We Kolkatans, love sea food, so how can we resist loving the sea? We somersault for sea visits towards the Bay of Bengal as soon as we get time from the busy weekdays on the weekends. But this time, we did a summersault by crafting a memorable road trip by car to Digha, the nearest sea beach from Kolkata as my city was burning with 44 degree Celsius which actually felt like 49 degree C. Nothing could have been much soothing than getting a short relief beside the sea from this scorching Indian summer heat wave in the city.
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Early Morning, Time- 5:30 am |
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| Assisting Rahul in taking selfie while he drives the car. |
On the back seat were Didi(Elder Sister), Jija Ji(Brother-In-Law) and the budding Instagrammer, younger sister.
After fuelling the car to full tank around Kona Expressway, we rolled towards the Digha sea beach with an average speed of 80 kmpl and with a pre-planned stoppage for breakfast at SherE-Punjab Dhaba cum hotel in Kolaghat.
Note - Sher-E-Punjab falls on the right-hand side of on NH6 when you are riding towards Kharagpur from Kolkata. You can also checkout my earlier visits to this famous dhaba as That 80 KM One Way Journey For Dal Tadka & Roti At Shere Punjab Dhaba of Kolaghat.
After fuelling the car to full tank around Kona Expressway, we rolled towards the Digha sea beach with an average speed of 80 kmpl and with a pre-planned stoppage for breakfast at SherE-Punjab Dhaba cum hotel in Kolaghat.
Note - Sher-E-Punjab falls on the right-hand side of on NH6 when you are riding towards Kharagpur from Kolkata. You can also checkout my earlier visits to this famous dhaba as That 80 KM One Way Journey For Dal Tadka & Roti At Shere Punjab Dhaba of Kolaghat.
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| 1st break in the journey- Sher_e_Punjab hotel in Kolaghat |
6:30 am, Kolaghat:-
We reached Kolaghat in an hour exactly. After having a wonderful and light breakfast cum photo session we moved onto our journey again in the car.
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| Photo session backed up by light and healthy breakfast for a smoother ride at Kolaghat's Sher-E-Punjab hotel.. |
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| Selfie time for young guns. |
Moving ahead a few metres, We took left towards Nandakumar while leaving NH6 for other travellers to Kharagpur. We also left the road towards Haldia while taking the right turn towards Nandakumar. With a half an hour ride measuring 35 kms from Kolaghat we saw the marvellously designed and maintained road circle at Nandakumar. We were into Purba(East) Medinipur district of West Bengal. From the circle out there, we took a half round and straight towards Contai via NH116B.
7:30 am, Nandakumar:-
But we have to put a halt again to our road trip just short ahead of Nandakumar on the way to Contai market(60 kilometres to go) due to thirst and took a short break no 2. So we decided to pump up this weird looking hand pump which reminded me of my childhood days. As how I used to pump up my bicycle's tyres by creating air pressure into the tubes through the same thing that seems to be used as hand-pump here in this area.
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| Weird looking hand pump, It resembles more of bicycle tyre Do It Yourself air pumping machine. |
I thought it to be some kind of "Jugad" or you may call it creative improvisation or temporary solution by local people. But later came to know that it works & has been set up by local governing authorities, it's on every nook and corner out here. This hand pump is here maybe because it suits the topography of the coastal region, merely 85 kms from the sea. It was first in my lifetime experience to watch & use such a hand-pump like this. One has to put a whole lot of pressure to pull the water out, don't miss to check out the video "PUMPING IT UP ON THE WAY TO DIGHA SEA BEACH" on youtube.
