A Friendly Neighborhood

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!!!!