Anunoy's Travel bLoG

The Seashell Seller Girl

2012-02-29T21:58:00.006+05:30

I consider life much more dramatic than our legendary Raj Kapoor’s films and similarly more varied than the mighty Mahabharata. Luckily human brain preserves only the creamed part of it and the rest keeps on getting recycled each and every moment. Few days back after I read about an Indiblogger contest “Around the world with Expedia” (http://www.expedia.co.in ), almost fifty events flashed in my mind where I had been lucky enough to interact with some strangers in different locations of the globe starting from those fanatic days of infatuation to this robotic timeline I’m living off late. I remembered glue stuck gazing at the blue eyed school girl named Manali in the Shimla tour in my schooldays to the grey haired British gentleman whom I had come across very recently in my trekking to Mukinath. But finally when I decided to blog and I had one option (perhaps) to pick up from a flooded head, an incident crept up and crawled out like the lettuce seeking larva of a caterpillar. The venue was beautiful but not among those glamorous ones of its type… well many of you must be familiar with the beach city Puri of Odisha which is undoubtedly more appealing to Hindu pilgrims than crazy beach lovers. It happened long back… long before I had the lethargy of Mastercard… even before the rising trend of digital photography…

One day back we had devoted the full day in bus trip to Sun temple at Konark, Lingaraj temple, Mukteswar temple in Bhubaneshwar, Caves at Udaygiri, Khandagiri etc. I don’t know exactly how much the Kalinga School of architecture or the aesthetic sculptural arts of Jainism and Buddhism could occupy my teenage mind but the English speaking guide’s narration about the sexuality in engraved contemporary life had certainly made me an avid listener along with a European travellers’ group. It was a hectic day of sight seeing, so me and my friend both had decided to allot the next day for some beach relaxation or in a young man’s word we both were panting for some beach fun. Like good souls we warmed up before the crack of dawn to witness the mesmerising sunrise on the beach with my modest Yashica fixed lens film camera. The sparsely populated beach comprising hand few enthusiastic tourists and some hat clad fishermen looks more photogenic with its wet golden sand. The freshness of the daybreak even masks the coarseness of the otherwise sand and one feels like standing still on the unruffled territory of neglected oysters for hours and hours in bare foot. With the first glimpse of rising sun when I fixed my eye behind the viewfinder to trap the red molten iron like curling waves, a naïve voice distorted my clicking spree, “Sir, take these beautiful seashells… only a rupee Sir…”. I was displeased for the unwanted interruption and turned my head to find a seven-eight years old girl with a packet full of shells pleading my friend. Oh it was not for me… at least the girl in the shabby frock had that much sense not to interfere in a photographer’s study. But once I put down my camera I need some recoil time. I became vengeful for a moment and thought of taking some fun out of my silly concentration breaker.
“Eh listen… what are you selling?” I tossed to the girl.
“Sir these are beautiful sea shells… look at this one…” she promptly handed over a somewhat large, pearly shining oyster shell to me.
It was mind stealing but I was determined not be fascinated by her goods, so I put my next query, “So what would I do with these shells?”
Her eyes widened as she replied, “You can decorate your house… like wall, mirror, handbag… Elder brother you can even make collection of these rare ones in my packet… trust me all your guests will be amazed by them…”
The ‘elder brother’ instead of ‘sir’ made me angrier. How dare the unknown idiot addresses me brother. The ragging spirit in the higher secondary boy rose to a higher level and so I said, “Can you show me some pieces which I can make with these useless shells?”
“Yes brother I’ll show you a Ganesh my mother had made out of these seashells yesterday…” she said.
I was enjoying it more, “Oh good… so where’s your house? Will it take much time for you to bring that?”
“No… no… just give me fifteen minutes… I’ll go and come back like these waves… meanwhile you can take some nice pictures of our sea…” she tried to assure. Now her advice to me felt like a harpoon at my back and the two words ‘our sea’ sounded like headmaster’s miser permission. All these similes were making me more and more unkind towards the little girl.
She ran few metres and again came back to tell something she had forgotten, “But one thing… even though you’ll like that Ganesh piece you can not buy it from me because my mother won’t sell it until my father returns from the sea… Ok?”
I found this hurting my ego more than ever before. How can a poor girl decide my buy who is supposed to beg me for the same! I simply nodded my head to let her run again. The second she vanished in the sand I called my friend, “Sanjay let us go back to our hotel… we can have some tea”
Sanjay relaxing few yards away in the coolness of the morning was totally unaware of my negotiations and plans. He looked surprised, “Why to the hotel buddy… we can take tea from these beach hawkers…”
I didn’t have time to explain him my vindictive action, so I dragged him by his hand and headed to our hotel which was just in front of the beach, may be some two hundred metres from where my ego was wounded. I was satisfied with the utter thought how that girl would react to find her morning customer vanished. I swore to myself to watch her face searching for me through binoculars from the roof of our hotel.

