[sayakc]

Except for some essential travel in the month of November/December 2020, travelling for us has been completely blocked. But as the covid numbers started to slow down, we thought of taking small steps towards opening up. So, in January 2021, we visited a few places nearby - the baby steps so to speak. Being on the road after almost a year, felt too good and we were rewarded with incredible sights of mustard fields, blue skies and sometimes foggy evenings. A trivial fact about these journeys are that all of these were along 3 unique routes i.e. Taki along Basanti Highway, Mandarmani along the Bombay Road and Shantiniketan along the Delhi Road. Another funny thread that links these three travels is the ‘Desi Murgir Curry’ which we had at all the places: each of which excelled in taste

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Taki

The first visit was to Taki, for a day trip, on new years day. Taki had been on our radar for quite sometime. The urge was accelerated after looking at haisaikat’s multiple Taki travelogues. Enquired about the route from Saikat the past night and thanks to his prompt response we commenced our journey taking the shortest possible route.

We started around 9 in the morning on a sunny and cold day. From the Avishikta crossing we took the road past Heritage Institute/Urbana – this was the first time that I was taking the route – which connects to the Basanti Highway. We had planned to have breakfast at one of the road side eateries on the highway. But there were no proper Dhabas and we ended up having breakfast at a ‘jhoops’ style shop where we had bread toasts, poached eggs and tea.

We then crossed Bantala and reached a place called Malancha after which the road condition deteriorated but the beauty of the places increased manifold. Ugly construction and human populace were replaced by ripening mustard fields, ponds, palm trees and mud huts. The road condition till Taki remained patchy and finally we reached Taki around 11.30 in the morning with plenty of halts – the distance of 67 kms covered in 2.5 hrs. We parked the car at a spot slightly away from the center of the town and walked 200 metres approximately to reach the road beside the river Icchamati where most of the restaurants, hotels and guest houses are located.

If there was a list of activities to do at Taki, it will center around the following:

1. Viewing the different attractions along the shores of Icchamati river while taking a boat ride. The other side is Bangaldesh.
2. Visiting the mangrove forests (Golpatar jungle)
3. Some spots like the banyan tree and the house where the movie Bisorjon was shot have become ‘tourist’ attractions.
4. I was told that Gen. Shankar RayChaudhury hailed from Taki and he has his ancestral house there. Though we didn’t visit that.
5. …and of course having the freshly cooked Bengali meals!

Now coming back to the trip, since it was New Years day, the crowd was huge and the narrow alleys of the small town was choc-a-bloc with traffic i.e. totos and people on foot mostly. First we reached one of the ‘launch ghats’ from where we took a boat ride. These boats took us very near to the Bangladeshi shores where we saw folks on a picnic and also some boats bearing the Bangladeshi flags. The ride lasted for 30 mins after which we strolled around the town.

Around 2 PM we went for lunch at ‘City Guest house’. The lunch was a simple yet tasty affair: Rice, dal, alu bhaja, badhakopir ghonto (cabbage curry) ,local chicken curry and finished with some tomato chutney. The food was so tasty and I was so hungry that I over ate quite a bit and was barely able to move for sometime.

After lunch we took a toto ride to the other side of the town to the ‘Gol patar jungle’ – which is the mangrove forests. Around 5 PM we reached the parking spot and commenced our journey back home. Had tea near Avishikta and reached home around 8.

All in all, a nice day spent!

[sayakc]

Mandarmani & Tajpur

A college friend of mine and me, with whom we have been on numerous ‘bachelor’ trips, discarded our bachelorhood to include our families this time. We formed a WhatsApp group and zeroed in on a place by the sea: Mandarmani. IIRC correctly this was on 5th Jan and we were planning for the 9th Jan weekend. As such there was a dearth of ‘proper’ accommodation. My friend took the responsibility and found a very basic hotel for the night.
We started around 8 in the morning, my friend from the North Calcutta and me from South. We were supposed to meet at Sher-e-Punjab at Kolaghat. I had expected that there will be huge jams at Santragachi/Kona Expressway, but thankfully there wasn’t any such issue and we were able to cruise smoothly. We did face, however a huge queue at the Bagnan toll plaza and lost half an hour.

We ordered Aloo Paranthas and curd for the adults whereas the kids had sandwiches. Needless to say there was a sea of people at Sher-e-punjab. Resumed the journey and faced quite a few jams enroute especially in the Nandakumar – Mandarmani route due to construction activities. Finally we managed to reach Mandarmani at 3 in the afternoon and headed straight to a beach shack.

The next 7 hours was spent in the shack. We started with tea, followed by maggi, fried eggs, fish fingers and numerous other knickknacks. It was also my friend’s daughters birthday and we had a nice, little birthday celebration. We had packed our dinner from the shack and on reaching the resort we spent a couple of hours engaged in chitchat after which we had the dinner that had gone slightly cold.

My friend had promised to wake me up at 5 in the morning to watch the sunrise. But when we managed to wake up finally it was past 8. Had a cup of tea and took a walk along the beach and reached the ‘mohana’ (confluence of the river with the sea). Also, observed that the Mandarmani beach has become very dirty littered with waste and channels of sewage water. The pristine nature, which was the hallmark of this beach 10 years back is now clearly missing.

