TRAVEL
THE WEEKLY OBSERVER SUPPLEMENT THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017
Honavar, a Hidden Gem An off-the-grid vacation spot to soothe the mind and stir one’s heart Ilona Dam
H
onavar is a taluk in Uttara Karnataka with less than 50,000 inhabitants. However, after a 441km, 10hour journey and week-long stay in the town I would say it is much more. We were intrigued to discover this town nestled between the mighty Western Ghats and the gentle Arabian Sea. As soon as we alighted from the bus, our first destination was the beach. The serene blue water washed fatigue away like magic. Popularly known as Kasarkod beach, the shore was barely populated at 9 am. Later one evening we came back to find the same emptiness, when the beach should have been teeming with visitors. Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Coorg and Gokarna are places that attract maximum tourists in the state unlike Honavar. Urban luxuries like malls, departmental stores or cinema theatres are nowhere to be found in this Honavar. Our hotel, Kamat Executive Inn sat on NH-47, a two-lane road connecting Honavar to the rest of the state. The police station and government offices like Forest Department, Revenue Office and the Panchayat Office are nestled on both sides of the road. Locals speak a plethora of languages, ranging from Hindi, English to Marathi, Konkani and Kannada. Thus, language was never a barrier in our interaction with the community. With almost 70 percent of its people living in villages,
agriculture is the main occupation followed by fisheries and apiculture. Honavar port has two parts, divided by Kasarkod River. On one side is the commercial port, which is called the
'minor' port. A ferry took us to the other side of the port, where lies the fisher-folk village of Kasarkod Tonka. The village houses around 10,000 families. As we stepped off the boat, the putrid smell of fish rushed into our nostrils. Heaps of fish dried in the sun. We spotted some women chatting away as they cut and de-scaled their catch. Their animated laughter and playful gestures suggested a well-knit community. Ms. Fatima, a middle aged lady among them, told us
that they worked from six in the morning till around eight in the evening. As the men went out fishing, women sorted the catch for sales.The fish was then sold at the local markets. Life isn't easy for the families, with very little aid from the government. However, an amicable community and a decent business are enough for the happy smiles to last. Our most enlightening destination was Karwa village. It is situated in the lap of nature, encircled by aristocratic hills. Its 240 families are all engaged in some form of horticultural practices. Mr. Dinesh Bhat, who resides in the village, produces honey and fruit juices in his backyard. He collects raw honey and fruits from neighboring households, processes and sells them in the local markets under the brand name Swasthik Gramodyog Malige. His efforts to provide local employment won him the Innovative Farmer Award, 2015. Most residents in Karwa have retired and wish to spend their remaining years in their ancestral homes. The youth here mostly migrate to cities like Delhi and Bangalore in search of job opportunities, leaving their parents. One wonders how lack of employment can force people to abandon even a place as magical as this. As I travelled back from Karwa, I contemplated what makes a place beautiful. Is it monuments or tourist spots? There weren't either in Honavar. Yet, it offered warmhearted people and a picturesque marriage of mountains and sea. If they call Kerala 'God's Own Country', I wonder what Honavar would be?
