Chandimura Temple (Chandi mura Shebasram), Lalmai

Chandimura Temple is one of the oldest Temple in Bangladesh. Provabati Debi, wife of the Buddhist king Devkharag established this temple in the 7th century. Since then, several renovation works have been done to keep the structure alive. This temple is on the top of a hill called Lalmai. Lalmai is a large and famous hilly area in Bangladesh. Chandimura Temple comprised one of its apexes.

Chandimura Temple is situated very near to Comilla-Chandpur highway in Lalmai. One can easily visit this place from Comilla.

Shalban Bihar, Comilla

Shalban Bihar is a famous archeological evident of the Buddhist reign in Bangladesh. This is actually a place of learning and meditation for the Buddhist students. Shalban bihar is lied almost in the middle of the Lalmai and Moynamoti area. It was established in the 8th century by king Buddadev.

This Bihar is situated in the Comilla district of Bangladesh. It was established as Tripura district in 1790 AD. In 1960 AD the district was renamed Comilla. Comilla is approximately 97 km away from the capital Dhaka and the Shalban bihar is placed along with the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. It is a single day tour from Dhaka. But Comilla has some other archeological and historical sites of interest. So, it is highly recommended to stay at least one night to touch all the places like Moynamoti- Lalmai range, Kotila Mura, Charpatra mura, 2nd world war cemetery, Chandimura Seba-asram, Maynamoti site museum etc.

Pupil, who wants to come to the Shalbon Bihar from Comilla, is to come Bishshow road at first. Then he has to move to kotbari Bishshoroad and then BARD (Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development). Shalban Bihar is situated in the back side of BARD. It takes only 30-45 minutes to arrive from Comilla City.

Winter Fishing In A Typical Village Pond of Bangladesh

It was the middle of January 2012. I intended to go to a school visit at horishchar union of Laksham Upazilla in comilla. I was fast so I had reached there before the school started. So, I was hanging here and there to find some subjects of photography. With my immense surprise, I noticed a gathering of all ages surrounding a village pond. It seemed like a celebration/feast day for the villagers. All of them were waiting eagerly and auspiciously for the distribution of fishes. They all had shares on those fishes.

Winter fishing is not similar to other kind of fishing. This is not for necessity rather for the enjoyment. Because, in the winter a large number of shallow ponds become dry. Before completely dried up of the pond, the rest of the water of the pond is sucked out by water pump. Then fishes are caught by bare hand and by bamboo basket.

Mostly the young celebrate this event joyfully. They catch frogs, snakes from the dried pond and play with them. They also participate in the fishing event. It is also a pleasant moment for the villagers to watch different kinds of fishes in a same place. They gossip each other about the taste of different fishes and their cooking preparations.

I enjoyed this event a lot and spent about an hour with them as well as tried to pick some moments of their event and joy.

The way to the village looking very illusive in the foggy morning. But It was unrevealed due to shortage of time.