Start: Sunil Singh and Rakesh Niraj boarded Patna-Hatia Express of Nov. 13th from Patna and Sunil Jha started by car with a driver from Jamshedpur on the morning of Nov. 14th. The whole group finally met in front of the erstwhile Uphaar Cinema on Ratu Road just before 12 noon on Nov. 14th and started for Netarhat in the car brought by Sunil Jha. We have been corresponding for months and it was heartening to finally see everybody ready to go. Rakesh Niraj and Sunil Jha have been meeting off and on over the years but Sunil Jha and Sunil Singh met after 27 years and Rakesh Niraj and Sunil Singh were meeting after almost 10 years. Sunil Singh has changed the least, while both Rakesh Niraj and Sunil Jha have gained distinguished looks on account of different hair issues!
We were not even aware of the new road between Ranchi and Lohardagga via Bedo (or Bero) which starts from Piska Mod. This road is much better (we took it while coming back) but while going we were sure we wanted to go via Kudu for the Atom Bum experience after decades. It did not disappoint!
Our only real encounter with uncertainty during the trip came between Ghaghra and Bishunpur where we found that a small group of locals had created a road jam after a road accident. We witnessed the unfortunate scene of a death, the local police party under heavily armed protection unable and/or unwilling to use force to clear the road, but finally, BDO Ghaghra arrived with another heavily armed escort and talked to the family members of the deceased. As he and BDO Bishunpur (over the phone) jointly assured the family of immediate compensation release, the police party finally cleared the road at about 4 PM. We had to stop for about 90 minutes here. Throughout this, Sunil Singh played the role of a skilled negotiator diffusing the situation and softening the stance. We were starting to wonder if we have to abandon the plan to go to Netarhat and return to Lohardagga because of the delay. However, because there were buses and private vehicles still going towards Netarhat, we continued on.
Next stop – Benari, and Koel Nadi crossing! We did not have much time as it was a race against nightfall, but we took 10 minutes off and stopped to go over the boulders and touch the water. Then we continued on to Ghat Road and found ourselves surrounded first by bamboo, then by Sakhua and finally Eucalyptus and Pine trees as we climbed higher and reached Netarhat just as the day ended. We headed straight to Prabhat Vihar (erstwhile tourist bungalow) where we had sent a message for accommodation. The main tourist bungalow as we remember was in run-down condition even after a “jeernoddhar” around 1999 (there was a “shila” to this effect) but they had a new lodging building and a restaurant 50 meters downhill, which worked out OK. It cost around Rs. 450 per night for a room with two beds and we took two such rooms for a comfortable stay. No running hot water here, so honouring old traditions at Netarhat, we took a bath when we could, sometime getting hot water in a balti (heated using firewood, no less) and sometimes not!
We then headed to school but took a wrong turn and lost our bearings. Rather than going up towards Hat, we ended up parallel to Dam (we could not see in the darkness) and when we asked if a left-turning road goes to school, we were told it goes to Paseripat – rushing in memories of those names after so long. We then returned via Bartoli (where Durga Puja is celebrated) and went to school via the first V-Mod on the cross country path next to Buniyadi Vidyalaya. So we approached the school from the back and going around, finally came to the front. After looking at the front gate with the decoration announcing 57th foundation day and the main building in the car’s headlights for a little while, we headed to Haat, where Anshuman Ji met us (by chance) and we planned the rest of the evening. Rakesh Niraj had corresponded with Anshuman Ji and Marathe ji over email and Sunil Jha had talked to Anshuman Ji over the phone so they were aware and encouraging of our plans for the visit. But as we were not quite sure of our roles this meeting started things on the right note.
We went to Saket Ashram, where Anshuman Ji is the housemaster for the past 18 years and we met briefly with students, promising to return for dinner. We then went to Principal’s house where we met Marathe Ji and Mata ji and where it became clear that we were three out of total four old boys (not counting day scholars or current teachers) who were there for the occasion on Pathar. We were requested to play special roles as chief guest and other special guests during the function the next day. 15th November is also Jharkhand’s foundation day (and Birsa Munda Jayanti) so dignitaries from Ranchi are kind of hard to come by and the plans for inviting other “real” dignitaries had already failed so we had to step-in. To tell you the truth, we didn’t really mind the big billas and all the attention. We then learned of the program timings for 15th and went back to Saket for dinner and returned to Prabhat Vihar for the night. There was no kheer in the dinner (students claimed only for the last few days) and no ghee for rotis (students were unaware of any ghee, so this has been missing for years, it seems).
