Unforgettable memories in the new land

In the early 2000s, people's lives depended on agriculture , there were almost no job opportunities, so most young people often left to seek opportunities, hoping to change their lives. And the Southeast was the destination for those stops.

Binh Phuoc rubber garden in leaf changing season

I am also one of many people in my hometown who sadly left their homeland to seek new opportunities, but the place I first set foot in was not the Southeast region but the land of Ca Mau . At that time , my brother was a secondary school teacher in a district of this province, seeing the advantages, he brought me along with the hope of becoming a "state employee" to satisfy my parents' wishes.

I thought that after finishing secondary school, I would settle down here with my brother, but in early 2005, my brother transferred his job back to his hometown, so I had to say goodbye to this place to go to a new, wild land, which is Binh Phuoc province.

I remember very clearly the first time I set foot here, I sat right at the Hung Vuong intersection waiting for my cousin to pick me up. The city life was not too bustling, I also did not see any industrial park. The distance to her house was about 6 kilometers, passing through a dusty red dirt road and a shady rubber garden, I don't know why at that time I had a creepy feeling because this place was gloomy without a single person, that was the first time I saw a rubber tree with the naked eye, and I suddenly understood the saying of Lao Hac in the work of the same name when he told about his son who went to work on a rubber plantation "rubber is easy to go, hard to return" is like that.

After that, I lived with my cousin's family. Her house was located deep in a red dirt road, and whenever it rained heavily, we would stumble. The neighbors were people from all over the place who came to settle down. They came early so they reclaimed a lot of land. Almost every family had a few hectares of rubber or cashew trees. My sister came later and they no longer had the opportunity to reclaim land, but at that time, land was cheap, and with the available capital, it was easy to buy 3 hectares of coffee and a few acres of residential land.

Perhaps my beautiful youth was associated with the fields instead of the rice fields like my friends in the countryside. The coffee plantation was about 12 km from her house. To get there, we had to take a shortcut through a trail inside the vast rubber forest. The most frightening thing was the days when it rained and windy, the rubber branches were broken and scattered all over the path, the road was slippery, sitting behind the motorbike I bit my lips tightly, sometimes holding my breath hoping to get through the dangerous part. However, sometimes we could not avoid small accidents, the motorbike slipped and fell, I was stabbed by a tree and cut my leg, blood gushed out, my face turned pale with fear. After that, every time I passed by here, I got off the motorbike and walked to ensure safety.

When the dry season came, around December, it was also the time when the coffee harvest began, this was probably the busiest time of the year, my sister hired 5 or 6 pickers, the laughter and chatter of the workers somewhat dispelled the usual silence. During lunch break, I often invited my brothers and sisters to hunt for available fruits in the garden, rambutans that had not yet ripened were picked and eaten at the roots, the smell of durian from afar made me swallow my saliva, a small fruit divided into half a segment for each person to suck on, stimulating my craving even more. When there was nothing left to eat, we picked some young green star fruit to dip in salt and chili, I don't remember what it tasted like at that time but I still found it irresistibly delicious.

People dry pepper, one of Binh Phuoc's "specialties"

My sister's farm mainly grows coffee, mixed with a few cashew trees. After the end of the year, we harvest coffee and then switch to cashew after Tet. Looking at the golden, ripe, juicy cashews hanging from the branches makes us even more excited. If we just wait until tomorrow night, they will fall all over the ground, and we can pick them up at will. But I still like to hold the long stick with pre-existing knots, hook it on the shaking branch and the cashews will fall like a shower. After picking enough, we switch to eating cashews. 5 or 6 heads huddle together to choose the plumpest fruits, rub them on their shirts to clean them, then tear them apart and eat them greedily. A little sour and astringent taste mixed together lingers on the corner of our tongues.

A few years later, my sister sold her fields and switched to running a motel, and since then I have never had the chance to return.

For those who have lived here, it is not difficult to recognize the changes of this land every day. Dong Xoai, where I live, is gradually changing its appearance. The Provincial General Hospital has been newly built with 9 floors and expanded. The rubber garden that I first passed by is no longer there, replaced by The Gold City urban area with a series of high-rise buildings, restaurants, entertainment areas, supermarkets, football fields... More industrial parks have sprung up. The road to my sister's house has been paved with wide, shiny asphalt. In this area, you can't find the sticky red dirt road of the past.

From a wild land, Binh Phuoc's economy is now developing strongly along with other provinces in the region, opening up many job opportunities for many people from different hometowns, including me. During the 17 years living here, I had the opportunity to become a "state citizen", meeting friends from all over the place, although each person has different circumstances, but the only thing in common is that they are far from their homeland, so their feelings have become closer.

Even though I no longer live here, in my heart Binh Phuoc is my second hometown, a place filled with memories of my youth on the fields. I love the straight rubber forests on both sides of the road like a mother hen spreading her wings to protect her young, I love the clusters of ripe, deep red coffee berries, the round, smooth, golden or red cashews hanging down... All of these have created a very unique Binh Phuoc that every time I mention this place, my heart becomes more attached and proud.

Thank you to the fertile land that has given me new opportunities, the chance to meet new people where people live to love each other.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/ky-niem-kho-quen-noi-mien-dat-moi-185231206181350735.htm