This reminds me of my young days when I happened to visit my grandpa's house during summer vacation. I had a habit of going for long walks during the cool eveni

This reminds me of my young days when I happened to visit my grandpa's house during summer vacation. I had a habit of going for long walks during the cool evenings/early nights - one of those teenage things. On this particular night, I walked farther than usual and came upon a clearing next to the bank of the local river - it was a small river next to the tea gardens. This being a small town very long ago had next to no light pollution - the sky was FULL of stars. Just so many stars. As I walked ahead, I heard the sound of kirtan[0] coming from a hut nearby. I walked over and it was mainly working class folks gathered around few kerosene lamps singing. Just the chorus of simple folks singing devotional songs accompanied by a khol[1]. When I reached them, they continued their singing and just shifted to make space for me to sit - my arrival was as normal to them as the cool breeze blowing through the grass. I listened to the songs mixing with the night under countless stars, not sure for how long, and then quietly left, just like I had arrived. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishnava_Padavali https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishnava_Padavali [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khol