Vacation at My Maternal Uncle's Village
'Zuk zuk agingaadi, dhuranchya reshaa havet kaadhi, Palti jhaade pahuya, mamachya gavala jaaya' This children's song has been echoing in the ears of Marathi people for decades. But for me, the journey to my mama's village never involved a chugging steam train. My own village is Sakharwadi, in Phaltan taluka of Satara district, while my maternal uncle's village is Manajiwadi (also called Manappavasti), near Pandare in Baramati taluka of Pune district. Back then, it was barely a hamlet of a hundred or hundred and fifty houses. From Class 5 to Class 10 (1983–1988), the three of us siblings were packed off to our mama's village every single summer vacation. There was no direct ST bus from Sakharwadi, so we'd change buses once or twice along the way, and half a day would go by before we finally reached. But once we reached Manajiwadi, it was pure masti. (Image created with the help of artificial intelligence) The first reason for the fun was the sheer size of...