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Location of Jharkhand in India map. Jharkhand borders West Bengal, Orissa, Chattisgarh and Bihar.
"Amar prio poschim bonger bhai bonera ami Krishna tomader jaanai ai Travel Blog ek anthorik amonthron".
12th December-2009
I woke up at 0330hrs in the morning. The weather was too cold and chill. I felt like a German soldier fighting in Russian winter during World War-2. I got up and brushed my teeth. I got ready in 30 minutes. I heard the earlier day that the temperature nearly reaches 12-14 degree celsius at night. My adopted pups(still nameless) were already awake and were surprised to see me up early in the morning. I waited for a taxi for nearly 30 minutes near Tank Number 8! It was too cold. I was wearing only sweaters and not mufflers. I had pieces of cotton in my ears.
I boarded a shuttle-taxi near Sector V (Bidhan Nagar) and I reached Howrah Railway station at 0500hrs. The charge was Rs.30/- and I felt that it was quite nominal at least compared to Chennai. Howrah was very busy in the morning hours too. There were lot of people in the platforms waiting for their respective trains and some were waiting for their relatives who were coming in trains which were to reach HWH in the morning hours. I could see people from different states and I can hear Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi and Hindi voices. Railway station and stations have their own charm. What do you say?
Howrah station was very big and it had a lot of platforms. My train 2021 Howrah-Barabil Jan Shatabdi was starting from 23rd platform. Speaking in little bit of Hindi, I managed to locate the platform. I am not much used to Howrah even though I had been around here for some time. My seat was in D-4 coach and I got a window-seat with the seat positioned towards the locomotive and my coach was third from the locomotive. I went to the front of the train and found a Tata Nagar WAM-4#21332 attached to my train.
I was surprised to find a Tata Nagar WAM-4 as power. (Non-travel fans can ignore my technical description). I thought that this Jan Shatabdi always got a WAM-4 type locomotive from Asansol shed as Asansol was famous for WAM-4’s, WAG-5 type locomotives.
I had a glance at other passengers in the coach. I could see people from different cultural backgrounds. It’s indeed a privilege to travel with fellow countrymen who speak different languages. It’s a blessing to be an Indian. My country’s diversity has impressed me a lot and thanks to the Indian Railways the glorious Indian fabric remains intact, though the terrorist are trying to break our unity. Too bad that I couldn’t strike a conversation with the person next to me. He was a Bengali and I can’t speak Bengali much. Even if he speaks in Hindi, I can’t reply as my fluency in Hindi is poor. But languages don’t really matter. Respecting a human being irrespective of ethnic background is more important.
Pooooong!!!!! WAM-4 gave a loud honk and the train started. I felt that the locomotive was actually acknowledging my thoughts with its honks. My train started at 0629hrs-late by 9 minutes. I got a bit excited. I was going to see a new place in Jharkhand. It was called Naomundi which is roughly 375km away from Howrah Jn. The best way to see India and its real beauty is to travel by train and observe the rice-fields, mountains and the rural sceneries. Preferably, I would like to travel by second class sitting coaches as I can look outside the window as A/C coaches don’t really give much freedom and the charm is lost. My train was a bit slow till Santragachi. It took nearly 30 minutes to cross Santragachi.
Due to local trains, passengers and other traffics, my train got stuck and it halted many times before Santragachi (SRC). The loco-pilot or the engine-driver seemed to be an experienced senior pilot. The way he drove the train impressed me. No jerks, no unnecessary application of brakes and he obeyed all caution orders. Sitting right inside the coach, I was able to judge his driving skills and I was amazed at his driving techniques.
Trains have a beauty of their own. Irrespective of age, everyone likes trains. I like it too. During many of my travels, a train is my only companion. I don’t know why, but I like watching them. They really look beautiful in my opinion. I wish in my next life, I would be an Engine driver or a loco-pilot.
After Santragachi, my train picked up speed and for a long time it consistently maintained 60kph. Many sub-urban stations passed in a jiffy as my train blasted through honking. The onlookers in the station were amazed and spellbound by the brutal speed. I could recollect a few station names. Tikiapara, Andul, Sankral, Abada, Bauria, Chengel, Uluberia, Bagnan, Nandaiganjan, Panskura. It was really cool to witness WAP-4’s in high speeds.
My train reached Kharagpur at 0810hrs. In my opinion, it was an impressive run and impressive performance by the locomotive WAM-4#21332 from Tata Nagar. I had sandwiches and cutlet for breakfast. That was the only vegetarian item available in the train. Since I am a vegetarian, I accepted whatever veg-item was available in the train.
It was indeed a classic moment. I enjoyed my train ride very much. I took a bite of my sandwich with tomato sausage. The taste was too good. I listened to Backstreet Boys in my mobile’s headset and as I enjoyed the music the train curved towards my left side amidst rural wastelands. It was a beautiful sight. Since I was in the 4th coach, I couldn’t witness the curve much and so I looked back. Wow! The entire train was negotiating a curve at 80kph. It was nice. I can’t express it in words.
I received a message from Airtel at 0905hrs. “Welcome to Jharkhand. We wish you a pleasant stay here. For assistance please call 121”. I was happy and satisfied. When I was young, I always use to wonder how the rest of the country would look like and I had always wanted to interact with people speaking different language. I had always wondered what people in other parts of India would like and how they would dress. I have travelled to many places. I have been insulted too as I can't speak proper Hindi. But I don't bother about that. If I was to worry or react to it, then it would make no difference between me and the other person. I am happy that God has given me a chance to interact with people over here.