As soon as we approached the counter to ask for our room key the receptionist told politely to Sanjay, “Sir there’s a telegram from your home”.
What followed next was one of those worst nightmares. Sanjay was sitting on the floor, with a piece of paper washed out with streaming down drops of intense pain from his eyes… I was shocked and helplessly sitting beside him with an arm over his shoulder, ignorant of how to console a friend who has lost his father. Our trip had ended for sure… our belongings were eagerly waiting in our room to be packed up. Sanjay was speechless… his father didn’t die of any disease… it was the saddest death… he had committed suicide in the midnight! I was dumping our clothes and other goods one by one into our bags and simultaneously patting my silently moaning companion. I knew my duty at that point of time but had no single word in my lips to soothe the lamenting soul. It didn’t take long after that to checkout from the hotel. Seeing the graveness of our situation, the hotel manager himself arranged for a taxi to drop us to the railway station.
When our taxi left the hotel gate the seashell seller girl almost clutched our open window and screamed, “Hey brother stop… stop… how can you go like that?”
The manager sitting in the front row yelled at her and ordered the driver to ignore her. I don’t know what had overpowered me… I requested the driver, “Please stop the car… only a minute”
“Sorry sister for keeping you waiting for us… we’re leaving because something very bad has happened in our house… you keep this…” I told her while holding loosely a five rupees note.
The disappointed expression in her dry tanned face took a concerned motherly shape… without looking at the money in my hand she asked, “What bad has happened brother?”
It seemed to me that I had found a quantum of solace in those few words of sympathy. I really needed someone to talk to… to tell what we were undergoing. “My friend’s father has passed away” I spoke out like I was ready for it.
She quickly ran and came to the other rear window where Sanjay was sitting with a mountain of grief. She quickly offered a colourful showpiece of Lord Ganesh built from oyster shells of different size to Sanjay and told, “Oh brother don’t cry. Keep Him with you and He’ll manage the rest… my mother says that He never lets anyone to cry… He looks after all…”
May be Sanjay wasn’t touched as much as I was as he hardly knew of the morning incident and moreover he had something bigger to cry for, till then he was hesitant to take that gift from the girl.
The girl was adamant and he almost pushed it onto his lap, “Take Him brother, he’ll take all your sorrows and bless you all the joys… He’ll take full care of you”. Then she ran away from our car and got mixed with the crowd in the beach.
My voice had clogged… I couldn’t gather enough hatred to hate the selfish self embedded in me… I didn’t have enough courage to touch that poignant souvenir from the heart of a real human being… no I dared not… my hands were not so pure… I closed my eyelids as tight as I could but wild stream of remorse slipped out of them to touch my lips and remind me of my error…

Decades have passed… life has been through so many high as well as low tides as if rapidly filling up the pages of our individual Mahabharata… but within these pages dwell some stories those grab our heart… perspectives those make us stop our breath and think… and emotions those make us reflect. If we dig deep in some brave reminiscence we really find those true hidden gems, treasures worth rediscovering! Today, I felt so good narrating my bygone encounter with the seashell seller girl, whose name I wasn’t fortunate enough to know… but something I know for sure- I’m blessed to have met God in the seashore in those days when I was too small to recognise Him. God marks his presence in all those things which our ever growing immoral eyes fail to trace. This writing, although I’m submitting in a contest, it’s honestly not the hunger for those grand prizes of expensive luxurious trips… It’s my urge to have my real life story read by a number of friends… It’s more an apology to that cherubin of humanity and sincere gratitude for gifting me the flake of compassion which differentiates a beauty from a beast.

