Chatra – Tatra
Chatra is in the northern part of Jharkhand and gained district status in 1991. Inhabitants are largely dependent on agriculture for subsistence. We have an ancestral house in Chatra called Lakshmi Nivas. This has been rented out now since no one stays in Chatra – ground floor to a Khadi Bhandar store and goldsmith, 1st floor to a doctor’s family. I asked around to find out where Lakshmi Nivas was. No one knew. But the city had only one main road. So I walked along the road. Some people on the way knew Khadi Bhandar and pointed me in the right direction. It was pretty dark now. Street lights on one side of the road were lit. I guessed that there was a power cut in one phase hence the lights on the other side were not on. I walked in the direction of the house thinking that Choti dadi would be so happy to meet me. She was in the village (Tatra) for Ram Navami celebrations (she travels from Calcutta to Tatra every year for this) and had come to Chatra for a day because she was told that she would be getting a phone call from Chennai and Tatra didn’t have telephones. She had no idea that I was on my way to meet and surprise her. Obviously she was thrilled to see me. There was a power cut in the house so we ate in the dark and slept early.
Next day, we went to meet some distant relatives early in the morning. Post-that, I had plans of roaming around the place. But the heat was oppressive during the day due to strong "loo". No one leaves their houses from 10am-4pm due to the heat. The heat also made me lethargic. I spent the day talking to Choti Dadi and reading the book I was carrying (Amitav Ghosh – Shadowlines). It was a fairly involved book and the heat made it impossible for my brain to comprehend most of it. So I gave up on it and slept.
At 4pm, when it was a little cooler, we got ready to leave for Tatra in a Trekker. A trekker is a shared Jeep that travels short distances - like from district to nearby villages. We settled ourselves in a Trekker that was about to leave. We got good seats and were fairly comfortable when it was announced that another Trekker was leaving for Tatra. Commotion all around as people scrambled to get good seats in the new Trekker. I guess its because most trekkers are filled more than capacity and the hour long journey can be fairly painful if you get bad seats. A tribal woman sat next to choti dadi and she was constantly cribbing about something. I was quite pained but none of it seemed to bother choti dadi. I wonder how she manages to travel in these conditions every year.
Tatra is about 18-20 kms from Chatra. Half the journey was on a state highway and the remaining on kuccha roads with fields on both sides. We reached Tatra at 5:30pm in the evening. Tatra village is a collection of 15-20 houses and a couple of temples. On one side of the village are the houses. Then there is the kuccha road that we were now walking on and a mountain stream on the other side. Across the banks of the river are the temples. In one of my previous trips to the village, I had jumped into the stream eager to try out my newly acquired swimming skills. I came out of the water with rashes all over the body and a high fever. Apparently, the water from the stream was used only to wash the cows and buffloes. This trip, water in the stream was barely a trickle given that it was peak summer season.
All families in the village are Dubeys. We passed a small colony of tribals who live just beyond the village boundaries. Ours is the first house in the row of houses that is Tatra. The house is in a state of disrepair and some distant relatives now live in our ancestral house. The house has a small kitchen and 2 rooms. The walls are made of mud to keep it cool in the summer heat. Outside the house, there is a courtyard with a shelter for a cow and a bullock on one side and a well on the other side. In the middle of the courtyard, there is a cot. In short, it was every bit like the village houses that I had seen in movies.
We all slept in the courtyard under the stars that night. Next morning, I drew water from the well and bathed. After an early breakfast, we went around the village meeting people. Most people were thrilled that I had come all this way to the village and asked me to keep coming regularly. We also went to our ancestral temple in the village for pooja. The priest told me that all the villages on the other side of the stream were naxal-infested, thankfully Tatra was safe (so far). As I walked back through the village, I noticed one small shop selling consumer products (there were no P&G products). Next to it was a post-office and at the end of the road there was an STD booth. It was my only connection to the outside world since there was no cell phone connectivity in the village. It was now 10am and the heat was unimaginable. Choti dadi suggested that we go back home till evening. Even farmers came back home at 11am and didn’t leave till the heat subsided in the evening. At night I slept on the roof. For as far as my eye could see, there were no lights. I laid back on my cot and spent a long time staring at the stars before I finally fell asleep. The next day I left for Chatra in a Trekker at 7am.
