Day 208 of Indian places giving you smiles – Raipur- The Capital of Chhattisgarh
As my airplane descended at the Swami Vivekananda airport in Raipur, I wondered what was in store for me about a city that I had not heard much about until it became the capital of a newly formed state of Chhattisgarh. Swami Vivekanada had spent some of his childhood days in Raipur and the house he lived in has now been converted to a primary school. There is also a huge statue of him with a musical fountain at the beautiful Vivekananda Sarovar lake.
The airport is some distance away from the main city and I was excited when I saw the green coloured arch welcoming us to the state of possibilities -Chhattisgarh. We drove past places like the Nehru garden, the Chhattisgarh Club and the Chief Ministers Bungalow. The City Municipal office and the miniature aircraft model in its front lawns was a place of pride for the locals.
My taxi driver was very excited at the new swanky malls that had opened up in Raipur, but I had to convince him that a tourist from Mumbai like me would not want to go to such a modern commercial place. Instead I asked him to drive me through an old section of the town, literally called the Purani basti. The simplicity on the faces of the locals was in stark contrast to the street smart faces of the people of a metropolitan city like Mumbai.
There is a Maratha influence in settlements like Tatyapura and Burhapura. I just had to spend some time looking into the waters of the lake here called Burha Talab. My driver took me to an old temple of Goddess Kali where I prayed for her protection and blessings. It is believed that the spiritual advisors of the royal family of Bastar had brought this 500 year old stone idol to its present location around 200 years ago.
I had heard of the Bastar tribes and I knew that tribal tourism was an important aspect of this region. And the best place that reflected the art, music, dance and other culture of the tribals was at the Purkhauti Muktangan centre. I walked through this sprawling 200 acre place, which is a unique effort to bring alive the traditional art of Chattisgarh. There are numerous sculpted images depicting the tribal inhabitants with various musical instruments, dancing scenes and hunting scenes. This was a total new and interesting exposure to tribal culture for a city bred person like me.
I spent so much of time walking amidst and soaking in the tribal culture at Purkhauti Mukhtangan, that I did not have time to visit other local temples of Raipur like Dudhadhari temple, Mahamaya temple, Jagannath temple, Jaitu Sau Math temple or the Hatkeshwar Mahadev temple. If I had more time I could have spent hours looking at the ancient artifacts, coins, weapons from all over Chhattisgarh at the five galleries of the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum.
At the junction of 4 roads, there was a small monument called the Jai Stambh, built to commemorate the martyrdom of Indian rebel Narayan Singh who was hanged publicly by the British on 10th Nov.1857. Nearby was the Kaiser-e-Hind Darwaza an ornamental gateway meant to honour Queen Victoria, but now sadly pulled down and the façade incorporated into a commercial complex called Ravi Bhawan. A little distance away is the ornate Jawahar Gate which is the entrance to the Jawahar Bazar.
Raipur is usually visited as a temporary stopover on the way to see other natural beautiful spots in Chhattisgarh. As our taxi approached the Raipur railway station, I got present to the structured disorderliness in the traffic in the small lanes. Even around the station I saw a colourful temple, a Sikh Gurudwara and also a green, cream and pink marbled mosque all in close proximity to each other.
Each time I visit a new place in India, I am amazed at the absolutely new contrasting experience that is in store for me. I love my country and I love the variety that it has to offer to me. Wow- India!
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