After a night out on Friday, our plans for an early morning drive out to Diamond Harbour got a bit stalled. We finally managed to get out at 12.45pm. The option of going on my Karizma (bike) was dropped because I had heard quite a bit about the road being a little unsafe for biking. Anyway it took us about 45 minutes to get till Joka and on to the Diamond Harbour Road via the James Long Sarani by-pass. I remember many years ago a bunch of us had cycled down to Diamond Harbour and it had taken us a bit over 3 hours to get there. So from this point I estimated an hour at most. Diamond Harbour was 38 kms from here.
All estimates came to naught once we got stuck at Amtala crossing. We must have been there for a good half hour in traffic. But once through, the drive on the barely two lane highway (if it can be called that) is quite scenic. I loved the tunnel effect created by the tress lining both sides of the road right into the distance. Coconut groves kept popping up all along the way and most of all was the sheer population on this stretch of road. Its probably one of the most densely populated highway I’ve driven on. Every couple of kilometres you come upon a little settlement, both village and semi-urban.
The main hazard on this highway is the buses. The drives take their buses to speeds unimaginable and they come hurtling towards you with their lights flashing like a canon ball. This coupled with the innumerable cyclists that ride on this road makes the drive pretty stressful, as you have got to keep your eyes peeled on the road and leg ready to hit the brakes in an instant.
But all that said, once you take that final curve towards the left and see that huge expanse of water in front of you as you get into Diamond Harbour; it is well worth the drive. We reached there a few minutes before 3 pm and stopped at the West Bengal Tourism Hotel “Sagarika” and went straight up to the first floor where they have a Bar. We were the only two people there and got straight to the popping a beer and enjoying the river breeze. Our main objective was to have some good Bengali Food and so as we ordered our next beer, the food had come.
Bhat (boiled rice), daal, aloo bhaja, Betki, fish curry & Chicken kosha. When the food arrived, we didn’t quite think we’d be able to finish it, but after licking our fingers at the end of the meal, we sat back victorious, having finished every last morsel that had been served.
After this we decided to take a walk down to the ruins of the Old Fort which was the main attraction of the place. While walking there, we came upon an odd sight; a fire tender was filling water in its tank from a pond. Only later did we realise that the pond was part of the Fire station. Anyway on getting there, I was shocked to see that there was hardly anything left of the structure. The river had swallowed most of it and it seemed that the banks had eroded considerably since I had last been to this place more than a decade and a half ago. We walked around and into the little bit of the fort that remained and spent the rest of the afternoon on the banks of the river. Keeping us amused were the giddy goats and chicken that were walking around. We even managed to catch two little goats; they quite cute when they’re that size, hopping and playing around.
We finally watched the sun go down sipping some tea and then walked back to our car parked just outside Sagarika and left for Kolkata at about 6.00pm.
If you think driving on that road during the day is bad, the drive back at night was even worse. The unrelenting bus drivers and other cars coming in the opposite direction with their headlights on high-beam blinding you constantly made only worse by those cyclists who you can hardly see in the dark. Anyway we got stuck again at Amtala and finally got back to Kolkata at about 7.30pm. The entire day trip was just a little over 100kms in driving distance back and forth.
We headed straight to South City Mall and did some Lukhagiri for a bit and watched a movie at FAME before heading home.
All estimates came to naught once we got stuck at Amtala crossing. We must have been there for a good half hour in traffic. But once through, the drive on the barely two lane highway (if it can be called that) is quite scenic. I loved the tunnel effect created by the tress lining both sides of the road right into the distance. Coconut groves kept popping up all along the way and most of all was the sheer population on this stretch of road. Its probably one of the most densely populated highway I’ve driven on. Every couple of kilometres you come upon a little settlement, both village and semi-urban.
The main hazard on this highway is the buses. The drives take their buses to speeds unimaginable and they come hurtling towards you with their lights flashing like a canon ball. This coupled with the innumerable cyclists that ride on this road makes the drive pretty stressful, as you have got to keep your eyes peeled on the road and leg ready to hit the brakes in an instant.
But all that said, once you take that final curve towards the left and see that huge expanse of water in front of you as you get into Diamond Harbour; it is well worth the drive. We reached there a few minutes before 3 pm and stopped at the West Bengal Tourism Hotel “Sagarika” and went straight up to the first floor where they have a Bar. We were the only two people there and got straight to the popping a beer and enjoying the river breeze. Our main objective was to have some good Bengali Food and so as we ordered our next beer, the food had come.
Bhat (boiled rice), daal, aloo bhaja, Betki, fish curry & Chicken kosha. When the food arrived, we didn’t quite think we’d be able to finish it, but after licking our fingers at the end of the meal, we sat back victorious, having finished every last morsel that had been served.
After this we decided to take a walk down to the ruins of the Old Fort which was the main attraction of the place. While walking there, we came upon an odd sight; a fire tender was filling water in its tank from a pond. Only later did we realise that the pond was part of the Fire station. Anyway on getting there, I was shocked to see that there was hardly anything left of the structure. The river had swallowed most of it and it seemed that the banks had eroded considerably since I had last been to this place more than a decade and a half ago. We walked around and into the little bit of the fort that remained and spent the rest of the afternoon on the banks of the river. Keeping us amused were the giddy goats and chicken that were walking around. We even managed to catch two little goats; they quite cute when they’re that size, hopping and playing around.
We finally watched the sun go down sipping some tea and then walked back to our car parked just outside Sagarika and left for Kolkata at about 6.00pm.
If you think driving on that road during the day is bad, the drive back at night was even worse. The unrelenting bus drivers and other cars coming in the opposite direction with their headlights on high-beam blinding you constantly made only worse by those cyclists who you can hardly see in the dark. Anyway we got stuck again at Amtala and finally got back to Kolkata at about 7.30pm. The entire day trip was just a little over 100kms in driving distance back and forth.
We headed straight to South City Mall and did some Lukhagiri for a bit and watched a movie at FAME before heading home.
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