Dr. Anil Kumar Agarwal

In the morning, on the fourth day I got up fresh as I had a good sleep. That day we had to take Delhi flight at 5.30 in the evening. We were ready by eight and took a cup of tea as well as cleared the hotel account. I enquired from the hotel manager for a taxi to visit some places in Kolkata. He told me that he could arrange a taxi. Getting my acceptance he called a taxi. We kept the luggage in the trunk of the taxi and told him to go to Belur Math. It is situated at the western side of river Hooghly (Ganga). The foundation of Belur Math is laid by Swami Vivekananda. We reached there at 10.30. It was quite neat and clean place. In the main building, many articles which belonged to Swami Vivekananda were kept. His old house replica was also there. The life history of Swami Ji was shown in a sequence quite decently. The temple there was also very charming. Seeing it we came back near the taxi.

We got into the taxi to visit Dakshineswar Kali temple which is at the other verge of the river but the taxi took a long route to cross the same. The temple is famous all over India. It was my second visit to the temple. We had visited it many years back, that time there was a huge rush. There might have been some festival at that time. This time the crowd was in a tolerable level. After getting Darshan we came back near the taxi.

We then drove to the City Mall that was near the Kolkata airport. We enjoyed at the Mall and did some shopping too. I was just turning the pages of a book and read one sentence which inspired me to buy the said book. The sentence was like this: India is not a poor country but it is a poorly managed country. So I purchased the book which in fact was written on the present condition of India. We also took a cup of tea there and came out of the Mall.

Now it was the time for lunch; so we went to Haldiram eating outlet that was about one kilometer from the Mall. We enjoyed the delicious lunch there. The taxi driver dropped us at the airport. He charged me one hundred rupees extra by making some excuse. I paid him his desired amount as I was happy about my journey. We boarded the plane and came back home gladly.

In the morning we got up cheerfully. I came out of the room to see the view of the wood and weather at that point of time. The weather was pleasant and the wood was covered with fog. Some monkeys were playing by jumping and climbing on the trees as well as on the building. Mira opened the window of the room. A little monkey immediately came near the window and tried to enter the room but couldn’t succeed as there was a grill in the window even though it didn’t stop its efforts to come in to the room. Having seen its constant efforts we were obliged to think that it would have succeeded in the end. So we closed down the window. After some time I again opened the window. I was surprised to see that the same monkey was hiding there and immediately it began trying to enter the room again. Seeing its efforts I was forced to think that this monkey was very optimistic.

After some time I went near the kitchen where the waiter wished and asked me about tea. I answered him in yes and instructed that he must serve us tea without sugar. After about ten minutes he served us tea that was good in taste. I took bath in warm water and felt more fresh after that. I put the camera and phone on charging as usual. Meanwhile Mira took her bath.

We went to the watch tower to see the jungle which had a lot of mangrove trees along with some varieties of other plants. We saw every thing in the jungle except tiger that was the real charm of the area. The tiger normally looks pretty when there is a fence between tiger and you. We passed a lot of time on the watch tower but couldn’t get a glimpse of a tiger. There was one more watch tower. While we were sitting there a monkey came near us. There were some eatables in Mira’s bag, which was the reason why the monkey came there. After some time, we came down and went to the reception where the manager told us that we couldn’t go to the other side of Sunderban as the Governor of the state was coming there. The manager added that there was a place called Netidopani where we could go but the boat would take at least five hours to go there. The proposal was not worth for us as we wanted to leave the lodge on the same day. So we decided to go to the other island called Gosaba.

Having cleared the bill of the lodge we went to Pakhriala, a part of the other island, by the same boat as it was at our disposal. In Pakhriala, there was also a guest house which was looking good from outside. People had mud houses and they were busy with their fish activity etc. We took tea from one of the tea stalls which was being run by a lady. We also purchased honey from the same lady. She claimed the honey as pure and which was collected from the wood. After that we left Pakhriala and went to the other part of Gosaba.

There was a big market where so many things were being sold. Mira bought some cotton saris from there. We decided to stay at Gosaba so I went to see a good hotel but they were not very good. We then decided to go ahead to Kolkata. The boatman dropped us down to Gothkhali.

We took a jeep from there to go to Canning. When we reached Canning, it was quite dark. From Canning, we boarded the train to go to Sealdah. Having arrived at Saldah we took a hotel to pass the night.

