Kolkata Kaleidoscope : Durga Puja

Bengal had been waiting for the Durga Puja, its most cherished festival, for some time. Though the weather conditions have changed much over the years resulting in changes in the characteristics of “Sharat” (autumn) from what we have read in the books and we do not really see much “kaash” flowers in the city, but somehow one can sense a change in the air when the Pujas are approaching and suddenly before anyone realizes, Mahalaya is there, knocking on the doors.

Durga Puja is the most celebrated festival of Bengal that takes place for five days in autumn. The mythology is that when the demon Mahishasura let loose a reign of terror and the gods were unable to overpower him, they prayed in unison and the energy emanated from their prayers created goddess Durga, who had supreme powers and who was entrusted with the task of defeating the demon army of Mahishasura. This has been portrayed in details in the Markendya Purana. The other myth (or should I say history) is that originally Durga Puja was performed in spring but Rama worshipped Durga in autumn before engaging in a war with Ravana (this is known as “Akaal Bodhon”) and from then the Pujas are carried out in autumn.

The artisans portray the Mahishasuramardini image of Durga in the idols they make where the goddess (sitting on a lion and with ten weapons in her ten hands) is seen to subjugate the demon Mahishasura who has come out of the trunk of a decapitated buffalo.

The goddess, who is revered as a mother and referred to as Ma Durga, is also seen with her children (Laxmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik) by her side. According to some other purana, she is perceived as Uma, the wife of Lord Shiva. In Bengal, this representation of her is more popular over her warrior aspect and the five days of Durga Puja are believed to be the time when Ma Durga, along with her children, makes a visit to her paternal home every year.

Initially, Durga Puja was carried out in the homes of the wealthy and the affluent. But later on twelve “brahmins“ or noble men got together and performed a (“barowari”) Puja for the masses (“sarbojanin”) and the money was collected in the form of subscription. This has become the trend over the years.

Shashti was the only working day for me during the Pujas. Saptami and Ashtami were holidays and Navami and Dashami fell on weekends. Even on Shahsti, the mood at the office was far from doing serious work. People were contemplating to leave early either to pursue their own Puja plans or to avoid the mad Puja traffic. I had a lunch invitation myself at Santanu’s place near the airport and left office accordingly. The only worry was how to reach home in the evening. The Metro was one option, but then for the last few days I had been reading all sorts of news regarding the malfunctions of the Metro due to the Puja rush and may be compounded by the inauguration of so many new stations without investing in new rail rakes. Thankfully, Saibal gave me a lift in his car up to Rashbehari crossing and surprisingly it did not take us much long time like the previous evening. May be that was because, we took the Park Circus connector and not the Kasba one from the EM Bypass.

In between Rashbehari crossing and my home some distinguished Pujas take place. But anticipating they would be much crowded, I took the Pratapaditya Road where some not so famous but decent enough Pujas are located. The first one on the way was the Trikon Park which built a lovely “pandal” in the shape of a temple with marble floors and art work.

As I was walking further down, I noticed a sign on the walls of an old worn out building declaring it as a dangerous one and cautioning the people not to touch it. These kinds of notices are usually put up by the Corporation so at first I did not heed much attention to it. But after a while it looked strange, as I did not remember any such building being there and I came back to the place. Then only I realized that it was actually a Puja “pandal” that had been designed like an old “zamindar” house (the Babubagan concept from the previous year) with the interiors decorated with old world furnitures and gramophones, oil paintings and heads of stuffed hunted down animals which once adorned the supposedly declining “zamindari”. This Puja called the Chatuskon Park was a discovery this year and actually I saw long queues at its gates on the following days.

