CH Picnic

We usually have once a fortnight meetings of the Community Health and Development department. 

Since about a month, the staff had been suggesting that we meet in one of the villages. With a river flowing along the fringes of our block, it was not difficult to get a scenic place to meet. 

It rained quite a bit . . . still, we had a good time of fellowship and discussions . . . 

Few snaps of the place . . . 

The first group . . . trying to start the fire in the middle of the rain . . . 

The second team . . . again caught in the rain . . .

Buffaloes gave us company

Trying to make rotis . . . 

The scenic Auranga river . . . 

This is just below the Palamu fort. Unfortunately, the snaps show very clearly littering done by picnickers. 

Similar to this site, there are many other sites which have quite a lot of potential to develop into tourist spots. 

Unfortunately, very little is done towards this . . . nor does anybody think much about it . . . 

The Palamu Fort Mela . . .

Every year since the year 1965 (if I understood it correct), there is a fair held on the banks of the Auranga river below the Palamu fort of the erstwhile Chero kings. People from all over the Palamu division and beyond come to attend the festivities. 

According to folklore, it is celebrated in honour of Medhni Raja, one of the Chero kings who was well accepted and considered a just and ideal ruler. 

We had been part of the fair couple of times earlier. After quite a long break, we decided to attend this year's fair. 

Few snaps from what we did at the fair. 

A health education play in progress . . . This one is on Tuberculosis.
We did plays on the topics of Maternal and Child Health, Tuberculosis, Preventable Blindness,
Inclusion of the disabled into society, snake bites . . . 

Now I know where people gets swords from. There were quite a lot of swords available for sale.

A play on climate change in progress. 

The Auranga river which separates the fort and the fair grounds . . . 

Tattoo artists are work . . . 

Quite a enticing sight of sweets . . . 

Staff having fun during lunch break . . . 

Another view of the crowds . . . 

The local MLA, Mr. Harikishan Singh inaugurates the fair . . .

The view of the Palamu Fort from a distance.

The team setting up the stall and the banners . . . 

Our staff distributing pamphlets on RSBY and snake bite. 

 

A section of the crowd watching the plays . . .

A play showcasing exclusion of the disabled in society and campaigning for integration of the disabled into society. 

I had been part of this 8 years before. However, today's fair was quite a different one in the sense that it opened my eyes to how history books ignore quite a lot of history . . . More about that in my next post . . .