Riverine Transport

The story of the 1950s is a chronicle now

Recorded on heresy down the family tree

The then Bengal saw life on barefoot, pristine

The mundane pleasure was lucent in the background

In a riverine country, boat deemed to be the main

Transportation was perilous in those days!

The population was not so swelling as of today

Village centric people worked on pure air

Barefoot as no cause of germ rediscovered

Varied boats were the only means of communication

Cultivation meant to be the prime source of income

Mud roads in larger areas smacked of agrarian smell

Close to nature, people found with opulence on the wharf

A boatful of boro paddy would import to villages

Sources of diesel engine proved dear and rare

Boatmen pulled boats with the help of ‘goon’

In times of unfavourable wind, they recourse

Visiting ‘hut’ in a distance was a joy, unalloyed

Sailing boat irradiated glow of hope on lonely shore!

Floatels and boatels wert the only means of meals

©Basudev Paul

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