Holi Festival : Destination Mandangad

    Holi is, after Ganesh Chaturthi, only the second most important festival of the paradise land of Konkan. Unlike the traditions of most northern regions Konkan does not observe it as merely a fest of colours. It is known as Shimaga and occupies a large span of almost three quarters of Falgun, eleventh month of Hindu calendar and all the dwellers of villages involve in it. Interestingly, there are several customs and traditions with little difference throughout whole of the Konkan region. 

     Mandangad, a tiny village like tehsil (county) town is situated to the north of the Ratnagiri district along the Konkan coast. Shimaga festival observed in Mandangad tehsil is unique on its place. Mandangad has the smallest sea shore of all the district coast line, but it is famous as a protected tortoise reproduction center. Velas, a small village is the hub of this activity. It is the native place of Nana Phadanis, historically famous wise chieftain of the Peshawa court. Amidst the villages surrounded by hills and valleys, Ambadve is a place which is the native land of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the framer of Indian Constitution. There is one more village - Plawani from where Prataprao Gujar, one of the military generals of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had hailed. Mandangad itself was an important fort in the state of Shivaji Maharaj.

Temple of Bhairy - village deity of Mandangad 

    A land of peasants and fishermen, Mandangad tehsil is presently very busy with Shimaga. It begins on the fifth day of Falgun, when the first holy fire is ignited. It is repeated in every evening till the full moon of the month. During these ten days Palquins of surrounding village deities and entertaining folk dance groups visit Mandangad. Palquin is a wooden box or swing with long shafts at both ends to carry it on human shoulders. Interestingly, being county Head Quarter, the village deity does not go out and folk dance teams too don’t cross town borders. 

        Palquins are very happily welcomed and aukshan is performed. It is to move a holy lamp in circular motion before the deity. The idea behind the visits of deities has some sociological context. It is believed that god himself and goddess herself go to meet the dwellers once a year. In the course of time, several families of former village chiefs have shifted to cities and their native houses are deserted, however the palquins visit the closed houses and return, as a sign of paying homage to the chiefs. Traditions reflect. 

        Among the palquins, that of the deity of Konawali village has a little more importance. It is accompanied by Sankasur, a symbolic remembrance of demon born out of a cone in ash. He wears black clothes with a tall conical cap covering even his face and has a long white beard and a hunter in hand that is for children an attraction as well as a fearful entity. The palquin of Konawali is famous for searching Sharan hidden under ground. Sharan is a set of edible leaves, betel nut and coconut wrapped with a cloth, which is to be extracted by the palquin. It is a belief that by her divine power the deity finds it out. 

Search of Sharan

    Searching a Sharan is a short event of half an hour. The palquin dance is performed, initially with low pace, gradually the movements become fast. The breathtaking dance makes the spectators feel afraid there shouldn’t be any accident. It is also said that during the dance the holy open oil lamp remains ignited and safe on its place. Drum beating uproar grows. The deliriously dancing carriers are frequently relieved by fresh pairs. Within a few last minutes their whirling rotations become speedier and continuous, and are ultimately pushed forcefully (by the divine power of the deity) to the place where the Sharan is hidden, the palquin leans towards the ground and remain steady for a while and then suddenly plunges upwards and runs along madly…… Experienced mature men shout with joy, “Uncovered! Found!!.....” and so on. 

    There are certain folk dances performed only during this festival. ‘Dera’ is main among them. Dera means earthen water pot. The mouth of a big such pot is sealed by a leather screen; two belts are attached to it that make wonderful sound when rubbed stressed. (Watch video)

    Mandangad is a historic Head Quarter and an important place for monitoring the vast surrounding area. Although not much information is available, there must be a colony of well to do people on the fort and in the town beneath it. Present surrounding hamlets of milkmen community is evident. Dera is perhaps a symbolic presentation of the sports of Lord Krishna and Radha, which may throw light on the history of this underprivileged region.

Industry Support Movement On Back Foot

        The month of February was stirred by an horrible event of the accidental death of a local journalist. Road accidents are usual in India but this was an accident purposefully committed as the accused's statement given to the Police while investigation. The victim journalist was a regular writer against the proposed oil refinery project in Rajapur tehsil. The worst is that the accused is himself the leader of the supporters of the refinery and has pleaded himself guilty. Now he has appealed for bail and conviction or acquittal is to be decided by the court of law.  

        Whatever may happen with the accused, the movement for supporting huge projects proposed in the Konkan region has been pushed miles back. Refinery was the first proposed project which has received strong support of the masses, on the background of several "No Project' movements in this region. We have already published articles on this blog about the growing public realization of the need of huge projects and increasing massive support. (see Archives Mar 18, June 21, July 16, July 20) There are hoax of the rise of several estate agents and blaming supporting leaders as the agents of land purchasers is a major tool in the hands of the opponents. The accused in this case was by the opponents calculated among them. 