Kolkata Zoo

2012-02-01T17:39:00.012+05:30

Last week I went to the zoo in Kolkata with the pure intention of clicking some cool pictures of the inhabitants there. Other than the abundant food packets/plastics scattered there damaging the ecosystem seriously, the overcast sky deprived me from taking better photos! No more story to narrate about my brief walk inside the zoo, so I'm posting the photographs below without anymore introductory Bla-bLa and people who are interested to know more about our Kolkata Zoo can visit the Zoo Website: http://www.kolkatazoo.in

Mystic Mustang

2011-11-19T14:20:00.019+05:30

Diwali was creeping nearer and the desire to make a short trip somewhere with the excuse of celebrating the auspicious Diwali was budding in this Indian’s heart. Dushera leave had been exploited more than any official authority would permit, so chances of packing for Bardhaman (my hometown) was far beyond a foggy fantasy. Idea of solo travelling to nearby places didn’t give me much relief due to the brutal fact that I had consumed my travel budget for the quarter in the recent wildlife trip. But anyhow, I couldn’t afford to spoil my 3-4 off days sleeping in Nepalgunj. Luckily one of my Sri Lankan colleagues came up with the idea of travelling Mustang… after hearing about the place from her and doing a bit of Google search I couldn’t resist the temptation of being a part of three travellers’ group! By the end of last year (2010) when I went for Kathmandu-Pokhara trip I came over “Nepal Tourism Year 2011” advertisement in quite a number of places, the caption “Naturally Nepal – Once is not enough” had touched me most. I was overwhelmed to realise that I’ll be promoting this tagline by making a trip more than ‘once’ within these twelve months… and that also to Mustang which best symbolises the former part ‘Naturally Nepal’! Mustang is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal located in the north-central part of the country as a part of Dhawalagiri Zone. Wild, windy and harsh, yet strikingly beautiful land of Mustang bestrides the Himalayas and extends northward onto the Tibetan plateau preserving pure Tibetan traditions in its upper parts till date. Besides the trekking routes through the upper Mustang and along the Annapurna circuit in lower Mustang, the district is famous for the scenic villages in the lap of snowy peaks, innumerable fountains, waterfalls, springs, pilgrimage site of Muktinath and apple gardens/apple products of Marfa, seeing the images of which in internet may give you the feel of Ladakh!

Brief itinerary (24th Oct to 31st Oct 2011):
24th Oct:- Bus journey from Nepalgunj to Pokhara (overnight)
25th Oct:- Reach Pokhara, Local sight seeing, night stay at Pokhara.
26th Oct:- Pokhara to Beni by taxi, Beni to Ghasa by shared jeep, Ghasa to Jomsom by bus, night stay at Jomsom.
27th Oct:- Trekking from Jomsom to Muktinath, night stay at Muktinath.
28th Oct:- Muktinath Darshan, return to Jomsom by shared jeep, hopping around at Jomsom, night stay at Jomsom.
29th Oct:- Jomsom to Ghasa by bus, Ghasa to Beni by bus, Beni to Pokhara by taxi, night stay at Pokhara.
30th Oct:- Hopping around at Pokhara, Pokhara to Nepalgunj by bus (overnight).
31st Oct:- Reach Nepalgunj.

