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A simple story of a fabulous place named Dongargarh
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Uddalak Banerjee (UBJ)
Central Characters -----
Uddalak banerjee(UBJ)NIT Raipur ,computerScience engg,4th year
Animesh pant -- NIT Raipur, computer Science engg,4th
year,[home state:Rajasthan]
Ramji bhai kalbiNIT Raipur,INFormation technology,4th
year,[ home state:Rajasthan]
Girish Dhawan-------- NIT Raipur ,Metallurgy ,4th
year
Abhishek Chauhan---NITRaipur ,ComputerScience engg.4th
year( Special appearance Durg Station)
28/12/2009was a red lettered day for more reasons than one.It was one of the last dates of the year
2009 and also the last days of much celebrated college life of UBj.But apart from these two reasons the
day assumed great significance in Uddalak Banerjees life because it was the day when a completel y
different facet of Chattisgarh as a state was finally revealed.Since the very starting of our college life in
2006-07 session ,the whole batch of nit Raipur had been complaining that there are no tourist
destinations available near Raipur or in Raipur but finally when it was time to perhaps bid a final good
bye to the state bag and baggage,it unleashed a completely different pellucid side.
The planning for the trip was rather abrupt.It was Ramji bhai kalvi(RBK) who came up with this crazyidea and Animesh acceded and Girish followed suite.Once RBk asked UBj to join ,it was only matter of
schedule adjustment so that any other preoccupation did not clash with the date of jeorney.On 28th
morning I had a Pt exam on mock Xat and by 10 in the morning the exam was over and our jeorney
began at 12 clock in the afternoon.Girish assumed the role of the guide since he had a string of
pathbreaking jeorneys to his credit.He had been part of the Nit group who visited Kanya Kumari,he had
also been part of the group who participated in techfests etc and lastly and most importantly he had
been to Dongargarh three times.On the other hand ,for me and animesh and ramji it was a first time
experience.Span of the jeorney deduced from the experiences of Lala(vikash agrawal ) (who had just
been to dongargarh few days back ) we knew it would be approx a 12 hours jeorney .We went to the
saraswati nagar station and took tickets of 19.6 Rs each from Sartola to Dongargarh.I was wearing awhite peter England shirt and a black colored pant ,sweter and a jacket on top.RBk was wearing a green
shirt and a black pant with a jacket on top and sported a super cool sunglass .Animesh Pant and Girish
were wearing a jacket each on top of a blue and yellow tshirts respectively .
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The train was bilaspur durg local and arrived at 12:45 .The train was scarcely crowded so we did not
face much of problem finding our seats .Once on train and seated ,Girish broached the topic of
placement saying Adani is confirmed for metallurgy but it would be giving the same rotten 3.4
lakhs..Rbk inorder to bypass the topic asked me ,So then UBJ ,u had a test in the morning in pt ?How
was it ?Top karega ki nahi?.I replied dont know 34 ka net score araha hai .Dekhte hai ..ab age ..Cantsay because I donot the scores of the rest of the candidates .Animesh ,you are UBJ man ..the king ,
baadshah .. you will rock I know ...Girish ,UBJ you are going IIM ahmedabad ..if not this year then the
next ..i am sure of it ...I replied ,Beta mera baap ne bhi IIM ahmedabad nahi dekhi hai ..salary uski 30-
60 lakh ke beechme ajati hai it is the most prestigious school of India.You need to have the best of
best profile to even think of applying for it.Xlri to chor ximb mil jaye khush ho jayunga ..Top 20 me kuch
mile bas.IN the mean time the train passed kumhari and marched at great pace towards bhilai.
