Dassam Falls in Ranchi reminds of Niagara Falls of Canada

Dassam Falls-pride of nature

By Sanjeev Shekhar

Ranchi-

Dr. Rajeev Khera and his family were here from Patna before shifting to Delhi for three-day sojourn. Dr. Rajeev is highly placed with a global organisation and is presently posted in Delhi. As we sat at the dining table having breakfast, my friend Dr. Rajeev suggested, “Why don’t we go to Dassam Falls? I’ve heard a lot about the place,” he said. His and mine family are friends for nearly four years now, and when I’m in Delhi, I too never miss an opportunity to see him.

Immediately plans were chalked out for Dassam and we headed for the spot, 45 kms from Ranchi on Tata road. As we drove down, my wife asked, “Is that place naxal infested? I hope everything will be fine.” The tremor in her voice was an indication as to how the naxalsim has gripped this beautiful Jharkhand, the land of forests.

I preferred to remain mum. Finally traversing the criss-cross roads through the villages, we reached the entrance of the falls. A big signboard painted in red warns the visitor with a list of dozen of people who died in the deep waters. The 13th place in the signboard has been left blank with a question mark, warning the visitor that if you are not careful enough, your name too will figure here.

“This list includes the name of Abhishek Mishra,” read out Rajeev making it clear about his knowledge that how the Birla Institute of Technology (BIT) student was drowned last year. Before we could debate the point we came across another big signboard cautioning, “blue waters of fall are synonymous with death. There is a tunnel in which a person sucked in would never come back,” the bold letters read.

Are we moving in the right direction? asked Rajeev’s wife with obvious apprehensions in her voice.

“Yes”, I said briefly while crossing few more boards having words of caution about the vulnerability of adventure. A little bit of negligence and you meet your watery grave, the message was by now inscribed in everybody minds.

As we finally reached the site of falls, a mysterious silence welcomed us amidst the noise of the fall that echoed at this isolated place.

We all walked down the rocks a little bit to have the full view of this enchanting fall. I was reminded of my father’s words, who had once said that when some foreign visitors had come here, they had compared the place with the Niagara Falls of Canada. They had declared that this place would bring rich dividends to the state and the place. How right they were, I thought while the droplets of the fall touched my face after hitting the hard rocks beneath mercilessly.

The site of the fall could allure any visitor to feel it closely. My friend was doing the same. He went on clicking the photographs continuously capturing every bit and angle of Dassam, as if he was capturing the movements of some beautiful model on the ramp. The water of Kanchi River falling from the height of 144 feet made a captivating sight.

After sometime, we wanted to have tea. There were few kiosks that sold out chips, cold drinks, biscuits and mineral water. The existence of small shops bore testimony to the fact that the flow of the tourists was less to this place.

“We wanted to purchase some artifacts, associated to this place,” said Rajiv’s wife. I had no explanation to this, as they being outsiders had perceived that tourist spots like this have some market nearby displaying local work of art.

As we returned, we saw there was no police post despite the fact that this forlorn place had so many deaths reported at the site of the fall. The government had made a series of announcements to depute divers and spend crores for making the place secure after repeated deaths at the site on and off. Apparently, things are on paper and far from reality even today.

The entire stretch from Dassam to Taimara road was completely cut off, incase any emergency arose. There was hardly any vehicle visible. It’s advisable to visit the place in groups and preferably two vehicles should accompany each other so that any crisis arise resulting in the breakdown of one vehicle, the other could be of help to bail everybody out.

As we drove down back, Rajeev and his wife were full of praises for Dassam, thereby making it clear how the outsiders loved the beauty of Jharkhand, wherein we have abandoned the place showing scant regard for the same. Thanks to the lack of will power on the part of powers that be who have done precious little for the betterment of the state.

Sanjeev Shekhar,
Journalist/Media Consultant/PR