Pratapaditya Road Trikon Park


Pratapaditya Road Chatushkon Park - Sharad Sammilani


After visiting these two Pujas, I gathered some courage to try and see the more renowned ones. First on list was Mudiyali Club. It usually follows traditional theme and this time round it was not anything different. The idols of the deities or “pratima” as we say is “ekchala” i.e. with a semi-elliptical backdrop behind the images. The “pandal” or the makeshift building resembled a grand golden temple. After Mudiyali, it was the turn of Shibmandir, which is known for its innovative themes. This time the theme was something like Mother Nature, I guess. The interiors were like a forest and the “pandal” itself was like the trunk of a tree. Unfortunately, I could not take any good snap as it was much crowded. When one exits from the rear end of Shibmandir, one can make a quick visit to Sebak Sangha. This Puja is located where the road past the Menoka Cinema meets the Lake Avenue. Since my school was nearby, I have seen this Puja for many years. The “pratima” made by Mohanbasi Rudrapal is its main attraction.

Sebak Sangha


Very near to my home, a nice and small Puja takes place at someone’s residence in the Charu Avenue. After resting for a while on the couches there I went to see the Nabapally Sangha Puja before returning home. This was a renowned Puja not many years ago and won some prizes as well when I was young, but has slowly faded into oblivion probably due to lack of patronage.

Charu Avenue - Barir Puja


Nabapalli Sangha


On Saptami Ma and I ventured to see Pujas from North Calcutta in our new car. We took the Central Avenue and hoped to see the Md. Ali Park Puja. As far I could remember, the last time I saw that particular Puja was more than fifteen years back. However, it proved to be difficult to park nearby and in our quest of finding a suitable parking space, we turned left into MG Road and ultimately reached Rabindra Sarani. We let go Md. Ali Park and made our first stop at Rabindra Kanan, a Puja that takes place in a park off the Rabindra Sarani.

Rabindra Kanan


Continuing on Rabindra Sarani, we made our next stop near Ahiritola. Since we parked at some distance, we first had a look into the BK Pal Park Puja before proceeding to Ahiritola. The concept over there was of an underwater world with fishes and corals inside the “pandal” and the outside was like boats ferrying on the surface of the water.

Ahiritola Sarbajanin




Next on cards was Kumartuli. I had come to Kumartuli a week earlier to see the idols in making. Now was the time to see the finished product. The theme there was “kaal-chakra” with different sections comprising images of Rama and Krishna etc. The idol of Durga was unique with a Vasuki like snake behind her and many images resembling mime artists playing the part of Mahishasura.

Kumartuli Park


I had to stop by Chhotomasi’s home to hand her over some papers related to her Mumbai trip and before going to her house we visited the Bagbazar Sarbajanin Puja. This was again a traditional Puja with Durga in “daker-saaj”. The imposing chandelier was another attraction.

Bagbazar Sarbajanin



The stay at Chhotomasi’s place was a brief one as she was getting ready for the flight to catch. She advised to make a stop by Hatibagan on our way back. Here, Durga did not have any weapon and the demon Mahishasura was asking for mercy with his hands folded instead of being engaged in a war with Durga.

Hatibagan


Since we planned to take the Bypass route on our way back home, we decided to make a visit to Telengabagan. It is one of the most sought after Pujas nowadays. The idol of Durga had clay like finish and standed on a large Shivalinga. The images of her children were carved out near her feet and one had to make a round trip to see them all. The “pandal” was also built such that there was no wall around the deity and one could do a “pradakkhin” around it.

Telengabagan


The journey home was uneventful except for the fact that we could not locate our car and driver for quite some time after we came out of Telengabagan. I reached home in the late afternoon, had a very late lunch and I took a quick nap before going out again in the evening with Subhadip who had come down to Kolkata from Lucknow to celebrate Pujas before his trimester exams.

