Bastar By Car October 2015

 Prelude

Before Durga Puja the one question that all Bengalis ask each other is “so where are you going this time?” This year, when I said, “Chitrakoot Falls and Jagdalpur town in Chhattisgarh” all of them without fail said, “isn’t there any Maoist threat in that region?”

To be honest, after a while even I started to get worried and my confidence almost began to shake a little. I know there is at least one traveller who went from Calcutta in this same route earlier with his wife and daughter. In fact I got the idea of the trip from his travelogue. There was another guy who had come in a self drive trip from Bombay with his family. So it must be quite safe.

I had also been told by a guy I met on HVK forum and team-bhp who lives in Jagdalpur that there is absolutely nothing to worry about on the road.

Yet, when every one you talk to mentions only Maoists or “long desolate stretches with nothing around”, you do feel a little concerned, if not worried. Someone even told me precisely where the last famous ambush happened that wiped out some 24 people, including several heavyweight politicians of MP and asked me to find out how far my route was from here.

The worst was reading a report in The Telegraph that mentioned that Sunabeda Forest had been taken over by the Maoists some time back (the report was on Tikarpara and how Maoists have infiltrated there and normal tourism has been suspended). This I read just a few days before my scheduled departure. I just pretended I had not read it. Sunabeda would come sometime around 2 pm on my second day of the drive. I did not want to believe it was under Maoists.

As good luck would have it, a few days before the trip I got a phone call from a customer in "HAL Koraput". I said, "so are you in Sunabeda?" He was pleasantly surprised that someone in Calcutta had heard the name !!! I asked him about the route and he said, "the rains have stopped. Water has subsided. The roads are fine. So there should not be any problem." I didn't raise the Maoist issue. He didn't seem to know about the supposed threat.

We had already paid the entire booking amount in Chitrakote !!! It was too late to call the trip off, despite all the scare mongering.

I got some confidence from my office network. The head of our national customer service gave me the mobile number of our guy in Orissa and said contact him if you are stuck anywhere in that region. In remote regions that means a lot.

Now that the trip is over without so much as even a tyre puncture, I am going to write about it so that other motorists from this part of India go there without fear. I do not know what will happen in future but believe me, on this trip I did not face any problem whatsoever. There was no Maoist hold up anywhere. There was only one stretch in the hills where we saw a lot of security personnel travelling on motorcycles with light machine guns in the ready but they did not stop us for even a routine security check. They did not even look suspiciously at us.

There was one point where some boys were collecting money from the traffic for Muharram; even they were very benign kind of people. I told them, “come on, this is collected from commercial vehicles only and not from private cars.” They just withdrew meekly and did not bother us any morel!!! Yes, there were stretches that were desolate but nothing compared to the stretch of road from Jhansi to Kota in central India.

As of today, it is a beautiful road. It is safe to travel. It offers some of the most scenic drives possible in eastern India with hardly any traffic. There is scarcely any pot hole on this entire stretch of some 1100 km. The only problem stretch from a motorist’s point of view is the one from Chilakapalem to Salur (about 50 km or so) where all the milestones are written in Telugu. But then it is a ram rod straight road with a billiard board top. So you do not really need to read the road signs. Just blast through this section.

The other such state highway stretch is the road from Jagdalpur to Chitrakote Falls. All of 40 kms but it has more than 40 speed breakers perhaps. So that is another red flag to remember.

For two-wheeler riders with a small tank, like my Duke, there are more than adequate petrol pumps all through the route. Just remember to tank up at Salur if you have a really small tank, because the mountain stretch starts from here and there is no petrol pump before Pottangi. It may not be a good idea to get stuck in the hilly roads.

The other problem that no one told me about was the fact that there is no mobile network for Airtel or Vodafone customers in Chitrakote. Only BSNL and Reliance had working connectivity there. Things might improve in future but be prepared for this. The nearest point with connectivity is about 10 km from Chitrakote. And all the waiters at Dandami resort in Chitrakote have working phones but no balance. (I wonder what use the phone has to them. Do they communicate just through missed calls?)

