My Interview at Lakha :In early 80’s I was in Khariar Road of undivided Kalahandi district, working for an organaisation. Khariar Road is a small town and most of the people there are Gujaratis and Marwadis and Odia people (mostly working in Government). This town is said to be a business town. At that time even the Kabuli walis, Iranis community were that time. Though this place is in Odisha since it is bordering Raipur which is in Chattisgarh, most of the people here speak Hindi and Chattisgarh language apart from Odia. When i went to Khariar Road, i just came out of college – pre-degree and i was in teenage. Since my education was in Andhra Pradesh and the education was also in my mother tongue Telugu – hence it was difficult for me as i can’t speak Hindi, though my second language was Hindi. Similarly Odia language was also new to me. so i had to manage with my not fluent English. I stayed there for about an year or so before moving to Bhubaneswar, the state capital of Odisha.
While i was in Khariar i could manage to make friendship with many people including some Telugu speaking. While i was working there, i applied for a post with Central Silk Tassar Board and after few weeks i got an interview call. This place is situated on Raipur Bilaspur train route. Name of the place is Lakha which is a very small village and many people do not know this place. This place is nearer to Raigarh – Raigarh is a district headquarters.
In the evening hours i used to go to a watchshop run by a relative. I used to sit there after office hours and chat with the staff in that shop. I was enquiring about this place Lakha – since it is not on the train route, unless someone knows that area its difficult to know whether on the bus route you will find that one of the members in that shop has some idea and he explained me. He suggested me to take a train to Raipur and from there take another train to Raigarh. And he further suggested not to take bus because in Raipur you will find lot of fraud people and they will try to extract money from you saying that i will arrange a ticket etc.
The day before the interview i left for Raipur and went to Railway station and there some people suggested that i go to bus stand so that in that bus route this Lakha village will come. I got confused then i decided to go to Bus station on a rickshaw. I had a small bag with me and was roaming around in the bus station to see which bus goes to Raigarh. Seeing me going around two people in a drunken state came to me and offered help and they asked me to follow them so that they will put me on bus. Though my friend at watch shop advised to be careful with gundas, i still went there.
To my good luck, the person who advised me the route and asked me to take a train was travelling somewhere on that day he was in a bus and suddenly he saw me and since he knew that i was new and he saw the two gundas/brokers besides me, he came down rushing from his bus towards me and he scolded me why you came to bus station. The two gundas were fighting with my friend saying who are you why are you here why are you interfering. He had heated discussions with them and dragged me from them and put me in a rickshaw and asked the rickshaw person to drop me at the railway station.
At station also i was nervous as the platform is so crowed and concerned about th train that i was going to get in. After some delay the train came and I got into one of the general compartments. When the train reached Bilaspur the train stopped there for a longer period. I took tea and i did not have exact change to pay him. He was asking me to pay or otherwise asked me to give that 100 rupees note so that he will come back and give me the change which i was not sure as the train is overcrowded. I came to two other compartments to see if i can buy anything so that ic can get some change. I could not find any, then i though the tea wallah may have gone to other places and he will not back. To my surprise after sometime he came to me and asked for money. There was no option for me so with limited time the train about to leave i came down to platform and bought some biscuits and got change and came inside compartment and paid the money to the tea person.
Since the train was to reach Raigarh around midnight, whatever biscuits i bought i had on the train in addition to some other snacks. It was around 11.30 in the night i reached Raigarh and i do not know where to stay because it was late in the night and which hotel i should stay. At station some parotas and milk i took and there they suggested some Dharmasala (a place where people can stay in a dormitory and they take small amount) nearby. Since there is no option, i finally reached the dharmasala. I was sleeping on one bed but was not able to get sleep as many people come and go. Early morning i got up and went around Raigarh. And i was waiting for a bus to Lakha to see where this place is – Since i kept one day spare before the interview, i could manage to go around. At bus stop i found few other people were going to Lakha and they were also talking about this interview then i approached them and introduced and i came to know they were also going to give the interaview. We all went togeether to Lakha and then came back to Raigarh and we went around Raigarh and since it was summer and very hot, we decided to go to see a movie so that we can spend time in the hot summer.
We all stayed together in the dharmasala and next day we proceeded for the interview place. The interview was over and everyone was hoping that they will get through. We were waiting anxiously outside to see if we get some news. One of the peons going inside and coming out hinted at me to say that they officials were thinking of selecting me. I was happy. The results were not declared and they said they will let us know in few weeks time.
We all took the evening train back to Raipur and luckily they were also coming to Bhilai which is closer to Raipur. We had good time and finally i reached Raipur. From Raipur my place Khariar Road is about 105 kms approximately. Though i bought tickets while coming from Raigarh to Raipur but no one came to check. Since i have to take another route i have to get down from that train and catch the next one. When i reached Raipur there was hardly any time left for me to go outside station and buy the tickets. Hence i could not buy tickets and in case TTE asks i decided to pay money for ticket. In Raipur Khariar Road route many people come for business and some travel without ticket as they come frequently. Unfortunately half way route railway squad came and they put heavy penalties for ticketless travellers. I was worried if they catch me so i tried to go from one compartment to the other. At Mahasamund the train stopped as it was summer season the train was overcrowded and even people used to go inside guards room. Along with others i also could manage to get into the guards cabin. To my luck the squad did not come that side. Finally I reached Khariar Road around 11 in the morning. I have not heard about the final outcome of that interview. This was an experience to travel in an unknown place with language barriers.
Good write ups Suresh. I read a few over the last hour. In particular read about your village, fishing in village pond, ones on Kochi and your interview in Lakha. They are interesting ones. Keep it up. V
Thank you so much Mahesh babu.