Going to my paternal grandfather's house carried a lot of emotion for me as no one since atleast the 1940's had been back to his village and house. After many hot hours on the road to get there, we worked our way through many of the raw, still unpaved roads of Murid... following the directions my grandfather had given one of the locals who had been instructed by the "Pir" (also in the Crazy Days posting) to help us find our ancestral home. I was VERY excited as I had had no luck finding my mother's family home in Bhaun nor my great-grandfather's store in Rawalpindi.
Imagine my excitement when we came across the house with the balcony "Crazy days" where I imagined my grandfather with his father and his grandfather looking at a sunset or more likely a buffalo tied not far from where I stood.It was not far from this spot that I took some dirt to pass on to my family members of my generation to keep for the future generations.
I got back to Delhi and developed the photos and had the negatives scanned onto a CD and made a full presentation to my grandparents. I was excited to show my grandfather his old house and curious to see his reaction.As the numerous images of the balcony, the old wooden doors, white washed, simple yet elegantly carved entrance, the crumbling walls and dusty roads leading to and fro the house passed in front of his thoughtful gaze, he got ready to say something seemingly deep and profound to me and then he paused, then got up for a bathroom break and as he came out of the loo, he uttered the following (translated and paraphrased): It was the house BEHIND this house, you simpleton!
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