Hi
Let me share some of my experiences during various visits to the interiors of Orissa.
Dhamra
My first trip in the interiors of Orissa was to a place called Dhamra. This place is around 200 Kms. from Bhubaneswar and 90 kms off the National highway connecting Chennai to Kolkata. The road from the national highway till Dhamra is not very good but certainly better than many of the other roads in the interiors of Orissa.
Dhamra is situated right on the coast of Bay of Bengal. It is a little town with unplanned houses and small shops that seem to be scattered all over. Of late this town has seen lot of development in the vicinity. L&T along-with TISCO is developing a huge port by the name of DPCL (The Dhamra port company Ltd.) This port is going to be ready sometime in 2010. After completion this would be one of the biggest ports in the region. The State Govt. has allotted a dedicated corridor to DPCL, wherein they would have a dual carriage railway line, a two way 6 lane road corridor for smooth plying of heavy trailers.
Since Dhamra is right on the coast – you can not miss the ever growing stink of drying fish and it is all over the place. You would be lucky if the wind direction is working in your favor. The area around Dhamra is mainly occupied by immigrants from West Bengal who got settled there since quite some time back. The anecdote goes like this that once the local King faced some opposition from the locals, so he strategically brought a handful of Bengalis from neighboring Bengal and gave them generous gifts of cultivable land. The King must have a few friends from the British to give him a quick advice.
We were trying to locate a reasonable good place for setting up our guest house and we looked at various houses. Some were right on the bank of a pond and thus ensuring a continuous stink of stale water, fish and a momentous supply of freshly bred mosquitoes. A quick word to admire this truly great creation – the size of mosquito available in Orissa is real big one. And to quote one of the locals – it is impossible not to catch malaria if the mosquito decides to give you a nice smooch. Any ways, we finalized one of the better located houses that were yet to be completed.
I also took a round of the land that we have already acquired. We went to couple of houses which are on the land to be occupied by us. In one of the houses, the owner along with his brother was harvesting the paddy crop manually. My accompanist asked him as to why they are putting in the hard labor themselves when they can very well afford a couple of labors. To that he replied that the labor would do 1/3rd the work in a day and charge full. He was probably right.
We went to another hutment where the owner was not present and to my great astonishment, I noticed that the lady of the house was carrying a mobile. Now let us not confuse ourselves – here I am in the midst of no where in a God forsaken place that does not even have electricity and still has a mobile phone. So we were told that the house owner is on his way to meet us. In a few minutes the guy arrived – a dusky short guy who had gone for fishing. Immediately upon his arrival he climbed on one of the coconut trees in the courtyard and plucked few fruits. We were treated with fresh coconut juice. He also had couple of date trees that were unfortunately not ripe. The entrance to hut was very small – one has to bend to get in and it was a two room structure. We did not go inside but just had a look from the entrance. So his establishment had a two room hutment, couple of fruit trees and small pond with ready to cook fish.
Nayagarh
My other visit has been to Nayagarh, a very small village near Pallspanga in Distt. Keonjhar. Nayagarh is around 320 kms from Bhubaneswar. For going there one has to reach Keonjhar and from Keonjhar it is around 2 hrs drive in case you are lucky and do not encounter traffic jams. Now let me define a traffic jam for the convenience of all of the Mumbai or other urban readers. A single two lane road and one side of the road have a row of parked trucks. These trucks are awaiting their turn to enter into a mine to load iron ore. This row would stretch to a few kilometers and then after a break of few meters another stretch of few kilometers. These truck drivers are so used to these jams that even after the jam is cleared they are not moving as they are fast asleep – many a times in the midst of the road. So you have practically one side of the road and with vehicles coming from both sides, it is very very seldom that you do not come across a jam. So for the convenience of citizens many a times the local Collector bans the movement of trucks on that road for a few days. For example during 10th board exams, the movement was banned so that the students can reach the examination centers without any delay. Fortunately they have just started a train between Bhubaneswar and Keonjhar, so that can save the ordeal of traveling 6 hrs one way by a vehicle. But the real adventure is after Keonjhar.
The road to Nayagarh is a mix of good and very bad path (I can not call that a road). Unless you have a vehicle with a better ground clearance, it is impossible to reach Nayagarh. Nayagarh is on the bank of Baitarni river and has also got a small railway station only for the movement of Iron ore. I did not come across too much of agriculture in that area. I was told that majority of the villagers are either engaged in transportation business or are involved in iron ore in some way or the other. Another way of keeping themselves gainfully engaged is to steal iron ore from the passing trucks either with or without the connivance of the truck drivers. Rice liquor is available in plenty and one can not miss local ladies sitting at a slight distance from the road with cans and glasses selling crude liquor. Yeah! Some women liberation at last!!!
The local scenario is quite dismal. There is a small dispensary sans the medical doctor. The midwife stays in the same room with her family and when we went there she was busy cooking lunch. Since they do not have a doctor there are no medicines. There is also a primary school but hardly any infrastructure.