On afternoon 24th October’11 we (Me, Dr. Ridmi and Dr. Yohananth) took the bus for Pokhara. Unfortunately there’s no luxury bus available for this route (Nepalgunj-Pokhara), so had to put up with excessive noise, crowd, uninvited gush of wind through clattering window shields and miser leg-space for fifteen hours till we reached Pokhara next morning (25th Oct) right at seven. Now it’ll be quite unfair if I don’t speak few good words about this beauty ‘Pokhara’… Pokhara, situated in central Nepal, is nestled in a region of awesome natural beauty. The valley is filled with lush vegetation, swift flowing rivers and dotted with clear, shimmering lakes. Pokhara is blessed with the backdrop of one of the most dramatic sceneries in the world- a 140 Km of panorama made up of towering Himalayan ranges seen close enough to be touched on a clear day! It is the only place in the whole world from where one can enjoy the majestic view of 8000+ meters tall giants while comfortably sitting below 1000 meters above sea level! Out of the 14 highest mountains in the world (popularly known as eight thousanders) having elevation above 8000 meters, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and Manaslu can be seen from Pokhara. It was not the first time for me in Pokhara, so I knew quite a bit of this adventure hub. Tired of the cranky bus journey we needed to stack our luggage somewhere and freshen up. Now a word of caution for first time travellers- the moment you get down at Pokhara various taxi drivers cum ‘Dalals’ will approach you with appealing offers of accommodation. Just deaf ear them, take the cab for Lakeside where you’ll get plenty of options to choose one depending on your pocket. So it’s always better to know a few names of hotels so that you can pretend that your stay is already booked. We went to Lakeside to find my old stay Bonny Guest House which is a 2 minutes walk from the camping chowk. I surely wanted to rest for the first half of the day as I wanted to preserve my charge level for the main journey next day. Dipped in the intoxicating effects originating from the imaginations of Mustang, I hardly had interest to ramble around the valley to see its major tourist attractions like lakes, fall, caves, museums, temples, monasteries etc… but it was first time for Dr. Yoh… so had to dust off our lethargy as soon as we concluded the warm water shower with hot tea and light breakfast. In Pokhara, what I personally feel, once you have the tourist map, best way to travel is by hiring motorbikes which you get in abundance throughout the entire Lakeside road. Dr Ridmi, having familial allergy for motorbikes compelled us to hire three geared bicycles to re-experience the mountain roads (You never know when your luck gets sardonic)!

Very soon we reached Damside to the office of National Trust for Nature Conservation to make our trekking permit. Our destination Jomsom (district headquarter of Mustang) and Muktinath comes under Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) which is the largest protected area of Nepal. One needs to get a valid entry permit for travelling/trekking in any region under ACA. Permits can be obtained either from NTNC office at Kathmandu or Pokhara. Be careful, double fee is levied if you’re caught without a permit in any of the field checkposts. Anyway, why to think of such situation?… it’s always sensible to be a good example for others and spread the word about ecotourism with dignity. Official formalities were rapidly accomplished and then we rode to southwest of downtown Pokhara to visit the Devi’s fall, which is locally known as Patale Chango. It’s the most famous waterfall in Pokhara with gushing water splashing and making its way through the rocks. There is a cave known as Gupteshwor Mahadev Cave on the other side of the road which is popular for the different natural forms made from limestone deposits. We crossed the road to purchase the entry ticket of the cave. Gupteshwor Gupha is believed to be 5000 years old is one of the wonderful and largest caves in south Asia! After entering deep inside the cave we saw an Idol of Lord Shiva which has been formed naturally. Drops of water continuously dripping from the ceiling of the cave are its sure attraction. Once we passed through the tunnel, we found ourselves in a huge open space which is really a huge cavern inside and full of enormous rocks, without a track of soil inside and only small pebbles scattered everywhere! After few yards of scrambling through the darkness we found ourselves on the edge of crystal clean accumulation of water formed by the breathtaking Devi’s fall falling right from the top. We were solely exhausted by the time we were out of the cave… I had started feeling hungry… the time 2:30 PM and the similar idea of my travel mates seconded, rather exasperated my feeling… there was some uphill cycling waiting for us and we started pedalling like pro bikers to reach Lakeside in search of a good lunch menu.

