A Day With the Family

Today was quite meaningful. We had a big breakfast and then dropped off Heidi and bought our plane tickets for tomorrow. Then Ram Mohan drove us to Debauli to spend the day with the family. We were met by Niru and her husband and son Aman. Then Aasha and Booja showed up with all their energy. 

We first went in to see our old house. It's very run down but still being used by the woman who took it over way back then. It was a weird feeling that we grew up here and so many of the childhood stories happened here. The pump my dad had installed, the first in the village, was gone but every house seemed to have a pump.

We then decided to walk around the whole village to see family. Everywhere we passed, people remembered us. One of the first we saw was Birendra, who Jonathan used to play with. Somehow he seemed very familiar. Of course the day of endless photo taking started then.

We also ran into "poopoo", one of Kissan's sisters. Over the course of the last couple days I think we met many of his brothers and sisters. Daughter Mina, mother of Aasha, wasn't around today. We saw the widow of his son Santa Kumar and her daughter and granddaughter. 

Then we went to Hatani,. Kissan's wife, the matriarch, and gave her the necklace they had given my mom, and she was in tears. We decided it was a good time to wake the parents and they got up and got presentable enough to do a video chat. We sat there for a while but then suddenly it became urgent to go eat lunch. We walked back, with Jonathan and Aman trailing behind, Jonathan teaching village boys some tricks. 

Lunch was delicious. They prepared duck which was probably a treat, along with mustard greens and daal and homemade pickle and sticky rice steamed in leaves. I truly couldn't finish but I did my best! 

After lunch, Jonathan and Amam went out on the scooter for some time. I was urged to rest and ultimately it wasn't a hard sell. I lay on the bed and let my mind have a few minutes to process and decompress. Hatani was also resting and someone else was laying across her on a small bed. 

I got up after they got back and the day was starting to cool. And then it was dress up time! They put a Tharu sari on me. I felt like a Roman but also it looked beautiful. Jonathan also dressed up in the same wrap we have a picture of my dad wearing. 

Then I went out with Amam on the bike and he showed me their ride paddy, which they use only to feed their family. We also passed the river where three women were in the water and we discovered they were looking for snails, a delicacy. We continued to ride around enjoying the scenery and spotting a ramshackle church as well as a Muslim prayer house being built.

There was more sitting around while the girls and everyone laughed a lot and made tiktoks until Ram Mohan came to get us. First we enjoyed some chai with them and said our long goodbyes.

It was emotional being where I was born and was considered a Tharu baby. And I love how much it is still a part of everyone's lives.