Sunday, September 27, 2015

Digha,West Bengal

        Once in a while there comes a trip where most of the things go wrong.For me a trip to Digha Beach in West Bengal was one such.Now I wouldn't like to make this post all about what things went wrong.Let me just recount the trip as it happened.

        I wont bore the reader with the details of the trains I took to reach Digha, suffice to say that I took a few.I reached Digha at around 10am. Digha is a very popular beach resort for the kolkattans and the people living nearby.It was evident with the huge crowds at the station.I had to push past families with children and grandpas in toe,groups of teenagers with headphones the size of a mango,women with huge shades that almost covered their faces.It looked like everyone was in groups.I was the only one who was alone there.Nevertheless I made my way over to the groups of Hotels nearby and entered one.I asked for a room.They asked how many people.I said One.They said No room.
This story repeated for a number of hotels.Finally one guy told me the reason.All the hoteliers in Digha had been instructed by the Police not to give rooms to solo travelers.This was because a few years ago a number of people had committed suicide in Digha.I was dejected.No, not by those suicides but by the fact that I was not getting a room.I went to a nearby kirana store,Had a cool drink and pondered over my options.I decided that somehow I had to get a room.I couldn't roam around with my rucksack.Just then I saw a rickshawala.I went over to him and asked if he could arrange a room for a single traveller.He said yes, he knew of one hotel which accommodates single travellers as they had 'special' permission from the police,whatever that meant.

So I boarded his rickety old rickshaw and off we went gliding along the crowded narrow roads of digha.It was a hot and humid day and it wasn't helping me.He took me to a hotel somewhere deep inside a narrow street and fortunately it was decent and not some ramshackle hovel that I was expecting.The hotel demanded a hefty sum for my stay and on top of that he told me to call my dad in front of him and tell him of my whereabouts.This was a precaution they took for every single traveller.I had to patiently explain my dad about the whole situation.That was embarrassing.The rickshawala too demanded a huge sum but a bit of a bargaining bought down the sum a little bit though the final amount I paid was still a lot.

All this drama took up a lot of time and by the time I got out of the hotel room to go to the beach it was around 1 pm.I decided not to have a dip in the ocean and decided instead to treat myself to a good lunch.I went to the beach strolled around a bit and then went to a restaurant.I had good seafood here and tried the famous Hilsa. I didn't like it with all its fine bones that makes it difficult to pick them out.

After that hearty meal my spirits rose a bit.I walked back to the beach and went far away from the crowds.I found a secluded portion to the right of where everyone was and sat down for a while.The waves rolled in and out.The sun overhead was very bright and soon my tshirt was drenched.I sat here under the shade of a tree for an hour and left around 4pm.I had a train to catch at 5pm which was to take me to Kharagpur from where I was to catch another to Raigarh to be in time to catch the bus to Tamnar at 7 30am.I had to go to office at 9am.So I departed at 5pm from Digha.Barring a few hiccups at Khargpur station where I got nothing decent to eat for dinner I reached Tamnar without any major problems.

4 comments:

  1. Really nice post. I dont have any idea about this place. But now i wnat to visit this place once in my life time.
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  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  3. I just want to say that all the information you have given here is awesome...great and nice blog thanks, sharing..
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