A wet and rainy start to the trip
Mahender cleans the wndscreen with 'kochu' leaves picked from theroadside. He does this regularly on rainy days. Apparently this helps a little in keeping the windscreen 'oily'.
Breakfast time at Malancha
Snap taken at Malancha, having a cup of tea under this tree in light drizzle
Kochu (Arum) on the deck of our boat
We reach Sonakhali and brace ourselves for a rough boatride to Chargheri. A cyclone warning has been issued by meterologists. Wind speed and rainfall intensity increase as we start the boat journey
A journey with gloom all around
The boats splashes its way ahead on the windy river
The splashing of water caused by the pitching action of boat hull due to waves makes for an enchanting sight - but I hardly had the skills or the tool (a cellcam that clicks 2 secs after pressing shutter) to pick it up on a still shot.
Kaustuv & Debajyoti da with Purnendu, our new accomplice who contributed handsomely to the distribution this week
Anjana Mandal & Narayan Bachar, the trainers from "Swanirbhar" to impart training on alternative crop production for Chargheri farmers
New dykes on the route to Chargheri: We found that some of them have been damaged in recent times.
These 2 birds flew along with us for a few kilometres and wished us good luck as we approached Chargheri. They made us feel like sailors of deep sea who meet albatrosses on their way.
We are transported from the motor boat to the river bank by a smaller boat. As usual Purbasha volunteers are in action here. It was already ebb tide, and this was done to avoid the boat getting stuck in the bed.
Dipankar employing his boating skills to push (rather than row) the small boat to the banks of Chargheri
The same old path beckons us once again
We get off the smaller boat and make our way to Chargheri. This snap was taken looking back into the river. The first set of rice sacks, a few sacks of arum and the soya nugget sack are also brought along. Now the distribution can start while the rest of the consignment gets unloaded.
Rear view of the primary school at which alternative crop training is arranged. The Purbasha volunteer (left) guided and helped us on a treacherous path to the school. We walked on slippery earth roads as also on salined fields with submerged metre-deep earth cuts. On the right we can see Mr. Narain Bachar (trainer)
Looking back at the school building in the dusk while returning back to distribution point
Purnendu and Debajyoti da with the rest of us on inside the boat during the return journey. Heavy rains lashing outside made it difficult to stay on the top deck as we did in earlier trips. We were fearing being caught in the cyclone, but fortunately it did not happen. We took a different (and slightly longer) route this time to avoid travelling in the zone that is most exposed to the Bay.
Weariness dripped from all faces including Sandeepan's and Biswajit da's. This was perhaps the most tiresome of all the trips.