Initially we planned to meet near Deshapriya Park, but the cab I took could not go that far since there was a no entry sign on Lake Road and I was coming from the Southern Avenue end. I got down there and went to visit Samajsebi Sangha and asked Subhadip to meet me there. The “pandal” was decorated with dolls made from clothes. A few snaps later, I went to the other Puja which is located nearby – Ballygunge Cultural. The “dhakis” (drummers) were doing a special session when I reached there. In the mean time Subhadip reached Samaj Sebi and I had to go back there and again come to see Ballygunge Cultural. We heard that Vidya Balan inaugurated the Puja this time. Soon after, we crossed Rashbehari Avenue and went on to visit the Tridhara Sammilani Puja. This is the same order in which I visited these Pujas for the last couple of years and usually Tridhara Sammilani gives tough competition to the other two though they are more famous. However, this time I did not understand their concept. It was like this bluish grid backdrop that reminds one of laser shows and there were three large idols which hardly looked like images of Durga. The funny part is that when someone inquired about the theme of the Puja, one of the organizers gave him a booklet to read to understand the theme. This is one of the examples of the over indulgence of Puja themes in recent times when more often than not, no one understands what the theme is.

Samajsebi Sangha



Ballygunge Cultural


Tridhara Sammilani


We took the exit towards Hazra Road from Tridhara Sammilani to proceed towards our next destination, Maddox Square. Similar to previous year we took a wrong turn and took Manoharpukur Road to end up near the Hazra crossing end and again changed direction towards Sarat Bose Road. In between we stopped by Hazra Balak Sangha, Hazra 22 Pally and many other less known Pujas, the name I do not remember any more. Maddox Square “pratima” was again a traditional “ekchala” like the earlier years. The attraction of the Puja is its ambience and the quality of the crowd. Usually people select this Puja as the meeting place for friends. The large ground helps a lot to this cause. But for the past few years it had been raining during the Pujas and this time also I noticed patches of water and mud here and there. However, that did not restrict the youngsters from sitting down on newspapers on the very ground. Even there were newspapers available for sale for sitting purpose. It seemed that nowadays people meet here for “adda” more due to the fact that it is fashionable rather than to enjoy the charm it once provided. As a result all and sundry meet up here since everyone wants to be cool, and as a result the sophistication of the place is lost in the process.

Maddox Square


From Maddox Square we took a cab to Sadananda Road to make an attempt to see the Badamtala Ashar Sangha Puja. This Puja again has gained a lot eminence is the last few years. I think the last time I could see this particular Puja was back when I was in school. Lately it is so crowded that I usually prefer to avoid. Fortunately for us, this time round, the crowd was not so much. The cabbie who took us there had no knowledge of the roads and I had to guide him throughout. At least I am not the only person who can not remember most of the roads. The most fascinating part of Ashar Sangha was that they have painted and decorated the surrounding buildings as well as the nearby trees and even lamp posts with colourful festoons. It took a while before we realized that those are real buildings with people living in.

Just beside Ashar Sangha, there is another well-known Puja called 66 Pally. This year they had used innumerous paper lamps and colourful umbrellas hanging upside down with lights inside that resulted in a striking effect. The other atypical thing about this Puja was that Mahishasura was on the right side of Durga and the Lion on the left side. Usually it is the other way round.

Badamtala Ashaar Sangha




66 Pally



On my return way, I again visited or rather accompanied Subhadip to Mudiyali and Shibmandir. Any attempt to take any photo was again futile, more because of the overzealous crowd management of the volunteers at those places rather than the actual crowd rush.

On Ashtami I go and offer “anjali” or prayers at the Balaram Bose Ghat Puja near Ma’s ancestral home. This claims to be the oldest “barowari” Puja in Kolkata and this was its 101st year. Starting from its centenary year, it has started to build a big gate at the front and other adornments on the walls. Earlier, it used to be a simple and placid affair.

After the “anjali” and a quick visit to the Avaya Mandir, which is adjacent to the Puja and houses a permanent idol of Durga, we dashed off to visit a few other renowned Pujas of Bhowanipore. Of course we did not forget to buy the customary “khasta kachuris” from “goopi’s”, a small confectionary shop on Balaram Bose Ghat Road. The Pujas we payed a visit to, were Harish Park, 68 Pally, Bakulbagan, Golmath and Abasar, in that order. On our way Ma and Boromasi showed me the ancestral house of Uttam Kumar on Girish Mukherjee Road. Thirty years after his death, he still remains the only superstar from Bengal. May be Prasenjit will catch up to him some day. Bakulbagan usually portrays obscure images of Durga, but this year it broke all earlier records. According to the billboards, the theme and idol had been conceptualized by Mamata Banerjee. May be she is trying to beat the chief minister on the cultural front as well.