Economy vs. Ecology in Kurseong Unplanned growth threatens a beautiful destination Arunava Banerjee
K
urseong, a sleepy town, is a two hour drive from Bagdogra airport. Travelling through the evergreen Sukuna forest and up the Rohini elephant corridor, an expanse of farmlands and tea gardens can be seen. It is a little over 4,700 feet above sea level, 30 kms away from Darjeeling. Kurseong, meaning ‘the land of white orchids,’ is one of the oldest town municipalities of the country. Established in 1879, it was initially developed as a sanatorium for the British colonisers because of its pleasant weather. Today, it is a hub of tourists and schools. However, the weather has changed today. People and litter crowd the streets. Global warming has raised the average temperature by over 3 degree Celsius in the last 10 years. Rapid expansion and illegal concretization have aged this town further. It appears as if the hill, that once had a life of its own, is now on its way to oblivion. Dowhill pine forest resembles the Scottish woods. This forest, covered with the Cryptomeria japonica (a type of pine) trees, is a boon of the British colonisers who wanted to replicate a European landscape. It is dotted with Victorian cottages while Dowhill Girls and Victoria Boys school, established in 1879 in the middle of the forest, call for tourists to indulge in its serenity. Dowhill is also home to diverse species including the barking deer and the giant flying squirrel. Dowhill Eco Park, previously called Deer Park, is being developed by the state and local administration into a satellite zoo. The forest, infamous for ghost stories, also has a museum that
educates visitors about the eco-diversity of the region. Botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker documented it in his memoirs from India. The town that housed a few hundred families is now home to over 50,000 people. In the absence of parallel in-
frastructural development, however, it is a chaotic movement of vehicles, people and the UNESCO declared heritage toy-train all on the same road - NH 55 or Hill Cart road. Most locals are Nepalese and Bhutanese and consider that the town has always been a place to rest, away from urban lifestyle. Its allure lies in the wildlife and while tourism is helping the local economy, it is destroying the ecology. In fact, it is difficult to spot white orchids in its namesake land today. Remaining wild flora can be seen decking the cliffs and walls in between giant ferns in the forest areas of the
municipality. ‘Eagle’s Craig’ lies at the hilltop at a place called Naya Baazar. It gives one a panoramic view of the entire town merging into the infinite expanse of green agricultural and forest land divided by three major rivers, the Teesta, the Rangit and the Mechi and their distributaries that then merge into the concrete structures comprising of Siliguri and its outskirts. The park, with an infamous suicide point on a 1000 ft cliff, attracts tourists on a large scale. Kurseong has some historical significance too. Aurobindonath Tagore’s cottage on Palmer Road is also where Atul Prasad Sen lived for a while. Sarat Chandra Bose built his cottage in Gidda pahar where Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose stayed while exiled. The Tagore house has now been converted into a government residence and Bose’s cottage is a museum where his memoirs are displayed. Several viewpoints and nearby tourist destinations add to the spectacle of a town that is now waking up. Apart from tourism, major industries running the town’s economy are schools like Goethals Memorial School (established 1907) and St Helen’s School (established in 1889) and famous tea estates like Makaibari and Castleton. Hanging between civilization and nature, Kurseong is still a recluse for the city-dweller looking for some introspection in solitude; however rapid urbanisation is fast turning Kurseong into a noisy setting while an unplanned growth threatens this erstwhile sanatorium with annihilation. How the town shapes in the future remains a cause of concern for every old resident of the town and environment lover.
SPORTS
THE WEEKLY OBSERVER SUPPLEMENT THURSDAY, march 9, 2017
Comeback Kings One of the greatest football matches ever gave Indian football fans a reason to forget their slumber Aaditya Narayan
I
t was 3:11am on a Thursday morning. I had no business to be in front of a TV in Bangalore watching a football match happening a few thousand miles away in Barcelona. But who could blame me and the thousands of other in India, for doing just that? FC Barcelona once again proved why they are the greatest club football team in the world. An outrageous UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie between the Catalans and Paris St. Germain ended 65 to Barcelona on aggregate. They scored three goals in the last seven minutes to script arguably the greatest comeback in the history of the Champions League. Barcelona were thrashed 4-0 in the first leg of the tie in Paris. But, the exhibition of football that they produced at their home ground on Wednesday night was legendry. They were up 3-0 with 40 minutes to play, and looked to be coasting on their way to the quarterfinals. But in the 62nd minute, Edinson Cavani stepped up to score the Parisian’s first goal on the night. The vagaries of the regulations, namely the away goals rule, meant that Barca had to score six or they were out. The math was simple – score three goals in the nearly 30 minutes that remained or go out of the competition.
It took Barca 26 of those remaining minutes to find their first goal and they found another soon after. There were five minutes of stoppage time, time for Barcelona to show that it is not for nothing are they called the best club in the world.