Girish started again saying ,Are India me talent hai bahot sare lekin problem ye hai ki kuch deals aise
hua hai jaise ki Indian mines wale jo do deal hua uske chalte do mine khali hogaya na ?it is upto the
government to decide as to what it wants to do.The 17 navaratnas are doing so well and maharatnas
are doing well too.the provide a salary of 10 lakh easily .even in mining in our college you are getting 13
lakhs .. UBj you should have taken mining ...I did not want to circumlocute to the main topic of
placement again so I said,Girish ek chiz bata Fms xlri in sab college me 15-19 lakhki average package
dete hai ..par qualify karna itna tough hai lekin mining jo ki last me bharti hai aieee me log 13 lakh ka
package kaise le jate hai ?.Girish said ,yehi to baat hai na ..Psu effect ..aur kya ..6th
pay commission aur
kya ?bas wahi to baat hai na .Chattisgarh is reach in mines .See BSP ..it is the only major steelplant which
has provided such great profits that it has singlehandedly sustained Sail..RBk,rajasthan me bhi oil ki
bahot khoj chal raha hai ..mera ghar ke 20 km dur me hi to OIL refinery chal rahi hai.
In the mean time Bhilai passed we remained oblivious of everything and was talking to each other.In
the mean time Girish insisted me to right him an sms to some sumeta kulkarni,plant director with full
usage of English vocab . I wrote him one sms .And as we were talking of MIT and its patents .and IIT
MIT differences and how MIT created IIM C in 1960s(favorite topic oF RBK being research) the train
came to sudden standstill at Durg.One by one all the passengers alighted on the station .Girish
asked,bhaiya train age nahi jayegi kya ?.no ! came the answer from the fellow co passenger who
was standing last in the queue while alighting from the train.We also followed suite.
On alighting from the train I and the other three moved out of the station and traveled to a S
bhojanalaya.The restaurant was looking good from outside so we all took our fancy to it and hence went
to visit it.Once we made our selves comfortably seated Rbk who was visibly annoyed with Girish for
having taken the wrong train .said,kya re Girish 3 bar aneke baad bhi train sahi nahi chose kiya?Idiot
train to sahi sahi chose karna chaiye tha .Ab ?busstand hai kareeb 2 km yeha sekaise jayenge?.Girish
Was not a man to be perplexed.He was cool as always .Cool as cucumber should be the appropriate
word.He said ,galati sabse hoti hai Ramji..bus stand na sahi ..train hai 2:20 ko .usko pakrenge to 5 baje
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Tak pahoch jani chaiye Dongargarh!vaise RAMJI darling ye restaurant bahot mashoor hai yeha har khana
milta hai veg me .I said ,order to kar ..It is already 1:30,I think we should do it fast..Because if we miss
the train then bus will be the only alternative and to avail that alternative we have to walk 2
km.Animesh called the waiter to give the order.The waiter came and said ,sir u all need to wait for 25
minutes for aloo parootha.And one parotha would cost Rss 50 each.Rbk said ,so which of the dishes
can be done quickly ?we need to catch a train so .The waiter replied,sorry sir I think apart from dosa
and samosa ..nothing can be prepared at this short notice..Then guessing all our choices Animesh
ordered ,3 samosa,3 bara,1 dosa.But soon after taking the order ,the waiter returned saying Sorry
dosa is not possible now..take something else ...Now at this RBk went mad with anger and turning to
Girish,Saale ye kaisa restaurant hai yeha kuch bhi nahi milta kya ?ye tera best restaurant tha ?agar kuch
nahi mil raha hai to samosa aur bara le lete hai 4 plate aur 4 chai .Animesh communicated the order to
the waiter and this time he did not harass.He brought the 4 plates and 4 tea at 1:50 and we finished our
lunch and dashed to the station to catch the train.
Uptill now the jeorney that we had was very rather smooth as Animesh too was apprehensive of
.Because both I and Animesh both knew something is wrong because wherever we go what ever we do
atleast some hitch is always there.And amidst this feeling of dejavu sprouted the first major
impediment.The train was to dongargarh was actually was plying to Nagpur.Obviously 28th
being a
weekday had a huge crowd there was absolutely no space to even stand in the train.All the daily
grocers,blacksmiths,plumbers had boarded the train.In the train the hoipolloi was rather excited but it
being a local train had a majority of them tribals.The stink of the sweat and absolute shortage of space
made life really horrible for us all.Now the platform where I finally found shelter was near the middlw
of the train where I reached after traversing or rather weaving through the obdurate crowd who just
were not ready to move from the way.Here a kindhearted lady also from college finally gave me some
space to seat beside her .There were 6 persons seating on the seat designed for 3 ,she was just one of
them.He had kept a handkerchief on that place so as to avoid yet another intrusion.But seeing me sweat
profusely and struggling to keep myself together she lifted the handkerchief and asked me to sit.
