just a little stroll.

have you ever been to a village?
well its an interesting place. a simple place. a difficult and different and quiet place.
where mud slopes up from the ground to create the smoothest of walls, and bamboo thatched walls offer the basic necessity of a bathroom...the illusion of privacy.
it is a place where the hard work of a mother's hand is lost in constant consumption. and again i realize just how hard the women of india work, offering themselves to their families.
walking along the dirt paths, hand in hand with my friends from the city, we took in the sights and peace of the banana tree fields and the open sky. free from the horns and hurry of our kolkata roads. and looking over a barbed wire fence, we gazed on another country. following the lanes of bangladesh to her own peaceful villages, and banana trees, and families. one of our friends, unable to return to her own village because she lacks the appropriate documents allowing her entry, talked of her own village just across the fence, how many time has she walked down those paths in her dreams.

after seeing such a village, i try to imagine a young girl being taken away and sold to a brothel in a place like kolkata. the fear, the absolute contrasts of the two places. such innocence, thrust into such horror. i cannot comprehend it.

so if you ever have the invitation to go to the village. do partake. though prepare to eat ungodly amounts of rice. some cloudy water. and of course a few sweets here and there.
more correctly, be prepared to be.
to enjoy the beauty of hospitality.
and perhaps a stroll to the borders of india.
if i lived in this country even for the next 50 years i still feel i would not fully understand all the aspects of this rich rich culture...