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Published: November 11th 2010
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Mandarmoni---everyone's favorite sea side spot, at times termed as traveller's paradise....turned out to be something else for us. It was early winter and me with my other office colleagues had arranged a short trip to Digha. It was a three day trip and after one whole day at Digha, we thought of going around and visiting the various spots near and around it. We went to Talsiri and Udaipur beaches after crossing the Orissa Border. The experience was awesome. We had gone out early morning and so thought of freshening up a bit and again set out for our long awaited Mandarmoni beach. We had to travel around 33Km to reach mandarmoni but as we had our own cars, so that was not a big deal. Then we had to take a long way through a fish market and fishermen village to reach the sea shore. It was around 4:30 in the afternoon and the weather was not too hot. reaching the shore, we found the beach very wide at that place and the sea was far far away. So we took our car on the beach. It was real fun driving on the sand. We were also thrilled to drive
through the water, splashing on us and giving a perfectly different feel. One car (the Innova) was driven by our Sir while I was driving the Indigo. We were following the Innova and was maintaining some distance with it, as it was going a bit deep into the water. Suddenly we realized that something was wrong with the other car, it got stuck somewhere. I quickly handed over the car to our driver and asked it to take it to the shore, away from the water. The rest of us quickly ran near the Innova to find that it's stuck in the mud very badly and could neither be taken nor dragged out of it. All who were in the car, came out of it, and all of us tried to push it but all was in vain. Gradually seeing us, people started gathering around us. There were around 40 people gathered there but when we asked for help, no one came forward. Even the cameramen on the beach, came near us and started saying, "Fir se fasaya.(They have again trapped someone)" At that point we could not make out what they meant, but it did not take us long
to understand the actual thing. When we tried to push the car, we found raw mud on the beach and that is the thing that surprised us the most. How can mud come on sea shore....Soon we got an answer as a Leader type person came to us and said if we want our car to be safe and back, we should give them money.....and the amount was Rs. 20,000/- TWENTY THOUSAND!!!!!! We were just shocked to hear it and the men who had gathered around us all belonged to this leader-type person. They dint even move a bit without his permission. We at first requested him to lessen the amount but he turned deaf ears. Moreover the risky part was that we did not even have that much cash with us and they did not even allow us to move. We even asked them if we could go to a nearby ATM and get the money, but the saddest part was that even the closest ATM was 27 Kms. away. On the other hand it was around 5:30 pm and the water level had started increasing and they said that their rates would even go higher if we delay
any further. Then after much negotiations with them, it was finally decided that whatever money we had, should be given away and then only they would take our car out. So all of us gave whatever money we had and it summed up to Rs. 10,000/- and it was by God's grace that they took the money and agreed to take our car out. It was then that we realized that it's their business and they had every accessory ready to pull the car out. They got a very thick and long rope and they took just 5 mins to take the car out. We finally heaved a sigh of relief and drove back to Digha. On our way back, we told this story to various people and we even decided that we should go and inform the local police. But what we could make out from their expression was that the people there are very dangerous and they are not even afraid of legal tools and force. We were literally robbed on the beach. We missed our lunch that day and returned to Digha with sad faces. It was really an experience to share with. We had heard a
lot about the good part of Mandarmoni but what we received was this. So we have named the place as "FASANA Beach"------ really a shame on West Bengal tourism part.
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