After satisfying our satiety centre we returned our bikes to the vendor. It was 4:00 afternoon and I decided to end our first day (only day in the itinerary) at Pokhara by visiting the World peace pagoda. It is a massive Buddhist stupa located on a hilltop just above the Phewa Lake where huge idols of Lord Buddha from Japan, Sri Lanka and Thailand have been installed. As the route is from lakeside by boat, I was happy that we’ll be enjoying both boating and hiking in a same go, totally unaware of the fact how untimely my decision was! As it was our concluding affair for the day our pace took the shape that resembled more to that of octogenarian… soon (not very soon though) we reserved a boat and rowed our way for the other side of the lake from where we were supposed to hike. Phewa Lake, the second largest lake in Nepal is the centre of all attractions in Pokhara with its brightly painted wooden boats and sailboats which are ever-ready and perfect subjects for photography. When we reached the other side, at the starting of hiking point, sunset was imminent and we saw only two-three groups of travellers returning down the hill. Ignorant of the path to be climbed we were adamant to execute our plan. Fifteen-twenty minutes of hiking through the broken path, forest and dimming light made us to rethink about the possibility of our reaching the top. Some instruction board by Nepal tourism showing words of caution like, “Hike in groups”, “Hike only in daylight” etc coupled with our fatigued cuff muscles forced us to return back to our boat. It was neither pleasant, nor acceptable but a wise decision indeed. Our boatman was a charming young teenager… I requested him to stop the boat at Tal Barahi Temple which is located on a small island in the middle of Phewa Lake just offshore from the lakeside. Evening Aarti was about to start but the chap was in hurry to get back, so we returned after spending few minutes before the temple. Nothing much after that… tasted some ice cream in a popular parlour… sniffed the musical restaurant cum bars from outside… bargained casually for warm wears (a time-pass)… entered a departmental store to buy some dry foods and some utility goods which comes handy in trips to remote places… had ‘dinner’ with bakery products in a German bakery and strolled back to our hotel with heavy legs by 9:30. One of the hotel fellows narrated all possible adversities of our next day route (Pokhara to Jomsom), starting from riskiest off-roads to over-packed buses/jeeps etc and what not… Then when I heard that he himself have never been to the place, I blissfully went to bed.

We woke up late in the morning (26th Oct) as per my expectation. There remained a ‘simply not possible’ chance of reaching Jomsom in that very day if we thought of availing public bus service up to Beni (a place somewhere in between Pokhara and Jomsom from where one has to change the vehicle) after 8:30... so we agreed upon reserving a cab even at a hiked up rate which comfortably took us to Beni in little more than two hours. Drive along the under-maintained road alongside the Seti River was pleasant. Having finished our lunch with non-vegetarian Nepali thali our actual off-road journey began! Beyond Beni all the places are tourist destinations, so from Beni onwards public transportation rate differs for Westerners, SAARC tourists (in practicality only Indians come in this half safe side category!) and Nepalese citizens. I was unaware of this fact till then, so my Hindi conversation with the counter men costed me higher fare rate as decided for the Indians, which I realised when I paid for the second half of the journey at Ghasa once again at Indian rate. But after that I was fully conscious to use only Nepali language while purchasing further tickets and managed them all at low local rate. From Beni our Jeep started ascending off-road along the meandering Kali Gandaki River. The path was a combo of all badness a driver wants to avoid in daily driving... our wheels crossed stones, mud, steep ascents, escaped hanging giant rocks and a marginal risk of sliding down the river at every second of the beautiful bumpy four wheel drive! We passed through mountain villages, crossed so many hanging metal bridges connecting villages over two different hills and a lot more fountains, some of which our jeep had to pass even as they were flowing down the only motorable path. Just imagine of a moment you are sitting by the open window of your jeep and the high flowing fountain water knocks your door with its full glory misting your vision with the splashing out tiny water droplets... surely you’ll feel like you’re in heaven! Most of the passengers got down at a middle place called Tatopani. We reached Ghasa, the entry point of Mustang district in 3-4 hours. There we boarded a minibus which safely dropped us Jomsom in another 3-4 hours. At first we were hesitant to take minibus for such risky route but there was no jeep available soon. Later we rejoiced the journey though. Our permits were checked and stamped at Ghasa and very soon after we left the place we got the magnificent snow clad Himalayan view which kept luring us throughout the journey till sunset. It was a first time experience of being so close to those white glossy peaks. Slowly the temperature lowered which forced us to insulate more. The angry river never left us alone. It was really difficult to photograph all those beautiful moments my eye had sipped due to the jerky drive. I got engrossed in the ongoing live documentary to silently watch our minibus crossing some shallow tributaries, apple gardens, charismatic setting sun, fading frozen summits and finally reaching the cute little town of Jomsom before 7:30 PM... The sound of raving Kali Gandaki River mixed with whistling wind as we got down at Bus Park in the darkness of the air instilled a spirit of adventure in us. We walked some hundred metres crossing a small bridge to get a descent accommodation which resembled more to a home-stay with a big board that read ‘Hotel Jomsom Paradise’. The coldness in the air and unavailability of warm water boxed out of our desire of taking bath and we succumbed to the warmth of the quilt just after sipping cups of tea, bread jam, chilly fried rice and dry chow-chow.

