Kakdwip, South 24 Parganas District

Have you ever heard the story of Nabakumar in Kapalkundala by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhaya? It is the late medieval Bengali romantic novel, where Nabakumar, the hero met with Kapalkundala and fell in love and later married. It is just like the place called Contai. But it is located in the South 24 Parganas District. It is called Kakdwip.

The Kakdwip sub division contains rural areas of 42 gram panchayats under four community development blocks: Kakdwip, Namkhana, Patharpratima and Sagar. There is no urban area under these four blocks.

I went there in the month of April. It was too hot. But the cool breeze in the river bank soothes me. It is the wide river and need 45 minutes to cross the river by motorised boats.

Early morning visit will be the best to view the river in Kakdwip. It is the meeting point of the river Hooghly and Baratala River, which joins with the Hatania- Doania River to reach Namkhana and Bakkhali.

I board the train at 4:30am from Ballygaunge Station. It is a local train to Namkhana. I reached Kakdwip after 2 hours journey in the midst of the vendors, sabziwalas, ferrywalas and school teachers.

Kakdwip Station is a well maintained railway station, as it is the connecting point to Gangasagar or Sagar Island. After 5 minutes brisk walk to the bus stand, I took a small trekker, locally call “magic gari” to Lot 8 Ghat.

The ghat here is clean. Seeing the sky and the waters is beautiful in monsoon and winters. But I went there in early summer times, so the sun is a very big issue. After staying there for 1 hour, I prepared to reach the Sagar Island with 45 minutes cool boat ride to Kachuberia.

For Hotels please check: “Janhabi”