Maa Tarini Temple - Keonjhar
Keonjhar also known as Kendujhar is a district and a decent sized town. Another important landmark is a temple of Maa Tarini. This temple is around 50 kms before.jpg)
reaching Keonjhar. This is a very famous temple and is always full of devotees. Fresh coconut juice is offered to the Deity. There is another strange unwritten norm – in case you wish to offer your prayers and offer coconut to Maa Tarini and
Let me share some of my experiences during various visits to the interiors of Orissa.
Dhamra
My first trip in the interiors of Orissa was to a place called Dhamra. This place is around 200 Kms. from Bhubaneswar and 90 kms off the National highway connecting Chennai to Kolkata. The road from the national highway till Dhamra is not very good but certainly better than many of the other roads in the interiors of Orissa.
Dhamra is situated right on the coast of Bay of Bengal. It is a little town with unplanned houses and small shops that seem to be scattered all over. Of late this town has seen lot of development in the vicinity. L&T along-with TISCO is developing a huge port by the name of DPCL (The Dhamra port company Ltd.) This port is going to be ready sometime in 2010. After completion this would be one of the biggest ports in the region. The State Govt. has allotted a dedicated corridor to DPCL, wherein they would have a dual carriage railway line, a two way 6 lane road corridor for smooth plying of heavy trailers.
Since Dhamra is right on the coast – you can not miss the ever growing stink of drying fish and it is all over the place. You would be lucky if the wind direction is working in your favor. The area around Dhamra is mainly occupied by immigrants from West Bengal who got settled there since quite some time back. The anecdote goes like this that once the local King faced some opposition from the locals, so he strategically brought a handful of Bengalis from neighboring Bengal and gave them generous gifts of cultivable land. The King must have a few friends from the British to give him a quick advice.
We were trying to locate a reasonable good place for setting up our guest house and we looked at various houses. Some were right on the bank of a pond and thus ensuring a continuous stink of stale water, fish and a momentous supply of freshly bred mosquitoes. A quick word to admire this truly great creation – the size of mosquito available in Orissa is real big one. And to quote one of the locals – it is impossible not to catch malaria if the mosquito decides to give you a nice smooch. Any ways, we finalized one of the better located houses that were yet to be completed.
I also took a round of the land that we have already acquired. We went to couple of houses which are on the land to be occupied by us. In one of the houses, the owner along with his brother was harvesting the paddy crop manually. My accompanist asked him as to why they are putting in the hard labor themselves when they can very well afford a couple of labors. To that he replied that the labor would do 1/3rd the work in a day and charge full. He was probably right.
We went to another hutment where the owner was not present and to my great astonishment, I noticed that the lady of the house was carrying a mobile. Now let us not confuse ourselves – here I am in the midst of no where in a God forsaken place that does not even have electricity and still has a mobile phone. So we were told that the house owner is on his way to meet us. In a few minutes the guy arrived – a dusky short guy who had gone for fishing. Immediately upon his arrival he climbed on one of the coconut trees in the courtyard and plucked few fruits. We were treated with fresh coconut juice. He also had couple of date trees that were unfortunately not ripe. The entrance to hut was very small – one has to bend to get in and it was a two room structure. We did not go inside but just had a look from the entrance. So his establishment had a two room hutment, couple of fruit trees and small pond with ready to cook fish.
Nayagarh
My other visit has been to Nayagarh, a very small village near Pallspanga in Distt. Keonjhar. Nayagarh is around 320 kms from Bhubaneswar. For going there one has to reach Keonjhar and from Keonjhar it is around 2 hrs drive in case you are lucky and do not encounter traffic jams. Now let me define a traffic jam for the convenience of all of the Mumbai or other urban readers. A single two lane road and one side of the road have a row of parked trucks. These trucks are awaiting their turn to enter into a mine to load iron ore. This row would stretch to a few kilometers and then after a break of few meters another stretch of few kilometers. These truck drivers are so used to these jams that even after the jam is cleared they are not moving as they are fast asleep – many a times in the midst of the road. So you have practically one side of the road and with vehicles coming from both sides, it is very very seldom that you do not come across a jam. So for the convenience of citizens many a times the local Collector bans the movement of trucks on that road for a few days. For example during 10th board exams, the movement was banned so that the students can reach the examination centers without any delay. Fortunately they have just started a train between Bhubaneswar and Keonjhar, so that can save the ordeal of traveling 6 hrs one way by a vehicle. But the real adventure is after Keonjhar.
