India is known to be a mine of villages. One of the village about which I know better than any other village of India is Rawaich. I was born here and that's why I know almost everything about this village. As the case with many villages of central Bihar, it has also been poured with all the natural beauty a village is supposed to have. From nature to technology and from Dada to Leaders(No doubt they are all where), Rail to Roads, River to Plains everything is just either partition this village or touch it. The only missing thing is any Hill, which are almost 80KM away from here. Gaya hills and Rajgir hills are the nearest.
Rawaich HistoryRawaich is named and populated by Ganga Singh and Dilip Singh who primarily belonged to Jaipur-jodhpur. In few centuries, Rawaich crossed the population mark of 5000 making it larger than Just a Village. It has been subdivided into four virtual parts[We call them khut in the village] viz, North, South, East and West. Today's Rawaich is very different from that described in the book The History, Antiquities, Topography, and Statistics of Eastern India.
North Block (Uttar Khut)NH-31(National Highway 31) makes the north border line for Rawaich. Stretching further to north reveals secondary flow of river Ganga. The main Ganga stream is approx 2 km further north. In summer the secondary flow faints leaving extremely granule sands while in Rainy season it becomes voracious.
South Block (Dakshin Khut)
Delhi-Howdah railway line finishes the inner south boundary. Approx 3 kilometers south from the railway line there is another river creating outer south boundary of this village. Between railway line and this river, a huge area of arable land is farmed(Usually for Rabi, since either the whole land is submerged by water during rainy days or remains highly hot in other days except post rainy and winter days) by villagers. Almost all kinds of grains is farmed. Lentil, Wheat, Peas, Paddy, Gram, Maize, khesari, etc are the prime one. Sugarcane has also been seen in few parts.
This block is the most important block of this Village. Larger percent of educated and rich people of this village resides in this block. It is bounded by Bakhtiyarpur from East. I was in this village in 1980's to 1990's. Since then Bakhtiyarpur has grown to a great level. Obviously one should not compare this with Metro cities. However, for a normal life, everything is here like, Cinema Halls, Lots of doctors of all degrees, Engineers educated from reputed Indian universities[like IITs, NITs, BITs, IGNOU, etc], Well spreaded markets, Share Brokers, Banks Branches, A Railway Station[Bakhtiyarpur Junction] where almost all trains do at least one minute stay if they has been routed through Delhi-Howdah or Delhi-Guwahati. I.e., one should easily be here if wants to reach by Rail. Bad things like negligible Bus service, Highly crowded Tempos are primary conveyance in this area apart from the Trains.
West Block
On west another village, Simri is there. These people(of Simri village) run their life by working in houses or farms owned by people of Rawaich or running Rickshaw, tam-tams, ThelaGadi, etc.
Natural things
Villages used to have many ponds and gardens. These things increase the charmness of a village.
PondsRawaich has more than 10 ponds. Few famous ponds in the village are Vasu pond of West Block used as fish farming, "Purana Gabra"(Old pond) of south block - this pond never dries up, Largest spreaded Rampur pond at the village center and in front of Rawaich's most influential person Late Raghuvansh Singh's(He demised just after few days, he finished his Professor tenure at Anugrah Narayan College, Patna) home. It was waterless once in 1980's and afterwards it never left its water to that stage. Second biggest pond is near the boundary of Bakhtiyarpur and Rawaich.
GardensTwo gardens are there with descent number of trees. Both of them are near the west part of this village. The largest garden has spreaded across more than 1 acre containing almost 100 trees, most of them are Mango trees. This garden was once owned by the strongest person of this village, Molan Singh. He was very impressive good natured person. I met him many times in my childhood. He left us in 1990 in his 80s. The second one has almost 50 trees with 30 Mango trees and other types of trees. This Garden has many owners. Most of the part was owned by Vidya Sagar Singh. He was the most respected person of this village. He was also very good in stick fighting. He left us in August 2005, when he just completed his 99.
Religious places
Big temples and great religious places are here alway round.
ThakurbariThis is the most holy place of this village and situated at the bank of Ganga and is well known to nearby villages and cities. Current prime priest of Thakurbari is Manni Baba who is successor of Jogiraj Baba, who left us in 1990 at the age of 100 plus.
Kali sthanThis is near the west boundary of Rawaich and in the mid of the two gardens. The main temple is very small but the surrounding is very enticing. You shall find one well managed well, a big place to do Bhajan-Keertan, two huge Bargad tree and many flower plants and trees. Any one from rawaich, who has done any big thing must bows to this temple.
Chatrapal JiThis is near railway line and close to the bakhtiyarpur railway station. Its small but very pleasant place.
There are dozens of other worship places in the village made by joint bigger families near or inside their houses.
Education
Rawaich is not up to mark in terms of education. Literacy rate is near 60%. There is only one primary school providing schooling up to standard VIIth centered of the village. Although, I studied here for just three years but can tell that, education quality does not breach even the threshold. Other schools of this village are very small and are of temporary kind. This is the reason most of the boys and girls do their primary and higher schooling form either Bakhtiyarpur or Patna.
PlaygroundsThere is one big place to play cricket, football or other games and is almost at the edge of this village near Railway station. Villagers call it "Barka Field"(Biggest ground of Rawaich). Cricket followed by Football is the most loving game among villager teens and Kabaddi among others.
TransportationTransport to Bakhtiyarpur from other nearby places can be done by Bus, Treker, Jeep, Tam tam or Rail.
RoadRawaich is 45 Km from Patna Bus stand. One can also reach here by any vehicle through NH-31 which is just edging this village. It is at 40 Kilometers from Bihar Sharif and 55 kilometers from Rajgir. Rajgir and Bihar sharif are other historical places of Bihar.
RailNearest Railway Station is Bakhtiyarpur Junction situated just at the end of south-east part of the village. Patna Railway station is at 45 km from here.
AirNearest airport is Patna Airport and is at 55 kilometers west from this village.
Pin code - 803212.
STD Code - 0612.