In modern day’s connected world that’s indeed a problem. Our relatives at home expect us to call and inform them about our safe arrival every evening. On the next day we had to go out of the guest house area in search of network. After about 7 km we spotted a shop selling mobile recharge vouchers. He let us use his phone to inform Monisha’s mother, who promised to inform my mother. This gentleman, incidentally, refused to accept any money in exchange for doing this favour.

The Route

In Google maps, write Calcutta, Bhubaneswar, Srikakulam, Salur, Jagdalpur

My route from Calcutta was simple. Drive down the main 4-lane highway going to Chennai upto a point called Chilakapalem which is just after Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. From Chilakapalem turn right to go to Salur, Koraput, Jagdalpur and Chitrakote. One way, it is about 1100 km. If you type these names in Google maps you get the above picture.

We broke up our trip into two days. On day one we stopped at Balugaon, beyond Bhubaneswar. There is nothing much to talk about the road upto this point except that Bhubaneswar now has a long flyover and if you just stick to the main road you will come out of the town without entering it.

One must also mention the complete mess that Jaleswar was in when we crossed, due to an under construction toll plaza. Millions of trucks were lined up trying to enter Orissa through a single lane. The truckers, gentlemen that they are, made way for our “small vehicle”. We broke the one-way restriction with impunity and crossed into Orissa. Thankfully they have stopped the illegal collection of some tax from West Bengal vehicles that they earlier used to.

The rooms aren't as plush as the exterior. But fine for a night. Secured covered parking available

We stayed at hotel Digantika in Balugaon town, as the Panthanibas (OTDC Guest Houses) Barkul and Rambha were full. Digantika is a decent private hotel with adequate safe parking space for your vehicle. We got an AC room for Rs 800. Mampu didn’t like the room as it was very basic. But being seasoned traveller, I am okay with such basic hotels for spending just a night. Mampu, hopefully, will grow up soon.

We had reached Balugaon by afternoon. In retrospect, I think we should have proceeded further and spent the night somewhere in Behrampore or Gopalpur. That way one gets a headstart the next morning. But then Balugaon’s Digantika was a known devil to me as opposed to the unknown devils of Gopalpur. If one wants, one can even perhaps drive as far as Baruva on day one. Baruva is a new beach that is being promoted by AP Tourism. They have a resort there. But then these are a little off the highway. 

At Balugaon we had a hearty dinner at the street side dhaba called Chilika Dhaba, just across the road from the hotel. Shrimps at Rs 90 a plateful was cheap and well made, though on the "needlessly spicier" side. Monisha did some basic shopping for food like bananas and bread for the next day’s drive. I found a newly made watering hole just across the road.

The next morning’s drive again was completely uneventful. Behrampore is now called Brahmapur. In 2006 when we crossed this area we hardly noticed any town from the highway. We were told it was a few kilomters from the road. Now we saw phenomenal urbanisation along the highway – probably a result of the Tatas’ entry there. I hope the quality of life for the average Behramporeans has improved.

After Behrampore one comes to the border town of Ichchapuram. This is the border between Orissa and Andhra. There were trucks lined up on either side of the road but there was adequate space for our vechicle to pass and no pandemonium, like in Jaleswar.

From Ichhapuram it is again a straight forward journey to Srikakulam and then Chilakapalem. 

Somewhere along the road we saw a huge statue being built. I suspect it is a hanuman statue and I am sure they are trying to create some record of sorts in terms of size. It is seriously large. It had scaffolding all around but I am sure once it is inaugurated it will draw some curious tourists just because it is large. I thought it was obscene.

Immediately after the Chilakapalem toll gate there is a right exit towards Razam. This is the AP state highway I talked about earlier. Coming from a four-lane modern highway, entry into this road might seem like you were entering a small bylane but this indeed is the road to Chhattisgarh.

Keep following this road through Razam to a place called Rambhadrapuram. Here you will find a couple of roads. The one going left goes to Vizianagram. To the right two roads go in a fork. Take the one that goes to Salur – about 5/7 kms from this point. Curiously enough, there were lots of foreign liquor stores at this point. I have no idea why.

