Satna

Of late I seem to be having the writers’ depression or whatever the hell you call it. In simple words, I just not feel like writing. And I have no qualms in saying, that Facebook is the main culprit. With no offences meant to anyone. Well, of course I have been reading a lot. And a book which I read recently is Chai….Chai, Travels at places where you stop but never get off, by Biswanath Ghosh.
The book, though not exactly, a travelogue, gives a vivid description of places which are important railway junctions and which, despite having a place of worth on the map of Indian Railways, are virtual non-entities on the political map of India.
And quite frankly, after reading the book, I find myself unable to resist the temptation of writing about Satna, a small city in Madhya Pradesh which, though by no means an important railway junction as Mughalsarai or Etarsi is nevertheless an important trade centre and a railway station too, and for the uninitiated, my home for more than six months now.
My story in Satna began on the 27th of May 2010. It was my first posting in my first job. The day my posting was announced in Bombay, where I was then ,for my induction, I found a large number of my colleagues woefully unaware of this place. Many infact confused it with Patna. As a matter of fact, my situation would not have been much different had it not been for my interest in railway routes. I knew for a fact that Satna is a place in Madhya Pradesh and any train to Bombay from Bihar or Uttar Pradesh stops here. It is a different matter that I reached this place after a 31 hours bus journey from Bombay. Bombay to Nagpur, Nagpur to Jabalpur and then Jabalpur to Satna.
The first impression which I have of this place is not very different from that of any person arriving at a newbplace, that too at 12:30 in the night. The autowallahs here are bastards. This impression, I still carry which by the way is not exactly untrue. Satna is the nearest railhead for those who want to have a feel of two words starting with S, one a three lettered and another a twelve lettered, at Khajuraho, which is 126 kms from here.
Satna is a typical small town in the Hindi heartland. Dusty lanes, overcrowded markets and awfully bad traffic. The summers are seething hot, the winters awfully cold and the monsoons, a punishment. Infact the 27th of May was the hottest day this summer. It is,however an important industrial centre, or as the local daily, Dainik Bhaskar claims, the industrial capital of the Vindhya region. This region is an important storehouse of limestone, the basic ingredient for producing cement. And as a result, we have three cement factories in and around Satna. Birla Cement, Jaypee Cement and Prism Cement. In fact, as old timers say, it is solely because of one of the many Birlas, that this place has gained importace in the last ten years. Bees saal pahle ek tho gaon raha e. (Twenty years back, it was a village). The railway station had just one platform, compared to the three we have now. Jyon ghar sab dekh rahe hain kuchcho na raha idhar. Continued, the guy, who as he claimed is one among the first hundred employees of the Birla cement plant. Another comparatively younger person, who had come here at the age of four about 15 years back, added about the platform bit. The importance of Satna on the Indian Railways map, according to the former, grew mainly because of two reasons. One, it being the nearest rail head for Khajuraho from this part and secondly, the trains needed to stop here for the dak (mails) to and from the Birlas from other parts of the country to their cement establishment here. Of course, I can in no way claim the authencity of this statement, as this was reminisced by the person, I have mentioned above. It is a fact however, that you can reach any corner of the country from here. Be it Guwahati in the North East, New Delhi, Bombay, Poona, Bangalore or Rameshwaram, down south.
Brands made a foray into this place just two or three years back. Earlier, it was mostly the traditional market here. By traditional, I mean, the one which you typically find in a place, devoid of all the big brands, which have become so much a part of our lives today. The businesses here are controlled by Sindhis, unlike in many other places where it is mostly the forte of the Marwaris and the Gujaratis. The main market place consists of six or seven roads all running parallel to each other. The roads themselves have many crisscrosses in between and therefore you have many chowks (cross roads)in the market place here. Pannilal Chowk, Jai Stambh Chowk, Bihari Chowk, Lalta Chowk, Hanuan Chowk and the like. The exclusive showrooms are more on the outer skirts of the city, on the National Highway 75, known as Rewa road, because it connects Satna to the capital of the Baghel rulers.
In a city as old as this one, you do have famous establishments. Lotan mugaudi wala at hospital chowk is one such establishment. The original Lotan is perhaps no more there, the person manning the shop claims that the shop is more than 30 years old. Similarly there is the Ahuja Jalpan grih, my favourite shop for my daily breakfast of Poha, which has been in business for the past 25 years. These are the first shops which come to mind when you mention the wares they sell. Similarly Sardarji’s aloo tikki shop in Prem Nagar, though not as old as those mentioned above, is a place to be in. One thing which I find strage here is the name of the phulki walas (golgappa or phuchka or panipuri). 90% of all the phulki carts here bear the name of Kushwaha Phulki Centre. I really don’t know the reason for this, but its not some Mr. Kushwaha , who owns these carts.
However, another Kushwaha, made famous by Bollywood, Mahadev Kushwaha, stayed and operated in a place nearby. Mahadev Kushwaha was the protagonist of the film, Welcome to Saajjanpur, by Shyam Benegal and Sajjanpur is just about 15 kilometres from Satna. The plot of the story was based on this very Sajjanpur, as there were mentions of Rewa, Banban and of course Satna. Banban is about18 kilometres from Satna.
40 kilometres from Satna is the famous temple at Maihar. Maihar apart from being an important religious place for the Hindus, courtesy the Sharda temple, which you reach climbing about 1000 steps. But Maihar, as many claim also holds an important plac in the cultural scenario of the country. It is claimed that Ustad Alauddin Khan learnt most of his music here and some people also claim that he even made his foray into music at Maihar. In fact, you have an Alauddin Chowk at Maihar, in reverence of the great musician.
There are however, only two movie halls here. Jhankar and Chandni. Chandni shows satellite movies (I really don’t know what that means, its probably some DVD movie on a smaller screen). Jhankar shows the regular stuff.
I really don’t find anything more worth wrting about Satna. I might begin someday later as I explore the city more. However, I must thank Satna that it finally gave me a way out of the shell which I had been in for the past four-five months.