Weekend Trip to Tajpur
The only reason that I took up to writing this trivial visit to Tajpur was to 'brush up' my writing skills that have been suffering of late.So, on a recent weekend, a friend of mine and me along with our families were travelling along the known road towards Tajpur with a usual pit stop at Kolaghat.
When we reached Mallicka Resort at Tajpur it was a quarter past 1 in the afternoon and drizzling. The pond of the resort, which was up to the brim last year, had dried up. But with the drizzle increasing to a downpour now, we chose to sit on the recliners to unpack the goodies that we had loaded at Kolaghat. After the rain had ended, a short while after 2:30 PM , we went to the sea shore.
I am not a sea loving person, but I do love the balmy breeze that blows off from the sea, at times almost unrelenting and never ending and sometimes smelling of the catches of the fishing liners blowing in the horizon. So, after spending just under an hour sea bathing, I returned to the shack, sitting on a highly malleable plastic chair watching the others take a dip in the sea and then looking at the moist-from-the-waves gravels on the sea shore shimmering in the yellow rays of the just-after-the-rain evening sun and sipping onto the cold beverages and fried eggs, followed by fried prawns that were just ordered.
A short while later, when darkness was almost descending and my companions had returned, we saw a couple of fishermen walking across to the shack carrying their paltry catch of the day in the fishing nets - 4 parsheys*. The tropical sun had tanned their faces brown and the high tide and monsoonal storms had kept them confined near the beach. Bad day for business, but thats how monsoons usually are. They sold us those fishes and also obliged for a photograph.
A leisurely visit has a generally agreed upon objective: which is, having a good time. And sitting in that shack, sipping onto the cold beer in those paper glasses and munching onto the from-the-nets-to-the-table parshey* fries was a scene that we hadn't foreseen. I had presumed it to be the 'high point' of the journey. But then there were further unforeseen scenes. Like, I pedalled a rickety old bicycle after more than twelve years, through the darkness of the casaurina trees and the night, with barely anything visible. And that was followed by a meal of country chicken cooked in a wood fired oven. The red gravy and the fiery taste of the chicken curry still lingers as I write.
The next morning after checking out from the hotel, we reached the same shack and under the same bamboo shade and seated in the same chairs and it was just like the scene from yesterday - excepting that the sun was stronger. Beverages were in abundance, but we had to be back home. So, like everything, this fun too needed an ending. After a lunch of Rice, dal,cucumber-onion salad, alu bhaja and pomfret jhal# we boarded the car for the road home.
*Parshey: A type of fish
#Jhal: A type of curry made with tomato, onions etc.
Distance: 180 kms from Kolkata
Accommodation: Mallicka Resort
A short while later, when darkness was almost descending and my companions had returned, we saw a couple of fishermen walking across to the shack carrying their paltry catch of the day in the fishing nets - 4 parsheys*. The tropical sun had tanned their faces brown and the high tide and monsoonal storms had kept them confined near the beach. Bad day for business, but thats how monsoons usually are. They sold us those fishes and also obliged for a photograph.
A leisurely visit has a generally agreed upon objective: which is, having a good time. And sitting in that shack, sipping onto the cold beer in those paper glasses and munching onto the from-the-nets-to-the-table parshey* fries was a scene that we hadn't foreseen. I had presumed it to be the 'high point' of the journey. But then there were further unforeseen scenes. Like, I pedalled a rickety old bicycle after more than twelve years, through the darkness of the casaurina trees and the night, with barely anything visible. And that was followed by a meal of country chicken cooked in a wood fired oven. The red gravy and the fiery taste of the chicken curry still lingers as I write.
The next morning after checking out from the hotel, we reached the same shack and under the same bamboo shade and seated in the same chairs and it was just like the scene from yesterday - excepting that the sun was stronger. Beverages were in abundance, but we had to be back home. So, like everything, this fun too needed an ending. After a lunch of Rice, dal,cucumber-onion salad, alu bhaja and pomfret jhal# we boarded the car for the road home.
*Parshey: A type of fish
#Jhal: A type of curry made with tomato, onions etc.
Distance: 180 kms from Kolkata
Accommodation: Mallicka Resort