Chittrakoot: God or goon ???

BLOG

It is 7:30 am and Chittrakoot is already awake. a slow chanting of bhajan emanating from all the temple tops fills the air. It is drizzling lightly, as men dressed in saffron robes walk on the slippery roads to the temple. Canopy of yellow polythene sheets dripping with water stretched out on matchbox shops selling coconuts, incense sticks and other puja material, bring in an unusual brightness. The Lantana bushes growing wild look darker. All smiling or sneering, the expression is difficult to gauge.
I walk to Kanta Nath Temple. It is the famous place where Shri Ram spent 11 years of his Vanvas with his wife Sita and brother Laxhman. "It is a natural sculpture which was found etched on the moutain. It is this sculpture that Ram worshipped for 11-years during his hiatus. Ram still rests in the teeth of Kanta Nath," the temple priest is prompt with explanation if anyone wants to know. Hordes of pilgrims queue up to these temples. By evening there are processions with chanting bhajans and mantras. Rendering a spiritual feeling in the air.
This is Chittrakoot

***
5:30 am we alight from Mahakaushal Express at Karvi Railway station. In semi darkness we make our way to the exit gate from the station. A few Bolero jeeps, a few rickshaws and a few Autorickshaw or Vikrams as they are known stand at the entrance waiting for the early morning passengers. The destinations for one and all Ram Ghat on Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh border. Charge Rs 7. Tuck in your stomach and your luggage. Squeeze yourself as much as you can, if possible turn your luggage into thin air before you mount into the Vikram. It is the only form of public transport available here. So each one is packed to hilt, with the driver precariously balancing himself on the right hand side edge and still calling out for more to come. What a big heart! The 'Vikram' slowing hobble on the pot-holed roads which has just one last trace of tar left. We brush past the palatial government guest house, which after the temples are probably the only other big buildings in the area. Streetlights have been erected bang in the middle of the roads for purely decorative reasons, at night these roads are pitch dark. and our Vikram slowly zig zags through these streetlights, never sticking to one side.
This is Chittrakoot.

****

Vardha river, filled to the brim with rain water is happy. Around the river stands the mountain range of bundelkhand. Red gravel paths leads to these mountains, there are no roads. Occasionally you will spot a bright orange colour sculpture of Hanuman. It is a bright, clean blue sky with huge white clouds wafting through. It is the crystal blue that you see in ‘holiday package’ advertisements. A group of pelican stands in middle a barren paddy field. I could see Indian Robin, Eagles, Sunbirds, ubiquitous Mynas, Bulbuls, Kingfishers and many more unnamed ones. Some times sitting on branches pondering about some grievous matter, or sometimes simply hoping in front just few meters from our Bolero jeep. The kingfisher busy with flying from one water body to other. The pelicans standing on leg in silent prayer. And till horizon the land was of deep green hue, wild grass grew everywhere. The fields were not in sight. And in distance a cluster of brown mud-thatch house stood. A different world altogether. As soon as our jeep enters this terrain, the two police officers accompanying us are on alert. Two loud clicks of loading the rifles. The clicks woke me from the reverie. This barren but beautiful terrain is not as empty it looks.
It is the Dacoit terrain. Here the rule of law ends. It is the place where Dadua’s diktat begins, the Dadua land, Dadua’s empire. You whisper and he would know. Bullets would fly, blood would spill, limbs would be cut. But standing here, soaking in slight drizzle, with sprawling natural beauty it is so difficult to imagine that it is a land of guns. A land where roads, schools and hospitals are not built till permission is granted by gun totting lords. But for now let the pcituresque moutains of Chittrakoot overshadow the dacoit tales.
This is Chittrakoot.