Bhowanipore Adi Sanatani Dharmatsahini Sabha (Balaram Bose Ghat)



Avaya Mandir


Harish Park


68 Pally


Bakulbagan


Golmath


Abasar


From Bhowanipore we went to Ballygunge to pay a visit to Pishimani’s house. Pishemoshai was not keeping well for the last few days. On our way home we stopped by Adi Ballygunge and 21 Pally. I think the last time Ma took me to Adi Ballygunge was when I was a little boy. There were ethnic paintings on the walls of the “pandal” depicting scenes from the stories of Durga.

Adi Ballygunge



21 Pally


On Nabami, we decided to visit the remaining prominent Pujas in South Calcutta. We started off with Sanghasree near Kalighat. This was a famous Puja in the bygone days but lost its charm over the years probably because of lack of funds. This year however, the Puja was gorgeous. Different manifestations of Durga were depicted.

Sanghasree


From there we went on to see the Deshapriya Park Puja. We entered from the Priya Cinema end which is generally reserved for VIPs and members but no one objected since it was during daytime.

Deshapriya Park


Next on list was the Singhee Park Puja. It had built its “pandal” as a replica of the Golden Temple of Amritsar. It was exciting as I was scheduled to visit the real temple during my vacation after the Pujas.

Singhee Park



Just opposite to Singhee Park is the illustrious Ekdalia Evergreen Puja which receives the patronage of trade union leader Subrata Mukherjee. By the way, he is again back in the Trinamool Congress from Congress. Not sure how many times he switched sides. The chandelier at Ekdalia is one of its great attractions apart from the electrical lighting. Since it was during the day, we could not enjoy the light works but the chandelier did not disappoint us.

Ekdalia Evergreen



Driving through Gariahat Road, we left our car near Babubagan. There was a huge traffic jam near Babubagan right in the afternoon and a queue as well at its gates. I think Durga and the others were depicted as tribal people. The “pandal” however was made of circuit boards and computer key boards etc. So I am not very sure about the correlation of the two.

Babubagan


Ma and I wandered around for some time before we could locate the Selimpur Pally Puja. It used intermingled pieces of woods as the “pandal”. If I remember correctly it was according to some sort of art work names “sajhi”. I was wondering how they would protect the “pratima” during the rains.

Selimpur Pally


We crossed Gariahat Road and went to see the Jodhpur Park Puja. The “pandal” was built with colourful blocks similar to what kids play with.

Jodhpur Park



Since we would board the car again from Prince Anwar Shah Road, we made a brief stop at the Taltala EDF Ground Puja which is named as Pallimangal Samiti. The theme was the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. Imitations of his paintings adorned the walls of the “pandal”. There was a statue of him at the front and the “pandal” itself was a replica of one his houses at Shantiniketan (Shyamali – if I remember correctly).

Pallimangal Samiti (Taltala EDF)



It proved to be too much walking for Ma from Babubagan to EDF, as her knees gave away to the arthritic pain. Thankfully she got enough rest at Runa’s house which was our next destination. The housing society that Runa stays at started its own Durga Puja from this year and even won some prizes and recognitions. Here also the theme was Rabindranath or specifically his “Sahaj Path”. We had our lunch there and accompanied Runa and Rishi to the Mudiyali and Shibmandir Pujas. This was the third time I visited these couple of Pujas and finally I could take some snaps.

Runa's Housing Soceity


Mudiyali Club



Shibmandir




At last I visited the Puja which takes place in the “para” or neighbourhood just beside our house.

Shanti Pally


Bijoya Dashami was the last day of the five days of Durga Puja. I had no plans for that day and spent the entire day at home and helped myself with sweets ignoring all the fears of weight I was putting up in the process. The mood around was pensive and that of melancholy since it is believed that Ma Durga returns to her husband’s home from her paternal home on this day. This day also marks the beginning of the wait for next year’s Durga Puja. Hope it will be as joyous and blissful as this year’s was.

