OUR WEST BENGAL TRIP – (9)

6-01-2023

We had three suitcases and Sudeshna, the receptionist suggested that we could leave one at the guest house. We checked out on the 6^th but were coming back on the 8^th evening. We packed what was needed for two days. Aravind was better but was being very careful about what he ate.

Rajkumar, the taxi driver, who had come the previous day picked us up at 7.30 in the morning. We had to be at a place called Dharmtalla by 8. We enjoyed talking to Rajkumar. Sometimes we meet strangers with whom we get along well.

Sunderbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world. 35% of it is in India and the rest in Bangladesh. Two books by Amitav Ghosh about this place, The Hungry Tide and Gun Island inspired us to visit this region.

We had booked with Sunderban Tiger Roar Resort for the three-day trip. Sukanta, the tour manager met us at the pick-up point. There were many other fellow travellers. Our bus started at 8.30 for Godhkali Jetty, about four hours away. We stopped at a place called Malanchok for tea and going to the washroom. We were informed that this little town is just 19kms from the Bangladesh border. On the way to Shantiniketan we saw miles and miles of paddy, mustard and potato fields. Now we saw large fields with water. Shrimps were farmed there. Bengalis love their fish, and it is considered as vegetarian! So, we had informed the organizers that we did not eat meat of any kind. The soil everywhere was clayey and there were brick kilns at regular intervals.

Everyday life in the Sunderbans

We reached the jetty at 12 Pm and saw the river Gomor. From the bus we had to walk half a km to the pier. My husband went ahead. Aravind and I followed a group of people. We reached a pier, but my husband was nowhere in sight. We could not contact him as there was no mobile network. As the minutes ticked by both of us grew more and more tense. For a minute we could connect. He saw us from another pier and Sukanta rushed up immediately.

It is strange, the same thing happened to my parents in the early sixties. They had to cross the Hoogly river in Calcutta. My father went ahead with the porter. My mother was just 22. I was in her arms, and she was holding my elder brother’s hand. He was just three.  She followed a group of people who had been with them, but they were going to a different place in a different steamer. She was perplexed when she could not locate my father. The steamer was about to depart. Just then she saw my father running towards us with a very worried look. The person in charge helped her to leave the wrong steamer. It was a happy reunion 😊.

We hurried after Sukanta to where my husband was waiting.

Sundarbans – Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundarbans

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