We have a big house in our village at Nandos Katta, Malvan. Also we have a very big family sharing this house. My great grand father Aaba built this house way back about 75 years ago! Probably he knew we would require a big house then. He built this house on his own efforts. Hats off to him.
I was born in this house as a fourth kid to my parents. They moved to Mumbai after a year or so to win the bread. I remember in 1980 when I was four years old I went to my village with my uncle just on a small visit. I could recall few moments from that trip. Since then I became a city boy and did not care about my village. I always thought what’s the point in going to village house which is shared by so many people and not producing anything but the rice? If we want to go there we have to carry everything from Mumbai and go.
When my brother Mangesh got married in 1995 we all went to our village in Ganapati festival. I saw my grand mother after such a long time and I still remember what she said ‘Moolbhumi isara nakos - Never forget the roots’. I liked that visit very much. Such a nice weather! Then I again went in 1997 when Mahesh got married and in 2000 when we had Home Haven program. That was wonderful again. When I got married in 2002 we again went there in Ganapati festival. All this time I never felt so close to my village house. It was kind of okay. I even said now it is not necessary to come back again.
In 2006 when we went to village again with lot of family members attending Ganapati festival, it was so enjoyable and peaceful to stay there. It was lot of fun. Considering the fact that our house as such was not in good condition and nobody to look after it since my grand mother died, we decided to contribute every month and raise a fund to manage day to day activities and bit of farming which we have. The fund was not enough to manage all that and if we wanted to re construct the house it was impossible. We had this point discussed in our family meeting when I decided to do something. I was thinking of bearing all the expenses that may incur to re build this house. With the present job and financial support it was quite possible for me. When I came back to Mumbai I called Mahesh immediately and told him about this. Leena jokingly said after all that was my birth place, the house in which I was born! I must do something for it. That’s it! Everybody agreed and we all went to village again in October’06. Actually we went there in a bit of haste. To fix a contractor was a pain. We could not find one until our last day to return Mumbai. Anyway we managed to find one and that was Parab and his friend Daji Sawant. The budget was quite high since we decided to build a terrace in the front portion. Our house roof was made up of wooden structure. Removing it and replacing it again with wood would have been very costly and stupid decision. So we decided to build a terrace. Rest of the house design was going to remain the same. Everybody like that idea but the money required was big. This is when Avi said to go ahead. He really contributed too much to make this possible. We started the work on 11th November and my parents stayed back to follow the job. It was going well initially but then the pace came down. We finally asked about this to Parab who said the budget which was quoted by him was a mistake. It was increased and he needed more money. He should have discussed it with us instead of delaying the job. Anyway we helped him by increasing our budget and asked him to finish the job quickly. He did not. The job was getting delayed and delayed. With so many frustrations on our part we decided to cut some extra jobs that we planned and finally finished the house in June’07. It was very late but the finished house was looking great. During the course of the reconstruction all the family members came forward and contributed. They were all happy to see the village house getting new look. It was truly amazing how many peoples worked for it, how many peoples visited the place and offered their valuable suggestions and not to forget their good wishes. Every rotation I was visiting village. Now I fell in love with the place. I like it so much.
Besides thanking all those peoples and my brothers who worked on our house I must appreciate the pain and the hard ship that my parents took while they were there to follow this job. Particularly we thanked our bull who stayed out in winter shivering from cold and under the sun as we took over his shelter to stay ourselves.
It was truly great experience. I wish I keep doing something better and improve my village house. It has given me quite a lot.
I will always keep in mind “NEVER FORGET THE ROOTS”.
