Stopping at Nanau, 152 km from Delhi

Delhi to Kanpur

For this trip, I had the opportunity to take a closer look at the first portion of the Grand Trunk Road. Geographically, there’s a slight difference in the older and newer highways from Delhi to Kanpur (about 1/3 the trip to Kolkatta or 429 km); National Highway (NH) 91 follows the ancient GTR and is the slower of the two, while the wider and faster NH 2 follows a southerly route which includes Agra. We took the northern route to stick with the GTR and also to gain a glimpse of what the modern highway, NH 2, might have looked like before it was expanded in the past 5 -10 years.  It was mostly 2 lanes with sections mired by giant potholes.  (Google maps claims the NH 91 route is faster than NH 2, but on the last trip it took me 8 hours to go 150 km on that road).  I also began to collect interviews with people near to the road with the help of Delhi artist Raj Mohanty.

Near the village of Nanau, I stopped to do a painting (152 km from Delhi, stop #3).  The road crosses a small river and after talking with people in the area, we discovered that although the main market is set back from the highway, that is where the original GTR passed. The new road (and bridge) are relatively recent additions.  Painting proved to be tough as a crowd gathered almost immediately.  But I was able to record some of the colors of the place.

Painting at Nanau

Here are some quotes from the interviews we collected on site.  

(Pointing at the old road through Nanau) “First, look the ‘kankar’ (red concrete), then the cement bond, then concrete. It was here and now its the bypass. (the shifted road).

-          - “A”, 68 year old man

“There was a water mill near this nala (canal). People came from distant villages to grind their wheat, to make bread in their houses. Now, all cities have electricity network so electric mills are there. Here, the mill was closed since the last 20 years.”

-          - Mahesh kumar, 49 year old man, schoolteacher.

“Every side of people go through this road.”

-        -   Ramdulari, 60 year old woman, waiting for a bus.