Next day in the morning, we took again a holy dip in Ganga Sagar and did ‘Pooja’. We then came back to the Ashram. Meanwhile the cab driver phoned me up about our further program. I told him to come to the Asharm. He left us at the place from where the ferry moves. I bought two tickets to cross the water. There was still some time for the ferry to start, so in the meanwhile we took tea and some snacks from a nearby tea shop. We did bye – bye to Ganga Sagar and boarded the ferry. Having crossed the river in about half an hour, we enquired about the mode of transport to go to Sunderban. We found a private bus that was going to Namkhana. I thought we could get a boat from there so we got on the bus. Arriving there we however came to know that there is no regular service of boat that goes to Sunderban. So we took the train from there for Canning, but we had to change the train from Sonarpur to go to Canning. Arriving at Canning I telephoned the manager of Sajneykhali Tourist Lodge to ask him about the further route to our destination. He suggested to me to reach Gothkhali by a mini bus, called Tata Magic and also arranged the boat for us that would take us to Sajnekhali tourist lodge. Reaching at Gothkhali I enquired of the boat but it was not there. It was already dark. I again phoned to the manager and asked about the boat. He gave me the mobile phone no. of the boatman but in the meanwhile he appeared there. He kept our luggage in his boat and started driving the boat.

On the way we had a new experience because as only our boat was moving in the water towards our lodge and at both edges of the water there was wood all over. There was complete silence except the mild noise of the running engine of the boat. On the name of light there was only moon light. Mixture of all these things did create a very special scene.

Arriving at Sajnekhali Tourist Lodge after about three hours, we were welcomed by the manager. We completed the formalities of the lodge and went into our room. There were a lot of monkeys who sometimes enter the room and cause nuisance. So we were warned to keep the room door closed all the time. After relaxing for some time we went to the dinning hall where vegetarian food was served as per our wish. The atmosphere was lively though there was no crowd. Having had the dinner we went to the room.

I had been planning to visit Ganga Sagar, a Hindu religious place, for many a month but the program matured in this February only.  I with Mira went there on 13^th Feb 2011. We took the 9.30 flight for Kolkata in the morning. Arriving at Kolkata airport, we got our luggage from the conveyer belt. There was the tourism office inside the airport. Seeing it I got an idea to inquire of Ganga Sagar route. The person on the desk suggested me to take a cab for the place, Esplanade, and from where I may get another taxi to go to the destined place. I then went to the prepaid booth for cab but the man concerned informed that the cab would not go to Esplanade that day as there was a huge political rally, so the roads were jammed. He also suggested me to take a private car to go to Ganga Sagar. We took the private car from a man who was also sitting in the same booth. The driver put our luggage in the trunk and drove to Ganga Sagar. The car left us at the Ferry Ghat; from there one can take boat to cross the river to go Ganga Sagar. The car took about three hours to drop us at Ferry Ghat. Salt Lake and Diamond Harbor areas came in between the route. At Ferry Ghat we took lunch but it was little tasty. After that we crossed the river by ferry which took more than half an hour to cross the river. The distance between the two shores was quite large so it was difficult to think that it was a river. It seemed to be a part of the sea. On the other side of the river we took the cycle rickshaw which had the plain platform to sit over. It took us near to the taxi stand. After much bargaining for charges with the taxi driver, we took the taxi to go to Ganga Sagar where people take holy dip in the water. It was also settled with him that he would leave us back here next day. The taxi took more than an hour to arrive at the site of Ganga Sagar.

Having arrived at Ganga Sagar we first found out the room which we got it in Bharat Sewa Ashram. The room was quite an ordinary one. If a man like me is not on a pilgrimage he might not prefer to stay there. Keeping our luggage in the room we went to the sea beach to take a holy dip. Then we took the ‘Darshan’ of Kapil Muni in his temple as it was the ritual.

Once upon a time, a Saint visited a king, whose kingdom was quite prosperous. The king asked him how he could serve him. The saint said, ‘O, king! I have a small pot, please fill it up.’ Then the king said, ‘I get this small pot filled with precious stones like diamond, sapphire, ruby etc. at the moment so that you need not demand money for the whole life.’ Having gotten the king’s order the treasurer began to fill the pot with valuables but there was no sign of filling the pot. Very soon the treasurer went out of valuables.

The king along with his courtiers was amazed to see the scene so he said to the saint, ‘O, saint! Tell me about the pot from which matter it was made. The whole treasury had been empty but it couldn’t fill up.’ The saint replied that it was made from the bones of human skulls so that the desire of this pot would never be fulfilled.

Hearing it the king startled and said politely, ‘Hearing your talk my curiosity has been aroused so kindly explain this mystery in detail.’ Then the saint replied, ‘O king, the desire is such pot which can’t be filled up by all the valuables available on the earth. The desire make the man dance like monkey, wander like dog, blind like owl even in the sun light and due to his greed his existence come in to danger like fish. It is difficult for me to explain all the forms of desire in words. Hearing it the king awoke and the dream taught him a lot.