Nasik is strategically located and its proximity to the financial hub of Mumbai and the industries of Pune have given it an added advantage to prosper. In the bargain, roads have widened from two-lane to six-lane, and multistoried buildings have cropped up to accommodate housing complexes and provide accommodation to the thousands of people who have come to stay to make it their home. I am no exception.
The River Godavari has its origins in the mountains of the Brahmagiri in Trimbakeswar and it wends its way through the Deccan plateau to flow into the Indian Ocean, bisecting the country into two halves. Starting as a trickle, it grows from strength to strength till its confluence in the Bay of Bengal and, the first important city on the banks of this mighty river is Nasik (also called as Nashik). Till the sixties, it was known to the outside world more as a pilgrimage center where kumbhmela was held once every twelve years.
I arrived in Nasik in 1967 – just one year before the kumbhmela of 1968. The kumbhmela takes place once every 12-years and the next one I witnessed was in 1980. I am not much of a believer in the fact that just by immersing oneself in the waters of a holy river like the Godavari, one can wash off all of ones sins! Moreover, I was still a young man and my idea of cleansing oneself of sins was not commensurate with the thinking of others. Therefore, I did not involve myself much. However, in the next kumbhmela in 1992 I decided that enough was enough. Staying in Nasik and not witnessing the kumbhmela was an unpardonable offence like visiting Paris and not taking in the Eiffel Tower. My relatives saw the makings of Satan in me. A non-believer in the Holy Scriptures deserved to be isolated in Society. Hence, throwing caution to the winds, I prepared to take the plunge. And, what a plunge it was!! Nashik is now getting ready for the 2015 celebrations.
People from all over the country come here to participate in this mela. But, there is also a very different kind of ongoing mela – the mela of Industries, the mela of IT revolution. In the sixties, one had enough leisure time to relax on the banks of the Godavari, atop the Hill Temple in Deolali or amidst the relics of the Pandu caves. The only worthwhile industrial activity in those days was confined to the village of Ojhar, situated approximately 30 Kms. from the Railway station, where an aircraft factory was being set up to manufacture the sophisticated MiG class of fighters. And, of course, there was the India Security Press which printed currency notes and the Government of India Press which printed Stationary. The villages of Ambad and Satpur were not even in the map of the Nasik of the sixties.
Times have changed since then - several million cusecs of water have flown down the Godavari and Nasik today is a tremendously busy industrial center, which does not have time to even sleep. Fairly well connected by road and rail with efforts on to get air connectivity, industries are localized in the two villages of Ambad and Satpur in Nasik and Sinnar on the Pune highway. The wide range of Industries, which have found permanent footholds and have become the pride of Nasik, range from Plastics to Transmission Towers. Some products have become household names like VIP suitcases and MICO spark plugs. And, to cater to the needs of people who have migrated to this part of the world, any number of eateries, shops and such subsidiary establishments have mushroomed all over the city. Not to mention a full-fledged Engineering College and a Medical College. To meet the continuously rising demands of local transportation, bus routes are being extended and new ones are being introduced. Even then, during peak hours, one will have to, more often than not, travel standing. A situation which the old timers could never have imagined!
This tiny hamlet town of Nasik and its wonderful environment used to, once upon a time, attract vacationers. Today, it attracts entrepreneurs.
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