A trip to Karaundi village

Since my last trip to Trinidad in February 2013, I decided to offer scholarships to a few schoolgirls in Karaundi, a small village in Ayodhya (formerly Faizabad) district of Uttar Pradesh, India.

Manisha’s grandfather belonged to Karaundi; he along with his wife had left this village for Jamaica in 1905. After staying in Jamaica for 10 years they migrated to Trinidad. They never returned to Karaundi and had died in Trinidad. Descendants of his brothers in the Karaundi village still live in the same house. I traveled to India with my family in April 2015 and took this opportunity to visit Karaundi. The objective of this visit was to meet the students who are this year’s recipients of the scholarship, see the school and meet the students and teaching staff of the village school. But most importantly I wanted to visit Manisha’s ancestral home and meet her cousins and their family.

Before leaving for India, I was introduced to Nishi, a young and smart Karaundi girl, who lived with her sisters in Lucknow. I was in touch with Nishi before we left Ottawa for Lucknow. I had already made prior arrangements in consultation with Nishi on the date and logistics of travel to Karaundi.

On Wednesday, April 15, 2015, my brother-in-law Vishnu, and I left home at around 7.00 a.m. and reached Nishi’s residence by around 7.40 a.m. After exchanging initial pleasantries, we set out for Karaundi at 8.00 a.m. We covered over the 130 km long journey from Lucknow to Ayodhya in two hours; on the way we stopped for morning tea and snacks on a roadside restaurant. The highway connecting Lucknow with Ayodhya is world class. But the road connecting Ayodhya with Karaundi is narrow, full of potholes, and poorly built. Vishnu being an excellent driver found driving on this road quite challenging and it took us another two hours from Ayodhya to Karaundi to cover about 60 km. Finally, we reached the school in Karaundi around 12.50 p.m. All along the way Nishi used her cell phone and kept in touch with her parents to inform them about our progress on the road.

As we reached the village school, which was a Junior High School, we were welcomed by Nishi’s father who introduced us to Ramsundar, an elderly cousin of Manisha. Later we were introduced to Mr. Tewari, the school principal, who welcomed us in his office, and we talked about the school. He complained about the lack of teachers in his school. I found the school clean and large enough to accommodate the village students.

It was fun meeting with students, and I talked and joked with a couple of them. I spoke to them directly emphasizing the value of higher education which they must pursue since it is easily available and is free of cost in their own district. We spent almost an hour at the school and then walked to Nishi’s home. In this house Manisha’s cousin suddenly came close to me and touched my feet; I felt embarrassed and immediately lifted him and we embraced each other. He was in tears while embracing me. This gesture was very emotional that touched me deeply. Our old Indian traditions and culture is still alive in rural India. We were treated with light snacks and talked for some time. With a promise to return for lunch with Nishi’s family we all walked to the home of Manisha’s ancestors.

It was a short walk through the clean streets with trees surrounded by mud huts and brick-walled homes. The visit to Manisha’s ancestral home was extremely emotional for both of us. As we entered his home the whole family welcomed us, and we were introduced to the family members. Vishnu and I sat next to each other on a cot covered with a colorfully designed fresh bedsheet. The room was a bit dark, and light came only through a couple of doors. Several people including Nishi, her father and brother were in the house. We all were happy and chatting.

The family’s daughter-in-law entered the room with two paraats (a multipurpose brass plate), put them near our feet. She later returned with two lotas (a kind of brass tumbler) full of water. Initially I did not know the purpose why she brought these things till she sat down on the ground and removed my sandals to wash my feet. Not expecting this ritual, I was taken a back and mildly protested it. But I was told that it is an age-old tradition in the village to wash and massage the feet of an honorary guest who has traveled a long distance to reach his home. I decided to follow the tradition and let her wash and massage my feet for a few minutes. The other parrat and lota was for Vishnu who noticed this ritual and very politely moved away. I blessed her and gifted her Rs.500 and thanked the whole family for bestowing this honor to me. I expressed my desire to go inside their home; I was happily permitted and went inside the courtyard of the house. Here I had a sense of déjà vous and imagined Manisha to be with me in this home which belonged to her grandparents.

This family insisted that we have lunch with them; I very politely turned down this offer because we had already committed to Nishi’s family for lunch. However, we all enjoyed a variety of fresh fruits that were served. After almost one hour I requested the family that we should take their permission to leave since we had to return the same evening to Lucknow. Everyone came out of the home to say goodbye; a couple of group photographs were taken. Teary-eyed family members took a promise from me to return to this village as early as possible and said goodbye. Manisha’s cousin said, “It would have been our dream if you and Manisha visited us together, she died long ago, but we are happy at least you visited us. Please come back again as soon as possible.” I promised them to return. We all said goodbye to each other, and we walked to Nishi’s home for lunch.

We had a typically North Indian vegetarian meal for lunch; Nishi and her sister joined us for our return journey to Lucknow. Once again it was a strenuous journey from Karaundi to Ayodhya but from Ayodhya to Lucknow it was a smooth ride. We left Karaundi around 4.00 p.m. and after dropping Nishi and her sister at their home, we reached our home in Lucknow at around 9.00 p.m.

I am grateful to Nishi’s family and my brother-in-law Vishnu who made this memorable trip possible for me.