This travelogue will be incomplete without telling you about what I saw in Razam. It is just a dot on the road. We cross many such dots while going to Katwa in Burdwan. Bhatar, Balgona, Nigon etc. Razam was a different dot. It had most of the private banks on either side of the road, the eateries were housed in buildings that looked almost similar to the Exide head office in terms of size. There were a few shopping malls too. I thought one of the eateries was Pizza Hut but on closer inspection it turned out to be some local bakery.

We saw two or three two-wheeler showrooms along the main road. In fact we could not see many small bylanes or other roads – which are signs of a slightly larger town. For the life of me, I could not understand the real story behind Razam’s wealth.

There is another state highway that cuts this road in the center of the town. The traffic jam there was simply phenomenal. Millions of motorcycles, buses and rickshaws were trying to cross from all the four corners in a complete free for all. A few helpless policemen were trying to control this mass of people in various forms of vehicles on wheels. Needless to say quite unsuccessfully. Being a Calcutta driver with a 15 year experience, I am not easily scared by such jams. Somehow I managed to cross it without a scratch on the car. On the return journey this crossing was a breeze. Probably because it was in the afternoon.

The next stop was Salur. I am told this used to be a pretty little town with one small Lutheran church and a Leprosy Mission hospital. The town has grown into something dirty, dusty and chaotic with nothing much to write home about. We completed our lunch over here from a street side dhaba called Jansi Dhaba. Food was decent but the ambience may not suit everyone’s taste unless you were a seasoned trucker. We took a “thali” and fish curry. The fish tasted really nice. I am sure it is wild local fish, as opposed to the tasteless commercially cultured fish that we are so used to here in Calcutta.

Needless to say Mampu didn’t like the ambience and didn’t eat with us.

Monisha bought fresh Aata (I think the English name is custard apple and Hindi is Seetafal) from a streetside vendor here who sold her 5 of those delicious fruits for Rs 10. This deserves mention because it is ridiculously cheap by our Calcutta standards. We had a similar experience while buying jackfruit from a local girl during our 2006 trip to Araku. The girl gave so much of it for Rs 2 that we got embarassed and paid her more.

After Salur the hilly road starts. In terms of steepness of the climb the road is just as good or bad as the ones in Darjeeling. But the road surface is quite good and there is hardly any traffic here. We saw quite a few autos and local motorcycles. Soon we started seeing these security force guys in their camouflage uniform. They were on motorcycles. Each motorcycle had a rider and a pillion and both were carrying open light machine guns (LMGs). The guy sitting pillion was holding it ready to shoot.

We saw at least 50/60 of them. But surprisingly they just didn’t bother us. I had expected some heavy search and checks of our vehicles and papers. But they didn’t even look at us. They were more busy looking out over the valleys, possibly for some movement of terrorists.

There is just one small hamlet on the mountain section (locally called “ghati”) named Sunki. The circuitous mountain roads end at a place called Pottangi. Somewhere in the mountains you cross from Andhra and get into Orissa. The border is well marked with street side signages.

If you have mountain motion sickness please go adequately prepared with proper medicines. Eastern Ghat mountains may not be as high as the Himalayas but the roads are just as bad when it comes to circuitous swithcbacks.

It will be unfair to write about this area and not comment on the scenic beauty of this road. I have been to various corners of the Himlayas. I have been to Western Ghats too. If we had an important city like Bombay in the vicinity, there would be many Khandalas and Panchganis in these mountains of Orissa and Andhra as well. It certainly has the potential. The Eastern Ghat mountains are simply beautiful, serene and green with a bluish tinge. It is a pity that there is hardly any tourist infrastructure here.

After Pottangi the next important town is Sunabeda. But it is just a dot really on the highway. Sunabeda’s only claim to fame is the HAL workshop that they have there. Otherwise it has virtually nothing. Similiguda before Sunabeda in fact is relatively larger. There is a beautiful large lake in Sunabeda. Other than that there is hardly anything else. The next stop is Koraput followed by Jeypore. Just in case you might need, there is at least one decent hotel in Koraput and Jeypore each.  There might be more but we saw only one each. Koraput is a very sweet little town. Relatively neat and clean.

The short stretch from Koraput to Jeypore is through the mountains again. But this is relatively short and the road is more driver friendly.