India is a mixture of too many things, I patted up myself by saying so on my new discovery- a weird looking hand pump
7:45 am:-
Nearby Nandakumar, at Ahmed Nagar, we came across a wonderfully designed Kali Temple, featuring two other Hindu deities, most probably Kaal-Bhairav & Devi Chamunda along with dakini and yogini as famously known in Bengali tradition
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| Noticed this Maa Kali temple on the outskirts of Nandakumar in Ahmed Nagar village by lads of Kishore Sangha. |
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| Maa Kali- Goddess of Kaliyug as per hindu mythology along with other deities,etc |
8 am, Digha-Contai Road, NH116B :-
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From Ahmed Nagar, We rode straight to Digha, 85 kms in 1 hour, surpassing Contai Bus stand and the route to Mandarmani, which falls just 3 kms short of Digha. Exactly at 10 am, that means in 5 hours with 2 short breaks of 30 mins each we reached Digha. As soon as you enter Digha town, this entry gate welcomes you for a pleasant stay by DSDA and West Bengal Tourism. One can read Biswa Bangla written in Bengali on the globe situated on top of the entry gate to New Digha Sea Beach and town city.
We finally stopped our car yatra from Kolkata to Digha exactly in the car parking of the hotel booked by Jija Ji for our less than 24 hour stay this weekend. After resting a bit in the hotel room, walked down its lobby area to stretch our spinal cord a bit after this one way 180 kms car ride. Must needed for Rahul as he was on the driving seat for 4 long hours. Last but not the least, we jumped into the soothing sea as soon as we got ourselves refreshed to walk towards the sea that noon. The hotel he booked was in old Digha, so we also made up our mind to enjoy the sea beach of old digha this time, rather than driving towards Mandarmani or New Digha. The only difference Jija ji quoted between old Digha and new Digha was the availability and non-availability of those big rock chips on the sea beaches respectively.
12 Noon to 3:30 pm, Old Digha Sea Beach:-
As we didn't had to do anything with the rock chips guarding the sea shore, we were eager to drench down the salty and saline water of the sea to challenge this sudden rise of temperature this summer, hitting the mercury in Kolkata and nearby areas to temperatures beating the records of past 18 years of summer in West Bengal. But these rocks on the old Digha beach proved to be more fatal than our assumptions. The fact was, a slight wave can leave you with cuts and bruises all over your body though you were just trying to enter the sea over through the rocks. We all five in this family vacation trip got some sort of cuts and wounds which we later found out when our body touched the wind; after coming out of the salty sea water. In my case, I was almost engulfed by the high tides and waves at around 3:30 pm while exiting the sea over through the rocks towards the concrete slab. That awkward situation which almost had drown me was due to my wrong attempt to exit the sea by totally overriding science & nature. Let me explain, it was hide tide time, the tidal waves were touching half of the concrete slab, whereas I thought that to get less cuts and wounds I should come out to the cement slab; but not through the way we entered through the rocks laid left and right to the concrete cement slab at old Digha sea beach. Those tidal waves were gushing water to move up onto the slab which then slides down onto the rocks, resulting in moving away the sand beneath the rock chips to create a hollow space. Though it seems to be normal while coming out when you see from the sea side, but as soon as you put your leg into that sand-less hollow space created by sliding water just nearby the rocks, it might prove to be profound enough to gulp a human double of your height, powered by sudden increase in tide's frequency as it throws you, actually your head on the rocks which might kill anyone instantly.
4pm, back to Hotel Room:-
After wrestling/muscling down with tidal waves hitting your chest and spinal cord again and again, sand particles sneaking into nose and mouth along with saline water, cuts and wounds gifted by big rock chips on the sea beach, and life threatening adventure sport of risking self for the sake of "Thoda Aur...Thoda Aur" at the time of high tides, we came out hungry, thirsty and full of sand all over our body bidding goodbye to sea water of Bay of Bengal while cursing the sea beach and it's rocks. Got a shower in hotel room, ordered lunch for all, munched it down and went off to take an afternoon nap till 5pm.
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| A still photograph of mine on the concrete slabs on the old digha sea beach. |
Evening, Old Digha beach again:-5pm to 10 pm:-
The evening spent on sea beach rock was more fruitful than bathing in the sea during the day. We walked down from our hotel towards the same old big rocks laid flattened around the cement slab on the old beach.
