Few destinations in eastern India reward the curious traveller quite like the twin anchors of Balurghat and Bangarh in Dakshin (South) Dinajpur district. This is not a place of manicured tourist trails or packaged heritage walks. It is a corner of Bengal where mustard fields blaze yellow in January, the Atreyee River catches the light at dusk, migratory birds wheel over Pala-dynasty lakes, and the ruins of one of ancient India’s great cities break quietly through the soil near the banks of the Punarbhaba.