It was Nabeel’s school holidays, and one day his father suddenly had an idea. It was time to visit his village home. Nabeel’s father wanted to teach Nabeel how to live in different places and get used to different ways of living. “Everyone should go to their gramer bari* at least once a year.” he said, and he started to clean their car for the trip.

The next day, Nabeel and his parents headed out very early, as if they were going on an exciting adventure. They thought they would arrive at 11:30 am, but as the road was free and a little less crowded than usual, they reached the village early, at exactly 10:57 am. After arriving, Nabeel took a long breath and shouted “At last!!!!!!!!! We made it!!!” He was so excited to be there after the long car trip.

After greeting everyone, and then settling down again, Nabeel felt very tired, so he did not visit any other place that day. The next day, he felt less tired, so he visited more of his relatives who lived in other parts of the village. That was a really good day! He got to eat a lot of pitha* and Nabeel felt that he had been treated like a prince* the whole time. Just like that, the day was over.

On the second day of their visit, Nabeel went fishing with his father. He also bathed in a pond* which was owned by his grandfather. That day it rained a lot, but Nabeel didn’t mind. He bathed in the rain too. Unfortunately, Nabeel caught a light fever as he bathed outside in the rain for a long time. His relatives in the village treated him with medicine made from the plants that grew in the village, and he soon felt much better. He went to bed and slept deeply all night long.

The next morning, Nabeel woke up and found that his fever was gone and he felt much better. He went out of the house, and very soon he became friends with many of the village children. They played many games that he did not know about, but he enjoyed playing with them. He had so much fun, that he kept playing with them all night, until the sun came up the next day. He was tired after that long night, so he slept a lot the next day.

Painting by HOSSAIN Abrar Zain, 12 January 2018

The following day was Eid and so it was a festival* day. Once again, Nabeel got to eat very tasty*, good food, such as firni* and polau*. Nabeel could smell ghee* everywhere as the villagers cooked special food. It was a very tiring day, because there was so much going on, but it was the most enjoyable day of all for Nabeel.

Soon it was the last day of their trip and the time came for them to leave for Dhaka. Early in the morning, they packed up everything and got ready to leave. Nabeel and his parents waved goodbye to everyone and set out for home. “I had such a great time. I want to come again next year.” said Nabeel to his father as they drove away, and his father smiled.

Later, when Nabeel told me about his trip, I thought it really is a good idea to take some fresh air sometimes by visiting your village home. In the city you can’t really breathe fresh air because of all the cars and pollution*. I agree with Nabeel’s father. If you get the chance, you should visit your gramer bari, your village home, at least once every year.

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Learning Activities

Vocabulary

Words from the high frequency second 1000 General Service Word List. These words are very common in English, so you should learn them before the other words listed here.