Rupganj through google's eye!

It was last year when I had decided to blog my travel/tour stories—no matter how (apparently) insignificant places I visit to. The reason was tri-fold: 1. to practice travel-writing—something I want to excel in; 2. to immortalize the travel experience (since I believe any new experience is enriching and worth making transcendent) and 3. to make the little/small places of Bangladesh available to anybody who searches them in the world wide web.

But like most of my thoughts, it never materialized. The procrastinator me had never really started blogging; even though I did visit a lot of interesting places around Dhaka and Bangladesh. I had even forgotten the name of the blog I opened for this purpose. However, a few days back, I suddenly stumbled across a write-up that I had written for that blog and the old decision that had submerged to the subconscious level of my memory crawled up to the conscious level of my brain.

So, today, I’m writing to describe the research (beloved google being my only source) I have done to visit Rupganj. Rupganj would be the first place outside Dhaka that I’d visit in this year 2010. We’re going to a picnic organized by JICA Alumni Association to which my father is a member. The picnic-spot’s name is Jindah Park; but to nourish my traveling frenzy, I tried to find more information about the place so that we can add to our experience visiting some other places besides the picnic spot.

I was pleased to find information about Rupganj just through simple google search. It was indeed more than I expected. So, this blog contains the information I have compiled. Tomorrow, if we make an interesting trip and IF I don’t fall prey to procrastination, I’d write about my real-visit.

Rupganj is an upazila in Narayanganj district, around 12 km from Dhaka. As the map shows, the river Shitalakshya River flows right through Rupganj. Turned to a jilla in 1983, this place has several tourist attractions:

·        Picnic spots like Ponds Garden and Jindah Park.

·        Jamdani Palli at Tarabo,

·        some famous jute industries,

·        The beautiful sites of the River Shitallaxma and a bridge on the river named "Kanchan Bridge".

·        The ancient “Murapara Jamidarbari”

Murapara Jomidarbari

The Murapara Jomidarbari/Palace sounds interesting to me. According to my research says: The base structure of the Palace was established by the founder of the Murapara Raj family named Ramratan Banerjee. He was appointed as treasurer of the Natore estate and rose to a high position and acquired large properties by dint of his honesty. One source[i] says it was Ramratan Banarjee who constructed the palace in 1889 but the other source[ii] says he just established the basement of the structure. It was Protap Chandra Banarjee( a close friend to Poet Rabidranath Tagor's grandfather Prince Dwarkanath Tagore) who left his old traditional house and made new palace behind the old one in 1889.

 In 1909, Jagadish Chandra Banerjee completed the structure and became a landlord. Jagadish Chandra Banerjee was very famous because he was twice elected at Delhi Council of State. Landlord Jagadish Chandra Banerjee established many things for the tenants in his territory but on the other hand was also very vulgar towards his tenant. Overall he was very powerful, brutal and vigorous landlord of the Murapara. In his ruling period he torched and cutoff his tenants hair when they didn't pay their tax. In 1947, Jagadish Banarjee went to Kolkata (Calcutta). In 1966, he established a high school and college there. At present, it is familiar to everybody as Murapara Degree College.

While googling Murapara jomidarbari, I also found a Daily Star Article on the descendents of this family. Interesting read at: http://www.thedailystar.net/lifestyle/2007/05/03/page04.htm

I just hope, if we do get to go there, the palace doesn’t disappoint me!

Jamdani Palli at Tarabo :

I’m really interested to visit the Jamdani Palli, probably because I totally love Jamdani Sari. Googling this gives the following information:[iii]

Rupganj, under Tarabo pourashava of Rupganj Thana, Naraynganj District is very popular and traditional area of Bangladesh. That area is known as a BISIC Nagari. That nagari is the big area for jamdani Shari all over Bangladesh. After crossing the Kanchpur Bridge, by the way of shylhet road, after 3 km. the jamdani palli is situated. The name of that area is noapara under Tarabo pouroshava of Rupganj Thana.

River Shitolokkha and "Kanchan Bridge":

According to Banglapedia [iv]:Shitalakshya River  originates from the old brahmaputra and bifurcates into two courses at Toke in Gazipur district. One of the courses named the banar flows southwest and at Lakpur is renamed as the Shitalakshya. It then flows east of Narayanganj town. The Shitalakshya falls into the dhaleshwari near Kalagachhiya.

I was looking for the origin of the name Shitolokkha, but didn’t find anything. Although I’d have loved to, I don’t think we’d get to squeeze in a river cruise at River Shitolokkha within our picnic schedule. But, while googling, found some tour guides that caters river cruise at Shitolokkha—that’d be a nice information for future plans. About Kanchan Bridge, I presume it’s like any other bridge in Bangladesh and will not be anything spectacular.

So, that’s my Rupganj pre-visit research compilation! Let’s see how the real tour turn out to be! The secondary sources seem to prophesy that I’d be interesting! Don’t I love google!

