In and around Raigarh

Today, I am going to tell you about my journey from Mumbai to Raigarh and back. Raigarh is small town in the state of Chhattisgarh. With not more than 2, 00,000 residents, this semi urban settlement is about 280 kilometers from Chhattisgarh’s capital, Raipur. My relationship with Raigarh is very old, almost as old as I am. It is home to my maternal aunt and her family. My travelogue describes my experiences of visiting Raigarh and places close to it in a period of 10 days.

Day one:
My Kolkata bound Howrah Mail set off on 8th December from Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai. The station looked as intimidating and magnificent as always. You’d see thousands of travelers among red uniformed coolies, khaki clad policemen and the railway ‘protection’ force. With my family, I found my way through the sea of people to reach the right platform. The train like a huge snake was resting on the 15th platform waiting to embark on a tiring yet exciting hunting trail. My train left CST at about 8.45 pm.

Day two:
Hoards of people tried to board the train illegally but thankfully their attempts were not very successful. I sipped hot tea and ate on Indian railways blue sleeper berths. The view outside the train window was intriguing. Arid yet green landscape of Indian heartland unfolded as the train made its way through several villages, towns and cities. The hinterland looked seamless and untouched. The farms stretched till your eyes could see. The cattle grazed lazily while women in bright coloured sarees and men in white dhotis worked tirelessly on their beloved land. The village men, women and children looked close and yet so far. Their lives and their stories are unheard. For us they are just statistics, but what lies in rustic lands and hopeful eyes is yet to be told. It is something the ‘indifferent’ India ought to know about the majority of its fellow Indian citizens.

We detrained on Raigarh station at 8.15 pm on the 9th December. Although I was expecting the weather to be biting cold, it was anything close to that. I remember as a child when I came to this sleepy town in Decembers, it used to hailstone. My cousins and I found the act of holding ice in our small fists exciting and thrilling. But the change wasn’t only in the weather. It was in everything I saw and felt. The station with electric poles and cement flooring looked quite impressive to what used to be a humble platform. I asked my cousin who had come to pick me up, “What’s with the change?” He just said one thing, “Jindal.” I knew Jindal had set up steel and a power factory a decade ago in Raigarh but I didn’t comprehend his answer completely until he took me through Raigarh lanes the next day.

Day three:
Next morning, my cousin and I explored the town on his bike. The sun was high and the roads were dusty. The men were in loose shirts and the women wore printed sarees. The stores on both sides of the narrow lane looked similar. The shop names were painted in Hindi and most of the stops marketed one Telecom Company or the other. Docomo, Aircel, Airtel, Idea and Vodafone were plastered on most of the shop boards. But apart from this branding, there was other parallel branding also taking place. Political symbols of BJP and Congress were painted on almost every alternate house and shop. The town is not too big. It took us not more than an hour to glimpse through the town. During this one hour ride, he rode me on Kelo Bridge which is over the Kelo River. My cousin informed me that two lanes were added to the bridge by Jindal Steel and Power Plant in 2006 to enable better flow of heavy vehicular traffic. After coming back home, I got down to unearth information on Jindal Steel and Power Plant and its relation with a small town like Raigarh. And I managed to dig out quite a lot of information.

Jindal Steel and Power Plant entered Raigarh in the late 90s. Today, after almost 10 years of its existence in Raigarh, it has done a lot more than just produce metal and power. It has changed the way Raigarh looks and to an extent the direction its heading. As Jindal set up one of India’s biggest steel and power plant, it got with itself human capital. The Jindal colony which has been built on the outskirts of the main town, houses thousands of its employees. To attract talent and also to provide good social infrastructure to its employees, Jindal built a school and an engineering college. O.P. Jindal School is Raigarh’s first 10 + 2 English medium School. It also started Raigarh’s first Engineering College in 2008. The pass outs from this college are expected to be absorbed by the company itself. Apart from these educational institutes, Jindal has built a hospital, several roads and also helped in maintaining Raigarh’s Kamla Nehru Park. But there is one more thing, Raigarh’s population attributes to the Jindals. And that is town’s pollution and the tremendous rise in temperature. Although, Jindal Steel and Power Plant boasts of Golden Peacock Environment Management Award, the rise in temperature over the last 10 years seems to be telling a different tale.

Day four:
On the following day, spontaneous visits to relative’s relatives’ places started! One must learn Atithi Devo Bhava from small town people. They’ll make you truly feel like Gods. From the second you have entered their house till you leave. Though the visit to my aunt’s in-laws house wasn’t the first, it was truly nostalgic. I had spent several of my school summer vacations playing in that huge house with my cousins and their cousins. We used jump into the well to hide during our hide and seek games, we used slide down the staircase’s, and we use to wet each other with the pipe on the ‘chat’ (as we called it then)just for the kicks. And not to forget endless games of UNO! Sigh, how things change as years go by.

