Uttar Pradesh: Namesake? Korauna gets attention it had never desired

LUCKNOW: What's in a name? A lot, if - in the time of Corona - your village's name is 'Korauna'. The tiny village under Mishrikh tehsil of Sitapur district has suddenly become the talk of the town for the uncanny similarity of its name with the pandemic that has swept the world. Residents of the village these days get strange responses whenever they introduce themselves as a native of Korauna village.
A name that the villagers have been living with for generations has suddenly turned into a matter of mirth for outsiders. "If we tell anyone on phone that we are calling from Korauna, the first reaction is that of disbelief. People think we are joking," said Sujan, a local farmer.
With a population of around 9000 people, the village has a government primary school and is popularly known as the first halt of the Chaurasi (84) Kosi parikrama - a pilgrimage that is undertaken by thousands a fortnight before Holi festival every year.
As the village is provided with most of basic amenities like electricity and water supplied through tankers during the Parikrama, the village appears like a suburban locality.
While most of the men in the village - 80 km from Lucknow - work as daily-waged labourers, others are into agriculture and own farmland as well.