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : Kumartuli

Durga Puja is round the corner and this time I took the initiative to visit Kumartuli (for the first time), the home and workshop of the famous clay model makers of Kolkata. The name of the place has its origin (quite evidently) from “kumar” (pronounced as “kumor” in Bengali), which means potters. These potters can be traced back to Krishnanagar, the haven of clay modeling in Bengal. Some potters from Krishnanagar shifted base to Gobindapore, around three hundred years back, in search of a livelihood and later on moved to Sutanooti. The city of Kolkata (earlier known as Calcutta) was formed with the three villages of Gobindapore, Sutanooti and Kalikuta in the late seventeenth century.

For those who don’t know what Durga Puja is, they should not be allowed to live :-). On a serious note, it is the most renowned and celebrated festival of Bengal that takes place for five days in autumn. The mythology is that when the demon Mahishasura let loose a reign of terror and the gods were unable to overpower him, they prayed in unison and the energy emanated from their prayers created goddess Durga, who had supreme powers and who was entrusted with the task of defeating the demon army of Mahishasura.

The artisans portray the Mahishasuramardini image of Durga in the idols they make where the goddess (sitting on a lion and with ten weapons in her ten hands) is seen to subjugate the demon Mahishasura who has come out of the trunk of a decapitated buffalo.
The goddess who is revered as a mother and referred to as Ma Durga, is also seen with her children (Laxmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik) by her side. According to some other purana, she is perceived as Uma, the wife of Lord Shiva. In Bengal, this representation of her is more popular over her warrior aspect and the five days of Durga Puja are believed to be the time when Ma Durga, along with her children, makes a visit to her paternal home every year. So, even if Uma was the daughter of the Himalayas, she has made the plains of Bengal her own home and all of us Bengalees, her children. This is unique to Bengal, as far I know, since the goddess, though may be depicted differently in many puranas, is not worshipped in this form in any other part of the country.

The crafsmen at Kumartuli use straw and jute strands to form a shape of the deities on a skeleton of bamboo sticks and wooden planks and on a wooden pedestal, and then they cover it with a thick layer of clay. The delicate modeling of the figures is curved out of the clay by expert artisans. Modeling the face is the most difficult part and is left for the more skilled ones. The surface of the figures is smoothed with a wet piece of cloth and when they dry up they are whitewashed with a chalk solution before applying the base colour. On the last stage, after the colouring is over, a layer of varnish is applied to have the glossy look. More often the figures are decorated with gorgeous dresses and dazzling ornaments.

Idols are almost ready at Ramesh Chandra Pal’s studio. See those white tags, they carry the names of the Puja committees that ordered them. Ma Durga is waiting for her wigs to arrive.


The lion is closing in on the demon Mahishasura. The Khans would have been proud of such a body :-)


The artisan is working at another studio. Much more work to do. The Pujas are only a week away.


Work has just started in some other studio. Way to go.


Not sure if these deities would find a home or not. They are still in nascent state.



This Mahishasura is all cracked up.


A series of Ganesha (the elephant headed god, eldest son of Durga).


Shutters are down on goddess Laxmi (goddess of wealth). But I thought India is coming out of recession :-)


Gates are closed on Durga too, but this time to keep off enthusiasts like us.


An unused stranded Viswakarma in front of electric meter boxes. Viswakarma puja was in September.


Don’t spread rumours! Kumartuli is very much at Kumartuli. The craftsmen are not moving out to any other place.


If you still have any doubts, just see at the long list of artisans working here.


Even the walls here are covered with beautiful graffiti of goddess Kali.


Wooden planks and bamboo sticks separate the good from the evil.


The labourers are enjoying a sleep before they embark on the duty of carrying the gigantic idols to the respective puja pandals.


At last a finished goddess. Just give her the weapons and she will be ready for the fight against the evil.

