The villagers including the Headman seem to have deserted the village
Long back, when I joined my first job in Railways, I met a Station Master who had a unique experience. When he had got his first appointment, he had been posted in the Jaisalmer area of Rajasthan. When the Indo-Pak war broke out in 1971, India occupied some Pakistani railway stations in the desert areas of Sindh (Islamgrah-Khokrapar-Chachro-Tharparkar region). The Station Master whom I have mentioned here, was temporarily posted in one such Pakistani station to facilitate the movement of military special trains from India inside Pakistan.The Station Master narrated his experience of working in the Pakistani station. He told me that the Pakistani Station Masters had burnt all the cash in their stations before fleeing and that the adjacent villages of those Pakistani stations were completely deserted. He told me that it was a surreal experience to work in such a station where there were no ordinary passengers on the train or in the vicinity. Only the village dogs used to roam near the station. During his brief stay in the Pakistani station for ten days or so, he could see only one Pakistani old man with one leg. The Pakistani man had said that he remained there as it had been impossible for him to flee, whereas Indian soldiers insisted that the man remained there to mine the adjacent areas or to poison the drinking water well near the station.
I think it is indeed a surreal experience to live in a village where there is no villager. Similarly, it seems that the entire virtual village (Social Village - www.socialvillage.in) has been completely deserted. There is not a single post or response for more than eight days.
Sometimes, I have an urge to post something (a discussion post or a response) on that deserted site. But, when I think about the old Pakistani man who remained alone in the captured village, I refrain from posting anything there.
It is indeed a peculiar feeling!