The city of Raipur is situated at the coordinate of 21deg 08’ N 81deg23’E and is known since 9th century. It is one of oldest town in India. This is the capital city of Chhattisgarh.
Climate is tropical wet and dry with moderate temperature throughout the year except May and June which is really very hot. Winter starts with the beginning of October and last since February end with the temperature below up to 5 deg Celsius. The river MAHANADI flows through east of the city whereas southern part is covered with thick forest.
In 4th century AD it was conquered by Samudragupta of Maurya vansh and it was remain under Maurya dynasty till the end of 6th century. However the city was named after the king Brahmdeo Rai son of king Ramchandra whose capital was KHALLARI. The decline of this dynasty was by the death of King Amrish Deo later on it was under the rule of Bhosla’s king of Nagpur. The territory was finally under British rule from Bhosla’s king in 1854 and Raipur became headquarter of Chhattishgarh. After independence Raipur district was included in central province.
Raipur is connected by Air to Delhi, Bombay, Bhubneshwar, Kolkatta, Hyderabad and Bangaluru. All the major airlines operate in and out of Raipur eg Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher. Recently low cost carrier Indigo connects Raipur from Hyderabad and Bangaluru.
Raipur is connected to S.E Railway on Nagpur,Mumbai and Kolkatta route.
National Highway 6 passes through the city and NH 43 connect it to Vijaya Nagaram.
Famous town around Raipur are Bhilai(25Km),Durg(41Km),Jagdalpur(297Km),Rajnandgaon(70Km),Bilaspur(115Km), Jabalpur(369km) and Bhopal(712Km).These places can be reached easily from Raipur by Train or Road.
One can visit the places like Champajhar, Sirpur, Radha krishan Temple, Chandi Temple, Ram Temple, Swastik Vihar Monastry, Anand prem kutir and Museum.
Raipur also offers an attractive alternat route by bus to Kanaha national park. Visitors can also visit Hirakud dam which is situated on Sambalpur road.
City is fast emerging as an important hub of education in the area. There are 7 universities. These universities manage as many as16 engineering and 8 Medical colleges. Many of them are acclaimed at national level. The city has more than 302 higher secondary and high schools.
NAYA RAIPUR closer to Raipur Airport has already been developed. Inaugural function of Naya Raipur is expected to be scheduled by the very 1st week of November 2011. City Mall 36, Magneto, RK Mall and Chattisgarh Shopping centres are places of big attraction and shopping now a days.
One can find many good hotels, pubs clubs within the vicinity of 10 Km from Airport on VIP road eg Golden Tulip, Babylon and Florence. They are safe to stay with.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
The Missing Mail
After many months rather a gap of few years my door bell rang up and to my surprise a postman was at my door step. It was a surprise to my younger son too when he shouted that papa see this man; looks like a postman but not in uniform as it is shown in my book.
Decades ago when I was away to my home town while pursuing my higher study; the only way to connect my parent was a postcard and a postman. My mother kept weeping for many days until she received my first letter.
Those were the days when I used to write postcard for my parent and a postman hand it over to my family. Slowly I started writing letter every day with an idea that my family must feel my presence through letter. This was true as every one in my family did talk about me and my letter.
The postcard/letters which used to be hand written carries all sorts of emotions unlike e-mail, mother used to keep it with her until she received my next letter other day.
Everyday he used to deliver my postcard at my home. He used to care and listening villager’s story of their near and dear that was far away from village, writing letters for them. My mother too was venting her loneliness by sharing with him about me, my study and my college. He carries my feeling to my family and in those days in our villages, the postmen were highly respected as they carry all types of news for relatives of one’s family. Everyone there in my village keeps waiting for the postman.
Postman was the matter of discussion for every one in the village when he was absent/or had no visit to our village. People feel restless and keep enquiring each other about the postman whether he came today?
Modernisation in India too was at higher pace by the end of 20th century, an arrival of mobile phone and accessibility of STD and ISD through land line became the reality for common people. We preferred making call to our distant relatives than writing letters to them. An invisible bond which was there between our family and relatives through letters and a postman started becoming weak.
Writing letter was an art, we used to put all our emotions in few lines in the letter, many a times the person at the other end cry out of emotion while reading the letters and this was the very reason whereby we were so closely attached with each other.
The workload of postman has reduced to minimum; our kids have hardly seen a postman. They are acquainted with courier people. Mobile phone and e-mail are the fastest mode of communication. Like many other species getting extinction on the earth, a postman is on the verge of extinction.
A postman clad in uniform with a Gandhian cap on his head with bicycle and bag full of letters are a rare appearance even in village.
My 92 years old mother in village now sits around a landline to pick up my call. Often people around and relatives avoid having conversation with old person like my mother. She alone in a corner of her living room, waiting for telephone bell to rang up, sometimes shouting on kids; who play around my home to keep silence so that she should not miss the sound of telephone bell; I decided to call her every night.
Earlier my letter was her lifeline now it is my call on the landline.
No postman or his call to my doorstep is there to break silence and no one is there to have a conversation with her. With the each passing days in life, each one of us are so alone within in the huge crowd around.
Decades ago when I was away to my home town while pursuing my higher study; the only way to connect my parent was a postcard and a postman. My mother kept weeping for many days until she received my first letter.
Those were the days when I used to write postcard for my parent and a postman hand it over to my family. Slowly I started writing letter every day with an idea that my family must feel my presence through letter. This was true as every one in my family did talk about me and my letter.
The postcard/letters which used to be hand written carries all sorts of emotions unlike e-mail, mother used to keep it with her until she received my next letter other day.
Everyday he used to deliver my postcard at my home. He used to care and listening villager’s story of their near and dear that was far away from village, writing letters for them. My mother too was venting her loneliness by sharing with him about me, my study and my college. He carries my feeling to my family and in those days in our villages, the postmen were highly respected as they carry all types of news for relatives of one’s family. Everyone there in my village keeps waiting for the postman.
Postman was the matter of discussion for every one in the village when he was absent/or had no visit to our village. People feel restless and keep enquiring each other about the postman whether he came today?
Modernisation in India too was at higher pace by the end of 20th century, an arrival of mobile phone and accessibility of STD and ISD through land line became the reality for common people. We preferred making call to our distant relatives than writing letters to them. An invisible bond which was there between our family and relatives through letters and a postman started becoming weak.
Writing letter was an art, we used to put all our emotions in few lines in the letter, many a times the person at the other end cry out of emotion while reading the letters and this was the very reason whereby we were so closely attached with each other.
The workload of postman has reduced to minimum; our kids have hardly seen a postman. They are acquainted with courier people. Mobile phone and e-mail are the fastest mode of communication. Like many other species getting extinction on the earth, a postman is on the verge of extinction.
A postman clad in uniform with a Gandhian cap on his head with bicycle and bag full of letters are a rare appearance even in village.
My 92 years old mother in village now sits around a landline to pick up my call. Often people around and relatives avoid having conversation with old person like my mother. She alone in a corner of her living room, waiting for telephone bell to rang up, sometimes shouting on kids; who play around my home to keep silence so that she should not miss the sound of telephone bell; I decided to call her every night.
Earlier my letter was her lifeline now it is my call on the landline.
No postman or his call to my doorstep is there to break silence and no one is there to have a conversation with her. With the each passing days in life, each one of us are so alone within in the huge crowd around.