The Punjab of Maharashtra

And so it comes to be that finally, after managing to overcome my colossally slothful self, I have decided to 'write'. Notwithstanding the persistent egging-on by sundry wellwishers, the last straw as it were has been a realization (dawned rather late) that cultivating a hobby involving 'putting out' (as in output) rather than merely accepting inputs (reading, listening to music, watching TV etc) would nurture the creative side of one's faculties ( what shrinks typically call the right-brain ). Yes, I hate to admit it, I have chosen writing/blogging as an avocation for non-pleasurable reasons, in a manner of speaking.

It goes without saying, any comments & feedback will be earnestly valued.

So here goes -

When you first come to Kolhapur the chivalry and warmth of the common people here can unsettle you, given the times we live in.'What have I done to deserve this solicitousness?' you say to yourself incredulously. Imagine the lot of a person like me who has spent almost all his life in Pune, of grumpy- rickshaw-drivers and rude-shopkeepers' fame. Admittedly Puneites have certain stunning traits, not easily visible on the surface to most people (that will make for a nice spicy post in the future). But the amiability of the Kolhapurkars is as assuring as manna was to Moses and his acolytes in the Sinai desert.

Well, you might say comparing Kolhapur and Pune today is like comparing apples and oranges. But its worthwhile to note that Pune has exploded into a metro only in the last five to six years and though Kolhapur is your typical town it has promises to be the next Pune, given that it is surrounded by large villages and is undergoing 'development' at an overaverage pace.Mind you, there are three MIDCs (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) in the vicinity. Physically a large portion of it resembles the Pune of old, typically the Peths. It does have its own Peths named after weekdays. Broadly, Shivaji Peth and around is the essence of Kolhapur - that definitively depicts the culture of the city as a place of pehelwan-talims (akhadas in the north), piping spicy food with red, alluring mouth-watering curries, sturdy leather chappals and delicious milk that is drawn 'live' and sold at your neighbourhood corners and kerbs. (Many people drink it thus on the road while on commute, often as a refreshment).

The climate of Kolhapur is legendarily healthful and is very conducive for body-building. Round the year there is a stream of wrestlers and builders from Haryana, UP and Delhi who stay for periods as small as 15 days to gain considerable weight. Moreover, they pick up valuable tricks of their trade from the ustaads in the akhadas. 

What is really striking, coming as I do from a now totally cosmopolitan city like Pune, is that it is quintessentially and consummately a Marathi city. You feel it all the time. Even the few Gujrati and Jain traders in some pockets wholly seem and sound indistinguishably and convincingly Marathi (which cant be said easily of their counterparts in other cities in Maharashtra). The laidback nature of the people - lassitude, if you will- is another quality that unites them with the denizens of Pune, at a psychological level. 

Yes there are streetfights, gangs, political wrangles, sundry hoardings wishing and congratulating politicians (budding as well as established) but all in all the place is very salubrious to live. 

Legend has it that Kolhapur was named so after Goddess Mahalakshmi slayed the demon Kolhasura who used to harass the residents unendingly. Goddess Mahalakshmi is the wife of the God Balaji of Tirupati for many devotees the pilgrimmage to Balaji begins from the Mahalakshmi temple here. It can well and truly be described as the Mecca of Maharashtra visited by virtually all Maharashtrians in their lifetime.

In the ancient era Kolhapur was the Silhara capital and a busy battlefield. Later the seat of Maratha power. 

It was truly blessed with a progressive princely ruler like Chhatrapati Shahu who not only built the most fair and just society in India in the backdrop of utter casteism and feudal tendencies prevalent in those times but also provided for the welfare of the society by setting up infrastructure dams, reservoirs, the famous Kolhapur-type checkdams etc. It was he who built wayside buffalo-stables called tikatis where the milkmen sell you the aforesaid fresh milk. He was a pioneer in education built hostels for students of the underprivileged communities. The idea of reservations in education was heralded by him. He was also an active patron of art, literature and sport - himself a burly wrestler he encouraged inspired the establishment of so many akhadas that localities are known by the name of the akhadas. 

