Today me and my friends had a chance to visit the BARD of Comilla. BARD stands for Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development. This works with the poor people all around. You can learn more about BARD from wikipedia. Also if you have more time, it is better to read it from BARD’s own website which is governed by the Bangladesh government.
Anyway, I think we had enough of an introduction. It’s a lovely place to visit. If you have plenty of time in your hand then I’d suggest you visit BARD. But if you are running out of time, and you have a lot of other places to cover from Comilla, in that case my suggestion is Do not enter BARD, and schedule another day for it. This place is cool and calm, and it’d force you to stay there for more and more, in that case you may miss a few other places.
It would require permission to enter the BARD. They used to provide entry for everyone a long time back. But now they are strict about it. So, at first the security guard won’t allow you to enter the BARD. We didn’t have any permission, and after a heartiest request from us, their security gave us access. But it may not work for you. So better arrange a permission before reaching there.
Inside the BARD you’d find several places to spend your time. For example at the cafeteria, at the tennis ground, or other playgrounds. Also there are two places available inside BARD, one is Nilachal and another is Banasree. You can spend the whole day there, and enjoy your time. If you are in a group of 3/4 people then it’s one kind of fun. And if you are with a large group then that’s another fun.
How to go
You can reach Comilla by bus or train. It’s approximately a 2 hours bus or train journey. I went there by bus. From my experience, Asia Lines and Tisha are the two affordable transport facilities that you can use. It will cost you 110 Taka per person.
The final destination of the bus is Comilla town, but it will be better for you to get off from the bus at Comilla cantonment. Because it’s nearer from Comilla cantonment rather than Comilla town.
From the cantonment, take a CNG driven auto rickshaw, it will cost you 70 to 80 Taka to reach the BARD. Just tell the driver that you want to go to the BARD. Remember, they will ask for 120 to 150 from you for this. Alternatively there is a mini bus transport available that goes through the cantonment, it will cost you 10-15 Taka to reach at BARD. Within 10 to 15 minutes you’ll reach BARD. GPS coordinate is (23°26’1.72″N, 91° 7’59.32″E).
Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD),
Village: Kotbari,
District: Comilla,
Country: Bangladesh,
GPS coordinate: (23°26’1.72″N, 91° 7’59.32″E)
Written by Lonely Traveler,
For blog alonelytraveler.com
Saturday, 03 April 2010
nice