Winter brings with it a few things in this part of India which I absolutely treasure: mustard fields, date palm jaggery, foggy mornings and a few more things, which I can only mention in Bengali (because I am yet to find their English counterparts that can evoke the same emotion!) joynagar er moa, koraishutir kochuri, notun aloo. Winter, unfortunately lasts only for a debatable 3 months these days and in the last few years, at least in the city, it is a see saw of warm days with some cold ones thrown in between.
In the first weekend of February, as the debatable winter was on its last leg, a friend with whom, I had travelled to the remote villages of Biharinath, Doladanga, Matha, Murguma –before these places became popular – and me went on an overnighter to Knakrajhore. Whereas Purulia, Bankura has gained significant popularity these days, the so called “Wild West” of Bengal – dotting the tribal areas west of Jhargram and bordering Jharkhand, is coming out of the reverie of isolation.
We started around 7 in the morning and after a breakfast stop at Azad Hind Dhaba, Uluberia, we reached the Kurchi homestay at 2 in the afternoon. Post lunch we went on a drive to the Ketki Lake, a very old temple, a dam. Most of the roads were in disrepair and whereas my erstwhile Swift would have tackled these roads any day, I was glad that I was in the Scorpio-N.
Out of the 24 hours that we spent at that place, I will remember the evening spent along the banks of the Ketki lake the most. The setting sun cast an orange glow as it disappeared behind the hills, birds were returning home and so were the shepherds with herds of goat and sheep – as we sat under a huge sal tree watching the proceedings across and beyond the placid lake. There were pockets of mustard fields which reminded me of a day spent many years ago in a vast mustard field where as far as you can see, the colour was yellow and that dissolved in the horizon of a thin layer of mist – and the breeze brought with it a smell of the pungent smell of mustard.
At night we had a dinner of Roti, Chicken curry. That being said – it was the tastiest meal of the day – with the other menus, including the local delicacy Sal pata pora chicken being outright distasteful – seems there has been a change of hands at the place.
The next morning, we checked out after breakfast. Visited the Ketki lake once again for the absolute serenity. This time, we took the interior roads, dotted with sparsely populated villages, wavy hillocks, small lakes and finally reached Jhargram through Belpahari and Silda. From Jhargram, it was drive till Hotel Abhijeet where we had a plate of overzealous Fried Rice and Chilli Chicken and then after a tea break in the evening, we were back home.
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| Forested areas near Jhargram |
