According to present day world famous poet Rabindranath Tagore was from Kolkata, India. But in the past the border wasn’t like now. He was from the Zamidar family of Kolkata, and had several lands under their ruling which are now inside of Bangladesh. To maintain the vast property his family had to visit those places frequently. That’s why they needed to build houses around those places so that they could stay. Those houses are known as Kuthibari. Bangladesh has three of those, and one of those is in Kumarkhali of Kushtia district. In the past (during the British period) this Kushtia was under the Nadia district.
History about Shilaidaha kuthibari:
This Shilaidaha kuthibari was built beside the river Padma by the poet’s father. He later inherited the Zamindari from his family. Rabindranath Tagore used to visit this place several times to collect the royalty (or tax?) from the people from this estate. It was approximately between 1891 to 1901. He had to give up this house (through an auction) to a Bank when they owed money to them. After many years later the government had taken control of the building and done some renovation to revive the building from its demise.
How it looks in current days?
In current days this house in Shilaidaha is now a nice square shaped two storey building. The authority hosted a museum inside the building by putting several galleries presenting the belongings of the poet. Inside the museum you’d find a lot of furniture like chairs, almeera, beds, table, etc, which were used by Rabindranath Thakur. At the top of the building you’d find a few boats which were used by the poet for an excursion in the river Padma, which is just a few kilometers away from the Kuthi bari.
Entry fee for the museum:
During my visit the token money to enter inside the Shilaidaha Kuthibari museum was only 10 Taka per person (as of 2010). This museum is closed during Sunday and every public holiday. Every Monday the museum is closed for the first half of the day.
Best time to visit:
During the 25th Baishakh (the first month of Bangla calendar) would be the best time to visit this place. During that time the authority uses to arrange a village fair (known as Kuthibari mela). It would be a nice atmosphere to enjoy that. I did my visit during that time. The speciality of the day is, it is the birthday of our beloved poet. When I was there in 2010 it was his 149th birthday. Apart from the village fair you’d see the authority arranging cultural programs for the whole day. You could take a seat there to listen free live performance. The village fair was one of the largest I’ve every seen.
How to Go:
There are several bus services available which come to Kushtia from Dhaka. Such bus services are SB Super Deluxe, Shyamoli Paribahan, etc. It takes around 4-5 hours overnight. All the buses leave from Gabtoli or Kolyanpur of Dhaka.
From Kushtia town take local buses or vehicles to come to Kumarkhali first. It should take around 1 hour maximum depending upon the vehicle. From Kumarkhali take any rickshaw or three wheeler van to reach near the Kuthibari. The GPS Coordinate of the Shilaidaha Kuthibari is (23°55’10.2″N, 89°13’12.3″E).
Where to stay?
There are several medium quality hotels available in Kushtia town for night staying. I stayed in the hotel Hotel River view during my stay and they allowed me to do an early check in at 5:00am in the morning.
About my visit:
After exploring the Gorai bridge I took several local vehicles, and finally a rickshaw to reach the Kuthi bari. It was a hugely crowded area at that time. People were coming from everywhere to this place. At some places I had to leave the rickshaw and start walking with the local people. Those people came from the nearby districts like Rajbari, Jhinaidaha, Meherpur, etc.
I went inside the museum first to explore it. As it was a small one and didn’t take much time. After that I spent most of the time exploring the stalls in the fair. There were plenty of stalls with different crafts made by the villagers (along with fancy Chinese products). Most of the items were very colorful. Few vendors were selling local foods which were interesting to taste. People had to participate in games like shooting, bowling, throwing rings, etc.
From my observation it looked to me there were around 500 stalls all together. Local people were wearing nice new dresses like they do during the Eid festival. To me it looked like an even bigger festival than Eid there. There was a group performing Lathi khela, a traditional display for the audience. In current days it is really hard to find something like that.
After exploring one of the greatest festivals from Kushtia I headed towards the bank of the river Padma as it was very close from there. It was sunset time. So I decided to have a quick swim and bath in the river. After a very hot day in summer, such a nice relaxing swim was essential for me. After that I returned back to the Shilaidaha Kuthibari fair again to enjoy another round.
It was usually a single day fair traditionally. But since it is very popular that’s why the authority extended it for three days. I started leaving the fair premise after around 7pm. It was really difficult to find any sort of vehicle during the return trip. Because everything was packed with tons of visitors. So I had to struggle a bit to return back to Kushtia town. It was after 9:00pm at night when I returned back. Would have been a bit easier if I left early.
Shilaidaha Kuthibari of Rabindranath,
Kumarkhali,
District: Kushtia,
Country Bangladesh,
GPS Coordinate (23°55’10.2″N, 89°13’12.3″E).
Written by Lonely Traveler,
For blog alonelytraveler.com
Saturday, 8th May 2010
