My Chandragiri :)

Picture-This was a Buddhist monastry near our school. I dont ahve any scanner else I would have uploaded a few pictures from our childhood. But this is as closest that reminded me of Chadragiri as I could find from the net.



Today while sitting in the driving school waiting for my turn in the scooty, I drifted off to the time when my parents, brother and I were in Orissa. I thought about all the fun days we had there. We were young, careless, irresponsible, brimming with excitement and just so full of life. So I decided that I should write a blog about my time in Orissa.



I was about 6 or 7 when my father got transferred to a rural village, Chandragiri, in Orissa. You know a child's mind is full of great imaginations and creativity. A child that I was, I thought Orissa meant a huge vegetable stand in the middle of a neatly tarred road. I dont know how i got that vision but I still remember it clearly. I can say Orissa was nothing like that. It was a big change for our family since it was going to be our first time in North India.



I dont remember much of how we got there. I just know that it was our first flight trip and 5 hours later we were in a place called Bhubaneshwar. from there we caught a traing to Berhampur. I was really disgusted with that place. I hated it already. It was raining and the roads were so muddy. There were cows everywhere. the image of the muddy road and cow dung everywhere was not a good first impression. But Berhampur wasnt our destination.



A 4 hours drive from there, along the winding roads of Taptapani and between the mountain ranges, we reached the small village called Chandragiri. Our house in Chandragiri was a small house adjoining another house. In the next house lived the Mahji uncle, his wife and Asha and Anu. I used to ask Mahji uncle wife for dried mango pickles always. She was a woonderful person. After them, Kuni, Swini and Bapu came and lived there. Behind our house there was a beautiful view of the hills surrounding us. Chadragiri was a hill station.



My dad worked in a bank there. My father, being the manager of the only bank in that village made our family kind of a celebrity. As far as i remember, I dont thing we ever had any trouble in communicating with the other. My dad used to say that we knew quiet a bit of oriya aswell. But we mostly communicated in hindi and english. There were a lot of kids around the neighbourhood. Asha, Anu, Happy, Bunty, Mani Bhushan, Shweta, Bunty, Swini, Kuni, Bapu are some of the names that i remember. And it was nice to see then after 10 long years via Orkut. Every evening my brother and i used to take our bikes and roam around. My brother, Rohan, used to play cricket with the boys. I dont remember what I used to do. But it was always fun.



We joined in the Central school for Tibetans. Majority of the population in that village were Tibetans who fled from Tibet. So naturally our school had many Tibetan kids and about 11 Indian kids. Since there were very no Indians in my grade, it was decided that I skip a grade and join with Rohan, whose class had all the Indian. The school had a picturesque background. It was located on a hill top. There were corn fields behind our school. But Rohan and I felt like complete strangers. Asha and Anu went to school with us. It was a fun experience. One of my dad's co workers used to pick us all up by a bicycle. The rides were very thrilling, where we went up and down small hills surronded by dense forest.


Asha was elder to us. She was a good story teller. Our school is located nearly 5 to 6 Km from our house. On the way there are many huge banyan trees. Asha used to tell us that ghosts resided those tree. So whenever we pass them we have to cover our mouth to prevent them from entering our body. And gullible children we were, we blindly believed her. I remember once that when i fought with Asha, I refused to listen to her. So when the banyan tree neared I didnt cover my mouth until the last moment, when fear grasped me. LOL. She used to tell us that a crazy woman called Rangopathy lived near our school. She was an evil woman. And she showed us a woman who lived in a tattered hut made up of blankets. Once that woman even followed us to school. Frankly, we were scared to death trying to avoid her. But she was always there roght in front of us whenever we took a detour!! That was kind of scary.

Another story of Asha was about family next door to our house. They were kind of creepy. Asha used to say they did black magic. So we never spoke to them or acknowleged them. Once my dad and Mahji uncle was invited to attend their childs marriage. I remember Asha, rohan , Anu(her little sister) and me looking out the windown secretly, hoping that they dont poison our fathers.LoL.


Our school life was completely separate from the life in our home. Firstly our school friends were different from the friends at home. They were children of teachers. Kutchu, Vicky, Babu were closest to us. We spoke to them in English mainly. Vicky was the naughty kid, Kutchu the "I'm so great" kid and Babu the quiet one. We were always a single pack, though we had our occasional fights. But it was always fun.

I remember once when Rohan and I were in the staff room getting out notebooks corrected, I heard this sound, like someone was rolling a metal container on the floor. The next thing I knew was the sir's were all yelling "earth quake!!!!! earth quake". And I was lying on the parched grass face down. There was a slight tremor on the earth beneath me. And I bent my heard towards Asha asking what was going on. She just told me to lie down. But i wasnt scared, i was more curious to know what was going on? Why the whole school children were on the floor? It was later only that I knew the depth of what was going on. I saw the cracked walls and floors of our auditorium and I was scared then.

Living in Orissa, we faced a lot of natural calamities. There was a huge cyclone once. But we were in our homes that time. Being ingnorant little children, we just enjoyed the powerful winds blowing and the rain pouring down. What the heck, it got us away from school!!! But then we heard a creaking noise followed by a huge THUD! The next thing you know, the 20 foot high teak tree next to our house was down, just narrowly missing us. It was really our luck. The next day after the cyclone we went out to see what it had done to our village. The forest was almost completely washed out. Many roofs of thatched houses were blown off. But luckily no life was taken.

After school, we came back home and took our bicycles to play with the nieghbourhood kids. My bicycle was handed down to me after Rohan used it. Unlike in our school, we spoke with them in broken Hindi, but we got better later on. Among them Happy was my brothers best friend. Happy was the dare devil of our group. He was so funny. There used to be a milkman names Gouda, who used to tease all the kids. Once when he came to deliver milk, Happy and us decided to deflate his tyre. And we did just that and ran away. LOL. Another time, a snake lying curled in our verandah. Sankes were common in our areas since it lies near the forest. Cobras, crates, vipers, green tree snake etc were some that I have seen there. I dont know whta snake it was that day, lying curled on the ground. But we called our neighbours and they killed it and threw it in the vast empty plot in front of our house. When we told this to Happy, he said that we will go in search of the snake's carcass. And we were all chicken. Happy went alone and he bought back the body of the snake dangling for a stick and chased us with it. We all ran for our lives. Hehehe. It was really funny.

Holi was always the best time of the year. All the children of the nieghbourhood gather round and have a great time throwing coloures water and powder at each other. It was customary for everyone in the village to join in. If someone is reluctant, the people bang the doors of the house till that person comes out, so that they can attack him/her with colours. I remember it was a tedious task to clear our hands and faces afterwards. Diwali was only second best because not many people came around our house during that time. But it was always fun.

Tuna uncle was my dad's co worker in the bank. He was a nice, honest man. he was a local of the same palce, so he knew the place inside out. He used to take us on little trips inside the forest. On one such trip he came back quickly from the forest because he heard the roaring of a bear. I dont know how much it was true, but it was best not to question them, because they know the land better than us. It was not unusual to see wild animals on the road. Foxes, elephant, hyena etc are seen almost regularly at night.

If I want to write about Chadragiri, I could write a whole book. I think we did great justice to our childhood there. We had tonnes of fun, no studying yet full mark ;), and great friends. What more could a kid ask for huh?? Well i just brushed through my memories. yet so many memoreis remain untold. Someday, when I am in the mood to write, I will write down more. But till then good day to u!