NOSTALGIC 'NAAMTI'

My earliest memories of NAAMTI---a small village, located in the outskirts of Sibsagar (a small town in Upper Assam)---were the regular annual trips with my parents, either during my summer or winter vacations. My dad hails from 'Naamti' and I simply love the place.

As a child, I remember those countless winter nights of story-hearing sessions upon my grandfather's lap, wrapped up inside his warm 'endi'-shawl, between his arms and upon his knees, rocking along with him in his armchair, and falling asleep in that same position at night after dinner, carried to bed carefully later on by dad, without waking me up from my land of sweet dreams. In the cold evenings of those winter days, I would sometimes sit with my paternal aunt by the fireplace in the 'Dheki-Ghar' (a room with the big wooden rice-grinder, to separate rice from their cover-skin to be used for cooking or to be powdered), or go chasing fireflies with her in the summer evenings. Away from the somewhat busy, hectic and mechanical life of Guwahati (where my parents have settled down), Naamti is the place, which always gives solace to my heart.

Like most of the small places, Naamti used to have frequent load shedding, especially at night, those days. But there you would find this a blessing in disguise, because at such times, we all used to sit in the long open verandah at the stairs, with 'Aita' (my grandmother, who used to stay there alone after grandfather's death and after my aunt's marriage), and chat with her, enjoying the cool summer breeze, or listening to the distant sound of hundreds of unknown insects.

What has fascinated me most right from my very childhood, are the numerous fireflies that appear like glittering diamonds, in the dark attire of the night, to go with the twinkling starry night-sky. The big pond there, in the front-yard, is deep and is a large house for a variety of fishes. The caretaker--'Jogesh' (who has been serving the family right from his childhood days and grew up with my dad and his four elder brothers, two younger sisters and four cousins, like a part of the same family), is an adept fisherman, and he never returns without a prized catch, whenever we wanted to have fish-curry cooked by 'aita' in the traditional assamese style. He also used to take us to the paddy fields during the harvest time in our winter vacations, to gather crops and also to our favorite harvest (bonfire) festival.

Jogesh taught us the pleasures of climbing mango & lychee trees, careful of the huge red-ants, and how to devour the ripe fruits there, up on the tree itself. He also trained us how to recognise the various trees, their names, their importance, uses and their rarity and demand. I remember the countless adventurous trips that we took with 'Jogesh', with bamboo-sticks in hand, to drive away snakes and the innumerable practical knowledge that we gathered during these trips. As for instance, which leaves to rub against a poisonous insect bite, which herb to use as a mosquito repellent, how to get rid of a leech that has stuck to your feet in the paddy fields, or how to call out to the wild birds.

Naamti is a place, which gives indefinable serenity. The vast paddy fields (green in summer and yellow-ochre in winter), the quiet front and backyard ponds, the gentle cows with their calves, the smart and naughty monkeys with their cute antics, the paddy store-houses, the outstretched mango and litchi groves, the exotic wild orchids, the backyard vegetable garden, the dense bamboo groves, the melodious harmony in the chirpings of cuckoo and brain-fever birds, etc, never cease to give a healing touch to any disturbed mind.

Life is beautiful there--very simple, fascinating and so welcoming! As the years roll on, I find my emotional bond with Naamti becoming stronger and stronger. Maybe it has something to do with psychological and emotional factors. Whatever the cause, I pray that Naamti retains its charm, natural beauty, hospitality and charisma forever and develops in the field of availability of power supply.

Though Aita is no more today, Jogesh still continues faithfully to take care of our ancestral property there, with his wife and kid. One day, when I get married and have kids, I will definitely want them and their kids and the forthcoming generations, to know what a hidden treasure of natural beauty and resources Naamti holds in store. And what a paradise on earth, actually looks like…