Sonajhuri — Part 3: When I Had The Entire Place To Myself
The crowd which had gathered for the ‘Shanibarer Haat’ had completely vanished the next day, i.e, a Sunday. My last night in Sonajhuri was already a history and currently I was spending the ‘last day’. I always tend to suffer from incredible bouts of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).
The previous night before falling asleep I had promised to myself that next day I would wake up early in the morning at 6AM and go for a long walk to the nearby village and meet the villagers. The medicines I took to cure my painful shingles definitely worked against my plan. At 8 AM I found myself sleepily shouting at someone for creating ‘sound pollution’ and waking me up.
At 8.30 AM I pulled my guilt ridden self up from the bed and cooked up a new plan. I revised my list of ‘things to do before I leave’. I was hungry. Naturally having a Luchi-aludam breakfast got the first priority.
The Village
A battery operated Tuktuk (these are a raging new thing in West Bengal) was booked via the resort to take us, the younger people of the family, to the bank of river Kopai. We all hopped in and the vehicle started.
We balanced ourselves and held the ‘handle’ firmly as the tuktuk rocked about on the undulating red earth. The leaves of the trees swayed in the breeze just like we did inside the vehicle. We crossed the village, unfortunately in a speeding vehicle and not on foot. I still managed to grab some photographs.
The walls of the village huts are predominantly made of mud and not cement. Some have hay covered ceilings others are asbestos. But the village was clean to the power infinity!
As our tuktuk progressed further suddenly the quality of the houses changed. We were still in the village but the houses started resembling those found in the cities. Multiple storeyed fancy houses with a garden in front and a car parked inside. I thought to myself these must be the ‘farm houses’ of the wealthy city dwellers. No idea if I was right or wrong. Soon the tyre marks of the tuktuk in the red earth vanished, we were no more travelling in the dirt road, and we had hit the highway!
Kopai River Bank
The riverbank was not spectacular. Kopai river looked like just another stream which flows through a highway adjacent to a village. I inferred the ‘season’ makes a huge difference in determining the beauty of the river. Winter season is dry in India. I am sure the riverbank looks beautiful in the monsoon season when the river is filled with water to its brim and the grasses are greener.
Baul Music
Despite the river bank failing to reach our ‘aesthetic’ expectation, we all enjoyed this place, so much that I decided to write a blogpost over this!The reason? There was a lone ‘baul’ singing on the riverbank. He was singing not to impress people, he was singing for his own satisfaction.
Frankly speaking I think my bloodline suffers from ‘dance disorder’; we just cannot keep our feet quite when we hear music. The‘notion’ I picked up from movies, TV stuffs and books is that: ‘punjabis’ are the race from India popular for dancing and Bengalis are exactly opposite. If this ‘notion’ is infact true for most of the population, then we definitely stand apart.
Only one-two occasional passerby crossed the village path adjacent to the river shore and the highway was equally empty. Raj from the popular American TV series Big Bang Theory once quoted in an episode “In India there is people everywhere”. He was anything but wrong. So imagine our ecstasy when we found ‘privacy’ in this huge 360 degree open nature’s lobby!
Needless to say we took full advantage of the situation and tried out all the dance steps that we had ever seen in life. I dislodged all other thoughts and stress from my mind and concentrated on just the music and the nature around me; after a long long timeI lived in the moment. It seeped in my brain how the baul music truly represents life there. The voice of the bauls had a rhythm, a melody which hammered the fact in my brain that they belong with Shantiniketan. Just like life partners, the bauls and Shantiniketan are inseparable.
All the bauls here performs without charging a fee. They happily accept whatever the people enjoying their music are willing to pay them, they do not mind even if the crowd ends up paying nothing. I admire their love for the music but really wish they would stop undervaluing themselves. Becoming an artist is difficult. It is high-time artists get proper financial compensation for their work.
Finally We Return
All the items in my ‘to-do’ list were checked and now it was time to bid goodbye to Sonajhuri. With a heavy heart we boarded the train and quickly started discussing about our probable next location for a getaway!
Practical Information:
Trip Taken On- December 2015
Travel Agent Hired- Breathe Fresh (Moumita Mukherjee- 9830171510)
This is not an advertisement but a recommendation. I paid for my own trip.
*****
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Tania Banerjee
Tania is a freelance writer based in India who tinkers with words here and there but mostly focused on travel, food, arts and crafts. She writes for several Indian dailies and magazines.
25 Comments
Diana Chen
I love your photos! And would have enjoyed the Baul music just as much as you did! I would have asked him if he would let me play his baul, not that I would know how but it would be fun to try!
Tania Mukherjee
You can actually buy these instruments in the local market! Miniature versions are sold in the saturday fair and many tourists buy them! The instruments are called ‘ektara’ (ektara means one-stringed in Bengali)!
Diana Chen
That is great to know! Thank you!!
wanderingwagarschristina
Lovely post about a not so well known part of India. I can just imagine the freedom you must have felt dancing out in nature to beautiful Baul music.
Tania Mukherjee
Exactly! The freedom counts!
erikastravels
The village looks lovely, as does the river (even if it didn’t meet your expectations). Having a place like this to yourself, is a wonderful feeling! I’m sure the Baul music definitely added to the mood too.
Tania Mukherjee
Yes! The place is nothing without the charm of the ‘baul’ music!
SheWentToSpain
Love this! FOMO haha…I have the same fear and try to go to sleep as late as possible, wake up as early as possible, and always say YES to avoid FOMO. Love these shots and that you managed to get no tourists in them! Great post!
Tania Mukherjee
Thank you and hey I know that feeling of going to bed late yet rising up early! Haha! FOMO is seriously a trouble maker! 🙂
Rebecca
Oh my, battling shingles, that’s no fun. But I’m glad you were able to enjoy your day. So wonderful to her about the baul and you were able to dance and live in the moment. There’s nothing better!
Tania Mukherjee
Right! It definitely helped me in overcoming the pain of the traumatizing shingles!
Extra Adventure
The baul is an interesting part of the landscape I never thought of being there. I wonder if there a more when it is the rainy season and people come to look at the river.
Tania Mukherjee
People generally visit this place during winter; rainy season is not considered a ‘tourist season’ here!
Nerdventurists
I am the same way in which I cannot help but dance when I hear music! I’m glad you enjoyed his work so much! Wonderful story.
Tania Mukherjee
Thank you so much! Good to know I am not the only weirdo! 😉
authenticfoodquest
What a lovely post. Have the same feeling when the music just captures your heart. I’d be interested in listening to Baul music at a river bank!! Great story and sounds like an amazing experience.
Tania Mukherjee
Thank you and you can check out baul music in youtube!
eatlivetraveldrink
I’ve never heard of Baul
Music but I’m going to look it up right now!
I’m glad you were able to be free and dance without judgment – to move with the rhythm of the music. It sounds delightful. I like to dance in the rain
Tania Mukherjee
Hey ya! We have a big similarity here! I too love dancing in the rain! 🙂
Karla at GlobalETA
Sounds like a fascinating experience! I too love to dance and so would’ve enjoyed the Baul musicians, to be sure. Glad you got up and out and experienced all that you could!
Tania Mukherjee
Hi Karla, If you ever visit India make sure you travel to this particular place! You will definitely have fun!
Sandy N Vyjay
The walk in the village sounds really interesting. The peace and the serenity of the place come up vibrantly in the post. I too love solitary walks in remote places, a great way to commune with oneself and nature.
Tania Mukherjee
No travel is complete without walking on foot and interacting with the locals!
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