Visited my Aunt's Village in South Punjab

Last weekend I visited my aunt's town/village after ages. She was insisting us to visit her for a long time. She lives in another city in South Punjab and we live at a distance of 3 hours from her place.

Her town has extreme weather, their environment is not advanced, and I also don't travel often so I kept denying her offers.

Last week my mamo also came from Saudi Arabia after three years. So we all decided to visit her.

In a matter of one day, we finalized everything and left early in the morning the next day for Vehari.

That's how my journey towards my aunt's village started after 13 years. I was in 7th class when I visited her last time.

When we reached there at noon we were welcomed by hot wind. It was a sunny day.

Now we had to move towards her house that was 10-15 minutes away from the main entrance of the city.

During my entire journey, I saw only wheat crops around me. Punjab is the father of other provinces for growing wheat crops for the entire Pakistan.

^{Dried wheat bundles}
I made sure to capture dried and chopped bundles of wheat while my family members were watching me with frowns in the hot sunny noon.

Most people remain indoors at this time of the day. I thought animals do the same but I was amazed to see buffaloes and cows grazing the wheat crop.

^{Buffalloes having lunch}
One of the buffaloes even greeted us by looking straight into my other aunt's eyes. Fortunately, she didn't get offended by us for disturbing them during their lunch.

When we reached home we had a little melodrama by my aunty who started crying while meeting my mamo/uncle. **It's her mandatory thing:)**

Anyhow, I was amazed to see the number of houses on their road. When I visited her last time it was a deserted place. They had only a few houses, but now they are doing good, their roads are built, and even have many towers nearby for electricity and mobile networks.

We had our lunch and I slept afterward and woke up when the time of Zohar was leaving.

After offering prayer we met her in-laws and talked with my cousin's cousins. They were simple people who loved hospitality.

I went to the rooftop with them and talked. They told us about their neighbours and the village. We also made our plan to go on a morning walk the next day to visit their cute and ancient village.

I also saw a corner in their rooftop which my aunt's in-laws still use to make bread. Because they had no gas facility, this is their fate in the 21st century, i still can't believe it.

Anyhow it is called ***Tavi*** in Punjabi where they spread multiple breads at a time. They use wood or corn stalks as a fuel. I have also eaten this bread when I was in my school days.

Fortunately, we got a gas facility after that.

The next morning we went on a walk with my mother, aunt, cousins, and their grandmother.

First, we went to an ancient bungalow named senchan wala which is under government custody. It was built during the British rule in India. The government doesn't use it anymore, it is empty and looks haunted.

However, they have whitewashed it well in the official colors of government buildings, pink and white.

^{Ancient haunted place}

^rear

The house was locked so we couldn't go inside. When I visited this place last time my uncle's friend was also with us. He not only let us go inside but also offered us cold drinks.

All the furniture in the house was covered with white sheets. It is a haunted house, atleast my elders say.

^{see its age}

My grandfather and uncle(Nana Abu and Mamoo) forbid us to visit this place. They said Jin lives here. We still did it anyway because they were sleeping. But We made sure not to touch anything or remain there for a long time.

We went towards the route of the village leading towards our house. There we saw a mosque that was locked. Believe me, I hardly saw a couple of people in that place. I wondered who would pray in this mosque, would anyone volunteer? But who would?

^{Mosque in a wanderness}

The surrounding was abandoned. I believe it was occupied once in the past but not anymore.

We moved fast towards the fields where a couple of farmers were busy harvesting their wheat crop manually. They were wearing headscarves called Pag in Punjabi.

^{Farmers chopping wheat}

^{wheat bunches}

^{she loves wheat}

^{Tori/wheat straw}

Animals also got up early and were enjoying in the fields. It looks like animals and a few humans still live in nature. When i wake up early and go for a walk i become crazy and admire nature's beauty by clicking pictures. It feels like an accomplishment.

Next, we see the trees of mangoes as mango season is approaching(my favorite). It's very difficult to guard these trees because people pluck mangoes.

^{mango trees}

These mangoes were small in size, they weren't ripe yet. But that doesn't mean we can't eat them, we can, so we plucked them to eat with spices afterward (we must have eaten them only if my aunt didn't throw them saying they'll give us sour throat).

^{picking mangoes}

^{unripe mangoes}
Ok I have seen all these things before in any village but a grape vine out of nowhere was something I didn't expect.

It was a grapevine my cousin told me, and we ran towards it to eat. But some people were standing at a distance, we couldn't pluck them, it would be offensive if it was their grapevine. However, we weren't sure if they were its owner.

^Grapevine

^{baby grapes}

They owe me these baby grapes😢 Why do they grow grape vines in the middle of fields? To lure us or to play with our emotions?

At last, we saw a well. Our elders were busy winning their morning walk race while we cousins were making memories and enjoying every bit of it.

^{folks looking inside a well}

I didn't see inside the well, I wasn't ready for a daring task early in the morning😴
Also, I have seen such wells before at my place, nothing new.

P.S: Its depth was 70ft and they had made stairs inside it to easily go up and down.

Finally, I turned off my mobile and sat on the road leading us towards our aunt's house, like a good girl.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy it there, but I felt really good. They didn't have Wi-Fi connection. We spent our days sharing hotspots.

This trip was out of my comfort zone for many things that I can't share here. But it gave me many memories. We grow in confidence when we meet our family. Their love and hospitality can't be replaced.

My cousin also applied mehandi on my hand. I chose the design, she showed her skills. Another cousin of mine made me a gajra/flower bangle using rose, baby sunflowers, and kali. It's the best gift a girl can ever get.

I would never forget their cute gestures❤

If you're also confused about visiting your family members, do visit them, and get out of your comfort zone, you gonna come back with loads of memories to tell the world.

@yaladeeds this was my busy time About which @wakeupkitty was talking yesterday:)