Saturday, July 19, 2008

at the edge of precipice


d other evening i was enetertaining a guest...a niece of my neighbour......d girl's my age..n i'd thought initially dt it'll be fun spending sometime together....since we shared the same major in our grads--english language and literature....especially sinc i hurt my knee i hv been feeling somewhat lonely --having to sit or lie on my bed..since d doc advisd me bedrest.....bt things were not meant to be so...or so it seemed ....to me..when she said that she addressed her bordeuta (father's elder brother) as dada and his wife--mind you...she didnt know what her bordeuta's wife ws to be addressd as--coz she addressed her (bordeuta's wife is borma) as bou!!!can you imagine it??of course she was unapologetic........and reasoned that since she had been far away from her relatives for almost 10 years--le'mme add, the far away place is North Cachar--in some garden where her father was the manager......so she forgot how to address her relatives..........i felt pity for the poor gal..seriously ..bt was miffed at her parents--coz distance is not a measure of miles or kilometres or even light years....distance is a state of mind...i might stay with my husband under the same roof but if we don't share any rapport--then its the same as living at two corners of the globe.....we forget our roots very easily..we indians are wont to--but probably we asomiyas are susceptible to the charms of other cultures--we are swayed by the slightest gust of wind....and we break down like a palace of cards....or...like the middle order of our Indian cricket team.But whatever it might be--ds pretty guest of mine reminded me of how fast we are sliding towards our own end--for if things go this way,we are bound to be at the very edge of the precipice of death of the socio-cultural life of a vibrant community--the Asomiya community