In the south-west of Bahadurgarh town of Jhajjar district (previously a part of Rohtak district) at a distance of approximately nine kilometers, there is a village named Mehandipur – Dabodha Kalan. In fact, the village as per revenue records is a fusion of two small villages namely, Mehandipur and Dabodha Kalan with separate panchayats but collectively it is known as Dabodha Kalan.
The Dabodha sub-minor crossing the Bahadurgarh – Jhajjar road at about 25,000 RD is passing by southern side of the village, which is now nonfunctional. It is well connected by two metalled roads and is about 1.25 kilometer away from the Bahadurgarh -Jhajjar road and about the same distance from Bahadurgarh – Badali road in North-West. Besides, being connected by two main roads, it has also link roads, one leading to village Noona Majra in the East and the other going towards Rohad- Mandothi road in the West, Thus the Native village is well located and easily approachable from all the four directions.
The village is inhabited mainly by Hindu Jats of Dalal Gotra. However, other communities such as brahmins, artisans and scheduled castes also live in this village. By and large, the people of the village are peace loving and followers of ‘arya-samaj’. They are well-built and have simple living habits. They possess an ardent desire for education even for girls and as a result, the literacy level of this village is relatively better than other adjoining villages.
In earlier years after independence, the village had an acute shortage of potable water supply and the ladies of the house were badly taxed for carrying water from far away places from wells. This problem has been solved now and a big water reservoir & tank has been constructed in the village. Thus, creation of better drinking water facilities has brought a sigh of relief especially to ladies of the house.
In good old days, the farming was largely rainfed although it did not cost much because all the inputs were freely available at home, yet it was always not only hazardous but risky also. Home bred calves would make strong bullocks at nominal cost, Farm Yard Manure (FYM) was produced from domestic animal wastes and good seed was collected through experience of eye judgment from the ripe crop and stored for sowing in the next crop season. The farm labour was almost free as all the members of joint family used to work as a team and very little casual labour was hired only during harvesting season. The farm produce was transported in own bullock carts from the village to the mandi to sell surplus grain and fodder.
The timber / fuel wood was procured from trees planted in the fields and felled when matured for fabrication of agricultural implements. The village carpenter and blacksmith, who were paid wages on annual basis of a dhari[1] of grain and some dry fodder, used to make implements etc. and sharpen plough-shares. Hence, with exception of iron spares a cultivator was not required to purchase anything from the town. Despite all these things, the farmers were constantly haunted by the frequent failures of crops due to drought and devastations of famines. This adversely affected their economy and way of life.
The main occupation of the people was farming during early forties of twentieth century and they were economically very poor. It was all dry farming and the devastation of famine was quite frequent. With the spread of education coupled with supply of canal water and installation of tube-wells, the over all agricultural production in the village increased significantly. The farmers of the village are very receptive to innovations, and have adopted scientific methods of farming. Mechanical cultivation has also become popular now. There are sizable numbers of tractors in the village. Electrical chaff cutters and flour grinding mills have replaced the handwork tools. A cooperative society was also formed for arranging farm inputs like fertilizers, improved seeds etc. A small milk collection cooperative union has also been formed which arranges the sale of surplus milk in Bahadurgarh and Delhi. The size of land holding has gone down with ever increasing farming families.
The Presenter would like to share experience of early 1960’s, when he used to go to the village, the only ready available conveyance from Bahadurgarh was one horse driven Tonga. This was called a Yakka or Ekka, which had no proper seat but a wooden plank with 4-rods on corner covered with a cloth to protect from sunshine and one has to sit with cross legs. This journey was a unique carriage to travel, which is worth mentioning. Try to have a look of Yakka or Ekka on Google. Later, some passenger 33-wheel tempos also started plying and subsequently one or two buses, which will not take passenger up to canal-bridge of our village to get down. From either of the conveyance one has to get down on canal-bridge in between Majra and Dabodha Khurd, from where one has to walk on foot for about 1.5 km.
The people of the village are quite enterprising. Almost every household has someone serving either in civil or defence / para forces. A large number of persons daily move up and down to Bahadurgarh, Delhi and adjoining big cities where they are employed in government offices, corporations, private sectors, factories, printing presses, DTC, Indian Oil Depot etc. Initially, a bus service daily used to leave the village early in the morning connecting Bahadurgarh to Delhi Secretariat, IOC and other important centres of National Capital Region for daily commuters. Of course, now the situation has changed with better economic status of most of the families and people are moving in their own transport like car, jeep, motorcycle, scooter, etc. There are a number of private vehicles also moving round the clock with improvement in road transport system.
Besides, this, some enterprising villagers have started canteens, tea-stalls, service stations and other business units also to improve their income and standard of living. Earlier droughts and floods have been a common feature in the area, which also have reduced to much extent. As such, now at least one among the younger ones are migrating to nearby towns for better living and availing better education facilities for their children.
In the recent advancements, the financial position of the people has improved, by and large satisfactorily. Their dwellings are mostly pucca. People are healthy, strong and keep good quality miltch and very less draught animals. There are sizable number of refrigerators, coolers, air-conditioners, television sets, cable operators and other electronic devices in the village. The people have many facilities to lead a comfortable and easy going life.
[1] Five Seer (now kilogram) by weight