Forgotten Era

“Ramen, did you see my cane basket, I had put it in the store, so that I could use it whenever necessary” said Gracy. She was a bit worried; it was her favourite cane basket which she used to put her fresh fruits so that they stayed fresh for a longer period.  “I had a collection of cane baskets and pottery which I brought from India last summer” “Where did you put those, my dear?” asked Gracy. “Oh, those unworthy things I have thrown them in the junkyard, I felt they were useless” said Ramen. “They don’t fit in here, they look old and worn out and our interior designer suggested that they should be taken out”. Gracy was furious she screamed hard,” Do you really think they are useless, let me tell you one thing I travelled thousands of miles to bring those precious mementos, and you consider them useless”. “This is not done Ramen, you have thrown them in the junkyard without my consent, how could you”. Gracy was fuming with anger. She just barged out and ran to the junkyard which was situated behind her house. “Thank Goodness”, exclaimed Gracy “These are not broken “she thought for herself. They were intact, she brought them home.

“Ramen, don’t you dare to touch these things again” yelled Gracy. “Calm down dear, I didn’t know these were so precious, I’m sorry for considering them as junk”.

Gracy calmed down a bit; she sat down next to Ramen and started narrating her experience which led to her love for cane and mud utensils.

“Do you remember Ramen, I was on a tour to India last year, and you couldn’t accompany me because of busy business schedule”. As you know I was on a month’s tour, I had an opportunity to visit the southern part of India.” “I was given a warm welcome and their hospitality was excellent, I was overwhelmed by their host culture ““I travelled around to grab the nature’s bounty “. “Finally we had the opportunity to visit the countryside. A tiny remote village of a South Indian state where I met a villager who was very innocent and gentle. We were invited by the village headman. We experienced the same hospitality by the innocent villagers. Though I found modern equipments in the village headman’s house and in a few houses that were rich, I could gauge the simple living of the village folks. They were simple people with little desires.”

“I was taken to a villager’s house which was a hut made with mud and covered by a thatched roof ““The owner of the thatched hut was a simpleton yet filled with enormous talent”. “I was really surprised by his creations, they were simply superb and out of the world” “His cane baskets and pottery were remarkable”. “I just couldn’t stop myself buying them, and you consider them junk”. “Ramen, these are very precious”. “Modern technology has given us a comfortable life style but these mementos remind the past when people had no such modern equipments yet they survived”.

“Do you know Ramen; these pots are summer coolers to beat the sun’s heat”. “The cane baskets are store houses to protect goods” “Now the modern era has surpassed these crude creations yet they are precious”.

“Gracy, you didn’t tell me much about the villager, if he was so talented then why he was not brought to the limelight; his creations could’ve rocked the world”. “Ramen, it’s time for you to come out of your monotonous business schedules and look what’s happening in the world around you.”

“The simple villager was an aged person who a 70 year old. Though he aged his spirits was youthful. He would make baskets and pots and sit at the corner of his village square trying to sell them”. “To his bad luck there were no buyers because the people around were attracted by the modern day products rather than the age old commodities”.

“A rich villager had a shop which hailed only attractive plastic items”. “His shop was thronged by the villagers especially the women folk “. “Our simpleton was very annoyed by the new development in the village, he stopped the women from buying plastic items “. “He told them how hazardous and harmful the plastic commodities are”. “The rich villager’s goons heard this and they were so annoyed and agitated they broke his pots and burnt his cane products”.

“This was real challenge to the old man; his old bones had strength to create marvellous creations”.

“I think you know Lara who was sent to India on cultural exchange program. She was given an opportunity to visit a remote village to make a research about Indian villages. She came across this simple villager who was a master in Handicrafts. She brought his talent to the limelight so that the whole world would appreciate his creation. So it did happen, people started liking his creation and they started buying them. Though he was reluctant in selling them in the beginning the enormous approach made him do so.” “He became so famous that he was given a highest civilian award for his work”. Gracy paused a bit, she looked a bit sad.

“Gracy, why did you stop, continue the story what happened next”. Ramen interrupted.  Garcy with a heavy sigh continued, “ On the day when he had leave his village and make a journey to the national capital to receive the prestigious award , he died under the debris of his new house”. “What ?“, exclaimed Ramen “What went wrong?”, “How did he die?”. “He was a happy man living in his own world of simple creations, he didn’t have any expectations from the modern society”. “But his popularity was pushing him to modern era . He was forcefully shifted from his thatched roof to modern house.” “What happened then?” asked Ramen with a sulky voice. “There was a heavy downpour which washed out his modern house which was constructed using cheap and low quality material”. “The thatched house might have protected him from such a grave danger. “ Gracy’s eyes were wet with tears.

Ramen stood up and went straight to the corner , he took his landline and called someone. The next day there was a surprise for Gracy . She had a board which read “Simple living and High Thinking” Proprietor Gracy Ramen.