A couple of weeks back, while road-tripping, on the way to our hometown, we came across a blissful encounter with a farmer… and a gem at heart.
The experience of sincerity and of unconditional love left us spellbound.
This experience was as refreshing as self-reflective….which is why I am choosing to share it as my first blog on my site – with all of you.
It’s almost been 2 years since we all had been to Nasik together….so naturally, my in-laws were excited too (yes it’s beautiful to see their excitement at these advanced ages of life).
They thought of packing some homemade puri, sabj,i chatni, achaar and giving this journey the feel of a small picnic.
For me, it was a lovely nostalgic feeling of carrying all this food along with us, and this entirely changed the mood of the trip.
Now, it was no more regular travel… it was a journey back in time with the hope of finding a small mandir (temple) or a large tree and using the shade to convert it into our very own cherishable picnic spot.
I was really looking forward to this small change…..I was hoping to create a beautiful memory out of this experience.
The journey started at 5 am….. with a beautifully fresh and energetic morning.
Normally whenever we start a journey, the goal is to reach the destination…. but because of our small picnic plan, the entire focus changed – suddenly the journey was part of the pleasure. And the anticipation around it became the exciting factor.
We started our search for the perfect spot to spend some good time and then continue our journey ahead.
Around 9.30 we took a detour from the highway bypassing a small village and a plateau.
Here we found a place cozy enough to spend – having our morning breakfast
It was a lovely terrain with a perfect balance of a cool winter breeze and warm sunlight.
And aloha, there was a small mandir nearby and farms all around.
We parked our cars and spent some time exploring the area around…
finally, it was time for the highlight – the food! We eagerly opened our tiffins, kids were very excited…I got busy serving everyone the food. while we were enjoying this together
I heard some discussion, It grabbed my attention.
An old man, who seemed like a farmer had a bag full of custard apples in his hand and he was talking to my father in law
We assumed that the farmer want to sell those to us……when we asked him the cost
He immediately said its not for sale……
And then in a somewhat stern voice, he said, can’t someone just offer it out of love?
He had a lil rawness in his voice but that rawness was full of warmth….just like the weather around.
And we were left with no words…..it was as if we had established a connection – a strange but warm human connection.
We too shared our food with him, he first denied but later he also found our love in that offering and accepted it.
He took us to his small home atop the hill where he had almost 50 sheep and a farm.
Kids had so much fun enjoying with little lambs. There he offered us more custard apples
this entire experience filled our hearts with so much love and joy.
The only thing we shared at that moment was sheer love without any commitment to meet again.
The entire experience was blissful: This angel in white clothes without inhibition of coming and offering us the treat of fruits.
We left the place with happiness in our heart
My heart and mind were still there in those moments thinking, and observing the feeling of love & compassion. Then my overthinking mind pushed me to self reflect and a few questions arose :
1. What kind of impact urban living has made on us?
2. If this thing had happened in the city, would it be so easy for us to offer someone something?
3. And if in case we offered would someone immediately accept it without any doubts
This simple gesture should come so naturally to us.
But right now i am amazed by it
Is it because of what we have become today? less social
Or this “connecting and offering whatever we have” is attached to our self-doubts
I am in a self-reflection mode at present….but yes it’s great learning for me indeed.
We should share such simple things with those we meet without inhibitions more often.
That creates immense joy in and around us
When we give without expecting a material gain, we are in a sense sharing our joy, our own abundance.
This sharing of abundance keeps restoring our faith in life,
Faith In the abundance of life creates a joy that feels very satisfying.
It creates peace in our minds, reduces the fear of uncertainty, and brings hope to our collective strength.
Have you observed this?
This amazing act is celebrated across religions and in giving there is material, knowledge, and love.
While each is giving something of self
It is love and time that makes the warmest of relations.
Keep giving and create abundance for yourself and others
Love,
Charu C
Charu ji you write really well. Really a warm essay. So naturally flown. It’s true that giving without expecting anything, means giving with just love, establishes a connection among human and in between human and animals too. Perhaps animals understand this phenomenon naturally than up. And they just give love. Nothing else. That might be the underlying feeling that we connect with our pets so well. Rural setting and urban setting do change the mindset of human. We don’t receive anything without doubt from an unknown one in urban set up. Means this urban has damaged the trust bond among humans and we must try to revive it at least in our immediate Neiborhood.
giving and receiving with just love is so amazing. Thank you, Charu ji for penning down the experience for us.
Thankyou so much for your beautiful comment…..it’s so sweet of you to
Spend your valuable time to read this
All our gratitude 🙏 for you
Team #lolipo
Let’s revive this love again, this love like pets give, like flowers and nature gives, let’s meet people with trust and let there be the joy in the process of giving.
And let’s observe ourselves deeply through this 💕
Your article is very well penned…
It made me ponder…
Why cant we enjoy the small beauties of life..
Also when was the last time we had such a nice picnic…
Aren’t we all tired with mindless wandering in malls…
This so so true dear
We need to start planning for small joys of life, which are simple and long lasting
Thankyou so much for sharing view
All our gratitude 🙏
Lovely exploration Poonam…
If we start enjoying the small things in our daily lives – and immerse in these feelings (bhaav) imagine how much joy we can create.
💕love from LoLiPo
This is such a nice blog. It surprises me that there is such human connection, love and warmth still existing in this world. Unfortunately all of this doesn’t really exist in the urban areas because of how fast the life is of the people living here. It’s a very well written blog with the perfect words used to make it as warm as it can be. Thanks Charu for sharing it ❤️
Thanks for these wonderful feedback Arpita, and yes such warmth exists and is touching to experience.
Our faith in humanity gets re-established.
Join LoLiPo session next time to witness more love and warmth!!
Indeed a warm and a nice read!! In this world of commercialization little do we realise that it is ok to give ‘just like that’ which has become rare.
Accepting something without any doubts is also a very beautiful aspect that has got highlighted in the above read!
Beautiful and heartwarming story! Especially the initial part of cooking and packing food for the picnic!! Sheer nostalgia!!
Hi Pranita,
It’s so sweet of you to share your thoughts.
I do agree with nostalgia…..so much simple fun…with friends and family
Actually we all should again start exploring these simple elements of sharing and caring without doubt….Then only we can connect our kids to the experiences which we enjoyed in our childhood
Thankyou once again
Imagine also aren’t these elements more visible in group occasions…
Vacations
Marriages
Picnics
Tours
And each of these gives us so much happiness.
Hence do we have glimpses of what’s really creating the joy?
😁💕love, LoLiPo
Superb narrative
Thankyou so much Mehul
Completely agree
Charu has relived the whole journey while writing and we’ve loved it with her while reading.
Thank you so much for this encouragement you both
This is a wonderful journey of reliving the same experience while penning it down.
It actually augments the flavours of beauty of that experience.
A journey of exploration with you all is so precious…. : ))
#lolilpo team
Oh my god!
Beautiful. With so much love you have written this, it has reached the reader too.
Lots of love and more power to this love for you and LoLiPo 🤗
Thankyou so much Chitrarth……so sweet of you.
The entire experience is all about simple love and spirit of giving
All gratitude team lolipo
Yayyy yes it is the love that brightens the world 🤗🤗