Stunning waterfalls, better home-made brew

Photograph by Preeti Verma Lal

I just wanted to laze and enjoy the rains in Ranchi. I lazed and lazed and when days ticked past I knew I had to return to the urban jungle. But before that I did a recap - I have mellowed, I am no longer giggly, I have turned vegetarian, but trust me the kebabs still smell as good and nothing can beat the frozen slush. Unless, you want to quaff swigs of handiya, the local brew, get sozzled, and sway like a breeze near the hills. Believe me, only Ranchi offers this kind of tangy joy!

With starched nuns in school and a rather wild leopard at home, growing up in Hazaribagh meant hopping between a feral and a very Catholic (read: prim and propah) world. There was nothing hip about Hazaribagh and for all us giggly girls the hippest place was just 90 kms away. It was Ranchi. When the nuns were generous and packed us in the grey bus for an excursion, we instantly knew the next stop - Ranchi. Or its gorgeous waterfalls - Hundru, Johna, Dasham. When dad and ma went ecstatic at all those stout A+ and Excellents in the report card, we knew where the kebabs, the frozen slush and the shopping spree would be - Ranchi.

That's the Ranchi I knew as a giggly girl.

With years, the giggles mellowed, the pinafores were given away and my definition of a hip city changed. But after a long stint in the US when I returned to Ranchi I wanted to see all that I had seen years ago. And I began with Tagore Hill that confidently takes its name from a Tagore, but which one? The time-honored fable is that Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore lived and even wrote some portions of the Geetanjali here. But scholars debate that vehemently. The famous Tagore never came to Ranchi, it was his elder brother, Jyotindranath Tagore, who lived in seclusion in eight-roomed house atop a 300 ft high hill after the suicide of his wife Kadambari Devi. But much has changed about the Hill, the house has been renovated, the 100-odd steps are more friendly and if you are in dire need of fresh air, just walk up.

Lying on the feet of the Hill is Rama Krishna Mission, which other than its clichéd saintliness is also known for its lush wheat fields, a beautiful rose garden. In its loam grow okra the size of a drumstick, perfect jackfruits, large corn and absolutely luscious pumpkins. For anybody with a green thumb, the Mission's garden is a must dekko.

Another great-for-the-lungs haunt is the Rock Garden that sits next to the Kanke Dam. The Garden is a much newer addition to the must-see list, but you can while away hours sipping piping hot coffee or munching on roasted gram laced with lime and chillies, pakoras, crunchy potato chips or slurp on chow. Ignore the spellings: Chinies food, Coal Drank, Raju's nudles; enjoy the munchies and let the breeze flirt with your hair. Wait for the sun to vanish in the lake and see the town come alive at night in what resembles Virginia Woolf's 'series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged' description.

There are other things that make Ranchi special - the Nakshatra Van and the Jahaj Ghar. In the Nakshatra Van, you don't just go pick up crotons or plants that catch your eye, you choose according to your zodiac sign. And then there is the Jahaj Ghar. Carved out of the mountains on Kanke Road are two houses - one resembling a ship, the other an aeroplane. Once upon a time, these houses built by Arjun Roy attracted queues of curious onlookers, but now the glory and the sheen is gone.

Like any other ancient Town, Ranchi has its pantheon of favourite deities and religious places with reams of legend behind them. Like the 300-year old Jagannath Temple built by Thakur Ani Nath Shahdeo, the King of Barkagarh, in 1691. Not only are the idols exact replicas of the idols in Puri, even the temple is being renovated to look exactly like the one in Puri, Orissa.

And then there is the Gossner Evangelista Lutheran Church, usually referred to as Murla (headless) church. It is said that Father Johannes Gossner Evangelista took a bullock cart from Bankura in West Bengal and reached Ranchi on November 2, 1845. Chotangapur was becoming a hotbed of Christian activities and it took five years and Rs 13,000 to build an 800-seat GEL church with russet exterior and green interiors.

I had done my city rounds, but any visit to Ranchi is half-hearted if you don't spare a day and drive to the waterfalls that can be great day trips. Hundru is 43 kms away and streams gurgle down brown cliffs and into the beryl waters of Subarnarekha. Johna falls are secluded and solitary, but a great place to laze in the afternoon. If you want to go breathless and see Buddha, walk down 280 steps, cross a stream and enter a tribal village that has a temple dedicated to Lord Buddha. Dassam Falls (26 kms away) borrows its name from the 10 streams that gush 144ft downhill. Here's a travel advisory: Carry your food and water, there are no convenience stores around the falls.

At the end of all this, my knees were bumbling and I just wanted to laze and enjoy the rains in Ranchi. I lazed and lazed and when days ticked past I knew I had to return to the urban jungle. But before that I did a recap - I have mellowed, I am no longer giggly, I have turned vegetarian, but trust me the kebabs still smell as good and nothing can beat the frozen slush. Unless, you want to quaff swigs of handiya, the local brew, get sozzled, and sway like a breeze near the hills. Believe me, only Ranchi offers this kind of tangy joy!

Published in Sun magazine, June 2005

Contact: Preeti@deepblueink.com