Impossiblyy

About 120 Kms from Howrah is a village called Purbasthali. On the Howrah-Katwa line, there is Nabadwip, then Bishnupriya and then comes Purbasthali. It takes about 3 hours, including delay, from Howrah. A portion of the meandering Ganga got cut off here and formed a huge oxbow lake. This place has become a haven for birds-migratory and resident-alike. You get down at Purbasthali station and take a Toto for 20 Rupees per head and ask him to take you to Kashashali Picnic Spot (15 minutes). The local administration has done a rather good job with the place. There is a website with all the particulars and you have to book ahead if you are staying overnight. Staying overnight is recommended. That way you can get both the late afternoon and early morning views.There are four little cottages in a lovely garden, just next to the lake. The 10 am train from Howrah reaches Purbasthali at around 1 pm and it takes another 15 minutes ride in a Toto to reach the spot. Have lunch, take a little rest and then hire a boat. there are boats galore, charging 150 rupees per hour. It is a lovely lovely view from the boat. There's this never ending expanse of clear water- clear enough so that you can see the green weeds and plants beneath, and flocks of birds all around. November to February is the time for migratory birds, especially the Red Pochard. There are the egrets-great and little, and herons-purple and pond, the bronze winged jacana, pheasant tailed jacana, kingfishers-white breasted, common and pied, the ducks- red crested ochard and cotton pygmy goose, long tailed shrike, drongo, stork, purple swamphen, black headed Ibis,little cormorants, red wattled lapwing, sand plover, citrine wagtail, greater coucal, grebes, coots and hordes of barn swallows. They fly all around you at such terrific speed that you get frustrated at being unable to capture them on camera. By the time you are through with two and a half to three hours boat ride, the light falls and you have to return. We did spot an overenthusiastic group though, with a guy using flash to shoot birds in the failing light

. Coming back to the cottages, there's tea and hot pakoras waiting. There's nothing much to do in the evening, except have an early dinner and fall asleep quickly to wake up early the next morning. Between 6:30 and 7, hire a boat again and set off down the lake. This is the best time for bird watching. The birds are still sleepy and you can spot them resting. The downside of sitting cross legged on the boat planks for hours on end is that your leg might start paining. Remove a couple of planks and put your feet down into the hold of the boat if you want to avoid cramps later. Since Nabadwip is so close, there's the 24 hour Naam-sankirtan going on- Hare Krishna- in a loop. You fall into the rhythm and start chanting unawares, though you keep wishing that they employed people with better vocals, if they are at it all day and night. The checkout time officially being 11 am, we were forced to return back before reaching the island here. Still we had clocked in 4 hours of boating. A late breakfast awaits you at the cottage. Then take a tour of the mustard fields in the countryside if you so wish, for the next train is at 1:30 pm. We took longer and took the 3:19 train. It is important to book a Toto ahead, as there aren't any waiting at the spot. The cottages, newly built, are good. Nothing fancy, just neat and clean and comfortable, with good bathrooms (so important, that it makes all the difference between a good stay and a bad one). The property is well maintained and the locals take a pride in it. Week ends can be extremely difficult to book, so either book ahead or take a couple of days off during the week and come down here. If you are looking for birds to watch or photograph, in a village retreat, with fresh hot home cooked food and a leisurely stroll thrown in, Purbasthali won't disappoint you.
Caretaker: Abhijit 7908061487
Our boatman- Bashir Biswas
website: http://purbasthali.com/

Around 170 kms from Howrah, along the Howrah-Katwa line, is a village called Agradwip. A 10 minutes diesel auto ride from the station takes you to a very tiny village called Natungram. The painted wooden dolls we had as children, the Gour-Nitai, the kathputli bride, the raja-rani-bought at fairs and which endured our childish mishandling till their colours disappeared- these dolls are made by the 50 odd families of this village. We got down at Gour Sutradhar's house. The families here mostly bear the surname sutradhar-the story tellers. For, these dolls were used as props to tell stories once upon a time. Folk stories of Radha-Krishna, of Gouranga, of kings and queens, of Ma Lokkhi and her eponymous mount- the Owl. The owl features most prominently in the wooden sculptures here. Colourful figures, in white and red and black and yellow-with large round eyes and a hooked beak- the owl comes in all sizes, from as tiny as 2 inches to huge ones. So sought after is this owl motif, that it has made its way into a myriad different forms, from adorning the stands of little stools to acting as borders for bedroom mirrors to being placed as screens for bedside table doors. The owl, literally, is all over the place. For there are no boundaries where the craft is made. Right from the narrow village road that leads to the government workshop, to the open kitchen and verandah, to the inside of the little damp rooms- the craft is scattered all over. It forms their lives. There's no separate work life and life after work. It is all intertwined. "See how hard we work all day," says Gour Sutradhar's wife to us, busy applying a mixture of Khari-mati, flour and water on the wooden owls to smoothen their surface. To see the process from the start, we go to the workshop which also houses a four room guesthouse on the upper floor. Felled trees are brought here to be cut and chopped in machines into strips and blocks. The wood of the pinkish red p(n)eo, gamhar, neem, shimul, shegun are used prominently in the sculptures. P(n)eo is especially good as it will never crack. The blocks are then given a crude primary shape by a small handheld instrument. These are done by the men. The women then take over. First the smoothing mixture is applied and the crude dolls are left in a basket to dry. Then a white primer is applied and the figures are spread out to dry. Once dry, women or young boys take up the task of painting them with acrylic colours or oil paints. Vibrant as the figures may be, I was a tad bit disappointed to see that the painting lacked finesse. Maybe if the market is more evolved and demand for better quality goods spring up, they will consider spending more time on each figure, making the effort to paint them with care. But my slight disappointment vanished on seeing the carved neem wooden idols. From a single block of wood, like all the other figures, these are chiselled to make the forms of Ma Durga, Ganesh and the like. Using simply chisels of two different sizes, the idols are carved to perfection. Gour sutradhar added the finishing touches to the one we bought right before us. After the chiselling is over, these are sand papered and rubbed with powdered "gala" in water. You can opt for lacquer, but we decided to stick to the basic. Having seen the whole process of wooden doll making, we called the auto driver who had dropped us to this place, for there are no vehicles to take from the village. It is thus imperative that you take down the number of the driver and arrange with him to meet you later on to take you back to the station. We had come by the 8:00 am Howra-Katwa local and we would leave by the 3 pm one. You can also opt to stay overnight at the guest house, which charges Rs. 650 per person per day, meals included. All you need to do is call up someone at the village, and they will arrange for the rest. There is a Kathia baba's ashram nearby which you can visit or even go to Purbasthali Pakhiralay, just a few stations away. The artisans here also regularly take orders for interior decorations of homes and pandal making during the pujas. I am adding some of their numbers below:

Gour Sutradhar : 8145283862
Uttam Bhaskar : 9732908249
Dilip Sutradhar : 9333386501

1) The wood