It’s been a year and half, almost, since that day. The day I took the road less travelled by.
Yes, I had lived and worked in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh since August 2010. No, I had not been to the interior-most parts of the land. And that was something that itched me incessantly.
It was time I did something. So en-route to home I decided to take the slightly convoluted, decidedly time-consuming but seemingly exciting path – Dantewada to Hyderabad (Bus) and Hyderabad to Varanasi (Train).
And it paid off handsomely. Here are a few pointers on that day, that I had penned down immediately after my journey.
On my way from Dantewada to Hyderabad (on 21st April 2012), piercing through the dreaded Maoist heartland of India (if 30kmph somehow qualifies ):
(1) It was heartening to notice the “Smiling WritingBoard” Logo of Pratham Education Foundation on the walls of the schools that dot the jungled, Maoist-infested and underdeveloped land, i.e. Southern Chhattisgarh aka Bastar. Commendable work on the part of Pratham to deliver India’s most comprehensive Annual State of Education Report (ASER).
(2) I was amazed that in an India where there are more places dedicated to worship than to schools, this part of India actually had not a single place of worship and a lot many schools, balak ashrams, etc.
(3) Coming back to places of worship, it was strange not to find a single temple/mosque/church along a road stretch of 160 kms (Dantewada-Sukma-Konta) populated by small tribal communities. Contrast that to any other village/town/city in India where a temple/mosque/church is a common sight.
(4) I was struck by the imposing presence that the Sukma District Collectorate Office (a bright red two-storied concrete structure) amidst the vastly rural and bland grey-green colour tone of the place. It seemed like a bold statement by Government of India, here we are to those who say we neglect the interior parts of INDIA. P.S.: Just within 3 hours of my having passed through Sukma area in South Bastar, the Sukma district Collector Alex Paul Menon has been abducted by desperate Maoists from an even more interior place. Phew!