Durgapur of India

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Durgapur of India

Home is where the heart is, and for someone, who has been born and brought up in a place, for someone who has seen the city striking roots amidst the social milieu and become a part of the lives of the people it sustains, the home is a synonym for the heart. Durgapur is a city that matches up to all the above protocol, as far as I am concerned.

I used to hear from my grandfather about his journeys to the Bankura High Court, back in the 1930’s. People had to disembark from a train at a halt, not even a stop, called Durgapur. Dense, forbidding forests encircled the railway clearing. There would congregate a myriad assemblage of travelers, and when the group became a multitude, they would set off on bullock carts across the forest which was Durgapur. People had their hearts within their mouths for behind the thick crochet of bushes and the sal and seesam trees lurked many a critter and the abominable brigands, who threw stout sticks at the ankles and then looted the incapacitated victims. Downright chilly, I guess it was.

Then came the transformation, thanks to the visionary endowments of one man, Dr. B.C.Roy. He seems to have realized that a state cannot be sustained by a lone city of opportunity. Other cities had to be developed, and if need be, set up. Durgapur falls under the second category of his achievements. And what an achievement it has been. From a sprawling wilderness, it has developed and how! In terms of commerce and industry, it is oft compared to the Ruhr in Germany. Today it houses around 60 large and medium sized industries and umpteen smaller ones. Everything from steel, power, natural gas, paper, chemicals to biscuits, cement and software can be found under production in this city. The f...

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... generally associates with an industrial city. Stadiums have been built and the city plays host to many cultural and sports meets. Its political impact is also on the rise and more than 2000 crore rupees have been pumped into it for the last three years. There are clubs for those prefer to be social. Otherwise it is a retreat for sages. The serenity, the almost deafening silence, soothes ones senses. Violence and excitement are concepts alien to Durgapur.

Durgapur is where you can still witness the seasonal changes and the city changes likewise. From scorching summers, punctuated by primitive thundershowers, to the aesthetic fall, to the chilly winter – you can feel it all. Durgapur is a supreme fusion of the essential and the ethereal, a fusion I’m proud to be part of. The city endears people, rekindles lost emotions and insurrects new ones, fond ones.

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