A Few Days in Kuakata
Shounak Reza
In the late 18th century, many Arakanese people_ known as Rakhaines _ arrived in the region now known as Kuakata after being expelled from Arakan by the Mughals. These Rakhaine settlers apparently dug wells _or kua _ in order to meet their demands of water. The region was thus named Kuakata. Today, the descendants of those Rakhaine people remain in the area, having retained their own culture for centuries. Some of the wells dug all those centuries ago also remain. Kuakata is beautiful, with a beach so serene and calm. A part of the area around the beach has seen slight signs of urbanisation, however, a beautiful rural scenery still remains.
I visited Kuakata with my family last year. From the Barisal river port we drove to Kuakata. We went in the off-season, which pretty much added to the charm of the serene beach. There werent many tourists besides us (I saw only three or four, I guess). In the hotel we stayed in_ Hotel Banani Palace_ we were the only occupants.
Kuakata is located in the district of Patuakhali. The beach there offers an unobstructed view of both sunrise and sunset. Our routine in Kuakata would be simple: every morning we would go to the beach, stay for three or four hours, enjoy the roaring waves of the magnificent Bay of Bengal. And then afterwards, after resting for a while, we would go out and have lunch in a seaside eatery that we had discovered. It was a simple restaurant located right on the beach where they served food that was extremely delicious. They would serve fish freshly caught from the sea by the local fishermen. We ate fresh, fried hilsha and a fish that I had never eaten before, known as bashpata. We did order chicken once, but once we tasted it, we decided that it would be better to stick to the delicious sea fish, that it was best to eat the fresh food unique to a coastal place when visiting a coastal area.
After lunch, we would go for a tour around Kuakata. The only form of transportation to travel around Kuakata is by motorbike. Two men had approached us on our very first day in Kuakata, offering us their package tour, the places they would take us to. We instantly agreed to hire them. They would meet us every afternoon after we had finished lunch, and we would set out for our tour on their motorcycles. They took us to different important landmarks around Kuakata, including the Misripara Seema Buddha Bihar, a Buddhist temple with a huge statue of the Buddha. They also took us to see two of the still-existing wells that had been dug by Rakhaine settlers centuries ago. For going to these places we had to pass through sublimely beautiful rural areas; and fresh wind that would greet our faces as we rode through the countryside instantly uplifted me and made me cheerful.
We also went to a Rakhaine palli (village). As we entered their markets and observed the things they make, I also observed the Rakhaine people, cheerfully noting how beautifully they have retained their own culture. We were also taken to lovely forest areas not very far from the main beach. We went to a place known as Lal Kakrar Chor, where there are hundreds of little red crabs living in holes on the sandy shoal land. The crabs reminded me of Sebastian, the character from The Little Mermaid.
After we would return from our trips around Kuakata, we would sit on the beach for a while before returning to our hotel. Sitting in the distant corner of the beach, we would see the sun setting and as time passed, the ebb would turn into flow and the water of the sea would come nearer and nearer. The darkness would bring a silence so perfect, so surreal that I would feel like sitting right there on the beach for as long as I could. There were, like I mentioned before, not many tourists besides us, and we enjoyed the silence, breathing in the gentle and refreshing sea air, charmed by the magnificence of the vast sea, and the sound of the roaring waves.