In the mean time as the first battle of Nagpur local was won by the devine intervention of this Great lady
the battle my friends were fighting in the other compartment was far from over.Unlike Ramji Animesh
was completely new to this supreme struggle which people from lower classes continually take to shift
their luggage for business and daily living.Amidst all this a small child was crying amidst hundreds of
people out of which even women were standing and few others were quarreling with the incoming
force which were multiplying at every stop.Koi decency hai inlogo ki ,kahi bhi charne ja rahe hai,jagah
nahi hai kitni bar bolu ,dekh nahi rahe hai kya puri bhar chuki hai train ,toilet ke paas bhi jagah nahi hai
.said a college girl shouting towards the inrushing crowd.In the acute shortage of space In thecompartment in which ANimesh was standing there were a few people who were carring bagsful of old
cloths which emiting mephitic smell making life a terrible dream,in addition to these there a few people
dressed in green who were lighting cigars blissfully unaware of the crowd reactions and smoking away
to glory and surprisingly no one resisted.Animesh was standing just next to the toilet infront of the door
so at each station he was having to endure the deep intrusive force of the newcomers who always seem
to be in hurry and were ready to do anything ,no matter how insensitive it may be to just get in.Add to
that the perspiration of other twenty odd people standing infront of the door with Animesh and Ramji
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both in jackets it was real hell inshort.It was for this precise reason Girish came up to me and after
standing about half an hour beside me finally used his jugaru nature to good effect.He asked the
uncle sitting in the upper berth with his luggage to shift one luggage over the other so as to provide
some space to sit .The uncle did just that and that provided enough space for us to to sit together
comfortably.Soon there was a call from animesh,yaar next train me chaltehai yeha ekdam jagah nahi
ahi .(pause) ek chota baccha mera neeche pakar liya tha .I asked in surprise ,kya!! Neeche kaha
pe?.Animesh said saale neeche samaj nahi raha hai kya ?waha pemain nahi jaunga .Ramji bhi bol
raha hai ki next wale me chalte hai..I said ,next station abhi uthrenge to phir next train ka ata pata
nahi hai ..ho sakta hai raat ho jayega pahoch ne me hi ..phir ate time problem ho jayegi..phir bhi agar
bahot problem ho rahi hai to phir uttar te hai aur kya ...Girish yelled immediately ,Saalo ladki ho kya
?ek local train me safar nahi kar sakte ?bas aur do stop dur hai dongargarh ab yeha kaha change
karenge train?bas aur bis minute me dongargarh a jayegi.See ing no other alternative the two
relented.
--------------------------------------------------------------
We alighted at 5:30 in dongargarh.Animesh and Ramji immediately sped to the nearby purewater
basin.There they rubbed their forehead with water and began to gurgle .Seeing us Ramji began to
say,Saale ganda bhaddha train tha ,chi kuch sanitation naam ki chiz nahi hai,CG gaon to gaon hi hai
bas.Rajasthan me bhi local trains hai par itni bhir nahi hai .Animesh ka to chote ladke ne pakar liya..
Girish and I were laughing.Animesh addedSuperfast me ani chahiye thi ..reservation karwalete .Par ha
ye kah sakte hai ki Kolkata aur Mumbai me isse bhi jaada bhir hoti hai .. Main jab Kolkata giya tha to
usme isse bhi jaada bhir tha jab Nettech ki training karne gaya tha na tab...Girish,sir prudence added a
line more ,Delhi me bhi hai bhir bahot ,gurgaon noida ke saare log to jate ate hai ..dialy passenger
bahot hai ...Anyways finally just the moment we came out of the station we saw the temple in the
mountain with so many ropeways joining the base with the pinnacle.I solicited the groups opinion by
asking ,Ropeway me jani hai ?Bata Ramji pahle 1000+ seri honge dekhle agar nahi uth payega to phir
ropeway lelete hai . Ramji with the authority of the IIT 4300 ranker and AIEEE 3000+ AIR reported
,nahi .Bhagwan ke paas ayehai padal hi chalenge.I said ,I also feel the same .Vaise bhi hum to
bhagwan ke saache bhakt hai ..nange pair 1000+shiri to kam hi hai ..himalay charjaye agar saath sab ka
ho to ...Animesh ,Ramji and Girish were all laughing at this comment but soon collected themselves and
unanimously said Ok,UBj rocks take the lead...We stopped in a shop named Jaimata Shubhalaxmi
bhandar there we kept our shoes and brought Prasad of Rs 21 each with coconut and a few
clothes.Then began our jeorney of 1000 steps.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ramji said I am always with UBJ ..thora slow chal yaar .To EJ ki kya haal hai ?abhi tak baat hui ki nahi?
