“You cannot be adventurous when you are unhappy. Adventure needs a subtle happiness in you. Then you can leave the known…only with a dancing heart…happy, blissful, positive…can take you into the uncharted”.

Osho: The Book Of Secrets III, 1976

Continuation from last issue………

Uncle inculcated book reading habit in the children. Encouraged to read the children would go with uncle to bookshops. They selected books both in English and regional Indian language, Gujarati. Laxmi particularly liked to read adventure and mythical stories.

Laxmi feels living in a way a joint family is a pressure, but on the whole it is the best type of family life. It has its joys and pains. Laxmi felt that it was like a big encounter group. Family members constantly encountered each other. Day in and day relating with the family worked like a therapy.

There were always children, children, children and an equal number of adults at home. To each child there was one adult as a caretaker. However the adult was not as a watcher but more like a friend. He or she would sit nearby and occasionally came over to check if the child needed any assistance. It was not an imposition therefore beautiful. Laxmi had a few cousins, and brothers and sisters until her early childhood; the younger cousins were born later. Growing up in the midst of these children was like being mirrors to each other. The maximum age difference between any two children was two years, thus Laxmi was never lonely.

The family house was well built and well maintained. Special care was taken to provide a hygienic environment for the children. The kitchen was particularly clean and away from the living room. The children’s room was away too, so that guests were not disturbed with their daylong mischief.

Each night cotton mattresses were rolled out for the children at home on first floor as beds. Made of fine quality cotton bed linen was always clean. To comfort the children perfume was sprayed in this room at bedtime. Later the windows would be opened for fresh fragrance emitted by champa and rat ki rani creepers. This fragrance wafted through out the night from these creepers to fill the bedrooms and the home with natural fragrance and freshness.

The children grew up very fond of each other and a sense of belonging. They wore lose fitting nightclothes made of very fine cotton at night. It felt gentle and light like silk. During the day they played with best and latest toys. A pet dog would play with the children. All the children were fond of him. One day while repair and construction was going on at home a wooden slab fell and he died instantly under it. The children missed him and did not get any sleep during the night. They missed the dog for several days.

Laxmi was fond of eating imported Kit Kat. Kit Kat is a sweet, the wrapper of which carried a photo of Laxmi’s favorite Hollywood actress Shirley Temple. Laxmi’s older brother tricked her out of a lot of her pocket money. Each time he borrowed money he assured her that he would return the money. He never did. However he bought her Kit Kat because he knew of her weakness for the picture of Shirley.

Well trained the cooks at home made delicious food, including a sweet dish called salampak made of pearl powder and nuts. Each morning in the winters the family ate a small cube of it with saffron base milk, especially the children. They were not allowed to step out of the house to play if they did not eat the regular dose. Regular supplies of luscious rich mangoes, sweet papayas, ripe bananas, jamun, a typical purple colored Indian fruit of the monsoons, and coconut came in from the orchard in the suburbs owned by the family. Dairy products came in from a dairy owned by the family. Two Indian workers tended to the cows and buffalos in the dairy farm.

Close knit the family ate dinner at the dinning table. Often they would share a dish. During these meals the family sat altogether and shared the day with each other, many a difference were sorted out. With meaningful and communication full of compassion the family huddled and loved each other. This ongoing communication resulted in everyone speaking his or her mind. Problems were resolved nearly the same day as a result the past was never overbearing. This understanding further united the family.

Folk singers often came to stay at the family farmhouse in Kutch, Gujarat in western India. The family farmhouse was always charged with music. These singers sang ballads and stories of kings and queens, of enlightened masters Buddha, Mahavir and Krishna. They sang ragas, composition of notes of Indian classical music. Some of the ragas are a thousand years old. A raga is marked for singing at specific hours during day and night. A few ragas are sung only during special events in a lifetime. Raga Malhar is said to have invoked rain god Indra to shower rain. Raga Bhupali is sung early morning, while Raga Malkaush is sung at night.

Laxmi organized her day meticulously. A good time manager and well-trained cook, she could get a meal ready for unexpected guests too, in minimum time. Also while cleaning too Laxmi kept track of time. At school Laxmi learnt to play harmonium, an Indian piano, which was later used for kirtan. Before Osho gave a discourse kirtan and bhajans, Indian devotional music, was sung. Many years later the harmonium was lost during discourse from the stage. With that ended the relationship with that harmonium.

To be continued…..