Mirroring on Kaptai Lake
by Mahmudul Hasan Hemal
Kaptai Lake in the hill district of Rangamati is a place where nature and people live in complete harmony, it is a place to see a limitless blue lake embracing the vast zure sky in the distant horizon.
People travel for different reasons. What travelling gives me is a unique opportunity of talking in silence and solitude. So, avoiding too many people, one of my classmates and I, along with another friend, paid a visit to Kaptai recently, despite our ongoing fourth-year final exams.
Our journey started from Bahaddarhat bus terminal in Chittagong. Buses depart from there at regular intervals. One will take you up to the main gate of Kaptai hydroelectric plant, one of the most wonderful places Ive ever visited. You will need a pass or recommendation from officials working there to enter the power plant. Sadly, the most interesting areas inside the plant are highly protected and prohibited to visitors, which is why you will need to calm your adventure spirit. You will also have to give up any plan of taking pictures inside as your camera will be taken into custody immediately after going through checking at the entrance.
After much hardship, we got a pass by calling an official in Dhaka. The security staff then extracted a wide range of information from us and engaged in a lengthy formality. I was much annoyed to the point that I mumbled: Oh stone-faced uncle, are you giving permission to a visitor to see a power plant or choosing your son-in-law, by the way? My mumbling was probably audible, as the old man looked through his spectacles and uttered: Sorry? I immediately sketched an air of humbleness on my countenance and said No. Nothing. Nothing at all. I was just thinkingthat this place is very charmingandand; how far does the dam go?
Anyway, I had planned to take some photo stealthily, but they seized my camera. They were really painful, but believe me, the place is beautiful.
The main power plant is divided into several sections. A gigantic dam is followed by the main control panel building, which is submerged in water. I was curious to know how such a big structure could be watertight. I enquired about the sort of authorisation needed to enter the workshop beneath the lake. Our guide replied that it would require permission from the home minister!
The home minister! Is this a kind of joke? Pack up Musa bhai, we are leaving immediately, I mumbled again.
So, we exited the plant and caught a CNG auto-rickshaw to go up to the Navy camp picnic spot, a place you can travel straight from Rangamati town, too. From there, you can hire a boat and cross the lake to reach the famous Hanging Bridge of Rangamati.
It took half an hour. We passed one of the most fascinating moments of our trip there. There is a counter-cum-fast food shop where tickets for entrance are available almost all day long. The area is quite large, nestling in the hill slopes which are reflected on the mirror-like crystal clear surface of the lake.
As the sun started going down and darkness waited up the hills, we, the three travellers, bowed to the beauty of nature, appreciating the artistic hand of the Almighty.
As we walked out of the place, Mother Nature seemed to whisper in the form of a gentle breeze: You people destroy each other. Look, I have the strength of healing. You hurt, I heal _ thats the prime difference.
The writer is a post-graduate student of English at Chittagong University.
PHOTOS: The writer