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : Jain Temples

Although I have been living in Kolkata for all my life, there are very few places that I have actually been to in Kolkata. One may say that a feeling of complacency sets in of the kind “Oh! They are just so near, I can visit any day” and ultimately they still somehow remain unvisited. Our new car provided the freedom to roam around the city freely without any anxiety of transportation. It also presented Ma the opportunity to go places, which she seldom can out of her normal routine of work and home. So we decided to make our first outing on Gandhi Jayanti, which was a holiday for both of us.

The next thing to do was to select a place. After much deliberation we zeroed in on the Pareshnath Jain Temple. I went through some websites to get a list of places to see in Kolkata and this was a consistent one in most of those websites. The pictures looked promising as well. But the problem was to locate the temple. And here was the confusion. In some website, I read that it is in Belgachhia but the Google maps showed it on Badri Das Temple Street which is very near to where my aunt lives. Since I have no confidence on the road map or the whereabouts of north Kolkata, we relied on my aunt and to our comfort she said that she knows both the places. So we first picked her up from her home and went on to visit the temple in Belgachhia. My other aunt also accompanied us.

Just after the R.G. Kar Hospital and near the Belgachhia metro station, a large temple complex stood (beside a flyover – we actually had to go down the flyover and take a u-turn). This is indeed called the Pareshnath Temple. There is a corporation signboard indicating the same. There is a red temple with a reservoir in front and a tower like structure on one side that hosts statuettes of different Jain Tirthankaras.




There is a statue of Pareshnath inside made of white marble with some other small figurines at its foot.


There were some pictures from Jain stories on the walls of the main hall of the temple and some glasswork on the ceiling.



The place was quite well maintained but due to the scorching heat we could not walk around for long bare footed on the heated up marble floors.

We came back to my aunt’s place and after a delicious lunch, we set out for Badri Das Temple Street. This is near Hatibagan and just off Raja Dinendra Street. There are four Jain temples in close proximity, which matched the description on the Internet.

The most popular amongst them is the Shitalnathji Temple, which was built in 1867. It is a grand complex. The place is extremely neat and clean for a temple with marble statues and glass works aplenty in the garden. There is also a reservoir at one side and a statue of the founder of the temple, Rai Budree Das Bahadoor Mookim just in front of the temple.



The temple structure has exquisite glasswork throughout the body and the ceiling and even the railings and the pillars.



The inside is more extravagant with a huge chandelier in the centre and some delicate chandeliers made out of coloured glass around it. The work on the inner ceiling of the central dome is grand but somewhat worn out. The forehead of the deity of Shitalnathji is studded with diamonds. The most tragic part is that photography is not allowed inside the temple building. However, one may take pictures from within the outer complex.

Just beside the Shitalnathji Temple stands another temple dedicated to Lord Chandra Prabhujidev. This has a simpler structure but is also more than a hundred years old.
A flight of steps ascends to the temple with two lion statues guarding at either side.



Opposite to the Shitalnathji Temple, exists the Dadaji Temple. Not sure to whom this temple is dedicated to. Did not see any statue for worshipping in the Taj Mahal like temple structure. Some religious songs were being played out in the temple and there was a sizable gathering of devotees. This temple also has a reservoir at the rear and some ducks were swimming around.


The last of the four temples is the Mahavira temple. This one is quite new with no fancy craftwork and dedicated to Lord Mahavira, the last of the Tirthankaras.


Still wondering why Google shows results describing this place on Badri Das Temple Street while searching for “Pareshnath Jain Temple”. So, is the main temple dedicated to Lord Shitalnath who I think was the tenth Tirthankar or Lord Pareshnath who was the 23rd Tirthankar? Signing off with the confusion still looming large in my head, whether this one also is known as the Pareshnath Jain Temple.

Tales from the other Taals

Finally, we were on the last day of our trip. We had o catch the Ranikhet Express from Kathgodam in the evening and we checked out of Mukteshwar in the morning after breakfast. So, there were a few more hours at our disposal and as planned earlier, we decided to hop by some of the places we did not visit during our stay at Nainital, in the beginning of the trip.