After Jeypore comes the small town of Borigumma and the Orissa border is crossed sometime after this, I think near a town called Kotpad. Jagdalpur town is a matter of 20/25 kms from the border. The Chhattisgarh Tourism sign boards are there all along this way upto Jagdalpur town. If you are going to Chitrakote, you need not enter the town. Just keep driving with the main city on your right hand side and you should be there in Chitrakote after 40 km.

The road of course is full of speed breakers. Mobile connectivity is lost some 10 km before Chitrakote. The road incidentally ends at the Dandami Resort.

Chitrakote

In Chitrakote there are essentially three things. One waterfall. A large and obviously new Shiva Temple with a huge black phalus and a loudspeaker on top blaring out loud music. And the Dandami Luxury Tourist Resort. Dandami, if I am not mistaken, is the name of a local tribe of Bastar. There is absolutely nothing else in Chitrakote.

Narayanpal temple. About 3 km across the river

We sought out a local temple here called Vishnu Mandir or Narayanpal. Because beyond a point you do get bored by just a water fall – no matter how large it is. We kept on pestering the resort manager and he suggested this temple for a short visit. It’s about 5/6 kilometers into the wilderness, across the river Indravati. The temple is beautifully ancient. About thousand years old and apparently maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India. I say apparently because there is no sign of any maintenance except for a boundary wall, a signboard and an information plaque. There is a Vishnu idol inside with two of his hands missing. Other than that there is nothing else. Virtually no tourist. No local population. Strangely enough we discovered a faint mobile signal here.

Dandami Resort

The cottage where we stayed for 2 nights. A much better bet as opposed to the tents

The Dandami Tourist Resort is highly over rated. Except the first eight cottages, you cannot see the water fall from your room or balcony. Not even from the tents that are more pricy than the cottages. Staying in the tents is a complete waste of money. They are small. Crammed with silly, unnecessary furniture (very good quality teak though). The toilet is only a narrow section of the tent with no ventilation of its own. The cottages, in comparison are much more spacious, have their own balconies and cheaper than the tents by Rs 1000 !!! It should have been the other way round.

I could talk about both because we stayed in both.

The food at the restaurant is nothing great to write home about. Everything is served with that horrendously over spiced, reddish brown, cover-all curry that is the all time favourite of all cooks in India’s mid-sized restaurants. I am yet to meet anyone who says he likes it but yet that is what is being served for ages now.

We only ordered rice, daal and French fries with the occasional egg curry or fish. The fish or eggs had to be just rescued out of the curry and eaten alone.

The waiters are well meaning but completely untrained local tribal boys. They have no clue about the demands of the modern hospitality industry. Very polite and nice boys but they are totally untrained for the job. The rooms don’t have any intercom. So you cannot order a tea in the evening from the comfort of your room. Electric kettle in the room is not an option. The rooms have functional TV sets but none of the channels worth seeing are subscribed to by the management. So it was a waste trying to surf. The geysers were functional in both the tents and cottages. Thank God for these small mercies.

In front of our tent. A ridiculously expensive trap for tourists. Eminently avoidable

If you want my advice, stay there for just one night and a day. It is not worth beyond that. And avoid the lure of the tent like plague. Jagdalpur, in comparison, is a much more interesting town.

If going on a self drive or if you have a car at your beck and call, Naman Bastar I think is a better option. I haven't stayed there though. It is closer to the town, on the way to the falls.

Bastar Dussera

We were in Jagdalpur town on the day of Dussera. The day when the 75-day festival of Bastar Dussera comes to an end in front of the Danteswari temple. We had no clue about this and kept two days in Jagdalpur because we had nowhere else to go. Thanked God we did that.

I think they were formally dressed for some dance party scheduled for later in the evening

Our friend from the town, Avinash Acharya, arrived like a God-sent to us. He took us around town. Showed us all the temples, the important shopping areas, the right shops for sarees and artefacts etc etc. He even told us a little bit about the history of Jagdalpur town. Without him our trip of Jagdalpur would have remained incomplete.

