The principal gave him a look of disapproval for this jest and looked at Sajjan, “Earlier, this was a passage between western and eastern regions of India for the traders. They used to travel to Bhama in the west and Sambhalmati in the east via this region. Both places are now important railway junctions. We have seven hills in this region and the plateau in between is uneven with many ups and downs in its path. There is a huge jungle between Bhama and Sambhalmati. It’s a long route if you got to circumvent the jungle. So they used to take this shorter route. Still they had to circumvent these hills en-route to the jungle. This is the only plain area around here. The name sprouted because their travel used to get slower when they reached this point in their cross country travel, before proceeding to the jungle they used to take longer halt in this area. This was before the railways laid down the line exactly on the path traders used. This route was famous for colourful caravans. Now railways carry goods for the traders.”
“That’s a feasible explanation.” Sajjan said looking at principal and prodding him to carry on, “I know this because I have researched the history around here. I teach History and Geography to the senior students in the school.” he said with pride.
“Oh! That’s wonderful.”
“I can tell you everything about every patch of this region. To be sure, I have travelled for a week to every nook and corner of this region.” he smiled.
“Wow! That’s great.” Sajjan said shaking his head in appreciation. “I’m definitely going to need your help.”
They left the school leaving an elated principal in his cabin.
“Let’s have a cup of tea” and they walked to the nearest tea stall.
Amar looked blankly at the neatly bound copies of the maps.
“One is for my reference and rough work and the other is going to be for you when I leave Dheemapur. I’ll note the details of what you need to do to carry out the development, I feel will be the best for the people here.”
“Oh! That’s good.” Amar looked at Sajjan, “So you are going to leave us and go – no plan to settle down here.”
“You know, I got to help people. That’s the mission of my life. And I’ll do anything to accomplish my mission. However, I do promise you this – when I get old and my feet will refuse to work and hamper my mission – no matter which part of the country I would be – I’ll return and settle down here with you, at Dheemapur.”
Amar smiled at his promise, “My outhouse will be available to you and my promise – I won’t ask any rent for that, brother.”
They both laughed at the far away promises they made and sipped at the tea.
“Now that you have maps, where do you want to visit first?”
“Let’s take a train to Bhama and start our way back from there.”
“Train?” Amar looked at Sajjan in horror, “The express trains, fastest around here take about three and half hours and the slow passengers take around five hours to reach Bhama. They go around every hill. Bus is faster. It takes only couple of hours if you travel by bus.”
“How?” Sajjan asked.
“As I said, train goes around the hills and the road travels through the hills. The road may go up and down the hill but is shortest and fastest way to travel. The number of trains plying are few and scattered throughout the day, whereas you get a bus every half an hour.”
“Okay. Let’s take the bus.”
They reached the bus stand in time enough to board the bus leaving for Bhama. Sajjan looked around as the people travelling, first looked astonished and then greeted Amar. They had a look of wonder when they saw Amar travelling in a bus with a stranger. Amar greeted them back and explained them reason for Sajjan’s visit to the town and introduced him. They looked at Sajjan in awe and respect.
‘Amar seems to be more popular in the region than I thought. I may be able to use his popularity to my advantage’ Sajjan thought as he watched Amar’s interaction with people. Many, who got off the bus, reverently invited Amar and Sajjan to visit their respective villages. Sajjan noticed that there were a few who did listen to their interaction with others and were awed as well, but quietly got off the bus without bothering to greet them or invite them like others did.
Amar looked at Sajjan who was curious about this behaviour by them but he said or asked nothing. Amar was right, it took them two hours to reach Bhama. The central bus stand there looked diagonally at the railway junction which was about a couple of furlongs away. One track leading to the left, towards north & western parts of the country and the other single line on the right which would travel to Dheemapur onward to eastern junction of Sambhalmati. The bus had climbed down the hill over the tunnel on the single line.
“C’mon. We got to get off here. The last halt for the bus is further into the town. The fields we have to visit are close by if we get off here.”
They stretched their bodies stiffened in the travel. The ride though short, was tiring with winding roads going up and down the hills over the plateau. They walked away from the bus stand crossing the single line railway track on a narrow road till they reached a place which had a dozen of houses with thatched roofs. There was only one big house built using bricks and cement. They approached that house wary of the barking dog.
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- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/