The morning newspaper announced the increasing harm being caused to crops by herds of elephants crossing across fields and damaging the fruit of the earth. The instance of an elephant being burnt alive by bathing it in petrol was particularly striking, making me wonder what lay in store for the road from here on into the hinterland of Jharkhand.
Hidden behind the rocky mountains, a small stream of water rushed down to create what the locals called Hundru waterfalls. Whilst during the monsoons the scene may be full of excitement with the crowds coming in from far to stick their heads out into the falls, the picture was very grim during the summers – however, what it presented was an opportunity for the locals to exhibit some unique fishing skills.
Packing some sodium nitrate crystals into a bottle of Bagpiper shoving it tight with a stick, they carried a flamed torch to the edge of the water. The harmless, almost placid pool of water was thrust with the ignited bottle to create an explosion that looked average but sounded deafening; almost making its way through the water current with ripples forming at the edges.
Within a few seconds, some of the victims came up to the surface with the silver scales flashing against the backdrop of the muddy water in the sunlight. The catch for the day, although meager was exhibited for the effort that it had required and the preparation style was the next matter of discussion.
On the way out, the excursion of stairs called for a drink – a bony figure offered to prepare some fresh ‘aam shorba’. Sticking out a raw mango on a shallow lit fire of twigs, the careful hands chopped the burnt pulp and presented it with a tinge of sugar & salt in the water drawn out of the pool. Sounds crazy to the health freak, but adventurous to the experimentative soul.
A long stream of bicycles loaded with coal – ‘black gold’ unofficially burrowed out of the mines made their way to the market en-route to the religious mecca of Deoghar – the final destination of the ‘kanwars’ from different parts of UP, Bihar & Bengal who carry the Mother Ganges on their shoulders to shower the Lord with Her divine waters during the holy month of Shravan.
On arrival at Deoghar, one is surrounded by the numerous ‘Pandas’ offering their religious services without the slightest hint of one’s inviting for the same. With each class of Panda having a temple devoted to a particular deity surrounding the main temple, their services include bringing up the records of one’s past generations on the mention of name and birth date – quite a fabulous task with Pentium 3 speed in spite of having no ‘Intel Inside’.
As the Pandas performed the rites of ‘mundan’ or first offering of hair by a
new-born, the 
tonsured hair found its way to the burial pit where the offerings of the same were made. Scavenging on the offerings, a small girl dressed in an unkempt orange frock raided the offerings hoping to find a piece of cloth / food or a few pennies to make her living for the day.
The crudeness of the lifestyle here hits you hard in the face at once, at the same time, the simplicity of it all makes you feel humbled.
Heard of the parallel (black) economy, but ever thought of a parallel India. Fact is, there exists a parallel India and if you think it’s the one I’ve described above, you’re wrong. For that’s the Real India.. If you are currently sitting in a comfortable room of your secure apartment, reading this blog out of the screen of your PC/laptop with the electricity to back it, then you are pretty much a part of the parallel India that I’m talking about.
The Real India’s out there to be explored.. you & me only belong to India 2.0!
Hidden behind the rocky mountains, a small stream of water rushed down to create what the locals called Hundru waterfalls. Whilst during the monsoons the scene may be full of excitement with the crowds coming in from far to stick their heads out into the falls, the picture was very grim during the summers – however, what it presented was an opportunity for the locals to exhibit some unique fishing skills.Packing some sodium nitrate crystals into a bottle of Bagpiper shoving it tight with a stick, they carried a flamed torch to the edge of the water. The harmless, almost placid pool of water was thrust with the ignited bottle to create an explosion that looked average but sounded deafening; almost making its way through the water current with ripples forming at the edges.
Within a few seconds, some of the victims came up to the surface with the silver scales flashing against the backdrop of the muddy water in the sunlight. The catch for the day, although meager was exhibited for the effort that it had required and the preparation style was the next matter of discussion.
On the way out, the excursion of stairs called for a drink – a bony figure offered to prepare some fresh ‘aam shorba’. Sticking out a raw mango on a shallow lit fire of twigs, the careful hands chopped the burnt pulp and presented it with a tinge of sugar & salt in the water drawn out of the pool. Sounds crazy to the health freak, but adventurous to the experimentative soul.A long stream of bicycles loaded with coal – ‘black gold’ unofficially burrowed out of the mines made their way to the market en-route to the religious mecca of Deoghar – the final destination of the ‘kanwars’ from different parts of UP, Bihar & Bengal who carry the Mother Ganges on their shoulders to shower the Lord with Her divine waters during the holy month of Shravan.
On arrival at Deoghar, one is surrounded by the numerous ‘Pandas’ offering their religious services without the slightest hint of one’s inviting for the same. With each class of Panda having a temple devoted to a particular deity surrounding the main temple, their services include bringing up the records of one’s past generations on the mention of name and birth date – quite a fabulous task with Pentium 3 speed in spite of having no ‘Intel Inside’.As the Pandas performed the rites of ‘mundan’ or first offering of hair by a
new-born, the 
tonsured hair found its way to the burial pit where the offerings of the same were made. Scavenging on the offerings, a small girl dressed in an unkempt orange frock raided the offerings hoping to find a piece of cloth / food or a few pennies to make her living for the day.The crudeness of the lifestyle here hits you hard in the face at once, at the same time, the simplicity of it all makes you feel humbled.
Heard of the parallel (black) economy, but ever thought of a parallel India. Fact is, there exists a parallel India and if you think it’s the one I’ve described above, you’re wrong. For that’s the Real India.. If you are currently sitting in a comfortable room of your secure apartment, reading this blog out of the screen of your PC/laptop with the electricity to back it, then you are pretty much a part of the parallel India that I’m talking about.
The Real India’s out there to be explored.. you & me only belong to India 2.0!