A 1000 km through Chhattisgarh.
Standout feature; presence of water ponds. Not the household kind one sees in Kerala or Assam. But the bigger ones that service the community. No hyacinth, almost no plastic. The excavated earth forming the raised grassy bank around water. A staircase on part of the bank, having its share of lifebuoys & village folks. Protruding rocks or concrete slabs extending the cloth washing assistance. No one in hurry. A kind of motion that's inherent in things, and is not paced by a destination.
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| A pond by the village- Chattisgarh holding on to patrimony |
Visual memory; a colour pallette that has a dozen shades of green, & is then splattered-over by a generous dash of saffron. Palash seems to have found a way to keep the setting sun in its petals. A ready-made outdoor shot for the camera of Wes Anderson.
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| Butea Monosperma (Palash)- the kind of forest fire a forester doesn't mind |
Olfaction; the kind that doesn't form an opinion at once. Simply because one doesn't know where it belongs. Mahua draws you in just enough. The gatherers pass you by, the trail lingers & makes you want to explore more.
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| Solemn-looking Mahua blooms reveal a tipsy alter-ego on fermentation |
And just because it's all so idyllic, a nazar ward-off of the coal towns. Korba, Raigarh, Koriya. Trucks smaller than a matchbox at the bottom of open-cast mines. Soot covering the hand & the cellphone as one tries to zoom & click.
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| How many happy hours with this bottomless pitcher |
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| Sooted Coaltowns |
And so one writes not of the springs or hues. But of the soot-coated men who are treating a young boy to a kulfi after his first day of digging.
*कोरबा कालचक्र*
अंबिया पर बौराई आई
महुआ पलास पर फूल
कोर लादे टरक गुजर गया
सब पर चर गई धूल
सब पर चर गई धूल बेबसिया
चेहरे पर गए काले
छानी में पहुंचे भूख मर गई
कोरे रह गए निवाले
कोरे रह गए निवाले दुर्भगिया
मेहरू जोहे बाट
बचुआ इस्कूल छोर चल गइल
बुढ़ियन पकर लई खाट
बुढ़ियन पकर लई खाट चकरिया
पईसा तत्काल जरुरी
लइका के कोरबा बोलावेल
करिहे खदान मजूरी
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