Few Souvenirs

The whole day today, the mental me was not "in a mood". During the last few weeks, I had the glorious opportunity to know what some of my 'close ones' actually think about me. But thanks to so many of you, it does not feel bad a second more than it should. Then came the Sunday and it began with a pledge of total relaxation. But with great relaxations, come great idle times. Today's idle time was divided into two things - first,  taking and enhancing photographs. Second, thinking about the 'real stuff' I got to hear.

And strangely, the things which were pushing my mood to something I physically hate, had something to do with the subject of my photographs today - few of my treasured souvenirs. People have been talking about me as a (quote) selfish so-called travel lover (unquote) along with as a few character-slash-habit-wise flawed boy (this later part is like a free gift with any 'feedback' I don't hear on my face, but just 'get to hear' by accident). 

This post is specially for those who are only busy in picking up the means to be happy rather  than going for happiness directly. For someone as stupid as me, collecting the things in the photographs below is a big reasons why I like to see my salary credited. 

A friend of mine says: "...nothing bonds human beings better than the joys and travails of travels. Travel always pushes you out of your comfort zone, teaches you more about life and makes you a better person." and I have been believing this for quite some time now.

Here I go. These babies came the cheapest of all that I have on that rack. Only rupees three each on the beach of Bakkhali. I bought these when I was there in January 2011.

The old lady who was selling these kept saying that I would look good with such white pendants hanging from my neck. I didn't argue. These were cheap AND elemental enough to show which kind of place I had gone to get them.

Later, the same year, Dad Mom and me planned to take a vacation together after a long time (last was Kerala in 2009, this was 2011). It was Guwahati and then Shillong. Near the Mawsmai Caves, the shop owner was showing us all kind of handcrafts, but this small key ring caught my eye. 

It is a carving of a human face belonging to one of the important communities of the hills - Khasi, Garo or Jayantia. Above that face is that of a yak (or a bull or a cow or something similar). What caught me most is the idea and the level of patience the artist must have put on such small piece of a horn along with the hard work.

Guwahati was not as pleasant as Shillong, but did have a place for us to stay, visit, photograph and buy stuff. Most of my time on that day was spent in the hotel we were staying. In the evening Maa had to buy some 'speciality' silk and I too had to let the various joints in my body move a little. The market area had things overpriced. But I didn't think this unicorn was a bad deal for me.

And after I was back from Guwahati, I got to know that my Durga Puja vacations were to be spent outside Kolkata, outside Bengal, outside India. But looking at the fact that Sweden is a kind of place where you cannot "just go" I agreed. A full month long stay (Mahalaya to Kali Puja) and I was back with tons of chocolates, photographs, some show pieces and again a key ring.

Before 2011 could finish, there was again a full throttled Bakkhali trip with the WASE army from my office but in March this year, a tour to Bangkok and Pattaya was in front of me. And there are seldom such opportunities where you get to know some of those basics about yourself and the fellow people on this planet which you promise yourself to remember and respect all your life.

This white shell was one of the numerous scattered along the beach of the main land when our party was back from the Pattaya beach. It had a layer of moss on it when I found it walking half the thigh deep in that clear water. But in comparison to the kind of things which the city of Pattaya sells, this was a lot better choice to bring back home. Moreover, I have a weakness for the elementary. So, could not help. 

But the memory of the first foreign trip (on a traveler's visa, not a business one) had to be a little more glamorous. The Suvarnabhumi airport helped me out here.

Innumerable is the number that could be used to describe the number of 'elephant' souvenirs available there. But for some reason, I wanted to take back home something of what I had actually seen in that country. And this was just the thing. No matter where we went, we got this greetings from the Thai people, very much like we Indians (at least textbook Indians) - The palms pressed against each other put up in front and a bowed head.

Huh... These were the pictures which were clicked till a few complicated things crept in me (my mind is not a soap opera script yet so that it will be able to habituate itself to such melodramatic things so quickly, hence I called the clicking off for the day).

But after I had that an awesome roller coaster conversation with one my friends on almost every topic on this world (I think we didn't discuss only about the medicine for common cold) I can see myself ending my weekend on a good note :)

I am sure, I am still due to get a lot of those not-so-good-to-hear but good-to-know stuff about myself from both expected and unexpected sources. So I will put up the rest of my showcase babes sometime later.

Till then,

Cheers :)

Clouds, Rain and Mandarmani

First thing first...

“Mrigank, Malobika, Avisek, Jayasree, Manoj, Jyoti, Kamalendu,
Thank you for the trip. I mean it.”

A quick thought at the office in the middle of the week, some quicker agreements, some useful research, balancing the budget and in the end all was set for Mandarmani. Eight heads but more than just eight hearts. The week finally ended and Kolkata saw our waving hands when we rode NH6 towards Kolaghat. From there, NH41 till Nandakumar and from Nandakumar SH4 to a cross road called Chawlkhola. From there a 15km drive southwards to Mandarmani.

The weather overall could not have been better. To everybody’s delight it rained a very soothing and balanced amount and people expressed their agreement with the meteorological thoughts of the sky of West Bengal by trying to suppress the voice of the singers from the car’s music system with their own (in a good way).

A totally energy filled four hours and we were at our beach resort. Once the bunch had witnessed the water, it was very hard (even for a hydrophobic like me) to stay away from it. During the high tide hours, the water is at the very footsteps of the resort. Needless to say, I put my camera to rest and joined in the party. The waves are of the perfect height for sea bathers and if one is only able to stay away from those submerged boulders during the high tides, it is a very (very) refreshing experience (duh!).

I came out of the water before anybody else as the clouds had now stopped making those marvelous patterns. I wanted to capture those which were still left in the view.

