Boshipota

The Eurasian Wryneck

Boshipota is a sleepy little village near Dankuni and it is definitely one of the birding hotspots in the greater Calcutta area. Last Christmas Arka, Kshounishda and I went in company with Radhanathda to see birds of Boshipota. In terms of number of species seen it was nothing great. But the quality of photography was really good because of the open nature of the paddy fields. I saw the Eurasian Wryneck for the first time. Got decent photographs of Bluethroat, Common Stonechat, Zitting Cisticola, Prinia and a spotted owlet.


Spotted Owlet


Indian Silverbill


Bluethroat

How do you get to Boshipota? Take the Delhi Road off the Durgapur Expressway. From the first cross road turn right. Turn left from Raghunathpur into the village of Boshipota.



A zitting cisticola

Bethuadahari by Road

Bethuadahari is just 150 kms from our house. In 2007 it had taken us just 3 hours. We were on our way to Darjeeling. Ever since I had wanted to spend a night in the forest. The opportunity came last Saturday when I got a confirmed booking in the forest bungalow there through the good office of Mr A.K. Bhaumik who pulled the right strings in Writers' Building and got the DFO to allot me a room in their commercial guest house called "Bedu Inn". I think they deliberately misspelt Bedwin lest anyone thought Beds were available for winning.
Back to the journey. It took us seven hours, thanks to some work on Ranaghat level crossing and the resultant traffic jam that stretched over 20/30 km. We faced it first near Borho Jaguli where police had actually stopped the trucks. We couldn't understand why the vehicles were stopped there. Later we realised that it was perhaps to prevent more jam ahead. Between Shimurali and Chakdah things came to a grinding halt till we discovered a side lane to the left of the highway. Through the village lanes and by lanes we managed to by-pass Ranaghat town and somehow managed to reach Bethua four hours behind schedule.

Got myself a new lens recently. A Canon 400mm F5.6 from Tanvir. This has given a new boost to my photography. The lens is razor sharp as I understood on the very first day of field trip. Went to Rajarhat. Though didn't find anything much beyond a few paddyfield pipits, Bengal bushlarks and Indian silverbills but the lens test was very satisfying. I got really close to this pipit with the lens mounted really low on the tripod.

Gulancha at CKBS

Taken at CKBS on April 5, 2009. I thought this was a parasitic orchid growing on the mango tree!! As it turns out, it's a medicinal plant with known fighting properties against chickangunia.

Curiously enough, the sunlight was somehow falling just on the fruits and on nothing else. And that light was going up and down, virtually constantly. Had to wait for the right opportunity.

Scientific Name: Tinospora Cordifolia
Bengali Name: Gulancha
Hindi Name: Amrit

South Asia: Guduchi , amrita (Sanskrit), giloe , gulancha (Bengali), giloya (Hindi), gado , galo (Gujarati), duyutige , teppatige (Telugu)

English: heartleaf moonseed

Indonesia: Brotowali, Andawali, Putrawali

Philippines: Makabuhay (Tagolog), Paliaban (Bisaya), Pañgiauban Bisaya)

Thailand: Boraphet (บอระเพ็ด)

Information courtesy, indiantreepix@googlegroups.com

Kaikhali Day Trip

Communication

How society's priorities change. When we were in school we used to get beaten up for being talkative in class. These days children get a certificate saying, "Certificate For Effective Communication Skills." That's what Mampu got today - the last day of her class in Upper KG.

The Terracotta Temples of Bishnupur

In my continuing quest to see the “seeable” places of South Bengal over idle weekends, I visited Bishnupur last Saturday with my family. But for its beautifully made terracotta temples (approximately 30 in all), Bishnupur town would have been a very insignificant, obscure and impoverished little town in the industrially backward Bankura district.
The Jorbangla temple

The temples were built by various Mallya kings who ruled this part of the country around the 17th century and made Bishnupur their capital. The royalty being Vaishnavites, all the temples are essentially Radha-Krishna temples. Some of the temples still have idols inside that are still worshipped but some don’t.



The intricately carved terracotta panels on the temple walls depict various scenes from Krishna’s life, Ramayana and Mahabharata – not to speak of various deities. There are many social issues as well that find place in the panels.


The temple architecture is also fairly unique and resembles the architecture of thatched huts of Bengal used for residential purpose in rural Bengal. There are various other uniqueness to the architecture of the temples but that being an alien subject for me I would refrain from commenting on those aspects.

There are two routes to Bishnupur. One goes via Singur and Arambagh. The other goes via Durgapur and Bankura town. We chose the second one, as we were told this road was better. It’s a fairly straight forward road. You turn left from Muchipara in Durgapur on NH2. Crossing Durgapur station and then the barrage you cross Barjora town and then turn left before hitting Bankura town.

After this you cross the little town of Onda and then Ramsagar. After Ramsagar turn left towards Bishnupur. The total distance from Kolkata is about 250 km.


In Bishnupur we stayed in the WBTDC hotel which is pretty decent and very strategically located. For seeing the temples we took the help of a government approved guide, who showed us the way around for Rs 100.


Incidentally Bishnupur is also well known among Bengali women for its Baluchari sarees. However, whether they are cheaper than in Kolkata is highly doubtful. It is also foolhardy to believe that we are buying straight from the poor weaver. Whether you buy in Calcutta or Bishnupur, the weaver doesn't benefit in any way. He continues to be sucked.