Of late I have started following this comedy series on Sab
TV – “Tarak Mehta ka oolta chashma” and although it doesn't have any story line
as such I somehow enjoy watching it. I
think the main reason I have become its ardent fan is because of the
neighborhood they have presented. – Yes and you can call it a Friendly Neighborhood.
The way they have fun, celebrate festivals and are there for each other is
simply touching. These days it’s very rare to be a part of such a community and
maybe that’s the reason after watching this serial it gives me a feel- good
feeling and sometimes I even dream of becoming part of their Gokuldham (name of
their society) culture.
We live in a so called progressive era of Facebook and Twitters,
where we have every opportunity to stay connected with family and friends and the
distance of miles doesn't really matter when you want to speak to someone.
However the technology doesn't help anyone of us to minimize the distance
between hearts. Sitting in India we know what is happening with a friend in US
but unfortunately we don’t know our next door neighbor.
I remember growing up in 90’s at my mom’s place where neighbors
took a special place in our life. They were there to celebrate the joys and
share the pain. Anybody would come and knock at the door no prior phone calls
were needed to meet someone. It was a
casual atmosphere but again a friendly one. No doubt there used to be more
gossips and interference in other people’s life but nobody used to mind it. They
fought and then they made up. They went with the flow, no one held any grudges
and they were back knocking at their friendly neighbor the very next day.
I somehow missed all of this, especially when you are miles
away from your homeland in the alien country. Here in US it’s a rule to value person’s
privacy and because of this I believe the whole community is losing the essence
of enjoying life with neighbors.
There are pool parties, brunches and lunches organized by
the apartment community to give an opportunity to people to mingle, however
when you go there the whole atmosphere smells no less than a formality.
On the contrary I remember my days at my parent’s place
where we celebrated each festival with zeal and enthusiasm. Those 9 days of Navratri playing Garba and Dandiya
raas and chanting bhajans as loudly as we could and then waiting anxiously for prasad
after the pooja. Each day there used to
be different prasad as pooja used to be performed by different families in the
society.
The funny thing was the Garba
circle used to be very big in the beginning and then slowly people would pull
out to continue with their gossiping sessions. All the men would slowly start withdrawing
to form a group and continue with their intelligent talks on politics and how
India as a country can do much better with the policies their group discussed.
Next in the line used to be all young kids who would now get bored of doing the
tap and clap dance and would rather enjoy their own games. I remember when I was a kid
we used to do the same to play a game of Booth Booth , it was a hilarious game which
we had invented especially to play during Navratris, believe me we never played
this game other than this occasion. Now third in the row were all the decked up
aunties in their sarees, to leave the garba circle and continue with their interesting
sessions to discuss on clothes and jewelry and cooking and maids. The only
loyal group who played whole night was young teenagers. And they did so, especially the boys to help
themselves find a prospective girlfriends and few others who were already hitched
had a golden opportunity to do something we called in typical hindi flim
language – ‘ Aankh mataka’!!!!
Another festival we celebrated was holi – the water flashing,
coloring faces and not to forget the Thandai – aha awesome!!! And post all this-
garam samosas and jalebis … yummiest!!!
There was one such incident that happened during one of our Holi celebrations –
we had this one uncle who was kind of difficult with baccha(kids) party, always
telling them not to do this and not to do that … so all the elder bacha party
conspired to have some fun with him – they mixed bhang in his thandai … and
here he went laughing continuously without
a reason for hours together. No hard guess, we all had to later pay for our act
and take the punishment for playing the prank but believe me it was one of the
most hilarious experience.
Growing up as a child I was fortunate to have been blessed
with good neighbors not only at my parents place but also at my grandma’s place
at Khed. My Grandma stayed in a country side away from the busy metropolis of
Mumbai. Her neighborhood was not just friendly
but they were real people with kind hearts and golden souls. They were not so
well to do … but always had something to offer … they believed in giving than
in expecting. They taught me many things in life and that was their influence on
me and my brother. We grew up playing with our village buddies, savoring on the
50paise Pepsi colas, plucking the mangoes from one of the neighbor’s trees and
then running for our lives when he discovered our theft missions. I remember watching movies in village
theaters with them where we had to deal more with mosquitoes than enjoy movie.
Believe me, no so called multiplexes of today can equate those hours of fun that
we had with our little group.
Having said all of the above I don’t want to sound complete
cynic as I had an opportunity to meet one friendlier group when I came here - to
US after marriage, to a town of Cincinnati. We had a great group and we build
some great memories in a year that we all spent together. We used to do potlucks;
play games, go shopping, cook together during festivals and sometimes even do
grocery.
Last but not the least, neighbors do have a greater influence
on our lives than our family members and hence it is rightly said – Love thy Neighbor!!!!
