On the way to Guskara
A few weeks ago my friend Shilbhadra and I went to Shantiniketan on my Bullet and came back without a problem. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to write about it earlier. But now I suppose I can because as of last Sunday Monisha's father - whose fast deteriorating health was keeping me disturbed - is no more.
Initially I was invited to join a Bulleteers' group to go to Shantiniketan. I had planned to go alone with them but was a little skeptical because I don't know any of them except one whose participation was doubtful. And then Shilbhadra wanted to come along. I asked the group if it was okay to take a pillion who is not a Bulleteer and they didn't reply to my SMSes. So I decided to give them the boot and go on my own.
The journey started from where Monisha's parents were staying - near Deshapriya Park in a house on Satyen Dutta Road. It was Saturday 15th September. SD and I met there to start together at around 6 am. We put our belongings inside SD's bag and started with just one rucksack.
Earlier in the morning I had to wake up my mechanic Dilip to borrow a spare clutch cable from him. Mine was kept in a bag that could not be found (which is rather common in my house). I carried a clutch and accelerator cable, a spark plug, a bulb and the usual tools.
We went without any major drama upto the Dankuni bifurcation of GQ and Delhi Road. From there we wanted to take the old GT Road (via Delhi Road) but serious jam prompted me to stick to the main four-laned GQ.
Earlier in the morning I had to wake up my mechanic Dilip to borrow a spare clutch cable from him. Mine was kept in a bag that could not be found (which is rather common in my house). I carried a clutch and accelerator cable, a spark plug, a bulb and the usual tools.
I took this pic in SKtan. Rest all are by SD
We went without any major drama upto the Dankuni bifurcation of GQ and Delhi Road. From there we wanted to take the old GT Road (via Delhi Road) but serious jam prompted me to stick to the main four-laned GQ.
I was crusing along fine on the GQ (incidentally GQ is toll free for two-wheelers) but at Baidyabati - just before the abandoned Nano factory the right exit to GT Road looked inviting. I wanted to explore GT Road and took the exit to Baidyabati town. Soon enough we hit GT Road and the real journey started.
I have been using the GQ ever since it was born. God only knows how many times I have used it going mostly to SKTan or Katwa. It is a flat, featureless, smooth and almost empty road with no villages or towns in the vicinity. You just drive on the road at your top speed. There are green paddy fields that often extend up to miles on end. But otherwise there is absolutely nothing to see or do on this road. It is often difficult to just stay awake on this extremely boring road.
This is the reason why I chose this opportunity to explore the old GT Road. Here you get to see semi-urban life of Bengal in action. I am not in too much love with it but this journey down GT Road quite appeals to me and I always wanted to do this. This was the opportunity and I grabbed it.
Soon enough our good old Pal Sweets of Bhadreswar came. The shopkeeper recognised us and even before we could say anything he said, "the stock of jilipi is exhausted sir. I had some leftover from yesterday and that's why didn't fry too many this morning. This stock is not worth eating really."
I am yet to meet such an honest shopkeeper. In fact he went and got us some fresh jilipis from another shop somewhere nearby. But those weren't half as good. Anyway, post breakfast we moved on again. We crossed Chandannagore, Chinsurah, Hooghly and Adi Saptagram where old GT Road meets with Delhi Road. On the way we had to take a few rain breaks. Road conditions were awful and there were lots of level crossings. All these kept our speed slow.
The next significant towns we crossed were Pandua, Bainchi and Memari. More rain breaks. Significantly bad roads. But traffic is obviously less. And urbanisation is also waning. Bainchi is quite rural in fact. Memari has a big Axis Bank. One of our school juniors is the manager of this branch but I gave meeting him a miss to learn later that he was no longer posted there in any case.
After Memari the road bends to the left and meets with the new 4-laned GQ just past the Palsit toll plaza. I calculated later and realised that this detour via GT Road cost us an extra riding time of close to 5 hours. But I have no regrets.
Our next stop is a dahaba beyond Shaktigarh near the entry into Bardhaman. Had ridiculously cheap food and moved on again. I was in two minds about choosing the next route to SKTan. I can either go via Panagarh along the smooth GQ. Or take the smaller road connecting Bolpur with Bardhaman via Guskara. This route is far shorter, has zero traffic and is very pretty. But and this is a big but - there is one short stretch of the road that goes under the railway track. Those few meters are generally under waist deep water in monsoon. How will I manage that part?
The GQ route via Panagarh/Ilambazaar means about 30/40 km of extra travel but on mostly excellent road.
We were running pretty late and so I chose the shorter route. I shall cross the water when I come to it, I reasoned. This road connecting Bardhaman with Bolpur used to be a red morrum one with a fairweather bridge over Ajay that used to be operational only in winter. We had used it way back in the early 90s to come to Calcutta riding a scooter. It's a proper road now with a concrete bridge over Ajay.
There were several rain breaks and photography breaks for SD, especially over bridges to take photographs of "kash ful".