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| Resting down on those big rock chips around the old Digha sea beach, West Bengal. |
Though those rocks injured us and many others tourists each and every day, but sitting on them in evening from 6pm to 10pm was the best remedy they can offer to those whom they damaged that day. That hustling high speed sea breeze and water particles coming out of the thrash of sea waves with those big rock chips were more soothing than any other stuff we did together during this journey. We clicked photos and selfies there, sat down silently letting us to absorb the divinity of nature, it's water and it's wind combined together at the same place, same time.
There was a moment when we started feeling cold, partly shivering due to the sea breeze. It was the moment, we rose to have a look on the sea-food culture of Digha and West Bengal. Astonishingly, Digha sea beach was full of sea-food, no doubt it always attracts sea food lovers all over Bengal, specially cities like Kolkata and Howrah.
There was a moment when we started feeling cold, partly shivering due to the sea breeze. It was the moment, we rose to have a look on the sea-food culture of Digha and West Bengal. Astonishingly, Digha sea beach was full of sea-food, no doubt it always attracts sea food lovers all over Bengal, specially cities like Kolkata and Howrah.
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| Digha Beach Market- Paradise for sea-food lovers. |
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| Another sea-food stallwala. You don't have to dive deep into the sea to eat these fishes, crabs and lobsters, freshly fried and readily available at Digha Sea Beach Market. |
To your suprise, you can also find Chicken-Kebab and Jhal-Muri, Bhel-Puri, Tea, Coffee, Kaju ke laddu, Puchka aka Golgappe, and whatever you want to munch & eat on the beach area itself. Vendors and stalls are all over the place, and no doubt they don't taste bad.
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| No less options for veggies though. From Jhal-muri to all other Indian snacks at one place. I bet I saw more than Muriwala. |
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| Already marinated Chicken-Kebab sticks and Chicken-Tangri Kebab ready to be cooked and served hot. |
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| Cooking Chicken-Kebab on a small mobile tandoor on the beach itself. It tasted like home, full paisa-vasool. Though it made me crave for more after eating one. |
Having this hot and crispy Kebab with some salad and chutney cooked in-front of you on that small mobile tandoor was out of the world feeling, what else do one needs as a meat lover fighting with the chilling sea breeze blowing out your worldly problems into a fun-filled weekend vacation.
While returning back to the hotel that night we also loved to buy some handicrafts from the local stores in the market area of the old digha sea beach area, looks to be well maintained by Digha Sankarpur Development Authority (DSDA).
While returning back to the hotel that night we also loved to buy some handicrafts from the local stores in the market area of the old digha sea beach area, looks to be well maintained by Digha Sankarpur Development Authority (DSDA).
Next Day, the return journey, 9 am:-
The fun on the way to Digha and fro by car is unending, the smoother roads intersecting through the villages and rural life of West Bengal between Contai and Digha(55 kms) is full of greens, horticulture (fish breeding) which can be seen on both sides of the road.
This Contai-Digha road route can also be termed as paradise cum nightmare for light vehicle drivers as those private buses plying between Kolkata to digha fly their buses assuming themselves to be pilots of Jet Airways.
This Contai-Digha road route can also be termed as paradise cum nightmare for light vehicle drivers as those private buses plying between Kolkata to digha fly their buses assuming themselves to be pilots of Jet Airways.
Watch this video to get a hold how fast and furious these buses are on road.
Almost in a hurry for loo, those bus drivers really do Full Paisa-vasool of Road Tax, which shows in their confidence of waving the bus left and right while moving forward in top speed until and unless they end up hitting someone walking down or driving down the same road. You can see how we rode through this smooth road, covered by trees planted on both sides, muscling down the flying buses in this video. Please bear with us as you wouldn't find any potholes unlike other roads leading to tourist destinations. Enjoy the smooth ride with us in this short video on Digha-Contai Road in May 2016.
Do let me if know if you acknowledged my fascinating car yatra to the Digha Sea beach on this fultoo family vacation weekend trip in comments section. Stay tuned for more such experiences.