Miles away from the safe place!
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| Sun
eager to touch down the horizon and so did the villagers of
Mitikundri. The other bank of Koel river is like 'Horizon' to them. Rise and go to work, come back as the day falls. After rigorously working whole day in Rourkela town, now it was time to go back to the safest place they know, their own home across the river. |
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| Like
every day, "The skipper" slowly maneuvered his small boat and parked
it safely touching the stairs of Ghat, keeping her floated on the steady flow
of muddy water. |
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| One one end, it was sheer silence. Though soiled, water was still capable of reflecting the bright sky and rusty texture of the boat. |
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| The other side was a topsy-turvydom, an impatient wait, and a clumsy end to the day. For some, it was time to devise a strategy to get a place in the small boat. For some, it was the holy time, time to shred all the evil body (and mind, hopefully) did during daytime. For one, it was a time to earn for one last time in a day and............ for one, it was an easy-to-do job, to pass the personal responsibility to public ! |
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| Meanwhile, the un-biased minds, quite unaware about what happening on either end, were enjoying the moment. The innocent and cheering smile is still there on the face at the end of the day. |
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| And the moment came, when the boatman asked the commuters to get on board. Cycles lifted in the air, everybody rushed and the chaos grew up. Struggle was all about to get a place in 'this' trip. Otherwise wait could stretch by twenty ruthless minutes ! |
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| After accommodating the maximum passengers, just below the safety limit, boat took about turn and started the most-wanted journey. Journey to experience the climax of wait. The time to cross the river bed. The worst ever period. But the boatman never want it to prolong. He has a very little time. It was just the beginning, he has to transfer many of them, to earn more ! |
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| This story repeats endlessly, almost everyday, on many such Ghats of Koel river. Someone tried to stop it, but the flooding took away the bridge while it was being built. Many villages like 'Mitikundri' are just a river-bed away from municipal boundary of Rourkela, the third largest city of Odisha. Safe place is still miles away for the villagers ! |
Interesting? then please have a look at similar photo story: Transportation in Rourkela.
Nice photo.
ReplyDeleteThanks Abhijitji :-)
DeleteNice pics.
ReplyDeleteBridge needed.
Hope there is better communication soon.
Amen :-)
DeleteI remember I once had to cross a river to get to a village where I was there to attend a marriage, at first i was shocked they had to cross the river and that too by boat ! There was no other road route to get to the village.. this place across the Koel river seems just the same... Lovely pictures...telling a different story each time...
ReplyDeleteThere must be many similar stories happening across India. Thank you Najm for sharing yours. Welcome to blog :-)
DeleteThese photographs brought back lot of my childhood memories which i has spent growing up in Rourkela. Annual picnics near Koel nadi were the best part of it all.Wonder post :)
ReplyDeleteTouched by your comment. Nice to know that people from Rourkela seeing this post. Few things are quite nostalgic. Welcome to blog. Keep following for viewing more posts about Rourkela ! :-)
DeleteApart from the issues relating to hurdles in daily communication by boats, I must say boats are very photogenic subject, aren't they? :-)
ReplyDeleteYes indeed Anunoy. Going one step ahead, every object is photogenic. We need right light :-)
DeleteThe pictures are just amazing this the backyard to me I grew up clicking pictures of this place. This place always provided the amount of serenity I need. Talking about the bridge they do make a bamboo bridge while river is dry but as soon as the first shower of monsoon arrives they deconstruct it .Some of my pictures can be found on https://500px.com/paritoshpradhan
ReplyDelete