The city is circular in shape with a radius of six to seven km. A semicircular arc of the river Panchganga -the lifeline of the city and the agricultural district & which is eponymously named after the confluence of five rivers- surrounds it. It is a raging torrent in the copious rains the place is gifted with. If Rankala lake, on the western periphery and with a coconut orchard, the place for many a rendezevous and a family outings, is the the chowpati of Kolhapur then Shalini Palace closeby is your local version of Victorian-Gothic architecture. The staggering Panhala fort is the Sinhagad of Kolhapur (though relative direction is different). Above all, Kolhapur is a launching pad, just like Pune 

Once outside the town, you are struck by the ubiquity of sugarcane fields. No wonder, sweetness has suffused the people and the delicacies here, at times cloyingly so. The wayside as well as homemade tea is extra-sweet here. It is also more milky. The abundance of milk here (cattle rearing goes well with sugarcane farming as a complementary occupation) gives no incentive for the milk-adulteration which is so common (& well-known) in Mumbai and Pune. And the food - well, you just cant escape it. 

Kolhapur is an absolute paradise for non-vegetarians. People here virtually drink bowls of the red and white chicken curry, alternately. There is an alley with meatshops adjacent to shops which sell different grades of Kolhapuri chicken/mutton masala. Nearby are restaurants or homesteads where you give them the meat and the set of masalas (of your liking). And they will prepare the delectable dishes for you in a short-while. Apart from multifarious eateries, given the foodie nature of the populace, there are few special Misal stalls. The Kolhapuri misal is known to be pure spicy and pungent ( & hence more alluring to some) owing to the locally harvested Lavangi breed of the fiery chilly here. Some of them have literally eternal queues.

It is also a powerhouse of sport, not just the traditional ones like wrestling, kho-kho,kabbadi but also nearly all modern ones. It boasts of atleast two of our international rifle-shooting winners (Rahi Sarnobat, Tejaswini Sawant), a national swimming champion, several of our past international & current national cricketers. This is not surprising given the historical patronage by the royal family. There are three large multipurpose stadiums, sundry grounds, vast open spaces. There are various lakes that were bunded by the medieval rulers and inviting for those inclined to take a frequent dip.

Kolhapur was famous in the medieval times and early-modern years for a sport that involved taming of mad elephants called Saathmari. There were several sturdy wells of stone that stood on the vast open ground where the mahout used to prick and prod the elephant with a long spear and tease the animal into chasing and attacking him. Then the mahout ran and hid in the well. The hapless animal used to dash repeatedly in his hunt for the mahout. After some time it used to calm down from exhaustion and the bruises. The 'game' was arranged ad-hoc whenever a tusker went mad. It was ostensibly great fun for spectators, but now passe due to lack of patronage, let alone the zeal of animal rights supporters.

The obsession of the youth for football is of the same piece as that of Bengalis, Goans and Keralites. All localities, rather talims/akharas, vie with each others for handsome prizes in competitions through the year. There is in fact a league of the talims here. Fights & riots among the supporters - a feature of the sport everywhere - are not uncommon and there is police bandobast (deployment) in the stadiums when the traditional rivals go hammer and tongs on the field.

There also have been some remarkable literaturateurs -most acclaimed Marathi poets and authors like Ranjit Desai, Shivaji Sawant, Vishnu Khandekar, Uttam Kamble and others. There is a superabundance of orchestra groups , folk dance and theatres troupes in and around, who are invited as far as Vidarbha, Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh.  

The periphery is also dotted with jaggery-making furnaces, apparently there are more than 2000 of them. The extreme fertility of the land and the conducive climate give the jaggery here a distinctive taste and is the reason why it has got a geographical indicator tag and is exported everywhere. Sadly due to the high price offered to sugarcane by the government these furnaces have been vanishing fast.

Though an unmistakable Marathi ethos characterizes Kolhapur, yet it unerringly conjures up another land of five glorious rivers - Punjab - the obsession with milk, its large-hearted people, the pantheon of chivalrous warriors, its prosperous verdant landscape, easygoing folks and the love of food. (The only aberration is probably the famous Punjabi fondness for tipple)

Every Indian has generally heard of Kolhapur sometime. But you have to be here for a while to sample the sights, sounds and smell to truly realize how blessed it indeed is.