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Articles: Travelogue | Nagpur Diary
- Dr. Rajeshwar Mittapalli
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The small town Kamthi has its own historical significance. It was established as a cantonment by the British in 1821 and it continues to serve the nation in various ways even today. Driving across Kamthi town is a little like flipping through the pages of history.
Nagpur is incidentally at the geographical centre of India, and my ‘unnamed’ chauffeur told me that there is a monument called “Zero Mile Stone of India” at the exact “dead center” of the country inside the city of Nagpur. I was very keen on seeing this monument. We stopped by the wayside to have a dekko at this monument situated at the intersection of roads, but only to be disappointed a little because in spite of representing such an important geographical fact it was no more than a mere pillar made of stone which was flanked by the images of four horses.
There was one final monument to be visited in Nagpur. This was Deekshabhoomi where, about 50 years ago, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the dalit architect of the Indian constitution, embraced Buddhism along with thousands of his followers. Every year on ‘Ashok Vijaya Dashmi Day’ Buddhists congregate here in their thousands. The dome of this monument was a real treat; being the size of almost a football stadium, it greatly impressed me with its sheer magnitude, and of course with its serenity.
There was also a makeshift bookshop specializing in books on Buddhism and dalit writings of Ambedkar and others. I bought a few books in view of my current research interest in dalit social history in Indian Fiction in English.
Back at the guesthouse, it was a hurried lunch followed by packing for the journey back home. We were at the train station long before the scheduled time of the arrival of Dakshin Express, but we had to wait for an uncomfortably long time. The train was running about three hours late, and this in spite of the big claims about professionalizing the Indian Railways! I still made the best possible use of the time -- by browsing through the music CDs at a platform music store and finally buying three MP3 CDs containing my favourite film songs. It was 5 am the next day when we reached Warangal, and it took two days of rest for me to get back into my routine.
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