“Jamshedpur! What’s there to see!” exclaimed a couple of my friends, philosophers and guides when I mentioned my travel plan to them. Well, to be very honest, this wasn’t my first choice either. It was more of a “IRCTC” decision that I humbly obliged by. I spent a restless Sunday afternoon foraging for tickets to Murshidabad for the weekend after but with no luck and little patience, I grabbed whatever vacant seats were available to whichever destination. This was how I landed in Tatanagar on the following Saturday morning.
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| Near Jubilee Park |
Vande Bharat reached Tatanagar right on time and I met my
friend who was on the station waiting for his outbound train to Kolkata. It was
a brief few minutes which got me richer by two homemade coconut naru-s
and few broad smiles. He had already got the auto waiting for us outside the
station. So, my parents, aunt and I hopped in within the next few minutes and
headed towards the hotel. After a quick shower, we then, took the auto again
for local sightseeing.
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| Outside Bhuvaneswari Temple |
The auto (bigger and sturdier than the ones in my city) cruised along the smooth and clean roads of Tatanagar (a welcome sight when you are visiting from the busy streets of Kolkata), crossing the Tata Steel Gate, the main hospital, large green parks, cycle paths, sports centres, etc. Our first stop was Bhuvaneswari temple which is in Telco, a bit far off from the main centre, Bistupur. It was closed during the noon when we visited. The temple looked like a simplified version of the gorgeous South Indian temple style. We walked around a bit and then went back to Bistupur for lunch at a restaurant near Khaogali (literally translates to the food street that comes to life in the evenings).
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| At the Ghat in Domuhani |
After lunch, we went near the river at the Swarnarekha
Domuhani Sangam Ghat. A quiet, serene
place to sit and let the time and the water flow by. The river side was nice
and cool and sitting on the steps in the ghat created a sleepy lull on us. After
a while, as we stepped out of the shade, it felt very hot. The auto gave us a
tour of the neighbourhood near the small airport that is apparently operational
for the Tata company officials only. Diwali being just over, we saw a local
Kali Puja pandal where children drawing competition was on when we visited.
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| Inside Jubilee Park |
After this, we went back to the hotel for some rest. As soon as the Sun dimmed down a bit, we were back on the street again and this time, we first went to the Sai temple followed by the Diamond Park and the Jubilee Park. The parks’ reputation is well deserved – big green area with carefully curated trees, gorgeous garden and a lovely display of a series of fountains dancing (literally!) in many colourful lights.
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| Inside Jubilee Park |
The Diamond Park had a big
diamond shaped lattice, made of Tata steel. It is said to commemorate Dorabji Tata
who had purchased the famous Jubilee diamond from a Paris exhibition in the 1900s
as a gift for his wife but later both the wife and the husband sold the diamond
to save the Tata Steel company from bankruptcy.
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| Diamond Lattice inside Diamond Park |
We ambled through the park, crossed the road to the other
side towards the lake and made our way into a light and sound show. It was too
much of light for me! The sharp laser beams were a bit shocking for my eyes,
but my ears were happy when A.R Rahman’s songs came on.
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| Steel structure design inside Diamond Park |
After the show, we went back to the khaogali to feel
the evening buzz. For dinner, we went back to the same restaurant we had lunch
in the afternoon because we claimed to be creatures of habits, and the food was
that tasty and we were lazy to exercise our brain to find a new option! The
dinner however was extremely spicy, and the brain refused to go back to the
same place the next day!
Our next morning started with a breakfast buffet at the
hotel. With mediocrity at its best, we stuffed ourselves so much that even the
mention of food was repulsive for the next few hours. We hired a car today. Our
driver looked merely a teenage boy who constantly had a biri tucked in
the upper lobe of his right ear! Turned out, he was from West Bengal, Midnapur
district! His accent was totally different though. The teenage blood rush to
drive fast and past everyone else was extremely evident.