The guesthouse is nothing great. No AC. But it was just the question of one night. Next morning we started after a brief breakfast. We came back via Ilambazaar, Panagarh and the 4-laned GQ. Lots of rain breaks on the return journey also. One funny thing worth mentioning here - on the way back I suddenly realised that I had finally forgotten to take the spare tube that I had bought the day before !! But thank God it wasn't needed.
The return journey was completely featureless except the huge jam due to President's movement on the highway before Dasnagar near Kona. We took an exit through the interior roads of Howrah and discovered this new route via Benares Road and Kadamtala. It might be useful sometime in future.
This is the reason why I chose this opportunity to explore the old GT Road. Here you get to see semi-urban life of Bengal in action. I am not in too much love with it but this journey down GT Road quite appeals to me and I always wanted to do this. This was the opportunity and I grabbed it.
Soon enough our good old Pal Sweets of Bhadreswar came. The shopkeeper recognised us and even before we could say anything he said, "the stock of jilipi is exhausted sir. I had some leftover from yesterday and that's why didn't fry too many this morning. This stock is not worth eating really."
Pal Sweets - Bhadreswar. The man is sweeter than the sweets
I am yet to meet such an honest shopkeeper. In fact he went and got us some fresh jilipis from another shop somewhere nearby. But those weren't half as good. Anyway, post breakfast we moved on again. We crossed Chandannagore, Chinsurah, Hooghly and Adi Saptagram where old GT Road meets with Delhi Road. On the way we had to take a few rain breaks. Road conditions were awful and there were lots of level crossings. All these kept our speed slow.
The next significant towns we crossed were Pandua, Bainchi and Memari. More rain breaks. Significantly bad roads. But traffic is obviously less. And urbanisation is also waning. Bainchi is quite rural in fact. Memari has a big Axis Bank. One of our school juniors is the manager of this branch but I gave meeting him a miss to learn later that he was no longer posted there in any case.
After Memari the road bends to the left and meets with the new 4-laned GQ just past the Palsit toll plaza. I calculated later and realised that this detour via GT Road cost us an extra riding time of close to 5 hours. But I have no regrets.
Rain-break at Bainchi
Our next stop is a dahaba beyond Shaktigarh near the entry into Bardhaman. Had ridiculously cheap food and moved on again. I was in two minds about choosing the next route to SKTan. I can either go via Panagarh along the smooth GQ. Or take the smaller road connecting Bolpur with Bardhaman via Guskara. This route is far shorter, has zero traffic and is very pretty. But and this is a big but - there is one short stretch of the road that goes under the railway track. Those few meters are generally under waist deep water in monsoon. How will I manage that part?
The GQ route via Panagarh/Ilambazaar means about 30/40 km of extra travel but on mostly excellent road.
We were running pretty late and so I chose the shorter route. I shall cross the water when I come to it, I reasoned. This road connecting Bardhaman with Bolpur used to be a red morrum one with a fairweather bridge over Ajay that used to be operational only in winter. We had used it way back in the early 90s to come to Calcutta riding a scooter. It's a proper road now with a concrete bridge over Ajay.
There were several rain breaks and photography breaks for SD, especially over bridges to take photographs of "kash ful".
Crossing the Haldi river near Guskara
Soon we came to that uncrossable stretch of a few meters under the railway track. Over the years the roads on either side have been raised for repairs and relaying etc. But the stretch just under the rail track has been kept low to let trucks pass. Therefore that stretch has now become way lower than the two sides and collects water. It's like a cistern basically. I stopped in sheer fear. This stretch cannot be crossed with a bike because I have no clue how deep the water is. Presently a large ambulance, which is basically made out of a truck, came along. I realised the water was deep enough to touch my seat. A couple of trucks came along and one of the drivers told me there is another route for smaller vehicles.
I changed track and went via Guskara railway station where there are other exits that are dry. But these exits can be used only by two-wheelers or small cars because they are very low tunnels. From here reaching SKTan is like a cake walk. We had to stop in Bandhgora for buying our supply of Old Monk. A bottle of rum. We put up for the night in a homestay kind of guest house in Purba Palli.
The guesthouse is nothing great. No AC. But it was just the question of one night. Next morning we started after a brief breakfast. We came back via Ilambazaar, Panagarh and the 4-laned GQ. Lots of rain breaks on the return journey also. One funny thing worth mentioning here - on the way back I suddenly realised that I had finally forgotten to take the spare tube that I had bought the day before !! But thank God it wasn't needed.
The return journey was completely featureless except the huge jam due to President's movement on the highway before Dasnagar near Kona. We took an exit through the interior roads of Howrah and discovered this new route via Benares Road and Kadamtala. It might be useful sometime in future.
Shilbhadra Dutta at the guest house
Another great spin off benefit of the trip - Dilip, my mechanic was hugely impressed by the news of my completion of this trip. When I went to see him after coming back he seemed terribly impressed. "Dada you have courage. Hats off," he said with a smile. I must say I am more impressed with his skills as a mechanic than he with me for my riding courage. The bike gave me just no trouble.
This page has a few more photographs, if you are interested.