As the five minutes died, their goalkeeper won a freekick at the halfway line when he had no right to be as far up the pitch as that. From there, Neymar took over. He passed it to Sergi Roberto, who has been vilified all through the season, but stepped up when it mattered most to complete the Barcelona fairytale.
But my biggest realization on the night was when I saw my news feed of Facebook after the match. The sheer number of people who had something to post after the game was astounding. It showed me where football is going as a sport in India. The interest levels have skyrocketed and the number of people watching European football in India is at an all-time high. There is no other explanation as to why people would stay up until the wee hours of the morning to watch a Spanish club play a French club. As a very simple comparison, how many people stay up to watch a whole day’s play when India plays a Test match in the West Indies? I can vouch for the fact that there were more people awake to watch Barcelona create a miracle last night. That can only mean good things for the sport in India. This is a time when football in India needs all the support it can get. In August, India will host its biggest world football event – the FIFA Under-17 World Cup. The young Indian boys in that tournament will need all the support they can get. But, the signs are encouraging. The fan clubs of I-League clubs like Bengaluru FC, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have shown that. Also, sure as hell, people sacrificing their sleep to watch European football shows that. But never mind the fan, anywhere in the world, last night was about a very special football club. Their motto reads “Mes Que Un Club” meaning “More than a club”. Barcelona showed why they are more than a club.
The Name of the Game Cricket is everything it isn't supposed to be Vivek Dubey
T
his piece could have started on a milder note, but I’ve got to warn cricket-lovers that it may turn out to be nastier than I intended it to. It's a lazy sport involving a lot of harm to the environment as players use wooden bats, stumps, balls. Cricket is a lovely sport as long as you’re not interested in it. Once you become a fan, it’s a downhill run with no improvement in sight. You get absorbed into the circus of running, bowling, batting and fielding. No wonder this sport is played in less than a dozen countries. Irrespective of this fact, they have a “Cricket World Cup” (CWC). It’s funny how an event consisting of only 14 countries constitutes the ‘world’. Unlike Football World Cup, you don’t witness any competition to qualify for CWC. Non-cricketing nations like Ireland, Canada and Holland are invited to play against cricketing biggies like India and Australia. One thing that sets CWC apart from other sports’ World
Cups is the fact that it has been hosted in all continents, something even football and hockey is yet to achieve. I know you must be wondering when South America held the CWC. It took place in 2007 CWC when Guyana hosted a match. Cricket is something that the Britishers brought with them. We were matchless in hockey during the time of our independence. So, hockey was our national sport. As of now, the discrepancy in our attitude towards hockey is noticeable. For the first time in 80 years, the Indian hockey team hadn’t qualified for Olympics held at Beijing. Cricket flourished in the India under the pretext of being a gentlemen’s game. It was called so not because all cricketers were certified gentlemen, it was just the nature of the sport. It’s a non-contact sport, unlike football or hockey where players physically clash with each other. The bowler has his predetermined run-up. The batsman has the limited sprinting arena. The wicketkeeper stays at his spot. The fielders have their designated area of concern. Even the umpires don’t move much. The only thing that really helps this otherwise stationary act is that the ball can be shot in any direction by the batsman and he can be stumped by bowlers or wicketkeepers. This keeps the momentum and excitement alive. Cricketers are known to manipulate match results through match-fixing, spot-fixing, slowovers and whatnot. Moreover, the BCCI is known for its leniency towards drug abuse, much to the worry of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Take a look at our cricketers;
you just can’t miss their paunch. It just demonstrates the level of fitness a sport like cricket entails. Besides, even in’ newspaper cricketers are mostly shown practising all other sports except cricket to “stay fit”. It’s like a colossal joke that has been tolerated for too long. Of course, I’d love to see India win CWC coz the last time we did, it was more of a miracle and less of everything else. I can’t deny cricket is the only thing that actually binds our diverse country. Nothing else comes close to cricket in fulfilling this arduous task. And then there is the Sachinfactor too. Lastly, this won’t bring a revolution as there must be millions who won’t agree with me, but it doesn’t change the fact that we don’t exist in other sports despite our humongous population of 1.2 billion.