Children of The Sea 5:Reaching Coxsbazar

After a while, we all got on board the train again. I can't remember the last time when I got so bored that I fell asleep. I heard one train zooming by, and I twisted my head around like a periscope. I thought our train would start now. But no, that didn't happen...so got back to sleep. Didn't bother when the 2nd one passed, got a bit alive, but got back to sleep again. Finally, when the 3rd train passed by, I was too tired to even look out of the window. But soon afterwards, the train started moving, and all hopes of reaching Coxsbazar got restored again.

The rest part of the journey towards Chittagong was exciting only because it was giving me the feeling of freedom--the very same feeling that Edmund Dante got when he escaped from Chateau D`if! Actually that feeling came to me when I finally got out of the train, in Chittagong station.

I liked the railstation. It was neat and clean. Not messy and dusty like Komolapur. There weren't too many people out there as well. We dumped the six of us within the confines of two CNGs. These vehicles took us to the place from where buses started their journey towards Coxsbazar.

The journey from Chittagong to Coxsbazar was turbulent, and somewhat boring. We stopped in a place situated in the heart of Chittagong city, where we went to a bhaater hotel for having our lunch. We had to make it really fast, cause the bus was waiting for us to get back in.

At around 11 AM, we got off the bus, very near to the famous Sea Gull hotel. It was like a De Ja Vu to me. I went there in 2004, with my GP colleagues. It all came back to me, and I got emotional for a while. I did have a lot of fun that time.

We were supposed to live in a small bungalow/cottage type house. There is a lodge (apparently owned by some IBA teacher) called “Palace Paradise”. When I came here last, these cottages were just established, and the cost of renting them was really high. The costs haven't changed that much, but we had the advantage of going there in an off-season time. Tushar’s brother in law had a good relationship with the manager of the place and hence we managed to get two rooms at Tk 900 per night.

The scenario was like this—we could either take two adjacent non air-conditioned rooms in the ground floor, or we could take one from ground floor and an air conditioned one from the top floor. We had a somewhat lengthy discussion regarding this among us. It was indeed a hot day. Our visit took place during the rainy season, which can be termed as a wet version of summer. It’s still hot, but it rains quite often. I thought it’d make things a bit disputing, if we take one AC room for 6 people. We will either end up having no sleep at all or three of us would remain unhappy. So I strongly pressed for taking the non-AC rooms. Also, the manager informed us that there’s chance that two adjacent AC rooms would be available the next day. Some of the tenants might leave, and then we could take the rooms.

So we checked in to the cottage called “Borsha 2”. It was not in the front portion of the whole area. The area was filled with more than 10 cottages, and it was accessible via a big gate boasting the name “Prashaad Paradise”. My personal opinion was that the place got a bit congested with so many cottages. It would have been a lot better if there were fewer cottages. Anyways, as soon as we entered the room, we were introduced to our shared caretaker. He was a jolly fellow, and he assured that he’ll be around so that we can contact him whenever we need anything. He, with a genuine look of sorrow informed us that the phones aren’t working.

I liked the adjacent rooms. In the first room, there was a large bed, a TV, a three seater sofa, and a sofa-table. On the other room, there was another large bed, a dressing table and a chest-o-drawer.

So we started unpacking our stuff, and we were just on the brink of starting our actual tour....

To be continued..