The Bokkhali Adventure

Requiem for a trip
The idea for a trip began when Ben decided to Shillong for the New Year leaving me alone at home. Not wishing to spend the New Year alone at home I sounded Ankit and the Marketing gang for a trip somewhere. The viable options were trekking in Bakura and the beach in Bokkhali, the only beach in the east not plundered by us.
Impromptu Plan for Bokkhali
Bakura was Sougat’s home town, Sougat being Ankit’s new room mate. It was in this matter that I met Sougat and I could sense my own passion for exploring life reflected in him. The plan was quickly made. The place was Bokkhali and the time was for the early morning the last Saturday of the year. Though we had called Hotel Deepak, the numbers were still unknown . Hence we decided against bookings. No bookings in the holiday season was a risk but it gave us the leeway to allow anyone who wished for an impromptu adventure could join.
The players

The trip was to be of four parts - cab drive to Sealdah, train journey from Sealdah to Namkahana, a van followed by a ferry to cross the Ganges and finally the bus ride to Bokkhali. Though the opposite sex always brought a different flavour to such trips, The iternary was daunting and unpredictable and we ditched the idea to call the girls for the trip. Hence it was a close dependable and flexi-group who could handle uncertainties . As things turned out we had been right on this count.

While the Mandarmani gang backed out we are eventually left with the four roommates Mohit, Rohit , Sougat and Ankit while I being the only outsider dropped into their house on Friday. Packing was done, the cab to Sealdah were booked for 4 am and alarms for set for 3.30 am.

D-day arrives Saturday 29 Dec 2007 3.30 am
I never heard the alarm but the rest were already up. Rohit and I decided to have a cold shower in the logic that it would prepare us to face the freezing weather outside. The cab arrived at 4.00 am sharp, we withdrew 2k from the ATM each and off we went ! The taxi driver confidently left us at the South terminal only for us to discover that it was the North. It was not the first time we had faced such frustration in Bong Land and as far as the trip goes not the last

The train left at 5.00 and we enjoyed a nearly empty compartment. The cold wind of the pre dawn morning blowing open doors of the local train left us shivering. Our warm clothes proved grossly inadequate and we end up forming a Pepsi huddle to survive. We wrapped our spare clothes onto our faces and hands and dressed very much like stereo typical terrorists- Notably Ankit wrapping a green sweater across his face with only his baby eyes visible. Rohit was the only one unflinching in the face of extreme cold and coolly stood near the train , almost mocking at us. Whether it was his sturdiness or simply foolhardy heroism we still do not know.
Eating is a very good pastime in trains and we snacked all the way - black golis, delicious lemon tea for 1 rupee and a certain food I can only name as the Puri prasad sweet. We were sharing an ipods and a walkman with 1 ear phone each( Rohit being at the door was left out :) ) Mohit cringed whenever his Punjabi balle balle ears were assualted by my Minnalae and 7 G rainbow colony songs and still worse Gilli !
The journey time was so much of a mystery. The Passengers kept saying 2 hours to Namkhana when the journey started and after 1 hour it still was 2 hour. Consider our experience with Bengal punctuality we were amused not amazed.

We reach Namkhana at 8.00 (making it a three hour trip !). As we left the station that the last train to Sealdah is at 8 pm courtesy a TTs useful tip to Rohit. However I glanced on the railway board which said it should be at 8.55 but I let it pass.

The 'van'er coaster : 8:05
We encountered the 1st of the many Vans we would be using in the trip here to take us to the ferry site. Now the van here is not the red double door Omni with sliding doors but a cart pulled by a man on a cycle . Five of us got into the 'van' with our luggages for a 3 km joy ride. The roads were of the size of a broad gauge track and were flanked by 10 feet deep water bodies infested with flies. This being not very different for us from a bridge over a moat swimming with crocodiles , Sougat and Rohit on the outer side of the van were positively thrilled ( shit scared? ). The icing was the 'van ' traffic came from the opposite side too so Mohit and Ankit on the inner side could have exciting possibility of their feet torn off each time this happened. We somehow managed to reach in one piece only to know the adventure was worth 3 bucks a piece.

Ferry ride over the Ganges : 8:10
We reach the ferry place to take us to the other side of the Ganges. The place is such that even buses need to be ferried across. I wondered idly(idealistically) why they couldnt simply build a bridge since the distance was hardly 100 meters. 50 paise per head - forty people we were told. 'Rich' and spendthrift that we were, we booked the entire ferry for 20 rs and enjoyed the 3 min ride to the other side.