After breakfast we headed to Tajpur – a journey for little more than 30 mins and took shelter at a known shack where we had some excellently cooked pomfret (I believe 2 years back). Hoping that the quality would remain good, we ordered our lunch of Galda Chingrir curry, Desi murgir curry with potato apart from the basic thali. While the lunch was being prepared we had some coconut water, ventured to the sea, did some photography of the beach and took photos of the group.

Around 2 in the afternoon the lunch was ready and it was excellently cooked one. Steamed rice, moong dal, sliced lemon, aloo bhaja followed by the prawn and chicken made for a great lunch (which was incidentally the birthday treat 😊 ).

My friend even packed some fresh pomfret to carry home and we packed some crab curry. After a tea break at Sher-e-Punjab in the evening, we reached home around 8.

[sayakc]

Shantiniketan and Hansulibank

After our visit to Mandarmani, we felt confident that maintaining proper sanitization and social distancing might ensure that we have trouble free journeys. And with that intent, we visited Shantiniketan during the 23rd January weekend. Like the above two trips, this trip too was planned 4 days in advance. And with the 23rd to 26th January period being an extended weekend of sorts most hotels were sold out. Not finding any other option, we booked a room at Kharimati Resort. The room was true to the tariff – basic and simple. Knowing the rush, all we wanted at such a short notice was a room with running hot and cold water and a shelter for the night.
On the 23rd of January we commenced our journey. Whereas the weather in Calcutta was quite sunny, the moment we reached near the Dankuni toll plaza, the sun disappeared behind layers of thick fog. Instead of stopping at one our usual stops: Azad Hind Dhaba or Hindustan Hotel, we broke breads at Hotel Nabanna –a bad decision that we realized later.

Resuming our journey, it was around 12ish when the sun finally started to win over the fog. Slightly before taking the right towards Guskara/Shantiniketan NH 2B, there was a huge traffic jam where we lost some time. But the moment we entered the NH 2B, the mustard fields took over. One thing to note is, whereas we saw mustard fields in Taki and Shantiniketan, there were none in the Mandarmani route. Anyway, it was smooth and fast drive to our hotel.

After checking in, we freshened up and had ordered the lunch at their outdoor restaurant – Roti, Chicken Curry and One chicken thali. I had food at Kharimati before, and found that they have maintained the excellence in quality still. It was awesome. After lunch we headed to the Weekly Haat and found that many things have changed. A separate car parking area has come up which is around half a kilometer from the haat itself. So, we parked our car and walked to the haat – purchased some stuff, had the guava mix, some lemon tea, saw the tribal dances and returned to our hotel around 6 PM. We spent the greater part of the evening in the restaurant and after a satisfying dinner went off to sleep.

We wanted to have our lunch at Bonolakshmi but even after calling the number a couple of times no one picked up. So, I called up Barishaler Rannaghar, which is actually an extension of Bonolakshmi, and ordered desi chicken thali for lunch. The next morning we packed our bags, bathe and left the hotel after breakfast.

We first visited the Kankalitala Temple and then went onto see Hansulibank. The scenery after crossing Kankalitala was beautiful – vast stretches of mustard fields, palm trees with hanging pitchers, farmers sowing new seeds in some places, haystacks and cow dung cakes stuck on the muddy walls. The road condition remains great till one reaches the final stretches of Hansulibank. Now, I had been to hansulibank some years before post monsoon when everything was green and the river was full of water. But now during the winter, the water had reduced to a trickle and the grasses had burnt brown. Nevertheless, after spending sometime there we resumed our return journey.

We were on our way to Barishaler Rannaghar. We had to wait for sometime for lunch. The quality of food was good – the basic dish consisted of Rice, Dal, Ghee, Alu bhaja, dhokar dalna, shukto, chutney and we had chicken along with that. The service left a lot to be desired. After lunch, we purchased some ghee.
Around 3 PM we started for Calcutta and after an uneventful journey reached home at 7 PM sharp.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by sayakc

Ugly construction and human populace were replaced by ripening mustard fields, ponds, palm trees and mud huts.

Sayak, it's good to see you to be back on the road. Your pictures are superb as always. The vibrant yellow colours of the mustard field are stunning.

Thanks and cheers,

[haisaikat]

Sayak, your ventures are always very close to the nature and soil of the land and that is why I am such a big fan of those.

Seems your winter has been very busy indeed. Glad you visited Taki and I agree that had the road conditions been better we could have frequented that place as often as we visit Mandarmani.

I have not been to hansulibak before, looking at the pictures here, feel tempted, certainly for next visit.

It's great seeing you back in action and hoping for another big one soon.

[sayakc]

Thanks Saikat! Regarding Hansulibank, whereas you can visit it all the year round, I had taken this photo post monsoon a few years back. During the winter the water dries up and you won't get the contrast that you see in the photo below.

Originally Posted by haisaikat

I have not been to hansulibak before, looking at the pictures here, feel tempted, certainly for next visit.

Thanks Golam-da!The mustard fields are a treat to the eyes during December/January. But no matter how many the photos I take, there always lies a big gap between the reality and the image taken :(

Originally Posted by gmhossain

Sayak, it's good to see you to be back on the road. Your pictures are superb as always. The vibrant yellow colours of the mustard field are stunning.

Thanks and cheers,