I bounced the question, Bhagwan ke mandir aye ho bhagwan ke darshan karlo ..ye sab to saal bhar hilaga rahta hai.Girish however did not let me scotch the topic by saying ,Are I read your blogs ..they
are awesome man.U can write really well.Please keep writing even when u are in IIM or any other
place.Ramji,UBJ aaj kahani bhi leekhega na ..pleaseMain animesh aur girish sabka ache se ana
chahiye ekdam ..Mast leekhna kahani aur daal na blog pe ..Humlogo ko bhi acha lagega lekhega na?
I said ,Ok I will.Animesh said ,you write awesome,UBJ is the real king ,I always read your story
13,Downing Street,SouthAveneu wala pharke tha ...I rectified,Saale 13,glassglow Street,South
Avenue..ha ha .Ok
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We started our climb which gradually started to feel unending passing through the cascade of shops in
both sides of the steep slope rising up like a python on the mountain twisting and curving around it.After
climbing about 100 steps ,ramji became out of breath and began to rest .I followed suit ,with Animesh
and GIrish giggling.ANimesh said smiling ,Bhagwan ke saache bhakt sirf 100 shiri me rukh gaya??ye
kaise bhakt hai phir ?.Ramji said ,ghutne me dukh raha hai ..kal soyunga to dard hogi.Girish saidKya
Ramji tussi ..dudh malai khao..itne me dam khatam jo jayega to kaise hoga ?abhi to 900 shiri baki hai !
The last thing that Girish said was something which stuck my ears too.We are no athletes and we donot
even be to Gym either so Physical fitness is near about 0.So it would be a monumental task to reach the
top.are ropeway lele te to jaada sahi hota ..,I said to Girish.Girish smiled and said ,Baazigar ki dam
khatam hogayi bas 100 shiri me ? ye kya hogaya?acha thik hai chal photo session kar lete hai ..
We stopped and did the photo session.There were quite a few monkeys around too.Once of them came
dangerously close to my thala and tried to peep into it.But my quick reflexes saved the day.
After the photo session we started out for the next part of the jeorney.Next 500 steps were easy going
.We did not talk much in our bid to conserve our energy.I said inbetween that mg cos0 component is
really acting opposite towards our motion and supporting friction which is making us exert further
muscular force to overcome the friction cause stress in our ankles leading to lactic acid accumulationwhich inturn Is leading to mascular ache.So we once we had sufficient Oxygen the lactic acid broke
down into C02 and we were fresh and free again..Ramji nodded in appreciation and Animesh said
,King Ubj is right again.Ramji said mera bhi biology strong tha ek time me .After ascending 500 odd
steps again we felt rather tizzy and we took a break trying to relax our tired muscles who were alien to
this type of physical workload for years.
We stooped at a Shiva temple on the way and offered our prayers to it.The priest sitting near the idol
gave a tikka to each one of our forehead.We moved on then towards our final destination.By the time
we ascended 300 more stairs we were profusely sweating and even though it was winter we felt as if
every step that we are making was against gravity and the entire earths pull rested on our ankles.We
were laughing and looking at each other seeing each other toil profusely to reach the top.Ramji sintermittent ,Jai mata di in periodic intervals were somehow providing some devine energy for the
falling army to combat the hydra headed energy loss inform of friction and gravity which was higher and
higher with height.Anyways finally we washed our hands and feet at a nearby water basin and took
some break there before the final dash to the summit which we supposed approx 200 odd steps more.