Bus to Bokkhali : 8.20
Tired and sleepless Mohit, Ankit and I dozed off as soon as we climbed into the bus. The ever energetic Rohit and the Bong speaking trip 'lead' Sougata kept watch. As the bus started Rohit noticed a newspaper guy climb aboard who promptly took the seats to the back of the bus next to the window. We expected the guy to get down some where but this guy had his own delivery system. Whenever the bus stopped , he would simply pick a newspaper from his bundle and throw it expertly into the shop. Rohit and Sougat washed amazed that this happened some thirty times during the trip and he never missed. As Rohit described there was an instance when the bus stopped a bit before the shop and there was a lamp post in between. This lefy a two feet clearing between the shop window and the post, a 30 degree angle and a distance of 15 feet. Both of our awake 'fans' watched with bated breath as our 'next Olympics candidate ' removed a newspaper like a seasoned archer and proceed to conquer the impossible. The newspaper whizzed through the air like a vertical disc through that small opening and landed right in the shop !


The hunt for the Room -

An hour later we got up sleepy eyed to see that we had reached Bokkhali. Leaving the rest at the beach, Sougat and I walk the road looking for a place to stay. We walked towards towards a hotel on the beach, which turns out to be a private residence with swimming pools and tennis courts. We looked for other avenues not finding any we walk through a path towards the main road - through coconut trees, crisscross date trees and a funny sight of ducks following cattle around like children following their parents.
We reached the road and soon realized that getting a room would be a tricky business. We enquired in Bokkhali Tourist lodge, dolphin, sea view, ballakhali, deepak and with each hotel we got a wee bit more desperate.A Hundreds hotels but no rooms for 5 of us. With a sinking feeling we looked at each other and thought silently that it had been damn foolhardy of us going to a beach in holiday season with no bookings!
We took stock of the situation and set our eyes lower, now looking at the unattractive residential houses. The first was Pinki,a dingy smelly place alas, no manager could be found . We went next door to find Tribha, equalling Pinki in its shadyness. That is when we met the diminutive swaggering supervisor later we will know him as Diwakar.
Duwakar looked at us like untouchables and very reluctantly beckoned us to follow him to the first floor. The room he showed us was a dingy little Hellhole with a bed for two and a small toilet. How much ? we asked with a grimace. 700 taka pat came the answer . Sougat flew off the hook and cries foul in his fluently clipped high pitched bengali. We needed three rooms of this size which would end up costing us 2100 bucks. This was bloody ransom. But Diwakar coolly snickers with a slimy smile - In a normal day I would give you this is for 400 u have no options - I have the only rooms. We looked at each other. The bugger was swindling us but we knew that we are truly cornered here. Sougat tried to convince him with his usual aggressive delivery but Diwakar had the assured suave of a drugged peddlar who could see desperation in our eyes.In the end we settleed for a room on the ground floor with a huge bed for 5. Rs.1000 he said. We settled for that.

The Laloo of Bengal
Sougat was exasperated with the uncouth Diwakar and his unprofessional attitude of dealing with a customer and trying to fleece him but little did he know we would find that more often in the rest of the trip..For only now did Laloo enter the scene.. Laloo chandra jana - our van driver for the rest of the day. While Diwakar was a snake, Laloo was a sweet poison and it took us a long time to figure him out.
After having a sumptuous local food at Swapnapari for just 250 rs for the five of us, we were looking for places to visit. While the Bokkhali beach was right in front of us, Laloo the van driver whom Ankit and the rest had found promised that the Henry Island beach was far more isolated and better for bathing. HE offered to take us for Rs. 60 two ways per head. We conferred and told him that we would pay him if we thought it was worth it.
That is how our wild goose chase began. When he took us on the circuitous route to Henry island he became a tour guide of sorts explaining the difference between the flora that made Sunderban such as Sundri mangrove. There were a lot of photo opportunities especially with the prawns and the watch tower where he seemed to have stolen some tree branches to show to us. Sougat became our Bengali translator and relayed every titbit to us in Hindi. We were pretty impressed with Laloo's knowledge and even more after he show us his Fabulous India tourist guide certificate. After passing the artificial fresh water lakes used for fishing and owned by Chandan Basu, we reach a rope bridge we had to walk over to reach Henry Island.

The beach was totally isolated as promised but that was apparently all that Laloo had been truthful about. We undressed happily bundling all our clothes in a mound and eagerly ran towards the water. Sougat and I were first into the water and as we waded a few feet deep into the water we realized that something was wrong. The sea floor was uneven and the surface very slippery. We tried to our best to venture forward into the water but decided it best not to. The place was too dangerous for bathing. We watched Laloo running around nad trying to find places we could venture into. It looked like a well orchestrated show and that was the first time we began to suspect him