Bhopal Jan' 05....Month that had been....

Greetings from Bhopal!

Its been long since I have written a comprehensive mail elaborating what I have been doing since past one month. I thought it would be apt to make this lazy day a bit exciting by going through the happenings of last 4 weeks. Yeah, it was all very interesting and exciting and I have enjoyed a lot. Be it watching movies, visiting fairs, attending Dramas and Plays, chatting with friends over cup of tea or almost regularly before sleeping at night, a journey to the old Bhopal days with my retired house- owner who has been in Bhopal since last 50 years!

At the outset, I would like to make a statement; Bhopal is a cool place to live and an interesting place to be for persons like me. It offers so much with least effort for the satiation of the varied senses which, I have developed in due time. I am really enjoying being here.

In the month of January, Bhopal had its Annual event, a Fair, which was actually a place where one can see a variety of people, all too different but all seemed interesting. It was a rendezvous for these people (myself included) coming from all sections, classes, castes and regions that it was an exhibition in broader terms of the diversity that is synonymous with India. This fair offered almost everything one can think of, be it adventurous rides, sizzling delicacies, stalls, mini zoo, exhibitions of ultra modern electronic gadgets, handicrafts, books, furniture, automobiles and so on.. I went there for two consecutive weekends.

Subhash Ghai’s ‘Kisna’ kept me busy on the third weekend. This movie took off well and seemed to flow well initially but soon collapsed on the rocky fringes of Himalayas (around Dev-Prayaag). I, however, enjoyed the comments from the fellow viewers who were unwilling to partake this drama silently. The dinner - 'Special Masala dosa' at Indian Coffee House, New Market, is still keeping fresh in memory, after all it made me sleep well during night, which was unlikely after missing the dinner at mess.

Last week of Jan., I was out in Teak and Sal Jungles of Chhattisgarh. This was first time I was out in open dense forests. It was a splendid experience meandering through the thickets of trees, which were equally valuable to the local villages in the vicinity as were precious for the Forest Dept. We also visited 5 villages- I would not say ‘remote villages’ and so, because they were not cut off from the modern world. One might not find medical centres and schools or metalled roads here but products marketed by Hindustan Liver and ‘Gutkas’ were available easily. On 26 Jan, we (there were 2 other project members with me on this trip) celebrated republic day by freeing our selves from the official job of collecting data and went to a place called ‘Amarkantak’, this is a place from where two rivers have originated, Narmada and Son. It hasn’t been worth a visit if I had not seen a cluster of very old temples near the point where river Narmada originates. These temples, supposedly 600-700 yrs old caught all my attention, not just because of its age but because of the sheer neglect these temples were experiencing by the Govt. There was even no boundary wall to protect and secure these historical buildings, which were housing the treasures of our civilisation. (I later came to know that the Idols of Goddesses in these temples were worth many Crores in the international market and there had been many attempts for stealing them)

Last day of my trip should be noted as a very special one. On that day, since we had finished all the activities outlined for this trip, I left the place and went to a town called ‘Champa’ about 100 km away. This was something unprecedented and unexpected with this journey. This was the place where I had lived with my parents exactly 20 years ago. Here only I began my schooling, Nursery and Kinder Garten were from this place. I visited my old school and found that only two of the teachers from past 20 years are still serving there and to my greatest surprise these were my class teachers during Nursery and KG. Unbelievable!!! but it happened like that! I also went to see the house where we used to live, the river bank where I used to go bathing on Sundays with my father and the nearby ‘Hanuman temple’ where we used to stop by and my father would have some prayers. I don’t quite remember but I would have waited for ‘Prasad’ from the Pujaari at that time. (that’s I am sure). This trip was indeed very spectacular, I managed to restore all those childhood memories which were too faint otherwise to remember anything in detail but were still persistent in my thoughts.

I came back to Bhopal on 29 Jan’05 and remaining 2 days had nothing much to add to a month that has been full of so many pleasant moments however I visited ‘Lok Rang’, annual festival of folk and traditional art. It has some good stage performances and a sale of handicraft articles from all over MP and Chattisggarh. Items from the tribal hinterland caught my attention and I ended in buying a piece of wooden art depicting a tribal couple in their traditional dancing stance.

In this way Jan. as the first month of 2005 should be registered as an interesting and a very joyful month, full of many uncommon and very interesting incidents and events and I look forward for having similar moments in the month of Feb, when the seasonal transition would be evident in the colourful hue of flowers all over IIFM garden. I hope my time here would be colourful like that, with the company of nice friends out here in the IIFM and with the sweet memories of those, which I have left behind.