Trip to my Village - Nayagram in West Bengal

During the Durga Puja, I went to my village that is Nayagram, which is situated in the district of Midnapore. Nayagram is a small, quiet and isolated but modern village.

As I started my journey from Kolkata, I straight away started having fun. The taxi took us over the Howrah Bridge and showed us the wonderful vies found from the Howrah Bridge. Then, we boarded the train Rupasi Bangla which goes from Kolkata to Kharagpur. Kharagpur was our destination. Meanwhile, on the train journey, I slept the whole way from Kolkata to Kharagpur. When I woke up I had reached Kharagpur. After we left the station we took a taxi from Kharagpur to my village Nayagram. On the way we went through many things. First was Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT) as we started the journey we had to take a detour from the huge campus of IIT. As we left IIT and Kharagpur we started to enter village like environments. With fields, plants and trees the road looked very beautiful. As we went down further, there were very less people and hence the huge paddy fields were slowly starting to get visible. With all the eucalyptus trees planted beside the road becomes more enjoyable and fun to drive. As we were getting hungry we found a local “dhaba" and ate “Luchi" and “Chola Dal", and it was very tasty. As we again started our journey I fell asleep and couldn't remember a thing in the meantime. When we reached our destination with the taxi that is the “Varsha Ghat", I got up. Varsha Ghat is a stop before my village where all the refreshments are available, but I found my two cousin brothers standing there waiting for us, so I wasting no time started to rush so that I can eat some home-made food, YUMMY! As we started going towards our village we have to cross a dried river, the river is called “Subornorekha". Our family usually travels by car when we go to our village but this time the bridge was broken so no car can pass from the river. The bridge is made by the villagers using wood and nails only! The bridge takes up the loads of buses, trucks and many more things, but it breaks during the rainy season as the water level rises and the bridge gets submerged and break due to the currents. As we started crossing the dried river we had to walk through the sand to the “boats stand", from where we can be taken to the other side. But crossing the river through the sand is very hard as all the sands were getting in my Rs. 5000 shoes, due to which I was getting very disgusted. When we reached there we are made seated in the boats, and also have the fun to admire the beauty of the sea. But, there is always a constant danger of the boat getting stuck as there is not much water in the river, but we crossed it safely. Our cousins took us on bikes to our house in the village. As we reached the house we touch the feet of the elders as it is a good gesture to do so.

We spent two days in the village doing nothing but admiring the Puja atmosphere and sometimes we also went for a long stroll where we meet many of our and our parent's old friends. Music is always present in the Durga Puja and it is played in the village for 24 hours, and we even cannot sleep in the music as it is played so loud, but this is the Puja environment! Every year during Durga Puja a group of actors and actresses who act in many street plays come to our village and show their play at midnight as hundreds of village people gather to see the play. It is called “Jatra". It is truly UNIQUE!

As Vijay Dashami came on 28/09/09 we all observed the bidding of goodbyes to Ma Durga and it is always a sad moment as all the adventure ends on this day but on this day only another adventure begins that is the Dusshera. Dusshera is celebrated very hugely in our village as all the people gather in the football ground where unique types of fireworks are used to display the burning of Ravan. The fireworks are not bought in my village but are made by the villagers themselves. The show comprises all types of fireworks which when viewed look very dangerous are totally harmless, as the bombs fly into the crowd but when it falls on a villager it does not harm the villagers but only scare them away. As the Ravan is burnt all the villagers rush back to the atrium of the village for Jatra.

On the last day of our stay at the village we went to the Temple of Rameshwar. The road to the temple is just so beautiful and admirable that it makes me feel like making a house and stay there forever! I don't understand why do rich people go abroad to view the scenes that can be seen in our country. The government of India does not invest in tourism at all, except few places. I never knew that there were so vast fields in India and that too near my village! The road to Rameshwar has the river at its side and the forest at the other and with the government acting on the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna has made the roads very smooth and enjoyable to drive. And as we started returning to our village after visiting Rameshwar we only started admiring the beauty of the fields and forest around the road.

On the day when we had to depart for Kolkata, all our family members that are we and elders were very remorse. As we were making our trip back to Varsha Ghat from our village through the dry sea my father's boat got stuck in the water as there is very less water in the river and it took half an hour to release it from those waters. As we boarded the bus for a 4-hour long journey through bus and the train we knew that for this year the trip is over for this year but we know that it will again start next year!