Baliyara, a virgin beach of Bengal

---“Hey man, where is the sea?”

---“Which sea you want to go? The big sea or the small sea?

--- “what do you mean by big sea and small sea?”

---“small sea is just in the right hand side and the big sea is at a 10 minutes distance on the left.”

I was bit bewildered about the response from the village man.

“How can there be a sea on the right hand side?” I asked myself. The geographical location of the place suggests that there cannot be any sea on the right side. 

Anyways, we started walking towards the big sea. The cutcha road is moving through the village. As we walked and walked, we realized that ten minutes have passed quite a time ago. But sea is nowhere to be seen. 

There is a joke among the city dwellers about the time sense of the villagers. If they say ten minutes, then we have to regard it as at least half an hour. 

After walking for almost twenty minutes, we could finally see a little glimpse of the Bay of Bengal. But it is still far away. After walking for another five minutes or so, we reached a village named Baliyara. The cutcha road paved way to the sandy path. The sandy path made us believe that the Bay is not far away. Passing by small temple, we progressed towards the sea. 

Travel Writers Forum is an organization comprising the travel writers of Kolkata. On their invitation, we reached Frasergunge in the morning. We are staying in the Benfish run, Sagarkanya Lodge, a little far away from the sea. 

After the lunch, as I took a stroll on the terrace of Sagarkanya, I noticed the blue waters of the sea. I realized, though the sea is not near, it’s not too far either. We decided that in the evening, we should have a walk towards the sea.

Baliaya- a virgin beach comprising of white sand. No crowd whatsoever. We understood that the beach is still unknown to the tourists. Only three persons are currently on the beach as tourist- me, my father and Ratanlal Biswas, the famous coastal trekker. It’s the time of low tide in the sea. So the sea is quite. Red Crabs are roaming around on the sands. 

We can reach Frasergunge and then Bakkhali, if we walk through the beach. With Mr Biswas accompanying us, I really wanted to do a bit of trekking, but a threat of Nor’wester made me to think otherwise. 

But the wish of walking through the coast was fulfilled the next day. In the morning we took a sightseeing trip to Bakkhali and Henry Island. After having a bit of rest in the afternoon, we followed the unfinished path. Our team is much bigger today. As a group of 12 we walked towards the Baliyara beach. 

Baliyara is probably the only beach of East Coast which witnesses sunset. The sunset seen was really magnificent. As there was a threat of nor’wester the last day, we missed the opportunity of witnessing the sunset. The group members are busy in their own term on the white sands. While some are writing their names on the sand, others are capturing the red crabs on their camera. 

In the mean time, I got the opportunity to talk with a local. 

---“see that’s Potuakhali.” He raised his finger towards what he claimed to be Potuakhali, in the district of East Medinipur.

He cleared the confusion about the small sea, which was said to me by another man, the day before. He said that, the Frasergunge Jetty, on the bank of a small river is regarded as small sea by the locals. From the jetty, boats bound Jambudwip leaves. 

But he was bit tensed about the fact that the BSF has spotted the Baliyara Beach to set up a base camp. According to him, if the camp really comes up then the peace and tranquility of the place will be destroyed. 

We are ready for our coastal walk towards Frasergunge. Since its low tide, the Sea has moved backwards. Keeping the sea on our right side and homes of fishermen on the left side, we moved on. Although the sun has already set still some of the fishermen have moved towards the sea to catch fish.  

The appearance of Wind Mills made us believe that we have reached Frasergunge. Daylight is slowly fading away. We decided to relax a bit in a tea shop. 

That was the time I looked at a collapsed old house on the beach itself. May be, long ago it collapsed due to gushing sea waves.

Is this the collapsed house of Lord Fraser? 

How to reach?

You can visit Baliyara, staying at Bakkhali or Frasergunge. You can board Namkhana bound local train from Sealdah and get down at Namkhana station. From Namkhana Railway Station, catch toto or motor van towards Namkhana Jetty. Cross Hatania-Doania River. Buses bound Bakkhali and Frasergunge are available on a regular basis from the bus stand. To go to Baliyara, get down at Benfish bus stop, just ahead of Frasergunge. From here, take a walk of twenty minutes or so and reach Baliyara beach. WBTC run buses for Bakkhali are available from Esplanade.   

Where to stay?

Though there are loads of hotels in Bakkhali and Frasergunge, to go to Baliyara, you have to stay in the Benfish run Sagarkanya in Frasergunge. But since the room rates are much lower in Sagarkanya than any other hotels, the rooms are not satisfactory. You can stay at the West Bengal Tourism run Bakkhali Tourist Lodge in Bakkhali. To book the lodge online, log in to- www.wbtdcl.com