The Pind

The biggest surprise of the trip so far is the pind (the village). People are now building some really nice houses in the pind, with fully landscaped lawns and gardens. There are ample amounts of space in the village, which allows people to be creative when building houses. This is especially true of houses built by NRIs (Non-Resident Indians), as they are adding facilities to which they have become accustomed in the diaspora (Canada, US, UK, etc.). The village is especially appealing to those who are used to suburban lifestyles in Western countries.

We left my Mom's village of Kahlu Waher the morning after Diwali to make our way to Babak, my ancestral village.... source of the Nanners that exist in the world! Along the way, we stopped in a couple of other villages to meet some other relatives. I met new cousins that I was never aware that I had, and it's interesting how the ancestral villages of the people we know in Canada are all close together in Punjab.

We finally arrived in the village of Babak. My Dad's chacha (uncle) and chachi (aunt) had arrived a day earlier from England. They are both retired and usually spend 2 or 3 months there in the winter every year. We were given a grand tour of the village, including all the farmland. Village elders that were working in the fields would see Dad and then drop everything and run (or walk fast, depending on their age!) towards him as they had not seen him in so many years. As we were waking along the trail, our group grew bigger as more and more people joined us from the fields. Eventually, everybody wound up back at the house were staying at, where we all participated in a "session". :-)

MOST CONFUSING MOMENT: When I was asked the name of my newborn son. Who's been spreading around false rumours??