       The problem is not about the future of the accused leader. The problem is that a supporting and positive mindset of the people of the land that was just being built has been suddenly hit creating certain suspicion about the so called leadership of supporters' movement. Even if the circumstances favour and the accused is acquitted people would hardly back such a man. What is actually happened that the entire positive movement of supporting huge industry has rapidly pushed on back foot. 

 

Welcoming A Group From The Island Of Knowledge

 As per the scheduled programme, exactly at 2.30 pm a procession started. A group of teen ager school boys was ready for beating drums in local band. A large group of teen ager girls wearing traditional Maharashtrian sarees with lezims stood prepared making disciplined rows. The master whistled and the band started. At the same time rhythmic movements of the girls' team began and the procession started moving slowly towards the venue.

From the top ; Lezim and drums, Swedish 
group, aukshan

    It was really a pleasant afternoon when I witnessed a group of Swedish students involving youth exchange activity at Devrukh, a small town in the costal Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. A group of about a dozen of Sweedish students and teachers was following the lezim playing team with astonished faces and very happy mood. They were keenly watching the lezim exercise. When they reached the door of the hall, female teachers welcomed them with aukshan (moving a lamp in circular motion before one to wish long and happy life).

    They had been on the visit to Devrukh to attend an international workshop on the emerging trends in education in Sweedon and India. The half day workshop was held at Devrukh Shikshan Prasarak Mandal's (DSPM) Padhye English Medium School. It was jointly organized by Athalye - Sapre - Pitre College and 'Srushtidnyan', an NGO working in the sector of environmental awareness. The college has recently received autonomous status and has been devotedly working for environmental awareness and gender sensitization.
   With Chief Guest Mrs. Heike Hands, Principal of the college Dr. Narendra Tendolkar, Mr. Shirish Phatak, Secretary of DSPM, Mr. Krushnakumar Bhosale, Vice President, Mr. Prashant Shinde from Srushtidnyan NGO and Dr. Pratap Naikwade, HoD, botany were present on the dias.
Dignitaries enlightened the holy lamp (deep prajwalan) and watered a small tulsi plant. Tulsi is a symbolic plant of domestic piousness and hygiene.
    Function of the workshop initiated with felicitation of all foreign guests. They were offered mementoes displaying the Preamble of the Constitution of India.  
 

Principal felicitating Mrs. Hands

   Professor Arvind Kulkarni spoke on the 'Trends in Education In India'. In his discourse he stated how India has a long legacy of a high standard of learning, the great ancient universities enriched with libraries, and the tradition of reverence to Guru- the teacher. He also stated that the process of learning and teaching was confined to certain classes and until the British rose as a power, education was not made open to all. He took a brief account of the academic destruction due to Islamic invasions, the strategic attempts of British government to spread education with a motive of Christianization of Indian populace; as well as the educational development in post Independence era.
    Professor Kulkarni said that a paradigm shift appeared in 2014 which would take the learning system towards character building.
    Following him, Mrs. Heike Hands delivered her thoughts on the 'Trends in Sweedish Education.' It was an introductory speech. Stating the outline of their education system, she proudly described her country as the island of knowledge. Children in that country start learning at age of one and a half year, actual school years span from 6 to 16. It is primary education free to all which is followed by volunteery education with several options.
    Sports and study of English and Sweedish languages are important parts of education, and the learning process includes climate change awareness. Education in Sweedon aims quality and ability building, Mrs. Hands concluded. 
   Mr. Shirish Phatak, Secretary of DSPM stated the significance of the society's work for facilitating education to rural students of Devrukh which would be otherwise hardly affordable to them. In his presidential address Principal Dr. Narendra Tendolkar said that new education system would bring changes and provide a holistic backup to education. In the new system nothing will be extra-curricular and anyone could be able enjoy privilege to learning facilities. He appealed for good things to be done in the interest of the nation and the world.
    Students of Athalye -Sapre - Pitre College made presentations on experiments related to climate change. Mr. Prem Jadhav, an ambassador of climate change awareness project of Sweedon and India spoke on a survey of about one thousand farmers from heterogeneous groups. The findings brought forth that farmers are aware of the hazard among whom 80 pc know how to face it.
     Miss. Sakshi Jadhav and Miss. Shrushti Kotkar, a pair of students presented the observations of the use of home developed organic pesticides in college laboratory. These are Agniastra, Brahmastra and Neemastra, which are proven as better nutrition for crops and vegetables.
    Dr. Pratap Naikwade, HoD, botany convinced through his presentation how the students of all faculties of ASP College have realized responsibility of environment conservation.
    Demonstration of first aids to save life of the injured ones was performed by a group of Sweedish students as a part of disaster management education. They used a rubber dummy of man to present the methods of chest pumping for respiration and extraction of a foreign object choking one's throat. 

