gorai pagoda

the road seems the same one that in a generation gone by shyam, babu and me used to bicycle to the beach on. carrying our hired or our own bikes over the creek on the ferry it was our idea of adventure in the summer holidays. even some of the landmarks on the road are the same, the mess of rickshaws huddles at the ferry, the black slippery stone, the craggy outcrop of rock somewhere on the way and the dark green mangroves on both sides. but there have been many changes too. no longer could i see any of the slimy salamanders that lined the shores, and the brackish water was much cleaner then. this was before esselworld and water kingdom were built, and even today they seem like surreal islands of pleasure and entertainment in the landscape. a huge buddhist pagoda fashioned on a burmese model is being built adjacent to these adding an even stranger juxtaposition to the landscape. 90 meters is the internal diameter it is only 1/3 complete and already rises over the mangroves. to be covered in gold it is the center piece of a complex of meditation halls, hostels and other facilities for the temple. kuntal, mukul and me walked to the top of the pyramid as it is being built climbing stairs inscribed in the sandstone walls. the dome it seems is completely load bearing, built in stone and lime mortar. inside the unfinished interior hall reverberates with the inadvertent sounds of meditating men and women. i counted 104 courses of stone that rise up to a gold keystone at the center housing the relics of the buddha.