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| Chandil Dam |
We drove straight to the Chandil Dam built across the Subernarekha river. This area is part of the Chotanagpur plateau crumpling up the land to form little hillocks in and around the river. The dam is built hold the water at one side which forms a big lake. It was nice to walk around the lake, shaded by tall trees.
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| Walking around Chandil Dam |
They had speed boating in the lake and when we
asked how long they will take us out for. “5 minutes” – they laughed. We
laughed too. It was a good joke. But it was only after five minutes, we
realised that the joke was upon us! Nonetheless, it was good five minutes!
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| Speed Boating |
After this, we then drove along the highway towards the Dalma
forest. On the way, my friend had recommended for having lunch at Giridhari
Dhaba. We did see the Dhaba but couldn’t bring ourselves to eat even a bite.
Digestive hormones were still at work! So, we dashed off to Dalma. We paid to
take the car right up to the top. It was dusty, bumpy off-roading on the narrow
winding paths through the forest. At the top, there was a cave-like structure which
doubled itself as a Shiva temple. There was also a Hanuman temple and lots of
real monkeys too. Sadly, we didn’t see much wildlife apart from monkeys, cows, crows
and on our way down, spotted a couple of deer. At the gate, however, a big
black elephant was chained to a post and getting fed big stubs of banana and
bamboo tree. He didn’t mind the chain so long as there was food. He looked
quite strategic in putting its one foot on one end of the stubs whilst holding
the other end with his second foot and using his trunk to break the bamboo into
sizeable chunks. Good show!
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| At the entry gate to Dalma Forest |
Even though it was hot in the afternoon, choosing this time
to be in the shaded forest was a good call. By the time we were done, Sun was
heading towards the horizon and we found ourselves at the Dimna Lake at sunset.
A path is laid out along one stretch of the lake to walk on. Here, we found a
little water sports centre founded by Tata. Though no sports were on at that
time, it did pique my interest.
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| Walking around Dimna Lake |
On our way back to the hotel, we visited our distant
relatives’ house whom I met for the first time i.e. if you would excuse my
childhood amnesia. And after a bit of chit-chat, laughs and jokes and tea, we
headed back towards Bishtupur.
The streets had a festive vibe due to the upcoming Chatth
Puja and election, both! Lots of colourful frills and flowers and bottle
gourds and bananas were getting sold on the side of the streets for Chatth
whilst lots of matadors blew their horns and trumpets to campaign for the
upcoming election. The matadors boasted the party symbols which varied from gas
cylinders, baby walkers, shower tubs and beyond!
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| The Temple in the shape of a chariot. Or did the horses read the election signs! |
As dinner time approached, we were back in Khaogali
again. Because life is all about food! My mother and aunt had pau bhaji
from a vendor and even though I wanted to try litti chokha, I had to
give it a miss. We went to restaurant called ‘Novelty’ instead. It looked very
popular. I never expected we would have a waiting queue in Jamshedpur! After waiting
for about 15minutes, our turn came. We had ‘Kukkad Jungli Bhatti’ (country
chicken). It was surprisingly yum!
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| The Ramnarayana Temple |
Next morning, we made some quick visits to the Kalibari and a nearby temple (a traditional setting with a tempting green golf course beside it), a Shani temple (a construction in progress with very detailed intrinsic design. We saw a Shivalinga getting worshipped there with milk dripping in uniform droplets from a narrow tube like holding, held with firm, stiff fingers by one of the devotees) and then a Ramnarayana temple (built in the shape of a chariot with a small park behind it) before heading to the railway station.
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| Golf course near Kalibari |
It was our last day of this short trip. As expected, and warned beforehand, our train was late by an hour. We refreshed in the railway lounge and then in due time, boarded the outbound Vande Bharat train for our journey back to Kolkata.
A short, quick impulsive gateway to Jamshedpur - nothing too majorly exotic but all quite pleasant. The city definitely makes you appreciate the legacy that’s Tata 😊
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