After the entire ‘kitne bade ho gaye hai!’ 'ritual' at the relative’s place, we left for Chandrapur in a hired car. Not more than 40 kilometers away from Raigarh, the hamlet is known for its centuries old Goddess Durga’s Chandrahasini Devi temple. It lies on the banks of river, Mahanadi. Our car took not more than 60 minutes to reach the destination. A narrow lane, which is flanked by a glittering market leads to the temple. Though, I didn’t get a chance to explore the town but visit to the temple wasn’t less interesting. As a series of steps takes you to the top of the temple where the idol is placed, you can witness several scenes from Mahabharat in form of stone structures on both sides of the steps. And if you ever plan to visit this tiny hamlet, please do not miss the delicious pakodas being sold outside the temple. You’ll surely be craving for more, that’s my guarantee!

Day five and six:
Champaran, a small village on the outskirts of Raipur was my next destination. It’s believed to the birthplace of Shri Vallabhacharya, the founder of Vaishnav sect. According to mythology, he was born under a tree nearly 525 years ago in Champaran. A temple has been built around that tree. People say that one can still hear the celebratory sounds of the drums from the tree truck. Shri Vallabhacharya is said to be the incarnation of Lord Krishna which has made this place a major tourist attraction for Hindus. However, gujaratis and marwadis dominate the crowd.

To reach Champaran, we had to catch a train from Raigarh to Raipur. From Raipur, we took an auto riksha to the village. It’s around 45 kilometers from the main city of Raipur. We reached the place at about 10.00 am. The town was brown, dusty and half asleep. The sun was up and shining in the sky. I couldn’t get a chance to take a look expect a quick glance around. We had to rush to the temple as my mum wanted to fill the jhariji. This is supposed to a privilege only few are granted. Everyday from 10 am to 12 noon, few people are allowed to get close with Lord Krishna’s child avatar’s idol. They get to bathe him dress him up and play with him. The idol is in the temple premises. However, everyone is not allowed to do so. You’d need to be bhramsaman taken vaishnav and to be that, you need to fast for one whole day followed by other vidhi. I have been trying to schedule that fast for years now, but alas!

I had a good time recording the whole vidhi. The group comprised mainly of senior citizens and women. They were all so thrilled about the ritual that their faces shone with excitement. They sang hymns for baby Krishna and pulled his swing enthusiastically. But the best part of it all was they gave their sweet and shy smiles as my camera rolled clicking their pictures.

If you ever get a chance to visit Champaran, you must stay back for the evening arati on the banks of river Yamuna that flows through the village. It is supposed to an enchanting experience as hundreds of devotees gather at the banks as the priests’ lights the banks up with arati. Though, I couldn’t stay back for the arati, I cooled my heels in the river. Before leaving Champaran, I also visited one of the many gaushalas of the village. It is a place which shelters hundreds of cows. As the village boasts of being the birthplace of Lord Krishna’s incarnation, cows had to be given a special status. The most interesting of the whole housing scheme for the cows was that each cow had a name plate attached to her ‘home’ which stated the cow’s name, her home town and her caste!

Last few days:
The last few days in Raigarh were spent playing cards, taking late night walks, watching movies on pirated dvds and my attempt at photography. I learned a lot about what majority of India thinks and functions. It has many layers to it. The ones which I could observe were economical, political and social. The town was attractive, repulsive, loving, offensive, colourful and dark, all at the same time. All the adjectives mentioned above are so true for India as well. Not one adjective can ever hold true for our Swades. It contradicts itself at every juncture.

Jindal Steel and Power Plant changed the fate of the citizens of Raigarh. It not only brought in money but also physical and social infrastructure. Jindals gave Raigarh as identity. Though, very few know of Raigarh as a princely state before independence, many more know of Raigarh as home to India’s one of the biggest steel producing factory.

The other thing I noticed about Raigarh was that it is very politically charged. I had the fortune of visiting Raigarh during its municipal election phase. Today, I know how politics is viewed in Indian hinterlands. It is viewed as business. Everyone should know it and more importantly know about it. From a ten year old to an 80 year old would know the ABC of local politics. Who is contesting from where, how many seats are up for grabs, how much money can be made by buying and selling votes, which politician made the maximum use of his seat to make money are some questions whose answers would be known by a school kid too. No exaggerations here.

Socially, Raigarh has changed! There was a time when every woman in Raigarh used to wear a ghunghat in her home and while travelling outside. There was a time when education was given minimal importance, less for boys and lesser for girls. Today, almost every student in Raigarh, be it a girl or a boy studies is attaining education outside Raigarh or aspires to do in future. They are ambitious and they want it all. I am not saying this just to fill up lines. During my conversations with students in Raigarh, I felt that the students there don’t take anything for granted like most in city do. They know they lack opportunity but they certainly don’t lack the will. And the most amazing part is that they know they’ll get there. No questions about that.

The whole journey in pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141083&id=520501894&l=1e1b44f111