You might be thinking that my rides of late are getting too Jharkhand-centric... Right? Then take this easily digestible justification. Jharkhand is not only a fabulous tourism casket cocooned by raw nature but also my closest neighboring state. To put it in simpler words, Jharkhand is the most liberal destination to accommodate my weekend rides. Planning is bit easier for a habitual solo traveler. You don't have to spend half of your enthusiasm in improvising with your travel mates. If you have a thankless day job like me, your only headache is persuading your colleagues to keep the puppet show running on your behalf. Either my colleagues have wide hearts or I'm good at manipulating them. It was second week of September. Monsoon was still young. So what? When your instinct and wheels are trustworthy no season can grow mold over your travel boots.
In my childhood I had once visited Ghatshila with my parents. As far as I
can count on my reminiscences, I didn't quite like that place at that
point of time. Renowned Bengali author Bibhuti Bhushan Bandyopadhyay
had lived a good part of his life at Ghatshila, by the bank of
Subarnarekha River. Probably this is the hypothetical connecting link
which is inherited by every Bengali traveler, irrespective of his
affinity towards literature. Strangely enough, till date I haven't met a
single non-Bengali traveler who recommended me Ghashila as a tourist
destination! We Bengalis have our unique set of idiosyncrasies. As my previous
recollections of Ghatshila were not too vibrant I had to pacify my inner
self with some unbeatable logic supporting the revisiting whim- Anunoy,
may be you were too immature those days to appreciate the natural
mysticism associated with Ghatshila. Ah, you better appreciate a nomad's
height of self rationalization!
Dense forest and surrounding rocks join hands in preserving the natural aura of Burudih Lake. |
Be informed that this is not going to be another Ghatshila travelogue.
In fact, except witnessing the smoky sunrise over Subarnarekha I
did/visited nothing at Ghatshila. My ride itinerary comprised no local
sightseeing, no musing by the restored resident of Bibhuti Bhushan, and
no useless hike to any twenty feet hillock to be in the delusion of
getting the amazing bird's eye view of the picturesque town. Hold on, I
am not being too critical of this old tourist magnet of Jharkhand. But,
exploring Ghatshila per se was not in my plan this time. Among all the places of tourist interest in and around Ghashila, the
monsoon impregnated Burudih Lake and the hidden Dharagiri Falls could
only grab my imagination during the pre-travel research phase.
With Google Maps' aid I had fixed my riding route accordingly: Bardhaman
-> Durgapur -> Bankura -> Manbazar -> Banduan ->
Dharagiri Falls -> Burudih Lake -> Ghatshila (simply for overnight
halt). It was a mistake. Soon you'll come to know why. What a short yet
unique ride it was! It had commenced with triple-digit cruising over wide inviting
national highway (NH-2), followed by the relatively slow paced drive over scenic state highway towards
Bankura (through Beliatore Forest Range), then apprehensively sharing the road with
endless herds of cattle (on the way to Manbazar), and finally to get lost
in the Elephant Corridor post Banduan.
Dharagiri is not a massive or highly photogenic waterfall by any definition. |
Do not assume that I confronted a
wild tusker. I do not wish for such a situation too especially when I'm
riding through jungles. Who knows, the mighty elephant king might get
intimidated by the four-cylinder's melody of Benu and get combative.
Only once in my life I was fortunate enough to encounter a herd of wild tuskers on our way to Gorumara National Park. I wasn't alone then. It
was a family trip and we were cozily waiting inside a SUV. Till then, we
were too scared to venture out of the vehicle to capture the elephant
parade.
After crossing Banduan, forest got denser and the Vodafone network
abandoned me. I should have had anticipated the inevitable. Soon, I kept
crossing picture perfect tribal villages at
Bengal-Jharkhand border area in search of Dharagiri Waterfall. I could
spot the waterfall in my offline map. It was so near from my GPS location but
the trail couldn't be traced out. Asking from different villagers proved to be
of little help. Some confessed that they didn't know. Few misguided me
to pointless directions, mostly out of ignorance. Villages were
extremely picturesque, studded with colorful mud-houses, naive
inhabitants, and without the slightest stain of urbanization. I got to
see the traditional way of making coir ropes. The unmetalled (rather,
untamed) forest road through unknown villages, fruitless cruising under
the midday sun and missing on a wholesome breakfast had almost consumed
my wandering spree...
Factory fumes tried in vain to spoil the pinkish-blue sky above sleeping Ghatshila town. |
After repeated failed attempts of navigating Dharagiri when I was about to
give up, an old man arrived from nowhere to refuel my bottomed out
travel orgy with his confident guidance. The only way to find Dharagiri
was to lookout for Burudih village from where the forest trail to the
waterfall was easily traceable. The bad but beautiful road accompanied
me like a caring watchdog, and eventually Benu had to stop at a point
from where one is supposed to hike to Dharagiri Falls. Signs of dehydration were
getting loud. Probably I had skipped liquid for quite sometime. One has
to trek approx 750 meters to get full view of the waterfall. Dharagiri
is not massive or highly photogenic by any definition. But, fortified
by hills and veiled by jungle cover it remains hidden safely in the lap
of nature. Uneasy accessibility and unadulterated simplicity make Dharagiri so
popular among travelers visiting Ghatshila.