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After everybody was out of the water (and dried off) and had a good lunch, the exploration of the beach begun. The water had now receded and a good width of the sandy stretch between the sea and the hotel was available for us to walk.

-->We had more than two hours with us before we had to place the order for dinner. (before 7 in the evening you have to place that so that things get ready by 9). Now everybody was only enjoying the atmosphere. Some the wind, some the drizzle, some the lonliness.

-->Suddenly, when the we-are-in-a-group air came back we all decided to take an almost  a kilometer long ride in those motor operated van rickshaws to explore the coastal stretch a bit more. The most magnificant thing that I was lucky enough to witness was the reflection of the clouds. I have seen glamorous sunsets on various beaches, but such a magnificant overcast weather was a first time experience.

The group I was with, strangely enough, was not busy in getting themselves photographed much here. There is a strange urge in everyone of us to tell the world – "look, I was here". But in that evening I think, it was more about inhaling the atmosphere of Mandarmani than making arrangements of the proofs of travel.

To be able to meet that ‘only me’ in that wide open space does take you a little above the tangled materialistic thoughts. (Although, this was more powerfully experienced by me later, the next morning. Will come to it).

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By the time we were back, without witnessing a proper golden sunset, we saw the entire sky (and its reflection on the earth and sea) turning pure blue. Upon looking at this picture, one of my friends had said: "It feels sad". Truly speaking, the colour  did bring out a little of those violin strokes from my past too which have still remained unbalanced.

When it grew darker, my camera finally displayed an empty battery and signalled me to actually join the group to enjoy a tea in that breeze. After the tea and snacks, Avisek, Kamalendu, Manoj and I had a funny ordeal in the rain to find a particular way, via a bus stand, and then to get back to our hotel. Once back, all of us had a fantastic adda-cum-bakwaas session at the top of the resort's sliding board (ssilip as it got termed later among us). After the dinner, the session took place On the Rocks during the High tides.

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Next morning, I was the one to wake up first and go out in the beach to see sunrise. Sadly it was still cloudy. But I was lucky enough to carry my music player with me when I went out in that ungodly hour.

When you are alone in that first light of the day with such an open space all around you accompanied by the most final sound for a land dweller, the waves, you truly start to believe that there is someone called you, exists. It is not a feeling of lonliness that creeps inside you, but a feeling of love for some simple facts like “yes, I too can see, I too can listen”. And half of the credit for such a feeling goes to the poetry (called Imran’s poetry) being played in my music player then. Written by Mr. Javed Akhtar, narrated by his son Farhan Akhtar from the movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. I know how I kept my aching throat under control. But the eyes were tougher to tame. Thankfully noone was close enough to make me feel embarrassed.

-->Before the rain started for the day, I got a little time to explore the shore. The water again had went back during the night. There were water holes like this all over the beach which, upon having a closer look, were giving away some curios forms to see.

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After some more time, the rain started. The hotel had open shades with straw roofs facing the beach. It was a treat to just sit there getting a little wet with the rain carried in by the wind, listening to some music, talking to a few starngers about the good and bad of the place, sharing a few jokes with them and looking at the sea through the falling droplets.

 

 

-->Everybody else from our party started to wake up gradually. It was raining rather a bit heavily but the satisfaction after a perfect sleep on everybody’s face was making it sunny enough. People are stressed enough in office. The morning made the break look a well deserved one.

During breakfast, we got the news that the rain has worsened the road to Mandarmani Mohona which we were planning to visit after checking out. So, we decided to go to the Digha Mohona instead. Mohona is a Bengali word for the place where a river meets the sea, a canal mouth. It took a drive of about half an hour to reach this place.

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I dont know which river exactly comes and meets the sea here (nor I did any research), but whichever one does, does turn really wild upon meeting with its superclass. It starts to show waves in itself and it becomes very difficult to say, more so during the high tides, where it seizes to become a river and starts boasting of being Bengal's Bay.

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But this was not all. A path made of concrete blocks goes a little inside the waters and our party was lucky enough to see the wild side of the untamed shore. Most of our cloths got wet with the random slaps of the waves on the block, but if you are able to keep your cameras dry, you would find the experince of standing on that four feet wide way amusingly thrilling.

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After getting my jeans completely splased with the sea water, I decided not  to stay there anymore. There were water drops seen on the sensitive areas of my camera too. So, for the sake of that device I headed back to our vehicle.

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The place basically serves as a wholesale market for fishermen and the traders. One reaches the Mohona after walking through the huge market (a walk of roughly five minutes).

There is a road wide enough for a vehicle to pass easily but believe me when I say, you will be able to inhale some air only when you have reached in front of the gent’s saloon in the middle of the market which smells of shaving cream and aftershave. During rest of the road, its better that you hold your breath.

From the Mohona, we went a little ahead to the town of Old Digha. There was a long photo session there also, then there was a bargaining chapter for cashew nuts and then a lunch.

Thanks to the decision by Kamalendu to bring a USB drive stuffed with some fabulous songs and the occasional stunt-driving by our driver on the highway, we had no trouble in staying awake even on our journey back to Kolkata. The ladies although enjoyed a short post lunch nap but I am sure hey were finding it rather difficult due to the noise-over-the-cards in the rearmost seats by the other boys.

Roughly around 5 in the evening, we were closing Kolkata. On passing the last toll-gate, the sight of the Vidyasagar Setu with that clear sky in its backdrop filled in a sense of relief. No matter where I go and how much I enjoy the entire tour, the feeling of “yes, I am home now” is the most relaxing one.

Must say, this Mandarmani trip was much more fulfilling than a few more I had taken in the past. If you guys get some time, you can try out this place. But be sure to pack your best buddies, your good health, your camera, your music player and if you want, your alarm clock!

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Till next time,

Cheers! :)