One strange feeling of bonding came up amidst this towering task which we all realized.IT was that as
we saw each other sweat out and laughed and made fun of each other we were actually making the task
a lot easier because we were still mentally fresh after climbing 900 steps within 40 minutes although
physically we were enervated.
Finally I took lead and rushed for the last 200 steps and made it moreor less smoothly.May be by this
time our unaccustomed ankles were already accustomed to the load and the process was felicitated by
the timely breaks we had taken.Once we reached the main temple ,the climate was reather
pristine,pellucid and sanctified.There were not many people today so the queue was short .We took the
queue .Girish said I will wait outside , I have a leather jacket and I wont come in .YOU all do the prayers
after that I will go and offer my prayers.I touched the prayer bells and asked the priest to touch our
offerings to the Gods feet ,which he did and passed the offerings back to us.Ramji took a few pictures
and then passed on the camera to us.The camera belonged to Zigme yangchuk from Nepal (Nit Raipur
4th
year mechanical engg).The power in the camera was low but still with setting sun we took quite a
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few pictures at the back of the temple .It was 6:30 then and the sun was setting .The suns rays were
falling on the temple as if offering its final prayers before setting.It was truly a magical place with such
sanctified ambience that pulled us all towards the bunificience and magnanimity of the supreme God.As
night wore on the number of people assembling to the temple increased too.Ramji pointed out that
,see these people they are so old yet they come here for peace ,for some devine blessings ,they want
the well being of themselves and their family members..Girish said ,let us sit here for an hour more,we
had come here from that far and now we should sit back and enjoy the lights of the valley and how the
temple looks at the night..I on the otherhand acted as the photographer and started to take photos for
the final time.It was truly a magical climate and distilling these silent pristine moments in the camera
was itself great.The sky was red with sun already set and the valley lights were coming up one after
another giving it a spectacular look .There was no hurry here .Everyone was content .There was a distant
lake visible too from the summit .WE had seen that while scaling the mountain too.As the lights near the
lake started to comeon ,it was really really the most magical moment I had ever had.The number of
temple goers had decreased now as it was nearing 7:00 and there were not many priests either.The
entire climate was beautiful now.Slowly but gradually the cold was setting in .The winds were blowing
and the birds were flying back to their nests.Girish took a few pictures of us three together in the setting
light with the street light as the savior.Finally we started to return back to the shop where we had kept
our shoes.Descending the steps were no problem ,only thing we had to look after now is that we dontslip and we dont make any undue haste..to climb down for in the dark there may be some glass pieces
falling here and there.
Dusk gave way to complete darkness soon.We walked back to the station after taking a cup of tea at the
shop .We asked the shopkeeper regarding the next train that is available for Raipur .He said ,7:30 ko hai
local train..jaldi jayoge to mil jayegi .Ramji and Animesh after the afternoon experience wasnot much
keep on the train jeorney again because there was very little chance of a seat this time too.Girish said
,cool pappe ,agar train nahi milegi to phir bus le lenge ..4 jan hai kya problem hai ?kuch bhi karlo
pahoch to jayengi hi na Raipur tak kal subah tak..bas chill baby ..aur kya.But Ramji was someone who
loved load he said ,Saale bahot raat ko hostel gates band ho jayegi ..tab kya hoga ?.Animesh said
,aha .gate uncle to wahi bait te hai bolne se ho jayega thik sabkuch..uska load nahi.
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Now That it was 7:30 we reached the station and we did not know where to go for the ticket counter
because ticket counter was not on the side of the station from where we took entrance that was the
Dongargarh temple side.We searched here and there and then finally on asking a tea vendor we got to
know the location of the ticket counter .We went there after taking the highway bridge. WE took tickets
for Durg.Train was about to come at 7:25 but it was 30 minutes late.So we decided to have our dinner
in any near by restaurant.We took two normal dishes and two special dishes and a fanta for our dinner
and came back at the station at 7:50 and found the train late by 15 minutes more.However we made
some space at platform number 2 and sat there chatting.Soon the train came and we boarded it .Thetrain was empty and we got our seats easily.
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