Ceremony Opens A Hopeful Session Of Development Dialogue

Dr. Masurkar hands over the adreess to Babansheth Lende, President

"Times have changed, Mandangad has no longer been remained second Andamans. Once a very remote and backword town Mandangad is now throwing off old coat....and forwarding to new make over, It is the time to unite to bring change," said Adv. Vilas Naik, Chief Guest at the Silver Jubilee function of the English Medium School, Manadangad. A prodigal ceremony opened a hopeful session of dialogue on the issues in the interst of the hilly konkan region. The famous Alibaug lawyer, and non residing Madangadian (NRM) Mr. Naik fetched back the silver memories of days five decades ago. The dias of Silver Jubilee function of a school soon turned into a joyful gathering of the people of that often neglected tehsil head quarter place. 

Adv. Vilas Naik being honoured by Society Adviser Dattatray Lende

Also Read :A Pride Journey

Mr. Naik recollected the memories of social and public life of the town, its festivals and cultural traditions and commemorated several persons of their time that devotedly worked for welfare of the village like town. Noting ongoing pursuit to establish the town as district head quarter amidst State moves to create new districts. He strongly argued for the tehsil's own representative in the State Legislature. He spoke for the very need of united efforts of local public bodies and the citizens to give the town new face. He suggested to form a committee to chalk a comprehensive development plan, and to adopt a village to develop into a model traditional hamlet.

Persons including well wishers and donors of the institute as well as successful students were honoured, and trophies of appreciation were conferred upon the teachers for their servitude. Taking into account the academic contribution of the society Dr. S.S.Masurkar Memorial Trust, a local foundation offered an address to 'Yojak' with the hands of their President, Dr. Chandrashekhar Masurkar.  

Mr. Rajendraprasad Masurkar delivering his speech, on dias from left Balusheth Lende, Adv Vilas Naik, Chairman Dr. Suresh Lende, President Babansheth Lende, Founding President Vikas Shetye and Town Counciler Dinesh Lende

Following Mr. Naik's inspiring speech, another NRM Mr. Rajendraprasad Masurkar, veteran journalist delivered his anticipating thoughts. Pointing towards the natural beauty and multifold tourism potential he stated the need of organized efforts for its development. He stated the idea of youth groups providing standardized passenger service, with trained tourist guide personnel; a network of bed and brakefast points and arranging tailor service to satisfy customer demand. He focused on the necessity to demand for well conditioned State Transport buses and the earnest need of sufficient water reservoirs to overcome scarcity.

Entertainment performance of school children 

A Pride Journey

There were days when Mandangad,  the hilly and remote rural region to the north of the Ratnagiri district was known as another Andamans. During the course of time development slowly crawled into the tehsil and now the face of this village like town has changed. A region, once having only a trio of middle schools has now grown as a fair place facilitating the rural youth to access many branches of education.

Also Read : 
Ceremony opens development dialogue

In this journey, the work done by English Medium School conducted by Yojak Shikshan, Kreeda and Arogya  Seva Mandal has its significance. The school was started to meet timely need of providing education through the English medium. It is a pleasant day bringing opportunity to witness the occasion of its silver jubilee function.

The story of the journey of Mandangad cannot be completed without the mention of Late Mr.Keshavshet Lende. He was one of the pioneer tradesmen of this tehsil, who started as a hawker cum small seller and grew as a reputed wholsale grocery trader. His three sons raised as traders and businessmen, while the youngest, Suresh, a physician. He started a clinic where he treated the patients at possible lowest charges.

Dr. Suresh had suffered to learn, not monetarily but from the difficult and very limited access to educational facilities. The Middle school education was provided by institutions conducted by local bodies and influenced by teachers from outer regions. The result was lack of attachment, poor performance and stalled development of the schools. 'Yojak' came up to cover the gap.

The idea to start new school would be zero without substantial monetary support. Shreeman Keshavshet offered a big hand donating a piece of land in the heart of Madangad town and patronized the project till his last breath. Mr. Vikas Shetye was the first President of the society and now Mr. Babanshet Lende is chairng the seat. The most appreciable is that all four Lende brothers are associated to this task, surprisingly not narrowing the channel to themselves; and have keenly maitained a democratic atmosphere in the decision making process.

During twenty five years of its journey the school maintained securing a heritage of cent percent outcome of the final examinations. They have record of district level acheivements. Despite this its students acheive abilties and skills that enable them to live a better life compared to other students coming from rural area. They have plans to offer additional courses oriented to more job opportunities. It will help drive the students on the path of skill development.

