We, two friends, were
planning for a trip to Jayanti in North Bengal from the day we had seen the film
'Abar Aranye'. Ultimately we decided to start last week.
The Kanchankanya Express started on time.
Next morning we woke up at New Jalpaiguri Station, the
railway track goes inside deep elephant infested forest after
Siliguri station. This journey is no less than a safari itself. We
saw 3 peacocks, quite few elephant footprints, and some elephant
corridor sign beside the railway track. It should be noted that on
this track the train speed is limited to 20kmph to avoid accident
with the with animals. At noon we reached Alipurduar Jn. Station. We
had a very good Bengali lunch there in a nearby small hotel, and then
after some bargaining took an auto to Jayanti. After just 20 minutes
we are again inside a forest. The road is in pretty good condition
compared to other forest roads.
We reached Jayanti in an
hour, and dropping the luggages inside the hotel room (not that a
luxury arrangement, but clean rooms and toilets) we rushed to the
bank of the river. But what we found was big lorrys/cars taking the
stones of the river, plastic scattered everywhere, a totally polluted
river bank, added to that there were some tourists playing loud
music, disturbing nature in every respect. The February river looked
dead, and only things that we could enjoy were many birds and the
landscape of forests in every direction. But those were very common
in the whole Dooars.
