Jaora, Sujapur

Thursday, July 24, 2014

The first place we went to this village called Sujapur.

Mohsin had made arrangements for us to travel by a Rickshaw to Sujapur. It is a few km away from Hussein Tekri. Why Sujapur, there is a small Dargah atop a hill. The Dulha Dawal Shah Dargah.

We exited the highway on the small village road leading to Sujapur. We were greeted with lush green fields, mango trees, windmills and to top it cool winds in the afternoon. Windmills, not one, not two but beyond count. A small road leads to the base village of the Dargah in Sujapur. Though the road is made of tar it is still uneven.

The village is very scenic. A cluster of houses make up the village. Farming is the main profession here. The village has both Muslim and Hindu communities staying together. National Integration, I am loving it. You will be eager t know, how I know this, there is a temple and Dargah in its premises.

A series of steps leads to the hilltop which offers mind blowing view of the place. Climbing the steps will test your knees to the core. But if you have knee issues, you need not worry as uneven tar road will take you to the top.

The hilltop offers a beautiful 360 degree view of the place. The cluster of houses in the villages, the windmills and the lake make a beautiful scene. This bought a smile across my face. This is one of the reasons why I came on this trip.

Mohsin and his family offered prayers in the Dargah, while my friend accompanied me on my photo session. My friend the Panasonic TZ11.

I walked to one of the windmills and got amazing photos of the sun light breaking through the clouds. Not sure what the energy is used for.

I sat under the shade of the tree, thinking how people lead a life here. I don’t mind staying in a village. It will for sure heal me from the mobile phone illness cut me off social media sites.  Though the life they lead is difficult as compared to us urbanites. But that doesn’t stop them. They have been living it and will continue to live it.  

There is a school in the village, so the children are going to school to study which is a good sign. Literacy rate is going up; again that brings a smile across my face.

Sometimes we should keep mother earth the way it is. It serves a refreshing break to us urbanites.  Even in the city of Mumbai we have hillocks which are either demolished or soon to be demolished to make way for skyscrapers.  But most of them go unoccupied as the people have no buying capacity. Then what’s the use of erasing the hillock. Man’s Greed knows no boundaries.

Soon Mohsin’s prayer meeting was over and we then decided to head back. Again Mohsin’s brothers and I came down the stairs while the others came down the road.

On the way we did a detour to refresh ourselves in the waters. We shared the waters with a herd of buffaloes and also bikers who were washing their bikes here.

In a distance on the hill where the windmills are located I could see something in white, when I zoomed in with my camera, I saw that it was a herd of cattle grazing on the green pastures there.

Wasim, Satish and Nadeem, had a good time in the water, by the time they were out they were totally wet. So we made them sit together isolating them from us, else we would all be wet.

Soon we were on the Highway again. 

Jaora, Bhora Mangra

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Next stop was a farming village i.e Bhora Mangra. To reach it we had to move off the state highway. The tar road was replaced by a muddy patch. It took us to the Dargah. The dargah is located near the farms and the small hills near it. 

The time was 5 PM on my watch and I was hoping to get a good view of the sunset from here.

This place is again beautiful like Sujapur. Greenery as far as my eye could see.  Again a few windmills up on the hills.

A farmer was ploughing his fields with his HMT tractor. The tractor was made in 1985. I told Mohsin that he and the tractor are of the same age.

The best part is that though the tractor is 28 years old, it is still in working condition. The farmer told me that his father used to plough with it and now he does and soon will his son.

There is just one house located near the Dargah; it was the house of the farmer. There are two trees with twisted barks. Mohsin told me that when the Deity was angered he vented it out on the trees and they are twisted.

I don’t mind staying here and living a simple life. Change my profession to farming. Eat fresh produce from the farm, drink cow milk and live a healthy life. No wonder the villagers are much healthier than us, living in the cities.

As we were about to leave it was almost dusk and I managed to get some beautiful sunset photos.