[02/01, 15:09] Pankaj Kumar: Chakrata and the people live here....
Chakrata is a calm and quiet hill station. It was the year 1869 when the Britishers developed it as a sorts of Sanatorium for its troops for its proximity to the plains and a comfortable altitude and cooler environment. People of Chakrata do talk about to the great extent of the richer past of this once busy town and the centre of the commercial activities. This region of Jonsar Bawar was not well connected with the outside world becasue of its distinct geographical location, surrounded by 02 major rivers the Yamuna and the Tonse which were not easy to be crossed throughout the flow in hills and the steep hills which made this entire area inhospitable for outsiders. The Garhwal and Kumaon had this privilege of having the famous temples due to which the pilgrims from the vastness of our country used to visit them for the long past. Although this place too has a famous temple dedicated to the local deity Mahasu Devta which is said to be built around in 10th Century but the temple could not gain the same name as the temples of Shri Badri and Shri Kedar ji and Yamunotri and Gangotri....
Other distinct feature of this area is the culture and faith of the locals, although they could be kept under the Hindu fold but they did not worship the Sanatan or the Vedic deities, nor they had the knowledge of Vedic Sanskaras and the Sanskrit language and the holy scripturez of the Sanatan Dharma. They are the worshippers of Mahadu Devta whose origings are said to be from the region of the Kashmir.
According to the folklore there used to live a demon named Kilmiri in the river Tonse, known as the Tamsa during old times and this demon used to eat the human beings and to get rid of this demon a local priest named the Huna Bhat did some worship and God came to his dream and ordered him to travel to Kashmir to invite 4 brother known as the CharvMahasu to kill the demon. Huna Bhat started his ardouous journey to Kashmir where he was told to go back to till a particular place with a हल on a particular day where from that field the warriors Char Mahasu were to be originated.
It so happened that the Huna Bhat tilled the field before the right time and the 4 Mahasu were wounded due to the untimely tilling of the land. But somehow they got originated and killed the demon KilMiri and established their reign in this region. They divided the area among 04 of them...
The temple dedicated to the Bontha Mahahu is at a place known as Hanol. The temple dedicated to Basik Mahasu is at a place known as the Mendrath and the temple dedicated to the Pabasi Mahasu is at a little distance from the Hanol at the other side of the Tonse at Thadiyar. The fourth Mahasu the Chalda did not have any particular place as his residence and he is the deity who travels around the areas covering the Jonsar Bawar region and the parts of the Himachal Pradesh state.
[02/01, 15:09] Pankaj Kumar: Chakrata has very limited housing arrangements for the locals to live with comforts and for others those who have to live here due to the Govt job. A decent room on rent with the inbuilt latrine is still a luxury here as I can see the presence of many community toilets built during the British times as the old houses did not have these latrines built inside and everyone used to use the community toilets. May be due to the absence of running water and other many reasons might be prevalent those days. I was lucky to get one big room partitioned into the 2 having a latrine inside and a small area to be used as a kitchen. People told me afterwards that the room I am staying used to be a big Godown to store the Cigretts and other such rare commodities. The room adjacent to my room is still a Godown of a local big shopkeeper and during the nights the playful manners of the rats do provide me sorts of company that I am not at all alone here.
[02/01, 15:09] Pankaj Kumar: Now let me come back to the Chakrata town and the interesting people I came across here during my stay of 7 years here. As has been told earlier also that Chakrata once was the trading centre which gradually lost it to the plains when due to the better road connectivity villagers are now going to the Vikas Nagar for their purchase as most of the villages are not connected with the motorable roads and Mahindra Boleros. Which start in plenty daily morning from these villages and take the people to Vikas Nagar and come back laden with the supplies and ofcourse with the passengers travelling dangerously on these overloaded Utilities.
[02/01, 15:09] Pankaj Kumar: Apart from this water tank there is a shop of a Ladies tailor manned by a man named Sh Joshi ji who is at times helped by his wife and an assistant who can not speak. On Sundays like the one today on which I am writing this I try to dry my clothes and do also sit in the door of my room for this ultimate luxury of sunlight which is normally available till 4.00 in the winters and till 5.00 during summers.
[02/01, 15:09] Pankaj Kumar: Now my room has this very great location. At the end of the only way which starts from the SBI ATM and ends here. There are stairs further to go down. So its the highest Civilian place here and therefore a water tank too was built here which is right infront of my room and also the community tap which at times is the centre of grt conflicts for the precious resource of water.
[02/01, 15:09] Pankaj Kumar: There is very limited info available in History books abt this place but the festivals and the local folklore, Haruls do attach this place to the Mahabharat period. The practice of polygamy and the famous and ancient temple dedicated to the Lord Shiva at Lakhamandal do give this testimony. And ofcourse there are several names of the places having the names like Bairat Khai, Korwa village etc...
[02/01, 15:09] Pankaj Kumar: Its now 7 years I have completed at this place and visited many villages and temples and witnessed the local festivals and culture closely. Its indeed a unique culture, way of life, food, dress and the way of life far differant from the Garhwal and Kumoun regions of the Uttarakhand state.
[02/01, 15:17] Pankaj Kumar: Now coming back to my neighbours. Apart from Ladies tailor Joshi ji there is another ladies tailor and then ofcourse there still is the third one too. All these ladies tailors are helped in their profession by their good ladies hopefully to keep them under the closed surveillence as the CCTV cameras are the new inventions. Apart from these 3 tailors there is 01 Sardar ji who is always sorts of remain present outside of my room in search of the sunlight and also to look for the perspective tourists looking for the rooms to stay for he has recently converted his old house into the Hotel named Raja Home Stay jus to lure the more sophisticated sorts of tourists who came to his place in search of a homely treatment of a home cooked local food only to be served later wid the spicy delicacies of the hotel of his another cousine Sardar ji who is running his hotel with the great name of Hotel Shere Punjab...Now the hopes of the tourists are further shettered when they come to know that this home stay do not provide even a cup of tea for it they have to go to some other tea shop....
