Fifteen Days, 2500 km and Twelve Places A Panoramic View of Uttar Pradesh Tour by R. Chandra Prakash

Commonly aired opinions about Uttar Pradesh (U.P) have been that its cities and towns are dusty and dirty. With 828 persons per square km it happens to be a state with one of the highest density of population in the country. U.P is also considered as the centre piece of “cow belt”.  “Jugaad” is not an unsavory word here; it symbolizes the region’s inventive instincts to find practical but simple solutions to complex problems. And “Jugaad” finds its application in administrative and social problems as well!!  Lawlessness is the commonly accepted feature. Corruption, in its every form, is not a sin, but a way of life here. With 80 Members of Parliament, this state has played a decisive role in the making or breaking of the union governments.  

Frequent visits have kept us abreast with the nuances of culture and economy of the western U.P to which our ancestry belongs. But the differences in the dialect and the cultural traits on either side of the Ganga delta always fascinated us. Further, the divergent views, derisive comments and political acrobatics [quite often one heard this state being disparagingly called “Ulta Pradesh”, implying that everything here is upside down],   attributed to this state have been challenging us to visit the  eastern part of  U.P. This is how we ventured to tour the state for 15 days, covering 2500 plus km by road and visiting 12 very important places. All these cities and towns located across the region’s length and breadth are places of historic, religious and tourist importance. They also reflect a wide spectrum of economic, sociological and linguistic divergence.

Having toured  the state’s capital, Lucknow for two days, we went on to visit Ayodhya, Faizabad,  Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Sarnath, Allahabad, Agra, Gwalior, Orchha and Jhansi. Here is  a panoramic view of our tour. 

Surprise, Surprise!!

Contrary to many assumptions, allegations and apprehensions, we found many pleasant waiting surprises for us during our tour. 

1. Good Road Connectivity

All along our tour we found that the connectivity between cities and towns was very good. Well planned and  roads of good standard connect Lucknow – Ayodhya – Gorakhpur - Kushinagar; Varanasi – Allahabad – Agra.  We could easily go at a speed of about 100 km per hour without any obstruction on these roads. 

Road link between Gorakhpur and Varanasi was under reconstruction into Four Lane Highway.  So also the road link between Gwalior and Jhansi. The old roads were in disarray.

2. Yamuna Express Way

Yamuna Express Way, was launched by Ms.Mayawathi as a PPP model of development, linking Agra with Lucknow. However, not being far behind her, Akhilesh Yadav linked this Express Way from Agra to New Delhi. The result is a world class Express way linking Lucknow to New Delhi. Our travel on this road, though only of 75 km, was an experience in itself. More so as it was in Uttar Pradesh!!

3. Long Flyover By-passes

A near 27km long flyover by-pass over Kanpur, one of the most congested cities of not only U.P but also of the country, and near 20 km long flyover by-pass over Gwalior are  standing examples of sensible planning that has ushered in an era of economic development by cutting short travel time. Even if they were a part of national road development, the very fact that this large state utilized the project for its own good deserves admiration. 

Compare this with our struggle to have an unobstructed travel between Mysuru-Bangaluru. Old by-pass roads have totally failed us. Yet, no fly-over by passes have been provided for even in the new six laning project. Mysuru-Bengaluru road link seems to be jinxed!!

4. Cleanliness Drive

In every place we visited we found genuine attempt to keep places clean. Eastern U.P known for mosquito borne diseases due to unhygienic surroundings is now getting a face lift. At the Triveni Sangam in Allahabad thousands of village folks visit to perform rituals of their deceased relatives. Here too we found groups of people and scores of vehicles involved in cleaning up the beaches, resulting in clean sands despite thousands footfalls 24x7. 

We took a boat drive to reach to the confluence of rivers Yamuna and Ganga (river Saraswathi was invisible). We found the waters of both the rivers quite clean and  dredgers working on both the rivers to mop up the floating materials. The scene was equally heartening at Varanasi where the river as well as the ghats were quite clean.

5. Earthen-ware replaces Plastic 

Plastic ban has been implemented quite effectively. Traditional earthen-ware, of all sizes and shapes, has replaced plastic and plastic quoted cups and plates. Tea is being served in small earthen ‘Kullads’ (tumblers), and whereas ‘sakoras’ (saucer shaped earthen ware) are in use at roadside eateries to serve ‘chaats’ at every place across the state. This was seen across the state and in every place we visited. This obviously has mitigated the plastic menace and revived the potter’s jobs in rural areas.

6. Electric Auto – rickshaws

Wherever we went, be it Lucknow, Varanasi, Allahabad or Agra, Jhansi or Gwalior;  we found that electric auto-rickshaws called ‘Mayuri’ have more or less completely replaced petrol, gas, and diesel driven autos. They are noise free, pollution free and tourist friendly. This is an exemplary transformation within a very short time. 

7. Vibrant Economy

As the winter was setting in shops were full with woolens and people were thronging the shops and footpaths to buy them. We saw a sea of customers at every commercial establishment, be it sweat-meat shops, chaat centres, Gajak-Revadi [winter specialties in the North] outlets or malls. This kind of sings of vibrant economy prevailed in every city.

8. Greenery and  Gardens Galore

It was an eye-feast to see that Allahabad, Lucknow, Agra, have large gardens and greenery within the city areas which certainly are much bigger and better gardens than those of  our garden cities  Bengaluru and Mysuru. Allahabad is known for its Allahabadi guavas, have a distinct taste and externally look like apples. We were told that the city also has its mangoes with distinct taste.This proves the deeply rooted  horticulture in these cities. 

On the whole our  U.P tour threw up so many surprises that we now feel that this state, despite its mammoth size is way ahead of many states in genuine development. If  U.P facilitated the growth of engineering and medical colleges in Karnataka between 1970 and 2000 [for reasons known to every one!!], now the state has made noteworthy progress on that count too. However, there are problems of extreme levels of economic disparity, regional imbalance, religious polarity, caste conflicts and political machinations. These problems get accentuated due to high density of population and large geographical area of the state. May be creation of smaller state like Bundelkhand out of present U.P, [on the lines of Uttarakhand], might be beneficial to the overall growth of the entire region