First Trip Post Lockdown: New Year Day 2021 at Taki

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 as part of the ‘opening up’. 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. 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 😊.

The first visit was at Taki, for a day trip, on new years day. Actually Taki has 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 correct route.

We started around 9 in the morning on a great 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 Bangladesh.

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 Ray Chaudhury hailed from Taki and he has his ancestral house there. Though we didn’t visit that.

…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!