Chatra is in the northern part of Jharkhand and gained district status in 1991. Inhabitants are largely dependent on agriculture for subsistence. We have an ancestral house in Chatra called Lakshmi Nivas. This has been rented out now since no one stays in Chatra – ground floor to a Khadi Bhandar store and goldsmith, 1st floor to a doctor’s family. I asked around to find out where Lakshmi Nivas was. No one knew. But the city had only one main road. So I walked along the road. Some people on the way knew Khadi Bhandar and pointed me in the right direction. It was pretty dark now. Street lights on one side of the road were lit. I guessed that there was a power cut in one phase hence the lights on the other side were not on. I walked in the direction of the house thinking that Choti dadi would be so happy to meet me. She was in the village (Tatra) for Ram Navami celebrations (she travels from Calcutta to Tatra every year for this) and had come to Chatra for a day because she was told that she would be getting a phone call from Chennai and Tatra didn’t have telephones. She had no idea that I was on my way to meet and surprise her. Obviously she was thrilled to see me. There was a power cut in the house so we ate in the dark and slept early.
Next day, we went to meet some distant relatives early in the morning. Post-that, I had plans of roaming around the place. But the heat was oppressive during the day due to strong "loo". No one leaves their houses from 10am-4pm due to the heat. The heat also made me lethargic. I spent the day talking to Choti Dadi and reading the book I was carrying (Amitav Ghosh – Shadowlines). It was a fairly involved book and the heat made it impossible for my brain to comprehend most of it. So I gave up on it and slept.
At 4pm, when it was a little cooler, we got ready to leave for Tatra in a Trekker. A trekker is a shared Jeep that travels short distances - like from district to nearby villages. We settled ourselves in a Trekker that was about to leave. We got good seats and were fairly comfortable when it was announced that another Trekker was leaving for Tatra. Commotion all around as people scrambled to get good seats in the new Trekker. I guess its because most trekkers are filled more than capacity and the hour long journey can be fairly painful if you get bad seats. A tribal woman sat next to choti dadi and she was constantly cribbing about something. I was quite pained but none of it seemed to bother choti dadi. I wonder how she manages to travel in these conditions every year.
Tatra is about 18-20 kms from Chatra. Half the journey was on a state highway and the remaining on kuccha roads with fields on both sides. We reached Tatra at 5:30pm in the evening. Tatra village is a collection of 15-20 houses and a couple of temples. On one side of the village are the houses. Then there is the kuccha road that we were now walking on and a mountain stream on the other side. Across the banks of the river are the temples. In one of my previous trips to the village, I had jumped into the stream eager to try out my newly acquired swimming skills. I came out of the water with rashes all over the body and a high fever. Apparently, the water from the stream was used only to wash the cows and buffloes. This trip, water in the stream was barely a trickle given that it was peak summer season.
All families in the village are Dubeys. We passed a small colony of tribals who live just beyond the village boundaries. Ours is the first house in the row of houses that is Tatra. The house is in a state of disrepair and some distant relatives now live in our ancestral house. The house has a small kitchen and 2 rooms. The walls are made of mud to keep it cool in the summer heat. Outside the house, there is a courtyard with a shelter for a cow and a bullock on one side and a well on the other side. In the middle of the courtyard, there is a cot. In short, it was every bit like the village houses that I had seen in movies.
We all slept in the courtyard under the stars that night. Next morning, I drew water from the well and bathed. After an early breakfast, we went around the village meeting people. Most people were thrilled that I had come all this way to the village and asked me to keep coming regularly. We also went to our ancestral temple in the village for pooja. The priest told me that all the villages on the other side of the stream were naxal-infested, thankfully Tatra was safe (so far). As I walked back through the village, I noticed one small shop selling consumer products (there were no P&G products). Next to it was a post-office and at the end of the road there was an STD booth. It was my only connection to the outside world since there was no cell phone connectivity in the village. It was now 10am and the heat was unimaginable. Choti dadi suggested that we go back home till evening. Even farmers came back home at 11am and didn’t leave till the heat subsided in the evening. At night I slept on the roof. For as far as my eye could see, there were no lights. I laid back on my cot and spent a long time staring at the stars before I finally fell asleep. The next day I left for Chatra in a Trekker at 7am.
4 comments:
Interesting...what made me nostalgic was the name of the ancestral house "Lakshmi Nivas"...its the name of my building in matunga.... :-)
I have never really been to a village, but this definitely sounds like a good experience!
Well written!!!
go Mac!
at first this post looked scary - reminded me of the Reading Comprehension section of the celebrated Cameena Aadmi Test.
But reading it was surprisingly easy - and fun - love the way the setting comes alive.
keep going...
swetha: I didnt realize that your bldg had the same name...passed by your house when I went to bbay recently :)
Shrenik: You are right ya..I just cant seem to find interesting names for my posts
Dear Mac,
Nice to hear about my home town "CHATRA". I really could not hold my eyes after reading this travel story. I love my home town really it is the best place.
Azhar Sabir
JNU, New Delhi
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