Great Migration, Ghost Villages and Hiraeth
I was once shown a short movie by my relative depicting the great migration of people living in the villages of uttrakhand flocking away to big cities and it's capital in search of jobs and opportunities and leaving behind everything from their traditions to homelands. The festival highlighted was of 'Phooldeyi' in the month of March or the onset of spring. The video showed a person in his mid 20s who wanted to come back to his childhood home for the festival of phool deyi to be with his friends and enjoy the festival in its true essence in his village home like what they used to do in their childhood. But because of the demands of his job he couldn't get a leave from his job, but he was very adamant to go back hoping and assuming that his friends would do the same and be there waiting for him, so he resigned from his job to be in his village for the festival only to maintain the traditions and his commitment to friendship. To his surprise when he reached his village, i...