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[i] (http://www.silverwavetours.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=124&Itemid=69)

[ii] http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/08/29/news0153.htm

[iii] http://www.amrasobai.com/user/blogs/view/name_Stethoscope/id_4440/title_micro-credit-for-the-development-of-%22jamdani/

[iv] http://www.banglapedia.org/httpdocs/HT/S_0353.HTM

Other references:

http://himtarif.blogspot.com/2008/11/make-rupgonj-tourist-spot.html

http://www.banglapedia.org/httpdocs/HT/R_0267.HTM

Amar poth chola-My journey

In one of his Poem Rabindranath Tagore had written…

“Dekhite giyachi porbotmala, Dekhite giyachi Sindhu.
Dekha hoy nai chokkhu melia,
Ghor hote du pa felia,
Ekti dhaner sisher opor, ekti sishir bindu. “

The English meaning is something like..

“Went to see the mountain ranges, saw the Sindhu river…
But never got to look with my open eyes
Just two steps from my door where lies
A dew drop on the sheaf of paddy thither…”(My own translation--so,no literary criticism invited)

The inner meaning of the poem is, we often miss the inherent beauty of trivial things very close to us. We travel to see the tourist marvels, enjoy remote destinations, but never care to watch the little beaitiful entities that exists around us.

I don't really remember exactly since when I had harbored by dream of 'traveling round the world'.It is weird, because I vividly remember the history of most of my thoughts,likes,dislikes desires and so on-- starting from important things(to me) like since when I developed my passion for writing to trivial matters like how I first came across words I never heard,i.e. slangs.However, thinking hard, even now, I hardly seemed to remember the development of my ardent wish of seeing the whole world.

Of course, I can make some guesses from where the wish came from. Was it when I found so much interest reading Jules Verne's 'Around the world in eighty days', which was the required text for my seventh grade English Literature? Or did it develop when my favorite maternal uncle(mama) took early retirement from his job and announced that he will go on a trip round the world?( he never went on the tour though and joined another job after a year; but some of my friends still know that I have a mama whom I called "round the world" mama)Or did the desire develop through the numerous tours I took around the country with my family during most school vacations almost every December?I don't know, I don't remember.

But it was definitely not my childhood dream. I didn't really enjoy my first out-of-country trip to London; I missed my country Bangladesh badly and was relieved to be back after 3 weeks. I remember during the family trip to the most distinct parts of the mangrove forest Sunderbans,when we stayed in the vessel for 5 days, I was lying down and reading books most of the time while everyone else armored with camera and binoculors feasted their eyes with the amazing wildlife around. As a child, I liked to discover the unknown more through second-hand experience of writers of books, than living the discovery through first-hand experience.

Who knows how the desire developed, at least I don't! But I do remember while I was a member of AIESEC and came across the nomad blog, the experience of global experience of AIESECers made me sad. I felt I wasn't widely traveled; till then I had visited only one country England;one city London to be more precise; two if I counted Doha, where I stayed 2 nights for the transit. As an enthusiastic AIESECer,I immediately opened a blog at nomadlife.org; but then never made any entry. I felt I was not even near to identify myself as a "nomad, adventurer or traveler".I promised myself, I will make my first entry when I'd go on my first international AIESEC conference, which of course never happened(mosty because I never had money, and once because we got the visa late). Did my desire to travel,discover and adventure develop while I was in AIESEC? I can't be sure;I don't remember.

When I left AIESEC, I suddenly found a lot of free time. I started thinking a lot about what I wanted in life(which I was supposed to have determined by the 'goal-seeting' sessions in AIESEC, but seemed like I never actually set my goals of life)Of course, I wanted to be successful professionally, , be apprasied by people around me, make my family and friends proud of me,leave some marks so that the world remembers me after my death and be happy at the same time. I guess most people have similar goals for their lives. Then I thought, what if there was no society to which I desired to be a part of; no peer-pressure to succeed in life; no family to whose expectation I had to live up to-- what would I still want to do?what would make ME happy? The first answer that came was, I would like to write. Not for money, not for publishing, not on a specific topic with a given deadline; but just for myself-- just to feel good. The second answer that came was to experience the excitement of meeting new people,visiting new places, seeing new thing,stumbling upon new idea; learning new perspectives,all of which can be experienced first-hand through travel and second-hand through reading.

I was already an avid reader and a writer(well,I'm counting my personal diaries,some articles,short stories,few poems and an unfinished novel, all of which I've written with great love); I thought I should incorporate these two passions with travelling. I started reading effusively about traveling: got hold of books,registered to a few travel sites and so on. I had always thought that I hadn't traveled enough, so I should gain experience through other's writings so that when I'd finally have the money and independence to travel, I can make the most out of my experience.

A few days earlier, I don't know why I suddenly started feeling, I'm not as less travelled as I thought I was. Thanks to my parents, I have travelled to most part of my country unlike many of my friends and peers(the fact that I remember little about those experiences is another story though). I have so far set foot to four countries: visited England and Indonesia and been to Qatar and Singapore for transit). I thought why not immortalize these experience until I get o fulfill my real desire to travel worldwide?

So, this blog is about My Journey which is "Amar poth chola" in Bangla. The journeys may not be to exotic places,may not be breath-taking adventures, may not be interetsing incidents; but I'm writing them down because they are my moments,my experience and I want to immortalize them by incorporating my three loves: writing my travel journeys so that it can be read.

I hope I always remain in love with them: reading,writing and traveling.