The first place on the list was Bhimtal. This lake was larger than that of Nainital and the water seemed to be more clean and green. In fact, people who tend to have a quiet vacation may opt to stay one or two nights at this place instead of or in addition to Nainital.



There’s an interesting piece of history or rather mythology bound to the place. The story goes that during the “Agyatvas” of the Pandavas, Bhima went to fetch water on Draupadi’s behest and on not finding any water nearby, struck the ground with his “gada” and that was the source of the lake. It is also believed that Bhima built a temple near the lake. Though we noticed a temple a few metres away from the lake, we were not that inclined to go down and visit and instead roamed around the lake for a while. A small island in the middle of the lake added to the charm of the lake.

Due to the scorching sun, we could not wander for much longer at the place and decided to take our lunch in a restaurant near by. After lunch we headed for another lake.

But on the way, we made a brief stop at the Hanuman Garhi temple. It is a famous temple, according to our driver Puran, dedicated to Lord Hanuman. We could see a large statuette of Hanuman from the outside and did not bother to enter the interiors of the temple. Now this place is supposedly very near to Nainital and it offers a good sunset view. Alas, sunset was not even close. And Puran did not mention the place or that it is a sunset point, during our stay at Nainital. But then again it had been his characteristic for the entire trip. So there was no point in getting irritated all over again on the last day.



Naukuchiatal was the last place we stopped by before we finally headed for the railway station at Kathgodam. The lake has nine vertices, though it was difficult to clearly identify the nine corners from the banks. We noticed quite a few large ducks near the lake – the ones we call “Rajhans”.

Since we were seeing too many places in too less time, we were not able to absorb the beauty of each place separately as we should have. Rather, it was like being at each of the places just for the sake of it. So finally we said it quits and decided to set off for Kathgodam and actually reached the station with much time to spare.



I would like to close the trip report of Kumaon mentioning one little observation. Many a times during our journeys, I noticed fine looking ambulances plying on the road. They are state run with some number (probably 108) displayed in large font all over. Puran explained that if anyone calls that number for medical help, the ambulance reaches his/her home, within acceptable time, to take the ailing to the nearby hospital. And mind you that the hospitals are also located at the large towns only, so they have attending doctors with the ambulances for urgent requirement. And this medical service is free provided by the government. It was hard to believe in our country and I could not even imagine such a service in my state. And according to Puran this service actually works and works well. In fact this is one of the facilities he mentioned that the state of Uttarakhand introduced for its people after the split from Uttar Pradesh. But then I thought, is this kind of service feasible in the part of the world where I come from. Puran actually confirmed my reservation putting forward the observation that people seldom fall seriously ill or ill at all in these parts and when they do (with age I presume) they do for good, with little possibility of recovery. That’s why the free ambulance service works so well because it’s not used that much as it could have been in any urban establishment. That’s the beauty of the mountains. I hope that the mountains can keep alive their healing beauty and do not get crippled with the muck of the urban encroachments. Then, we, the children of the claustrophobic city life would have no where to run to, for refuge.

Meandering in Mukteshwar

Mukteshwar was the last leg of our Kumaon tour. We reached the place in the afternoon. Situated at a height of 2286 metres above sea level, Mukteshwar is a quiet little hill station. The tourism brochure mentioned that one can do this and that, visit this place or that in Mukteshwar or simply sit back and relax. I think there is no better way to put it right across. More than sightseeing, the town is more suitable for escaping from the fast urban life and let oneself unwind.

Our KMVN hotel was located at the very end of the town. In fact no sooner we entered the town of Mukteshwar, we reached the hotel and the road did not proceed any further. So the town was a small one. Again we got only vegetarian food at the hotel restaurant. And we got to know that the ration actually comes from a town which is located before Mukteshwar. If I remember correctly, the name of the other town is Matelia.

Lunch was late and after an hour’s rest, I thought of taking a walk and look around the place. Abhishek was not feeling well, so the others decided to stay back. An aimless walk with no one by side has its own charm in a way. The first thing I noticed was the variation in plantation. Till then, pine was predominant in the places we visited in our Kumaon trip. But here in Mukteshwar, I noticed more cedar trees. There was a good view point just in front of the hotel but due to cloud cover the mountain ranges were not much visible. After spending some time there, I was wondering which way to pursue.

