Travelogue - Tajpur Trip - Part Three

Continued from Travelogue-Tajpur Trip-Part-Two

1.30 pm. Same day. Tajpur.

Yes! We had finally reached. The drive was wonderful. We were truly now in the midst of untainted natural beauty.

Dense shrubs and tall Casuarina (Jhau) trees surrounded us. A swarm of various coloured butterflies hovered around the yellow wild flowers. The red muddy path winded through the trees and vanished far into the sands.

We left our luggage at the hotel (Green Earth Resort) and bounded off to see the sea.

After crossing a small forest of Jhau trees and climbing the sand dune, we had a first look of the sea. Aaah! The open sea!

The only coconut water seller invited us to have a seat under the umbrellas. Gokul and Shiv sprinted towards the sea. Something had happened to them. Maybe it was the taste of freedom.

We girls didn’t have the intention to get wet that day. We had proper and elaborate plans for the next day. Piyush obviously didn’t like the rocky beach. He decided to stay under the umbrellas. Joyee, Aish and I followed the other two towards the waters. We could see Gokul and Shiv springing like grasshoppers in the sea. As we stood on the beach laughing at them, those two rogues came from nowhere and pulled Joyee and me into the water. It was no use shouting and cursing. We were pushed into the sea. I fell down, hurt my leg, got up, cursed Gokul profusely, and then surrendered haplessly. I was wet. And badly tanned because I had not cared to put on enough sunscreen.

Still cursing Gokul and the entire “Man”kind, I returned under the safe haven of the umbrella, where my deeply mortified soul was nursed with fresh coconut water.

After a while, our three musketeers came back and we returned to the hotel to have a very late lunch.

~*~

Evening. Same day. Tajpur.

We are true Bongs! After the heavy lunch of rice, sukto, daal, potoler torkari (curry), pomfret maachh (fish) and chaatni, we went for a bhaat ghoom (afternoon nap). When we woke up, it was almost dark outside.

Aish was still in deep slumber, most probably dreaming of cute guys in her university. (She’ll kill me for this!) The rest of us decided to explore the terrain.

Evening was slowly setting in. It was quiet everywhere. The butterflies had long gone home. The crickets had taken their place. The only electric light streaming out was from the hotels. There was no moon. The sky was cloudy. It looked like it would rain. The muddy red path was barely visible.

Being adventurous and stupid, none of us had remembered to carry a torch. Yet, we continued along the path. There were quite a few hotels around. Electricity was a problem. But they had generators. For basic amenities, there were small shops (“Gumti”), which were christened by the hoteliers as “Sob pawa jay dokaan” (shop where you get everything. Every pun intended!) We bought shampoo sachets and Thumbs Up at one such shop and thought it better to return to the hotel since it was very dark and threatened to rain.

Once at the hotel, it was time for some good solid adda. Aish had woken up from her sweet dreams. We ordered chicken pakoras and hot tea. The discussion started with confessions about crushes and true loves, where we told half-truths and lied to our hearts’ content. Then it veered to ghost stories which flourished in that ambience. It was raining hard. We were in the midst of a deep jungle. We did not know the very few people there. What more do you want for ghost stories? Joyee was already trying to curl between Aish and me. Somebody went and drew the curtains. Man! It was fearsome and lovely!

~*~

Continued To Travelogue-Tajpur Trip-Part-Four