Chambal : The land of the Gharial.
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:03 pm
Chambal
Sholay, Bandit Queen, Paan Singh Tomar. Movies synonymous with Chambal. The land of the dacoits. With the dacoits long gone the place has now undergone a drastic change.
I have been crossing the area ever since I was a little child.A wilderness like none other anywhere else. Deep revines with dry bushland and it's lifeline, the Chambal river, flowing through it.
We had relatives in Gwalior and we would make it a point to visit them often during our summer break. My father would carry his pistol and make sure everything was fine before starting our journey from Agra to Gwalior. The tension in our car was quite palpable.Everyone hoped for a safe and uneventful journey. Chambal those days was notoriously famous for it’s outlaws.
Daku Man Singh and Mohar Singh were almost legands and the most famous amongst them.
Man Singh was the Robin Hood of Chambal. He was the most respected amongst the locals and almost worshiped like a God. I believe there is a temple named after him. The locals prefer to call him a rebel rather than a decoit.
Phoolan Devi had sworn to kill all the Rajputs which made me believe than I was number one on her hit list. I must have been about 10 yrs old then.
It was always a day journey. There were few cars on the road . No one. Not even the Police dare enter the Chambal during the night.
The fact that the area fell into three different states. Uttar Pradesh , Madhya Pardesh and Rajasthan made the task of hunting down the dacoits tougher. While the dacoits easily slipped into the adjacent state after committing a crime in another state. The Cops were not allowed to follow them on foreign turf.
The dacoits are now gone and Chambal is fast catching up with it’s stagnant and backward past. There is a railway line which cuts through the heart of Chambal. Every year new trains are added to route . The revines which were a maze for the cops are now being eaten up by JVC’s and farm land and industry replacing the barren landscape. There is a new bridge coming up adjacent to the old one.
Chambal has joined the race for development . Like most other places in the country.
I was crossing the valley last Saturday when I noticed something interesting.
Boats parked on the banks of the river below the bridge. The M.P. Forest Dept. has started a boat safari for wildlife enthusiasts. A truly amazing experience. You can see Gharial , Magar and even the fresh water Dolphin. During the winters one also gets to see some lovely migratory water birds. Will ask some one to put up the snaps for me.
After the safari as I drove up the river bank onto the highway. I was forced to wonder how long the Gharial would live in this now rapidly changing habitat.
I was also wondering if the Dakoos of yesteryears had unintentionally saved this wilderness from Industrial Development.
Sholay, Bandit Queen, Paan Singh Tomar. Movies synonymous with Chambal. The land of the dacoits. With the dacoits long gone the place has now undergone a drastic change.
I have been crossing the area ever since I was a little child.A wilderness like none other anywhere else. Deep revines with dry bushland and it's lifeline, the Chambal river, flowing through it.
We had relatives in Gwalior and we would make it a point to visit them often during our summer break. My father would carry his pistol and make sure everything was fine before starting our journey from Agra to Gwalior. The tension in our car was quite palpable.Everyone hoped for a safe and uneventful journey. Chambal those days was notoriously famous for it’s outlaws.
Daku Man Singh and Mohar Singh were almost legands and the most famous amongst them.
Man Singh was the Robin Hood of Chambal. He was the most respected amongst the locals and almost worshiped like a God. I believe there is a temple named after him. The locals prefer to call him a rebel rather than a decoit.
Phoolan Devi had sworn to kill all the Rajputs which made me believe than I was number one on her hit list. I must have been about 10 yrs old then.
It was always a day journey. There were few cars on the road . No one. Not even the Police dare enter the Chambal during the night.
The fact that the area fell into three different states. Uttar Pradesh , Madhya Pardesh and Rajasthan made the task of hunting down the dacoits tougher. While the dacoits easily slipped into the adjacent state after committing a crime in another state. The Cops were not allowed to follow them on foreign turf.
The dacoits are now gone and Chambal is fast catching up with it’s stagnant and backward past. There is a railway line which cuts through the heart of Chambal. Every year new trains are added to route . The revines which were a maze for the cops are now being eaten up by JVC’s and farm land and industry replacing the barren landscape. There is a new bridge coming up adjacent to the old one.
Chambal has joined the race for development . Like most other places in the country.
I was crossing the valley last Saturday when I noticed something interesting.
Boats parked on the banks of the river below the bridge. The M.P. Forest Dept. has started a boat safari for wildlife enthusiasts. A truly amazing experience. You can see Gharial , Magar and even the fresh water Dolphin. During the winters one also gets to see some lovely migratory water birds. Will ask some one to put up the snaps for me.
After the safari as I drove up the river bank onto the highway. I was forced to wonder how long the Gharial would live in this now rapidly changing habitat.
I was also wondering if the Dakoos of yesteryears had unintentionally saved this wilderness from Industrial Development.