I was there in the first
half of September. Dharagiri was way more expanded than a trickle of
water but not exactly what one would expect from a touristy waterfall
during rainy season. I guess, visiting Dharagiri Falls in any other
season would make no sense at all. Other than me there was a small group
of couples idling by the waterfall. I sensed my body's cry for glucose
and their longing for privacy. It was high time to resume the ride for
Ghatshila. Ghatshila was not far. The road from Dharagiri Falls to
Ghatshila passed by Burudih Lake. Sunny monsoon days are often very
uncomfortable. A local picnic group was enjoying unbearably booming
music by the lake. I decided to postpone my halt by the lakeside. Till then my intention was to ditch
Ghatshila and find an accommodation at Galudih.
Early morning and evening would be your golden hours to catch the essence of Burudih Lake. |
Staying options at Galudih turned out to be limited. It was late
afternoon but still quite hot. I realized that only Ghatshila could
provide me a comfy stay. Surprisingly Ghatshila doesn't have sufficient
hotels with AC rooms! A couple of tidy looking hotels by the highway
which had air-conditioned rooms were all reserved for the day. At last I
entered the town and settled with a shabby hotel opposite to the rail
track, adjacent to Ramkrishna Math. Even the ceiling fan was too old to
rotate. Every mosquito has its night. I was brutally cornered by the
day-long exhaustion, sulky weather and the swarm of insomniac Ghatsila
mosquitoes. In a rough night we pray for a magical morning. I kept
tossing over a rickety cot while fantasizing about a fresh early morning
view of the Burudih Lake.
Well before the sunrise time I left the hotel
and reached a bridge over Subarnarekha, diagonal to Hindustan Copper
Limited. First five minutes of every sunrise (in a clear weather) is
equally mesmerizing. Factory fumes tried in vain to spoil the
pinkish-blue sky above sleeping Ghatshila town. If you want to spend some
leisurely time by the bank of Subarnarekha River then mind it, that's
not your sweet spot. My primary target was to feel the natural ambiance
around Burudih Lake before returning back home. The lake is hardly 10 km
north of Ghatshila and another 5-6 km along the same trail leads you to
the mouth of Dharagiri Falls. So, the smart way to visit Burudih Lake
and Dharagiri Waterfall is to start from Ghatshila, and strictly from
nowhere else.
My little breakfast-maker near Burudih Lake. |
What a terrible mess my last day's ride had been. An
entire day got spent in negotiating 300 kilometers. Ah, no point whining
over spilled brandy. Irrespective of your destination, road condition
and machine, early morning rides are always very satisfying. Hardly in twenty
minutes Benu took me before the blue Burudih Lake. Although this is an
artifical lake built over Burudih Dam, dense forest, surrounding rocks
and lack of a metalled road join hands in preserving its natural aura.
Many online sources say that there's facility for boating but I could
not spot any. Early morning and evening would
be your golden hours to catch Burudih Lake. After strolling around the lake for sometime and breathing lungful of fresh air I resumed my return ride.
I noticed a small local food shop half kilometer down the lake. If you're choosy about your breakfast then skip such desi eatery. Otherwise, wrap up your breakfast episode with basic items (sometimes quite delicious too) like Chop, Muri, green chilli, soaked chickpeas etc. Return ride from Ghatshila was comfortable and almost uneventful. By the end of the day Benu had clocked 270 km. The itch for a longer ride was intensifying in her, which only I could perceive. After reading the whole motorcycle tale don't ask me why didn't I indulge in Ghatshila local sightseeing. Please do not drag me into the familiar awkwardness by asking why didn't I update my blog since last 30 days. Just let it be. It's impractical to promise but I'll try hard to publish my Varanasi ride experience very soon. Meanwhile, do some soul searching before winter encroaches.
Good to read this.. Are bikes available for rent in nearby cities?
ReplyDeleteThanks Shrinidhi for reading it. I'm afraid there's no bike rental nearby :-/
DeleteGood to read this. Not too many blogposts exist about these locations.
ReplyDeleteExactly Abhi. That's one of few reasons why I had decided to explore (and blog) more of Jharkhand :-)
DeleteThats great. Keep it up!I have blogged about a few places in Jharkhand, at :https://worldbeneaththefeet.com/
DeleteI'll surely venture into your territory and express my views :-)
DeleteThat will be nice :)
DeleteAnunoy ji your blog writing skills are simply awesome ! I need to learn lots of things from you ! Be my blog guru please !!
ReplyDeleteAap blog to start kijiye Yasin bhai... Main hoon na :-))
DeleteGreat article, Thanks for your great information, the content is quiet interesting. I will be waiting for your next post.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind visit :-)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI look at those photos and I see for differ and weird our world can be. Some people are using facilitation service for students to make them get better grades, the other are just happy to get the opportunity to send their children in ordinary local school. I think we all should appreciate more what we have. And share our wealth with another people.
ReplyDeleteDo you dear?
DeleteVery nice post. I merely stumbled upon your journal and wished to mention that I even have extremely enjoyed browsing your weblog posts. finally I’ll be subscribing on your feed and that i am hoping you write once more terribly soon!
ReplyDeletewow. I just love the photo of the factory fumes and the setting Sun.
ReplyDelete:D
I love how you have given a detailed account of your visit. I am a light sleeper and even after a hectic trips I manage to sleep light sometimes. So mosquitoes are my sworn enemies! They don't let me sleep in peace, so I can imagine your plight!
Reading your post has made me crave for a trip.
thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteWow Really amazing place to visit., Thanks for sharing this wonderful destination information with us, we can see the beauty of this place in these images that you have shared. good post keep sharing. Golden Triangle Tour 6 Days
ReplyDeleteI visited this place and just wondering to see your awesome presentation. Really great work and keep it up. Wanna see more in near future. Best of luck.
ReplyDelete