JOURNEY TO KARIMGANJ …
This January went to Karimganj with my uncle (jethu) to visit their home – they have adopted a son name Raghu. He is a sweet little kid – very cheerful and extremely friendly.
We took the Sealdah Rajdhani on 7th Jan. 09. On 6th Jan.09 Sealdah Rajdhani got canceled due to fog – so we were praying it may get delayed – that’s fine but shouldn’t get canceled. It was running late by 3 hrs. – by the time we reached the station. On the way to Sealdah, it got further late by 3 hrs.
The train journey was memorable, took lots of photos. Enjoyed our food. Everything was good except that jethu couldn’t sleep that night so was feeling bad the next day – felt bad too.
Reached Sealdah station around 4:30pm. Animesh (my cousin) came to the station – he suggested we take the local train to Barasat (where chotto mashima lives) as it was Mohoram and there will be procession thus traffic jams. Took the Barasat local that was the first time we took the local train. Have heard a lot about how crowded these local train are but it wasn’t a rush hour so had a comfortable journey and reached home in an hour.
My grand mother (dida) had an eye operation for cataract – which seems to have reached its optimum level. Also my dida is getting pretty old – so it took some time to recover fully. she suffer for 2 months – before we came back to New Delhi, she was totally fine. That is good news.
We went to our ancestral house (Andhermanick – p.s. Baduria – Bonga line ; that what people say). We stayed there for a night. Now we think , it would have been great if had stayed there longer. Took lots and lots of photos.
On 14th Jan. 09. we took the afternoon flight (which was also delayed by an hr.) to Silchar from Kolkata. After a long time I was flying again. I used to feel sick on board; I was a little nervous – i might feel sick now too, but the flight was very smooth.
On reaching Silchar, we took a taxi to Karimganj. It was getting dark as we were heading to jethu’s house. The roads were terrible beyond imagination -there were potholes every now and then. On many places work was on process. The tall trees by the roadside were totally covered with mud at almost everywhere. Off course , I didn’t see this scenario on that very evening as it got dark – while staying at jethu’s house – we went to Silchar to visit a fair. Jute fair – never thought so many beautiful and variety of things could be made by jute. Bags, wall hanging, scandals, bangals, earing and many more. Bought 2 bags , 1 bangal & a pair of earning. Wanted to buy a pair of shoe but were out of stock the one i liked.
It was this trip to Silchar that i realised how bad the condition of the roads were. We also visited a temple – Sri Sri Sideshwar temple on the same day. The temple is situated by the bank of Borak river, on the opposite side is a place called Katgora – jethu studied there while staying at his elder sister’s house.
Even at Karimganj the river is flowing by but there the opposite bank is BANGLADESH ! yes that is right. The Borak river at that point is the border. i took a picture or 2 of it too, when a man from the BSF came and warned us that taking photos are not allowed and our camera can be taken away. The man was very polite.
Went with jethu every evening for a walk in and around the little town. It is very much similar to any town in West Bengal, except at Karimganj the roof are of tin and our is of terracot tiles and at Karimganj now and then we will see hill lock with beteel nut plantation and small houses built on that hill as well. These people have curved their way up the hill by cutting the hill into small steps – which looked beautiful beyond words. I wish i had taken picture of it too, but i hadn’t. Next time I will not forget. Also visited a temple & a tea garden (which no longer reflect the real tea garden as it is not looked after) – actually around this time of the year, all tea gardens have been trimed; so that they can florish in April.
Show the Longai river, with tons of bamboo piled up together floating on the river. They were actually being transported from one place to another by water route ( Tripura and Mizoram).
On 23rd Jan. 09. took a flight from Silchar to Kolkata. Stayed for 3 days and there is nothing esp. to write about except for bought 2 plants; Kundo – sort of creeper with white little flower, a junior rose (white in color). Also took lots of photo of mamima’s (aunty) cats
On 27th Jan. 09. took the train from Sealdah for New Delhi.
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What tamplate do you use in your blog? Very interesting articles
Excellent article, bookmarked for future referrence
Awsome article, it’s my pleasure to read your blog.
Hi Sharmila,
I am from Karimganj and presently working in Delhi. Stumbled upon your blog while searching for some photographs. There’s one instance of factual error in this otherwise good post.
River ‘Barak’ doesn’t have a presence Karimganj. Instead, there are ‘Kushiara’, ‘Longai’ and some other rivulets with which we associate Karimganj. It is ‘Kushiara’ on the other bank of which we see Bangladesh: so close, yet so far!
And yes, ‘Katgora’ should be ‘Kathigora’. Little typo.
It was good read though. Just seems to have been written in a hurry. 🙂
Best,
…to add, above is a URL of one of my blogs. It’s a little beginning i made some years back and left it there for lack time and too much of responsibilities to handle at a time.
If you find any interest in meeting with some interesting people who represent Karimganj, check out a Community called ‘Karimganj’ on ever-easy Orkut.
Cheers,