Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Inside Lalgarh


This is your reporter inside the liberated area of Lalgarh in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal. Behind me is a tree felled by the Maoists.

The old man near the tree is my driver, Abdul Azeez, who has been driving in Kolkata since 1955. He is wondering if he could move the tree somehow to enable us to take our car ahead. I told him that would be a big mistake. There might be landmines planted there. So we walked a few kilometres.

The temperature hovered around 40 degree celsius and the humidity was about 90 percent. A day before, a CRPF jawan had died of heat stroke nearby.

But we had to walk - walk in order to meet a senior Maoist leader. So, in the searing heat we walked, taking sips from a bottle containing water mixed with Glucose.

I have more stories to share. Watch this space for more on Lalgarh. Thank you.

7 comments:

azdak said...

संदीपन दे के OPEN में उपस्थिति देखी, उम्‍मीद करता हूं कुछ अच्‍छी कहानियां पढ़ने को मिलेंगी..

geetika said...

hey rahul..waiting for more stories..my knowledge abt the area as well as the issue is negligible..would like to know more

Nikhil Srivastava said...

I was really wondering if u can be there inside Lalgarh these days. And, here you are. Bravo. Want to know more...

shabda said...

hearty wishes rahul pandita sir.
read an article abt the plight of womens of pandit community displaced n living in camps,suffering bcoz of water scarcity and inhygiene conditions.y no voice abt this.

Aditya Raj Kaul said...

great job Comrade :)

Ajit said...

ooooo oooo lal teri

where r u

Snehan said...

Nice job .. buddy ..
Anyway i am also in Kharagpur , Indian Institute of Technology
I would really love to meet you .. as you are in midina pur .. kharagpur is nearby ... thanks :)
always welcome for any help