We were returning from our day- trip to our 'kankai maata' temple around the Gir forest on the outskirts of Amreli (our native place),when my uncle, dad, me and a kiddo from our relative's family in Amreli, stopped in the local market on our way back to spend some time there. My uncle, 'kaka' as we call him, did his schooling here for a few years and I was very keen to see what his school looked like in those days.
My 'daada'(grandfather) and his family were from Amreli and everytime I go there, I am transported some 70- 80 years back in time, when I look at the houses they used to live in and paint my own picture of their daily life, based on the stories I have heard from my family.
Kaka was trying to show us an ancestor's house and we were pondering whether it was the left lane or the right lane, when we an elderly gentleman who was passing by stopped and asked us if we were lost. And we told him we were looking for so- and so's house and that they used to live here many many years ago. We gave him the name of the relative and suddenly he jumped! He goes, " You are Kantilal & Shantaben Gandhi's sons?" And whooaaaaa!!! There were four zapped people gaping at him! How the hell did he know???
By now, he was mumbling to himself, and was connecting the dots in the air with his hands and again he said, " Dolar ben is your wife! I know her family!" By now, I was getting spooked out, but super amazed at the same time! It's strange how we met someone out of the blue, and he turned out to be someone who knew my entire family so well. Next thing, we were inside his house, sitting and chit- chatting and he told us how he had spent time with my grandfather and other older uncles and how life was in those days.
It was the most interesting conversation I heard in recent times and it was completely unimaginable that we met with a stranger who turned out to be a relative!!
Like I always say, 'it happens only in India!'
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