Wednesday, February 08, 2012

The other side of life

If there is one state of India that I have explored the most - it has to be Maharastra. From Maharashtra-Gujarat border to Maharashtra-Andra Pradesh border - I have visited almost all the districts. I have lived in big cities, small villages, towns, farms, huts; slept on floor, terrace, under the sky, among the hills. It has always been a different experience, and with each place, the feeling of coming close to visiting the whole of state you live in is great.

A month or so back, I made two short trips to small villages of Maharashtra called Lonore, Varoshi and Parkhande. These are small villages where there are plenty of agricultural plots, and I had gone there for an official visit. Some legal work which involves site visit and inspection. I will not go into the legal part, but the places were beautiful.


The image above is the plot that I visited in Lonore. This is how a typical piece of land looks like in most of the places in this season.


The lady is growing vegetables in the backyard. They use some for home and sell the remaining in the market.


The typical kacchi sadak that takes you to those plots.


The hand pump. Rustic memories. Soul of a village. It carries so many stories for so many of us. There was one hand pump right behind my school in Umbergaon. I have seen a few in other parts of Maharashtra, but none in Mumbai. Since it reminds me of my childhood, it will always remain special. This was at Varoshi.


That's Pinha in yellow and Mangli in white and pink. Met them at the site. Since the time I clicked them, they were roaming around me with the curious expressions on their face and hopes that I would click more pics. And I did. Each time I showed them the clicked picture, their eyes would lit. Since it was a work visit, I couldn't click much as I was talking to the local people too.


This is where those kids stay. Their grandfather gave me a lot of information.

And that was it - two visits in those places. I am not a professional photographer, so the clicks will neither be edited nor be nice. They are random and work related in most of the cases. Still they manage to remind me of what I want to remember. Fair enough!

27 comments:

  1. Fair enough ! Loved ,loved this post Neha :)

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  2. There has always been a special connect with small districts and villages...They still carry the traditional touch of India..:)

    Nice capture of memories...

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  3. Frankly, I had not even heard of these places you visited,though I have lived in Mumbai for over two decades.
    What these pictures reeflect is the real India,which seems to have lost relevance to those who have restricted their thinking, planning, policies to Metro cities while never to have visited where you could reach.

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    1. These places are in Raigad district. You must have heard of the town called Pen. They are located around that.

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  4. Excellent post ! Really reminds us how far we have moved away, mentally and physically , from our roots and the earth. And the photos are great. One needs to know what to click. The editing etc isnt relevant. :-)

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    1. Thank you! Oh there are many amazing photographers around me including P. Thus I feel conscious while uploading my stupid pictures :)

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  5. lovely pictures.. rural India, the real India.. :)
    Weakest LINK

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  6. Hey visiting your blog after a long long time..the raw feel of the pics,keying the thoughts as they come to your mind,,makes a great flow.

    Of all the places you visited..have you been to Aurangabad - the city of Gates? I have spent 17 years there..its small city, but beautiful.

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    1. Hey, Thank you :) Yes I have been to Aurangabad, Daulatabad both the places and stayed there for two days :)

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    2. Aurangabad is full history, reflected by its old glory in those caves, palaces, I too fell inlove with this place

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  7. Quite amused, and looks you are close to nature's beauty, the rural landscapes are truly awsome, very nicely reflected & thanks for efforts you taking ..

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  8. Enjoyed reading this post. having spent a good 8 or 9 years in Khopoli on old Bombay Poona road, I know this is a familiar sight. Unfortunately cities have become modern, villages have not changed.

    Your post has given me inspitration to visit many places in interior Maharashtra.
    Thanks,

    Vivek

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    1. Vivek, next time when I go for the visit, I will take you along :)

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  9. Though I don't know much about Indian villages, one thing common among all the villages around the world is that they carry this 'rustic charm' which one can't find in small or big cities. Nice write.

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  10. There is so much natural and so much earthy about rural India!! The pics of these 2 kids remind me... whenever I have clicked pics of kids in villages, street children, their first reaction after the click is "show"... its so wonderful that even they know that you can see the pic right after the click and the smiles on their faces after seeing their pic is PRICELESS!!

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    1. I know. And these kids were so excited about being clicked. They wanted to see the preview of each and every click :)

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  11. Your little post reminded me of my little village.. been over a decade now, since I left that place. Beautiful post.

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  12. Wonderful blog. Looks like all your thoughts are appeared in your blog.
    Btw I am non resident of Varoshi village n it's located near mahabaleshwar in satara district surrounded by mountains.
    I was looking for information about varoshi and found ur blog.

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