A range of persons deserves gratitude for helping this project throughout its quarter century journey. They include devoted teachers that worked against only a nominal amount as salary, some among them even worked free. Many tradesmen from the town forwarded to assist whenever needed. It would not be unfair if the mention of Mrs. Rashmee, wife of Dr. Suresh is made here for her practical support involving free instructions to the students for initial years. She showed no sign of towards her husband's devotion to this social activity, as usually the wives do.

I see a bright future before this activity, and hope and wish every success feathered in the caps of the institution and its conductors.

Thousands Joined March To Demand Refinery

Perhaps it was for the first time in Ratnagiri district that the people of this land carried out an organized march in the demand of a huge industry. RRPCL, a grand petroleum refinery project of  proposed investment of three thousand billion INR; that was expelled from the district before Lok Sabha Poll, is now receiving growing support of the local people. The march led by no political party was participated by several business and entrepreneurs’ associations in the district along with thousands of land owners in the region of the factory site.

The march began following public reading of the petition to be given to State Chief Minister through district collector. The history of the short period commenced with the primary notification was revealed how the land owners were positive and supportive from the beginning and later so called environmentalists from Mumbai intervened to raise the agitation. They created a picture of hostility, intimidated the women of baseless fear of infertility and inborn disability. The supporting and responding peasants were threatened of social boycott and menace like a spit march which discouraged them to come up to express themselves. The land owners who had shown readiness to give their land in the public hearing even had been made to swear after the name of the local deities.

Although there wasn’t any single person to lead the march a delegation comprised of eminent citizens of the district met Collector and submitted the petition. The large mob awaiting outside the collector office compound was appreciated by the passerby people as the participants maintained peace and did not give any slogans; and too for cleanliness and discipline they observed.  

  

Refinery supporters ready to fight till the end

Land givers are coming up / Demand March on 20 at Ratnagiri 

In spite of government decision to relocate the proposed ‘Nanar’ refinery, the number of its supporters is rapidly growing. The huge project with enormous employment potential must be erected at the first proposed site, stated Mr. Keshav Bhat and Mr. Avinash Mahajan, spokespersons of ‘KonkanVikas Samiti (KVS)’ before the Press in Mumbai. The KVS is a large group of supporters of the project. Mr. Bhat and Mr. mahajan were accompanied by a group of eminent citizens of Ratnagiri town. They expressed their resolute preparedness to strive until they get complete success to bring back the project to Nanar. As a part of this positive agitation a Demand March to District Collector of Ratnagiri is organized by KVS. It will start at 11 am on 20 July from Maruti Mandir, the CBD of Ratnagiri town.

            Ratnagiri  Refinery and Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (RRPCL), a three billion grand project was proposed to be erected in the creek side area in south west of Ratnagiri district. RRPCL is formed by four Indian petroleum factories in public sector, with the collaboration of Saudi ARAMCO, one of the largest rifineries in the world. The project has enormous employment potential that could entirely transform the present picture of Konkan economy which is mostly based on fishing, mango and labourship in metropolitan cities out of Konkan.  It can fetch job opportunities to almost one hundred thousand (One lakh) persons during the erection process and not less than 50 thousand when in full functioning. Despite this, a lot of urban amenities, good schools, training institutes, hospitals and research centers would take place; and local products like Alphanso mango and fish will get market at the door of the producers, as well as a vast field for traders and service providers.

            Many proposed projects have been expelled from this land in the past under the pretext of environment conservation; neither the environment was properly protected nor the industries could grow. Only the slogans of converting Konkan into California echoed. But the mindset of local people is now changed and they are coming up to express their positive will to support such projects. The causes forwarded by so called agitators have no grounds and people are realizing the advantageous potential conceived by the proposed refinery.

            The spokespersons addressed to the reporters that owners of more than 7500 acres of land have come up to respond the acquisition. The picture of protest was created by those who had no connection to the Konkan land. Those who led the agitators were not losing even one square inch of their land. But regretfully the atmosphere was painted with hostile colours; and the people already prepared to give their land were threatened of boycott and public humiliation like ‘Spit March’.  The meetings to agitate the people were organized in temples where it was difficult to resist and move against the peasantry. It was the reason why the supporters could not raise to express themselves. Even the State appointed Sukhtankar Committee was bent to stall their work.

They told that it was unfortunate that despite the supporters had already approached Honourable Chief Minister Mr. Devendra Phadanvis, their voice was unnoticed. But now the people would not withdraw, they will have the project erected in their region and walk on the way to regional prosperity, Mr. Mahajan reiterated.