School Day – November 15th: Being in the Sunrise point hotel, the day starts early. We went upstairs for a sunrise view (close to 5.30). Dawn was not very clear and we could not see the sunrise out of distant mountains but soon enough we saw it coming up over some cloud and haze. We repeated this exercise three days in a row and it was the same all three days. We then walked around and found our way to Drishya Minar (near Palamu Bungalow), which did not look like what we remembered but provided a nice view of the jungles all around. We then walked around to Bhagvati Vihar Hotel – this is owned by ex-cook of various sets Bhagwat Ji and many of us might remember Prabhat 78 (also known as Diwali), who was Bhagwat Ji’s son and a good football player and cross-country runner. We recognized him instantly. He took us to Bhagwat Ji who was tending to cows in the back of the house and we reminisced a little while pointing out that the tourist business was way down.
After realizing neither breakfast nor hot water was going to come through in time, we skipped both breakfast and bath plans, prepared ourselves using ample supplies from Sunil Singh’s necktie collection and reached main-building / oval in good time for the events (see a scanned copy of the programme). Then we took our place under the shamiana during the vishesh sammelan, which of course, was the highlight of the day. Sunil Singh commented that he was never a recipient of any award at the vishesh sammelan and was pleased as punch to hand them out that day. The march past, the PT and the like went well. The yoga demonstration was new and quite impressive. After all the demonstration, pracharya ka varshik prativedan, trophy distributions and special “ashirwachan” by all three of us and another NOBA we dispersed and met with a few teachers. In the process, we invited ourselves to Anand Ashram for lunch, as planned (copy of prativedan also attached).
In Anand ashram, Sunil Jha played a quick game of chess, then we ate the regular lunch and got invited for the vishesh bhojan in the evening too. We made a quick pit-stop back to Prabhat Vihar and then turned up for the exhibitions at the main building. We cut the ribbons for many of the exhibitions (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computers, Art and Library) and were the judges for the first four, some time together and sometimes individually. We got quite engrossed in the exhibition not realizing that it was past sunset! After a quick coffee with principal, we headed to nirmanshala for the evening’s cultural programme, the highlight of which was a one-act play called “deewar ki wapasi”. We once again were the judges for best performance in the play, the lighting was somewhat inadequate, and the play was average with some decent performances. We then went to Anand ashram, enjoyed the hospitality of the housemaster and also talked to Mrs Pandey (the only lady teacher and housemaster of Arjun) for a little while and then enjoyed the vishesh bhojan with students. We then returned to Prabhat Vihar with our memories and a full stomach.
NOBA Day – Nov. 16th: It was another early day, getting up at dawn for sunrise and then heading to the oval for the traditional NOBA versus school team football match at 7 AM. We recognized Vishram Ji of the khel department who is now the senior person, shukru ji having retired. The khel bhandar has moved from third set and now operates from nirmanshala – as an aside, the naishala is still on the second set premises. Our football skills and preparation being what they are, we borrowed a couple of good players from the school team and managed a decent outcome (a 1-1 draw) after only a small bit of cheating (or not). We then headed to Saket Ashram for a breakfast with students. Eggs / kaju were conspicuous in their absence. We were told this was happening for only the last few days as they could not serve only eggs while there was no Kaju for the vegetarians. We could not get a straight reason for the lack of kaju – perhaps budget crunch.
We then left Sunil Sunil Singh with Saket students and went for a trip to Chalet. While no longer under school management but a camp office for DC Latehar, it is well maintained. We also went to Arts exhibition once again as we had not spent more than 2 minutes there the previous day. Three students had exhibited a good enough collection of their works and they told us art supplies were in short supply. We then picked up Sunil Singh and stopped at oval again for the NOBA-school tem cricket match. Our interest and skills in cricket being even lesser than in football, we steered clear of it after taking some pictures and staying for 2-3 overs. We were later told the school team won in a thrilling fashion on the last ball with three wickets to spare. We headed back to Prabhat vihar and seeing that Sunil Singh was especially antsy after two straight days of vegetarian food ordered murga-bhat, got some hot water for bath and headed to upper ghaghri and dam while the food was being cooked.
The road to upper ghaghri is mostly paved but it does not go via the farm any more as that has been converted into the jungle warfare school. We remembered our various trips to upper ghaghri during school days and took pictures. Sunil Singh also managed to talk to a local, who turned out to be the sun of a mali ji at school and who was working for the beautification of the Fall areas by planting flowers etc. It turned out that the fall was a very popular bathing place for jungle warfare cadets. On our way back we stopped at the dam for a while and took some more pictures. The dam seemed smaller (must be perspective of a grown man versus a kid when we last saw it) but generally in fine condition.
After enjoying the murga-bhat at Prabhat vihar and a little rest, we headed back to the main building and wandered around some new construction and towards nirmanshala. Then we made a quick stop at the priti-chai which felt a little lack-lustre. It was NOBA priti-chai without virtually any NOBA so what do you expect! Having missed sunset the previous two evenings (one to an unexpected delay near Bishunpur, and another to unexpected long time judging the exhibitions) we left quickly for Magnolia point, perhaps adding to the lack of the said luster. Our trip to Magnolia point was again uneventful and the sunset was not very good. The distant mountains were not quite visible in the haze and sun had to set behind the haze and not the mountains.