There is a small anthropological museum outside Jagdalpur town. It could have been better kept. But as with most government establishments, the management seemed more perfunctory than proactive. Most of the tribal societies are changing fast. The museum can play a very important role in preserving some of them. But I wonder if they have enough funding support and management skills to do that. They don’t unfortunately have any souvenir shop selling tribal art or artefact. But what is available for viewing is good enough to give a visitor a basic glimpse into the lives of the tribals. It is certainly worth a visit.

Tribal art on display on a wall in a demo hut inside the Anthropological Museum campus

We ended up not buying either Kosa silk saree – a local speciality – or bronze artefacts. We thought they were really overpriced. Monisha did not like the designs of the sarees vis-a-vis price. So we gave it a pass.

Guiding grandpa to the Danteswari temple

The Danteswari temple that is there in Jagdalpur – alongwith the royal palace - is a recreation of the one in Dantewada which houses the real idol. It is also one of the 52 shakti peeths where Sati’s teeth had fallen. According to Avinash it is absolutely safe to go there and I will certainly go there once again in the near future.

Three faces in the crowd. Monisha asked the woman on the right about her anklets and from where she got them. In Hindi, Oriya and Telugu. She kept on smiling at her. She didn't know a word of these three local languages. 

I was fascinated by the tribal fair that we saw infront of Danteswari temple. The tribal shops that we are used to seeing in the cities are essentially tribal art meant for city people. Here we were in a fair that was by the tribals and for the tribals. The most numerous shops were put up by the blacksmiths. Sickles of various shapes, spades, axes of different types, cooking utensils etc. The second most in supply were different tribal drums and ropes. I bought one for myself. But did not buy the rope as those on sale were nylon ropes. I would have preferred a more authentic handmade something.

There was just one man selling tribal artefacts. We thought the items were overpriced. The seller – a man in his 30s – interestingly had a nose ring on. This is something that I have never seen before.

I could not understand much about the puja. It is quite a complicated one and I need to do more research on it before commenting. I can only comment on what I saw. Tribals from many villages were coming and going with their local deities to or from Danteswari Maa. They were playing various musical instruments and making a big show of the journey.

Monisha driving a hard bargain with some rug sellers from Orissa. Hand made rugs cost Rs 100 each !!!

Many tribals seemed to be staying in the royal palace cum temple complex with their deities in palanquins stationed outside the palace. I am told the local head priest on behalf of Danteswari Maata, does an annual appraisal of sorts for the local deities. She rewards some for their good work and punishes some for bad work. The punishment can be reduced against some fines.

There was a huge chariot that was parked outside the temple. I believe the chariot is pulled over many days and the journey ends near the temple on the last day of Dussera. We missed this big event. But there is always another time.

Jagdalpur Accomodation

We stayed at hotel Akansha which is just off the Chitrakote Road towards the temple (if coming from the falls turn left near Anupama Talkies). It is very well located. The temple is just a short walk from here. The hotel has excellent parking facility. Though open, it is within the complex with proper security. Housekeeping is not the best but then in a small town you do not really expect anything much. It was centrally airconditioned and hot water was on tap !!!! These two features were quite unexpected.

We got a suite with an exclusive sitting area for Rs 2200 per night with complimentary breakfast for two (we had to pay Rs 130 for Mampu).

Food was nothing great but okayish. For lunch we went to Mayuri on the Chitrakote Road on day one and Keshloor Dhaba on day two.

Keshloor is on the way to Tirathgarh falls. We went there late on our second day’s stay, thinking that it might be just as boring as the Chitrakote Falls. Turned out it was a very interesting place deep inside a jungle. Next time when I come I intend to spend more time in Tirathgarh and Kanger Ghati National Park where the Kutumsar caves are.

I have just one regret about the trip. I should have gone there after better research. The single most important destination of the trip turned out to be a damp squib but the other places that I didn’t attach much importance to turned out to be a lot more interesting.

A Few Important Notes

• The official spelling of the place is Chitrakoot. The locals write Chitrakote to distinguish itself from the other Chitrakoot near Allahabad. So, theoretically both are correct but it is best to follow any one though
• Salur ghati sees road blocks due to rolling boulders and landslips in monsoon
• In monsoon the entire region gets flooded by Indravati and other local rivers. It is best to enquire locally about road conditions and flood situation before planning a road trip in high monsoon. 
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