Have you ever travelled to a place which had never been a tourist attraction before that, but in no time became one? Have you felt, after years, that the very same place does not look like the one you visited anymore? Have you felt that the experience you had visiting there is no more with you? If so, don't feel bad. You are not alone. Atleast I can understand you!
When I was a child, a time when I was happily bunking classes by faking fever had got a chance to visit a place called Shilayidam. It was not more than an hour away from my home. I had made my father also to bunk his office. As long as he didn't have pressing matters at office to attend to, he was always ready to chill out with me at home. It was such a usual day until he, out of the blue, asked me to get ready. “Hey star, get ready. We are going somewhere”. What else did I want then? I was so happy to go out and got too excited. In a blink of an eye I got dressed up and I had my favourite red cap. It had a logo which was written in bad cursive letters. Till the time I had it in my wardrobe I didn't know what was it. And now I don't remember what was written (may be because I have never ever read it).
I had two reasons for getting excited. To go out on a school day was obviously the first one. The other one was my father's scooter. He had a black and blue Bajaj Chetak then. Man, it was one hell of a machine. You had to kick it with all of your energy to blow life into it. And with the left hand you change the gears like twisting it up and down. For him, it was nothing. It had been with him for years and he was so close to it like anything. My mother used to tease him asking if it was his first love. Being so small to sit behind, I used to stand at the front of the scooter and had always pretended that it was none other than me riding it, mimicking the sound of horn and gear changes. I was too delighted that I didn't even care asking him that where were we going actually.
It was a cloudy day and the road was almost abandoned owing to a working day. Those who had to use the road had already reached their destinations, and those who didn't want to use it stayed inside. I had the entire breeze on my face and they went past me fingering my hair. I didn't have nothing to give them except a smile.
In less than an hour we reached there. It was nothing less than a barren land for me at the initial glance. I gave my father a weird look. He just smiled as if he understood what I had thought. I looked all over again to make sure that my eyes were not deceiving me. No, it's just a piece of land with nothing special . He suddenly took my hand and started to walk. Since I didn't have another option I followed him rather discontented.
But a ten minutes walk through the tall bushes and uneven land had led me to the most beautiful place I have ever seen till then. May be till date as well. We had actually reached the top of a hill, from where I could see an entire city like a painting. The canvas was complete with the blue sky filling the background and dark green trees bordering the sky and the city. A flock of birds had also accompanied us to the hilltop. However it was the statue (Shila) standing there gave the painting the aura that it had. The place got its name from it. The place (idam) where there stands a statue (Shila) - Shilayidam. It was of a child sitting on his father's lap with a book in his hand. I was too young then to understand the artistic significance of the statue. But the very sight of it at the hilltop having an exquisite background had left me jaw-dropped. We had then made umpteen visits to there over the years. I used to spend hours there just by looking at the sky and staring at my life.
Years down the line, Shilayidam has gained much traction among the tourists. It's one of the top tourist spots of the state. It has got a complete face lift. Unfortunately I can't see the Shilayidam I used to know. The sky and the life there are not the same anymore. The unknown place to where my father took me to one fine day is still an unknown place for me. I knew it only for a short period of time. Or did I even know it in the first place?