We then headed to the cultural program for the evening. Since not many NOBA turn up for the event, they have started an individual singing contest called Swar samrat which culminates on this day (a la Indian Idol) with judges making instant comments etc. Thankfully, we were not the judges this time! They had 10 finalists and each sang one filmy and one other song (poem / bhajan). This was a bit too long. Sunil Jha did an energetic recitation of Oorvarshi (I think) and I (Rakesh Niraj) chimed in with two stanzas of Madhushala. They were well received. There were some other songs by Day scholar NOBAs including a special NOBA Day song written and composed by Anshuman Ji. At the end, the atmosphere turned lively and it ended on a high note.
We then headed to Anshuman Ji’s house where we had a sumptuous dinner. I handed him a cheque to take care of some immediate needs that were pointed out (music instruments, art supplies, and a TT Table for Saket etc.). We then left for Prabhat Vihar somewhat late (maybe 10.15) and encountered our second inconvenience of the trip. The main gate of Prabhat Vihar was locked and despite honking and light flashing no one turned up to open the gate. Supposedly, there was a watchman and in that absolute silence, our honking was probably audible to the entire area. After about 10 minutes, Sunil Singh came up with a rescue plan. He scaled the gate and jumped to the other side to find the watchman, who, thankfully was found within a short time. We then got in and slept for the night.
Return: We saw the sunrise yet again and got ready to get back by 7 after a little chai. The bill preparer was nowhere to be found even though we had paid the previous day so our departure was not to be delayed. After a little bit of delay, it all sorted out and we started back. Making only one brief nature call stop, we returned to Ranchi via Bedo this time. It took just over three hours. Around Ghaghra, civilization returned by way of consistent cell phone signals and everybody started making phone calls. We first dropped Sunil Singh at his sister’s place and enjoyed some quick snacks. Then Rakesh Niraj and Sunil Jha roamed around Ranchi meeting some people and missing some others due to Bakarid. Finally, Rakesh Niraj was dropped at the airport to catch Delhi flight and Sunil Jha continued back to Jamshedpur pulling the curtains on this trip.
Musings on school: Inevitably, the question comes how the School is doing. The question comes from people of Bihar especially since they don’t see students going to Netarhat anymore – Bihari students being ineligible now.
During our trip also, a discussion was triggered by Sunil Singh’s question to Sunil Jha “will you consider sending your kid to Netarhat”. I think one thing that has happened is that while the school has stood still or moved slowly, society and economy have passed it by. It may be a classic case of shortening the stick without cutting it – just put it next to a bunch of bigger sticks. In addition to the obvious lack of regular teachers and support staff – only 18 regular teachers in addition to about 10 on dainik manadeya; only about 40% of regular 4th-grade employees against the sanctioned close to 100 with many on daily wages that sometimes go unpaid for 4-6 months; 3-4 of the houses (all 21 are working now) being led by dainik manadeya teachers, what probably is hurting the school more are the following trends:
Catchment area for students reduced to only Jharkhand
Bigger towns and cities have seen the emergence of nicer schools in bigger number; many middle-class Biharis/Jharkhandis migrated outside the state
Two reasons for parents unwilling to send kids to Netarhat School. General affluence of the middle class leads to their willingness to spend a little more and send kids to schools that cost a lot more yet provide a higher level of services. A decline in large government jobs requiring posting at really small places (as a percentage of total jobs), reducing the overall incentive of parents to consider sending kids to boarding schools.
On the positive side, the school is able to maintain most of the routines so far; students routinely occupy top ten positions in Jharkhand board Tenth exam and the school has taken the new initiative of teaching half the classes in English medium. On the negative side, while main building and surroundings are well maintained, ashrams look a little bit (or quite) run down and there is a complete collapse of +2 education in the school. The school fees were reported to be only Rs. 200 per month (though on the notice board, there were due notices running to Rs. 5000 and more so not sure if that is all-inclusive) so it is probably still doing a decent job of serving relatively poorer students. In our interactions with students of two houses, we found them mostly from smaller towns – Ghaghra, Gumla, Chaibasa, Godda etc. so it is probably also serving a need there. At the end of the day, this is a Jharkhand Government entity, serving Jharkhand population and I am not sure it can do a better job than it is currently doing given the political climate. I think our senior NOBA brethren (bureaucrats in Jharkhand) have done a decent job protecting the school but the future of the school as a premier institution remains uncertain due to societal changes and political climate. We could make small differences but big changes have to come through government action and the new autonomous body. I don’t see privatization as the solution (plus it does not seem to be on the horizons anyway) as the goal arguably is not just to maintain the school an elite institution, but to serve the Jharkhand population in a unique way!
Written by Rakesh Niraj (1978169) with input from Sunil Jha (1978191) and Sunil Singh (1978214)
