No one can visit the same place twice
No one can visit the same place twice. You have changed. The place has changed. IT IS NOT THE SAME. I felt this way as I made another trip to Thanamir village, Kiphire district on 27th April, 2012 with the NRHM team. It was my 3rd visit to the last village in Nagaland bordering Myanmar. Trekkers of Mount Saramati stop here to prepare for the climb. The villagers provide guides and potters. Also the village has become popular for its SARAMATI APPLES. Apple festival is organized annually from 2010.
On my way, I can’t help but think of my first visit which was better by miles. And I protested inside to see that IT IS NOT THE SAME. I fondly remember my first visit each time I see the pictures and I relive them again. And I want to keep those memories alive. I don’t want anything to change. But IT IS NOT THE SAME anymore. It all seems polluted now. Now, when I think of those first fond memories, images of the subsequent visits come in and distort the vivid sequence of eventful memories I enjoyed.
The first visit was challenging, frightening, inspiring, and it was a daring thing we did; just to embark on the journey. There was the excitement of the unknown and every move we made was a risk we took. But in our last visit, we sat in our vehicles which took us there. There was no adrenaline rush except to rue that IT IS NOT THE SAME. I want to keep my first memories as they were but it’s now forever changed. IT IS JUST NOT THE SAME ANYMORE.
But I should not protest so loudly. Because someone maybe making his/her first memory as I did mine a couple of years ago.
I know what you mean. Every time I go back to my birth place I see changes and not necessarily good changes. I think "development" is just another name for environmental destruction. Then again, people in small villages with few amenities are probably welcoming such changes.
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