The road to Nayagarh is a mix of good and very bad path (I can not call that a road). Unless you have a vehicle with a better ground clearance, it is impossible to reach Nayagarh. Nayagarh is on the bank of Baitarni river and has also got a small railway station only for the movement of Iron ore. I did not come across too much of agriculture in that area. I was told that majority of the villagers are either engaged in transportation business or are involved in iron ore in some way or the other. Another way of keeping themselves gainfully engaged is to steal iron ore from the passing trucks either with or without the connivance of the truck drivers. Rice liquor is available in plenty and one can not miss local ladies sitting at a slight distance from the road with cans and glasses selling crude liquor. Yeah! Some women liberation at last!!!
The local scenario is quite dismal. There is a small dispensary sans the medical doctor. The midwife stays in the same room with her family and when we went there she was busy cooking lunch. Since they do not have a doctor there are no medicines. There is also a primary school but hardly any infrastructure.
Maa Tarini Temple - Keonjhar
Keonjhar also known as Kendujhar is a district and a decent sized town. Another important landmark is a temple of Maa Tarini. This temple is around 50 kms before
.jpg)
reaching Keonjhar. This is a very famous temple and is always full of devotees. Fresh coconut juice is offered to the Deity. There is another strange unwritten norm – in case you wish to offer your prayers and offer coconut to Maa Tarini and .jpg)
due to some reasons you are unable to go there, you leave your coconut in a polythene bag on any of the bus stops or crossings en route. The drivers of the buses and trucks passing through that area would pick your offerings and would do the needful. You can not miss the front portion of the buses near the windshield packed with coconuts. The temple has two big holes on each side of the gate. In case you are in a hurry, you can drop the coconut in one of the holes and it would pass through a tunnel and reach the temple. Wow – what great facilities. I have been fortunate to visit the temple a couple of times to seek blessings from Maa Tarini.Keonjhar is surrounded by lots of tribal villages and wild animals. Once we had gone to meet a gentleman who stays on the outskirts. He had a huge land that has his house as well as two iron ore crushers and a trade mark pond. He had various fruit trees in the land. He told us that because of tall boundary wall he does not have the fortune of seeing wild animals like elephants and bears who come regularly in the night for the fruits but are unable to cross the tall boundary wall.
Black cat can offer great lunches
Once we had gone to a place called Champua from Nayagarh. The road is so bad that till today just thinking about the road I can have a backache. There are few small villages en-route. When we started from Nayagarh it was already noon time and a black cat had crossed our vehicle. Our driver, Pratap applied the brakes immediately and waited for some time and moved only after another vehicle crossed. One of my colleagues told him jokingly that it is not a bad omen if a cat crosses your way, instead it is a good omen and we would get a very special lunch. So we started again with the hope that we would get at-least some lunch, forget special. We continued our ordeal till 4 pm and there was no sign of any eatery. Suddenly out of blue we passed through a ‘Haat’(a make shift market). We stopped there and we could get some corns, radish, roasted grams, cucumber and boiled eggs. So thanks to the black cat, we finally had a special lunch.
Orchestra on rickshaw
Back in Bhubaneswar – though the place is quite urbanized and you get the feel of transformation. But I saw a marriage party that had the usual ingredients of loud
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music, dance, a convoy of cars and tipsy people. Nothing new but what was entirely unexpected that the live orchestra was not on a moving vehicle but they were equally .jpg)
divided into makeshift rickshaws that were especially designed & decorated for the occasion. Quite a sight as it was a convoy of rickshaws held together by cables coming from the generator to the key-board, electric guitar and microphones and huge speakers. Certain things refuse to change even if every thing else changes for good.Road with a “character”
Our guest house in Bhubaneswar is closer to the airport and the road connecting airport is having a strange character. Every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday it becomes non-vegetarian. There are score of butchers that set up make shift kiosks on the road early morning on these days with a bunch of wailing goats and they are off to a roaring business. The customers also start coming there right in the early morning (Orissa has an early sun rise anyways) to select their piece of favorite meat. No, I am not a veggie, but it is certainly not a pleasant site to start your morning walk amongst wailing goats or butchers taking the skin off the goat’s bodies. So I change my route on these days.
Examination time
Unlike the more “advanced” citizens in the metros of our country, Orissa fortunately can still boast of having a close knit bonding amongst the family members. We were traveling to the interiors and suddenly came across a large gathering of crowd in front of a school. One thing that appeared common amongst majority of them was the level of anxiety that was quite evident even from a distance. I thought that they have all gathered for some protest over a fee hike. Upon enquiring, my local acquaintance informed to my surprise that these parents have come to see off their wards that are appearing for their 10th final. My God just imagine, all of them would have actually taken leave (or bunked) to hang around for a good 3 hours. Incidentally my son was also appearing for 10th and fortunately I had spoken to him in the morning. But going to his school and hanging around for 3 hours was not on the agenda ever.
I really do not know if this gesture would help their wards become more independent but this would certainly bring them closer to their parents.
Alright folks – bye for now, I have actually taken few weeks to write this in the evenings sitting in our guest houses and would certainly come back sooner. Take care and may God bless.
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