The striking thing about the topography of Mukteshwar is the sharp jagged protuberance of the rocks and there is a place where this characteristic is predominant providing the place an impression of overhanging cliffs. The place is locally known as Chauli-ki-Jali. There was an arrow indicating Chauli-ki-Jali towards the left of the hotel and I started walking that way. But after a few steps only, I was at my wit’s end as there was no road to pursue. Then I realized that there was a narrow uneven road that went up by the side of a hotel. There was a notice mentioning that the road is for public and not for hotel use only. Confirmed, I went up the road, if one can actually call it a road. It was rather a lopsided narrow stretch cut from the mountains and soon I was lost to myself with no trace of humanity in vicinity. After some time I was thinking seriously whether I should pursue the road any further since it was becoming more uneven. Suddenly at a turn, there was a group of people. They were probably sitting there waiting for the sunset. But there was still some time left for the sunset. I decided not to proceed any further. Neither did I stay there and wait, but returned back.



Soon, I again reached our hotel and since there was still sunlight, I continued my walk; this time in the opposite direction. After a few minutes, I reached the footsteps of the Mukteshwar Dham, the Lord Shiva temple from which the town gets its name. A couple of hundred steps’ climb took me to the temple. It was calm and tranquil with only a lone saint doing his own silent “yagna”, quietly. He did not pay any attention to me. So I moved over to the rear side of the temple from where one can have a top view of the Chauli-ki-Jali.



I came down to the road beneath the temple in a different route and found that there was another way to the Chauli-ki-Jali from that place. That road seemed much more even and safe but I did not pursue continuing walking to the Chauli-ki-Jali then as it was approaching sunset. Instead, I thought of walking down the main road for some more time. Soon, I reached the small market with only a handful of shops and that too most of them were already closed. No wonder that the hotel brings its ration from the next town. There was a branch of SBI in a bungalow shaped small building and two men, probably employees of the bank, were playing carom outside the bank. Then there was a small post office as well. That too was closed. And there was an IVRI campus just at the staring point of the town. Within the next few minutes, I reached the starting point of the town. My guess is that if one walks along the main road from there, one will reach the KMVN rest house in less than fifteen minutes and that is probably the farthest one can go. So, one can well imagine how small a place the town of Mukteshwar is. Of course there are small hilly roads branching out off the main road that perhaps take one to the other parts where the locals live or some other places where hotels and offices are located or may be even rest houses built by outsiders to take refuge at some particular time of the year, far from the madding crowd. I took one such path that went downwards from the starting point of the town and walked for some time. There was a small church which seemed nearby, but one can never be sure with the winding hilly roads. So even after ten minutes or so, it still remained at the same distance. I gave up and returned and walked up the main road back to the hotel.

The next morning, after breakfast, I went to the temple again. This time, with Runa and Rishi. Abhishek was still not feeling well and stayed back at the hotel. After the temple visit, we went straight to the Chauli-ki-Jali. I have already mentioned before, how the odd protuberance of the overhanging rocks characterizes the place. But reading about it in the tourist pamphlet and beholding it in person are two different thing altogether. The other amazing thing was that one could view the entire valley beneath, from that place. The braves can do rock climbing at the spot with the professional gear of course. The fools can use their own hands and crawl up the slanted rocks. We were neither of the two, so we went as far as out guts permitted, posed for a few snaps to cherish afterwards and enjoyed the beauty of the place to our hearts’ content. We could have stayed there a little longer, but Rishi got thirsty and insisted to return to the hotel.




Back in the hotel we packed our luggage and checked out. We had a train to catch in the evening from Kathgodam. Our vacation in Kumaon was coming towards the end. We were hoping to sneak in a few more places on our way to Kathgodam. But the though that we have already spent our last night in Kumaon was making me gloomy. The images of miseries and worries of work life were coming back to me.