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  1. Namaskar. Very nice report.

    My home was hard by BeDAchAmpA, Berachampa. In the 60s, just one road connected north Kolkata to Barasat [ currently satan’s favorite dystopia on earth] and onwards to Itindaghat, i.e. East India Ghat, on the river Icchamati. Have you ever driven to this terminus, beyond which the Bangladesh border begins after a km or 2?

    Travelling north-eas from Barashat, via the Champadali More axis, you come first to Kajipara, on the banks of a moribund river [ Shoonti Nodi], which used to mark the official boundary of Sundarbans. Relatives speak of a time when leopards and such were all too common, in the 1940s, and in the 60s, I grew up in a semi-wild landscape of intoxicating beauty that has today disappeared for all time.

    Althought things were brutal those days with respect to all too many things, God offers compensations, too. Anywayk 1965 and 66 were the years when actual swarms of locusts of Biblical proportions darkened the skies during rice season. The last of their kind, we were later reassured, after DDT, and the so-called Green Revolution, began to make theri presence felt from 1968 onwards, along with the feeble, token supply of electricity from that year.

    This area has quite a significant place in the ongoping religious and spiritual history of Bnagabhumi. BTW, Barasat High Court was the site of the Hanging of Raja Nanda Kumar. Many of you iwll know about this and the role he had played in Siraj ud Daulah’s downfall. His spiritual mentor was one fo the greatest Vaishnava savants of the time, and had comped the Sri Gaura Chandrika, today beautifully presented by Sr Suman Bhattacharya, one of the greatest kirtaniyas of our time.

    Champadali, Berachampa, both point to the local flora, Michelia champaka, the golden or kanak champa, a glorious sight around Sri Guru Purnima tithi. In those days, along with the garlands of Jasminum sambac [ bel phool er goday mala,,] and Jui phooler mala, in wire frames that ladies would often wear in their hair after taking their evening wash, the kanak champa would be sold impaled on twigs in a bouquet of debdaru or Polianthes leaves.

    There should be many now in their 70s or so who might remember these beign sold all along the Chowringhee during this time of the year. And what a Chowringhee it used to be, then. SO beautiful, so quiet, and where cows of all types would gather for their afternoon siesta, on the dot.

    Bashirhat, BASHURHAT[ as per the Bengal Gazette 1886, which I have personally verified, and then named for the Boshu family that has continued to play a significant role in the history of Kolkata, to the modern times], Dhanyakudia, the home of a major rice mill in those day, and so many more places along this Taki Road just cause pangs in one’s heart. Not just because they will never bee seen gain, but because of all the changes that have occurred. As they say, you cannot go home ever again, once you leave it.

    You speak of the haroa road, and there is another that possibly leads directly “east” from the Taki road towards Nyazhat, another fascinating place. Dr. Humayun Kabir, and his son, Jahangir Kabir, had their home along this branch. Very interesting people. Jahangir Kabir was an excellent and innovative cook, and the area around and within Nyazhat is worth a trip to investigate the culinary and other cultural aspects of a Bengal that had come under the sway of Afghans. The food here is NOT Mughlai, but Afghan in inspiration!

    Berachampa is the home of a major temple to Mother Kali, that was desecrated a few years back. The local leftist leaders brushed this under the carpet, since anything that humiliated Hinduism is de rigeur among contemporary Bengalis, and with a savage venegeance. There is much more to this story, and those of us who have lived through successive upheavals, especially the 197071 period have many bitter memories.

    At Berachampa, there used to be a very nice shingara shop and a place selling green coconut. After performing worship at the temple, people would break their fast with these two items! Berachampa tiself is a sort of crossroads, with a road going left off the Taki Rd, when you face towards the Itindaghat direction, And another to the right. IN those days, the Chandraketugarh site was not very well-developed, no lovely museum as at present, nothing to explain to locals what the site meant. Most of the artifacts were squirreled away in the bowels of Calcutta University.

    THere are many other mounds, right from where Shoonit Nodi intersects the Taki road, to Bamunmura, and points northeast, that have never been excavated. SO be it. In time, many became the favorite dwelling of otters, which were found in plenty in those days. ALong with the otters, the golden monitor was frequently seen, inhabiting the burrows on these higher mounds. THere is an ecological tale that has never been properly investigated. Cry, my Beloved Country, truly cry.

    Thea floara and fauna was incredibly rich, so many butterflies, suxh amaging plant wealth in the secondary woodlands and wetlands that in those ties occupied a lot of the area. Massive mango, jackfruit, lakoocha, and so many other trees, all today fallen to the axe. Ancient mango orchards, often having one-of a kind varieties, like Kopaat bhangaa. Amazing.

    On the other axis of the Y, lies Bongaon, the setting fro Pather Panchali. Ray used the stark landscaped of western Banga, but the inimitable prose of Bibhuti Bhushan is about this region, and someone who is deeply in love with the land. Ashwiner Jhod: have we not all experienced such? And the magic of millions of fireflies dancing in the roadside Pipal trees, after a Kala Baishaki storm in April? I shall never cease to bless the Providence that graced us with such sights and so much more.

    Thank you so much for bringing up the topic of Berachampa. Hopefully, people will be encouraged ot visit, and to seek out the landscape with their hearts, as well as their minds. God bless, Namaskar.

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