NIGHT IN THE FOREST

Hello! Dear readers. In this blog, I am going to share my story. Its story is related to my village. Village name is Bawal. It is located in Raigad District of Maharashtra state. It's situated on a mountain and endowed with a beautiful geographical location. From the sunrise to sunset, all phenomena are observed. 

In the dark night bright stars twinkles. Firebees showcase their magic. Night buggs sing cradlesong to lull children to sleep. Upper side of the village is covered with forest area and at the bottom has a creek. So here we can have resources from forest and sea. 

From the forest we get wild mongo, cashew nut, carvandas, huney, woods, kokam, etc. and from the creek crabs, fish, small octopus, shells, prawns, etc.. In such a way people can live here with a little money. They not only have strong community bonds but also live in harmony with other communities. Here the police are rarely required. Most of the matters are settled by the village chief itself unanimously. 

I love my village and am proud of its cultures. It's not just a village, it's a family. Everything is assimilated in it.

 

I went to my native place, Raigad with Naresh Anna (uncle). Whenever Neresh Anna comes, all the children come to his house. We enjoy, make fun and discuss about village peoples. We never sleep early. 

     

On Saturday, we cooked chicken and went  into the forest at midnight. Forest located in a mountain area. There we light up the bonfire. We sang songs, danced together ,and enjoyed the bonfire while eating delicious chicken. We were experiencing a beautiful dark night under the roof of stars.

      

 Same time villagers were guarding the village because of a robbery incident at neighbouring villages. We finished all the activities and kept the bonfire burning. We were about to enter the village. By  suspicious movement behind the shrubs,one watcher lit up a torch. Shouted loudly “who is there?” Instead of responding to the voice we naughty boys ran away in the forest again. For a movement I felt the chor police wala game. Now he called other watchers to follow. watchers saw that there was burning something and thought that there might be robbers. They reached the spot where we kept the bonfire on. They became alert now. Entering inside the village became difficult. 

Some children got injured because they didn't have a torch with them and fell down. We go by another way. But still they were searching us. Now, we all became scared. Among the group, Manesh(17) was missing. Anna called on his mobile. Manesh said" I am safe, watchers didn't see me. I climbed onto the Banyan tree.” Anna asked, what are you doing there? '' come down .”  Manesh replied ,” I can’t ,dogs are  under the tree and barking at me. Come soon yar." Village people were still searching for us and they knew that there was our group. But we were scared to go into the village because of the punishment.

We slowly slowly came down from the mountain heading towards the main road. While going from the farmland, one ray of torch fell on us. Without any delays we jumped and laid down. What to do now ? They are everywhere. Naresh Anna made a plan to enter in a small group. He 1st sent Ankit(19) and small children with pots. But Ankit was caught by the chairman(adhyaksh). He shouted at him. Ankit, scared , went home but there his mother slapped him. He threw the pots he held and started crying 😭. Shubham(10) was also beaten by his mother. But Akshay's father Ramesh Anna didn't say anything to him. But Tejas was not so lucky. After looking at him his father beat him with a bamboo stick. Fortunately neighbours saved him.

This whole story falls on the ear of Yamu Aai (mother of Naresh Anna). She worried about us and went to find us. (Elder Tejas)Tablya's father became very angry on Tablya. His father and mother also went to find him.

 This small enjoyment now became big trouble. It's like we had woken up all the honey bees from hives. Running behind us. People were criticising us. We moved  to the village precinct( border). Unfortunately, watchers were standing at the precinct. So we stopped there. We were waiting for their leave. But no one moved. Naresh Anna called Manya, who  was inside the village and told all the incident. Manya said that all now became a big matter. He suggested not to enter this time. All night we were wandering. We moved to another way . We sent some children to Santosh's  house( which was near to us). Me and Naresh Anna stay there. Manya  called us and said that u can come now. All the watchers went for a tea break. So me and Anna also went to Santosh house. So we took shelter there. In between Manesh called Naresh Anna and said he somehow escaped from dogs. Now hidden in the toilet. He requested to send someone to help him.

After a few minutes Ramesh Anna came and said " Naresh come with me , no one will say anything  to you, just come with me". Naresh Anna refused to come and requested to bring Manesh from the toilet.  Ramesh Anna went and told all the incidence to Yamu Aai.  Yamu Aai came and requested " please Babu send Tejas with me because his father became so angry with him." Tejas went with Yamu Aai. Tejas' father was waiting for him. When he saw Tejas, said angrily " go go you go now and sleep , I will see you tomorrow and cut your leg." He went home and slept. Me, Manesh and Naresh Anna went to Kharashai dam. We slept there. In the morning  I woke up and did meditation. It was a really great experience for me.

It was full of fun and a little stressful adventure. But I would suggest not to trouble others for your fun. Village people are really innocent, trustful and lovely. They were worried about us. It takes care like we belong to one family.