Reflections

I forgot to mention that we had, before returning to our hotel, hired a car to take us around the attractions that dot the countryside around Jhargram. The plan was that we would visit Kankrajhore and its environs today and then go towards Hatiburu the next day. We did think of taking a bus, but then realized that it would be impossible to visit most of the places we wanted to see by public transport. Mr Binod Ghose was punctual to the minute and we set off at 8 AM in his old fashioned Maruti Van, The car was a   trifle worse for the wear. However, what it lacked in comfort, the driver made up with his obliging behavior and obvious desire to entertain and inform us. The big advantage of the seating arrangements in this car is that if there are two of you you can sit opposite each other talking face to face and lolling down like a couple of decadent Roman emperors going for a ride.   We had a very good two days with him. If you wish to hire his car; bear in mind that t...

The Black Panther as it rests before making its way back to Chandrakona We awoke early the next day and at 5.45 AM we were abroad the bus from Chandrakona Road to Jhargram. This was to take a circuitous route, but what did we care?   Our bus was called the Black Panther and I was glad to see that the tradition of naming buses is alive and well in rural Bengal. I remember when I was posted in The Bamangola health center in Malda way back in the late ’80s, we had two buses named after two, (I presume) pretty ladies and nobody ever talked about the 9 AM bus but always said: “ I am going to Malda on the Jayashree.“ My wife informs me that when she traveled to Kalimpong where her Dad was posted, from Siliguri in 1979, there were two buses, one of which was the prettily named Red Rose. The Black Panther lived up to its name, tearing down the not so wide highways at an impressive pitch and not bothering overmuch when the road was not of the best. Fortunately, we were in the fro...

Gopegarh really came to its own after 5 PM. That was when all the day-trippers departed and the entire park was left to us, the only two boarders and the few staff who manned the canteen and looked after the park proper. Imagine living in a wilderness of about 5 square miles, full of forests, ravines and a lake and you are free to explore it at your own pace with not another human in sight. I guess I now knew how the owners of landed estates felt when they surveyed their domain. Part of the forest  The Forest authorities have created a trekking trail which takes you through a fairly dense stretch of forest which has been left relatively undisturbed. This short walk, perhaps a couple of kilometers starts near the bungalow and ends up near the ruined fort and takes you down to the gullies that have been carved out of the laterite soil by the Kangsabati river and then up again to the sort of plateau I which most of the park is located. Opposite to this is a lovely sal fores...

As I have mentioned earlier, we had not made any plans whatsoever. Not for us the mundane details of planning our route or our accommodation. Swapanda had assured me that he had a map of the undivided Midnapur District, a detailed map that we would use to plan our further course journeys.   Unfortunately when Swapanda opened the map at Midnapur station we discovered that he had packed the map of Madhya Pradesh instead. This too was a map dating back to those days before Chattisgarh had been separated from the state. Unless we planned to go back to Kharagpur and take a Mumbai bound train and I am not saying that we did not consider it for some moments, we had no option but to pack it away at the bottom of Swapanda’s bag and depend upon good old Google Maps. In the event, it served us well. The Main gate ( taken from  the Outlook website)  The Gopegarh Ecopark was opened to the public in 2000. It is a large area, exactly how large; I am unable to say as I was un...

Traveling soothes me. Ever since I can remember I liked to travel. Time was when we traveled rough and light. We took local trains, buses, stayed rough, in lodges I would not be seen dead in today, and ate in all sorts of places from which I would recoil in horror today. And then we walked. We have walked in the Himalayas; twice a year, every year for more than 20 years. We have walked in the plains; we have walked along the coast. But in recent times, my travels have become a tad more bourgeois. I mostly fly to my destination, take a car for the last mile and stay in as much luxury as I can afford. Not for me the rigours of train travel, sleeper class or otherwise. During my trekking days, I had acquired some companions who became my bosom friends. Over the years we have all aged, some have grown old and others have died. Of the 6 of us who went to Everest Base Camp and climbed the Kala Patthar, only 4 remain. Asit da and Borda( or Mastermoshai) as we knew them have gone on to th...

The Komodo island  Ben, in the meantime filled us in with information about Flores and the surrounding islands. He is a huge fan of the President, Joko Widodo, crediting him with trying to develop the far off provinces of Indonesia instead of concentrating only on Java and Sumatra as, he claimed, earlier incumbents did. Ben is Catholic, which, he said, was the main religion in Flores. The name itself came from the Portuguese for flower and it was Portuguese missionaries who had converted his forefathers from their pagan religion.   The economy depended on fishing and agriculture, coffee and spice plantations were the lifeblood, though paddy was also grown extensively. The languages also differ, even from region to region within Flores. According to Benjamin, it may be difficult sometimes for somebody from the eastern part of the island to understand the dialect spoken in the West. Nowadays, tourism is becoming an important part of the economy and is being encouraged...