Kokpara, Galudh, Asanbon were some of the station names which I could recollect from my travel notes and notepads. As my train crossed many stations, I took my notepad noted down all necessary details that would be necessary for writing this travelogue. I was amazed at the landscape, the speed of the train and the energy amongst East-Indian people. Everything had its own taste of its own. I need to accept that.
My adopted pups.
As my train slowed down due to a caution order, WAG-7#27727 accelerated through Asanbon with a long freight rake possibly containing iron ore from Naomundi or Chaibassa. My train reached Tata Nagar at 0940hrs. Lot of people got down at Tata Nagar. Few travellers having an ordinary open ticket (without reservation) also boarded the train and occupied the empty seats.
I had seen Jamshedpur only in India map. Now I was really in Jamshedpur! I couldn’t believe that I was really in other part of India. Jharkhand was truly amazing and beautiful. My train went through many scenic areas of Jharkhand which was very green. I could observe a variety and mixture of landscapes comprising of rustic dry wastelands, fields, small mountains and even a few iron-ore excavation sites. Everything in this world truly had its own beauty. I feel that it’s my privilege to write about West Bengal and Jharkhand. The languages might be different, but we are still the same.
Taken inside a market in Jharkhand.
“Tomar sur, mothir sur, srishti koru koyikko sur”.
There’s always a talk about IT hubs like Bangalore, Chennai, Pune but why not about places like Icchpuram, Madurantakam, Doravari Chatram, Kendoposi, Morkhena, Naomundi, Iccpuram, Dangoaposi, Barabil? I have noticed something in these people, which I don’t see in a metropolitan environment. The real spirit of India lives in these places. I can’t express the beauty in words. I strongly believe that every state in India is equal and important and there is nothing called as inferior and nothing called superior.
My train reached Dangoaposi at 11:50hrs. I believe that Kendoposi and Dangoaposi were tribal names and since these places were near Orissa border, the names had a bit of Oriya flavour. My train reached Naomundi late by some 15 minutes. I got down and I observed the station. It was small and there were cows and dogs! This is what I like to observe! “Gorus”(Cow) and “kookoors”(Dogs)! I spotted a few “Chaguls”(Goats) too. I went inside the town a bit and I took a few photos. However, my memory card got corrupted and I lost all my photos.
My train departed after waiting at Naomundi for nearly 10 minutes. I had a glance around the station and for a while I felt as if I was floating. The station appeared to be on top of a hill or some elevated place. Iron ore-excavation activities were going on and this place was well known for mining activities. I saw my train slowly disappearing in a curve. It was a classic sight. I appreciate beauty. The same train would return back after two and a half hours and I would board it back to reach Howrah. I had less than three hours and I wasn’t in a mood even to waste a minute!
I was wearing a sweater! It was a bit cool even when sun was around. I walked around the village for some time and took a few photos, but I didn’t ingress far into the town. I interacted with a couple of people in Hind and gathered details about Naomundi and its speciality. The entire scenery was awesome and I enjoyed it. Almost every 5 minutes, I saw a goods train either going towards Orissa or towards West Bengal. Looks like this area has got a lot of freight actions! Most of the freighters had twin locomotives and were extremely long with many wagons. I took photos of mountains, stations, animals but sadly the memory card got corrupted and majority of the photos were lost! It hurts even today!!!
I returned to the station after roaming around. I looked at my watch and I realised that I was nearly half an hour in advance. A couple of railwaymen approached me and inquired whether I was from L&T. I was amused. Looks like there were expecting someone from Larsen and Toubro. Given my elderly experience, they mistook me for an Engineer! I sat in the platforms observing the rural sceneries. A small pup came near me and sat near my leg. He looked deep into my eyes. He was certainly expecting something from me and I decided to entertain him. I took a packet of bournbon biscuits and gave him one by one. He had problems eating the entire piece. So I took the responsibility of breaking the biscuits into two. He liked the taste! I was happy for him.
He was certainly enjoying. I gave the entire packet of biscuits to him. His hunger was removed. He looked at me with gratefulness in his eyes. He immediately lied down and looked at the skies with his legs up and looked at me. Dogs generally do that to their masters. I know the meaning of it. It reminded me of my adopted dog Damien in Chennai.
My train arrived at 1430hrs and it was late by 10 minutes. My coach was DR-1 and it was the last coach. I was lucky to get a window seat again and I got one facing the locomotive again. There was a person sitting in my seat. He said that he would get down at Dangaoposi, but I commanded him to move away. The Loco-pilot was in an aggressive mood. I guessed so. The speed was awesome. I was feeling a bit sleepy and I had a power nap for 30 minutes. I had a nice view of the entire landscape, mountain in my return journey too. Amazing. I wish I had a better camera.
My train reached Tata Nagar at 1700hrs and it was a bit cold after 1730hrs-so I closed the window. I feared that I would catch cold! I spent the remainder of the time listening to music in my mobile. My train reached Santragachi at 2050hrs and had a halt of nearly 10 minutes. My patience was really tested as my train crawled towards Howrah at a snail’s speed halting often! My train reached Howrah at 2120hrs. I boarded a taxi to return back home and I reached Bidhan Nagar at 2220hrs. My adopted pups (still nameless) were eagerly waiting for me at the doorstep. I didn’t have my dinner as I had a small one in my train itself. I wish my four-legged friend in Jharkhand had its dinner too. I was quite content. Now I have a friend from Jharkhand. A four legged friend who likes bournbon biscuits.
-Krishna Kumar.S
-Written on December 13th, 2009. Due to personal work, I wasn’t able to upload the travelogue. Thanks for your patient reading.
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