hey son, where are so many people in the house, let's also distribute it to the children playing outside."
Even after distributing the Samosas to the children, there were about 10 more Samosas left, which my mother-in-law later distributed to the neighbouring houses.
After seeing all this happening, soon I started to realize that in cities I get an ice cream for ₹100, which only makes me happy, and here in the village, by spending just ₹100, I didn't only make day of that confectioner, but brought joy to my in-laws, the family members, the children playing outside and every single person to whom the samosas were given. Even after all this, there were enough Samosas left which were later distributed in the surrounding houses.
I had never realized it before, that a 100 Rupees note can bring joy to so many faces.
Now I realize that food in the villages is not worth as much as the money. Because there is a lot of food in the village, but the money that is required to fulfill the rest of life's needs is not there.
To meet this requirement of money, the young people of the villages accross the country are running towards the restless life of the cities, on the other hand, people like us who have the privilege of enjoying all the so called modern facilities of the city are trying to escape from the hustle and bustle of these concrete jungles, run towards the natural environment of villages.
No matter how successful we may become in the cities, no matter how rich we get but in our old age, the kind of peace we all are looking for can only be obtained by living in harmony with nature, on the boulevards, mango orchards, canals-ponds, rivers, cow-oxen, farms and earthen house near the lushgreen fields.
Someone has rightly said, "Mother and motherland are more than heaven."
Did you like this article? If this article has touched your heart, then please share it with more people so that others too can escape from the runaway life of the city for a while and remember their village, their birth place and experience that immense happiness, peace and serenity.
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