The morning (27th Oct) turned out to be cursed by cold northern wind. It was difficult to stand even for a minute on the terrace to observe the picturesque barren rocky mountains and snowy peaks all around us. The early rays of sun giving a prismatic effect over snow was something so alluring but then I realised that I couldn’t afford to lose my battery level as a whole day trek was just waiting for us in the coming hour. Momentarily I bid an adieu to the quivering coloured flags and orange stacks of ‘to be dried’ corns on surrounding flat wood piled rooftops and got ready for Muktinath trek in ice cold water of the taps. After reaching the jeep-stand we finally decided to trek uphill for Muktinath. We were almost in tight denims (make it a point to wear some loose trouser while trekking), without any trekking shoe (sport shoes are really not capable when it comes to trekking), had no trekking sticks (they come real handy in steep ascents) and had enough luggage (most of which I had taken care of in my backpack) to fight against gravity!... and most importantly we commenced our trek not before 9 AM but with an objective of climbing an altitude of more than 1000 meters, completely unaware of the fact how dusty wind transforms to crusaders over the rocky cliffs after 12 noon! On the way we kept taking photographs of the reflecting mountaintops, crossed the calmed down shallow pebbly Kali Gandaki river and greeted joyfully to the fellow trekkers returning from Muktinath. Approximately in an hour or so we reached a village named Eklebhatti and purchased some energy drinks in a trekkers’ inn. There was no much ascent till then, so we were fully charged and restarted our power trekking after a five minutes break. Things were changing without our knowledge as we started munching heights. We had some dry fruits and biscuits from our stock while watching a village family crossing a long hanging bridge while carrying quintals of loads on their back. It was amazing to watch how easily a short statured woman carries a gas cylinder up the hill on her back without slightest sign of irritation in her face!... and yea they speak clear English too! I felt the urgency of using toilet as we reached Kagbeni in another hour, having lost our initial speed. Seeing the board ‘Dragon hotel restaurant & bar’ with a decent structure we went in. A picturesque village was posing itself down the valley which was visible quite nicely from the veranda of the restaurant. Having freshened up with energy drinks we resumed. But after Kagbeni the steep ascent began and it had past 12 noon. The sun overhead, dry-dusty northern wind was dehydrating us faster than we could anticipate and lack of trekking gears did the rest of the job of draining out our spirit. After sometime we found our water bottles empty... luckily a group of trekkers coming downhill generously helped us with their water supply! As the clock advanced I started feeling the heaviness of my backpack and hollowness of my sport-shoe. Almost same condition struck Dr Yoho. Gradually I understood that I was under the hex of Acute mountain sickness (AMS is a sickness that affects travellers at altitude above 2400 meters characterised by light headedness, fatigue, headache, loss of appetite, nausea, rapid heart rate, shortness of breath with exertion, sleeping difficulty etc. The faster one climbs to a high altitude, the more likely he’ll get AMS! Symptoms depend on the speed of climb and how hard the climber exerts himself. AMS is due to a combination of reduced air pressure and lower oxygen levels at high altitudes. To prevent AMS it is recommended to ascend slow may be 300-500 meters/day, not to exert oneself, eat high carbohydrate foods, take plenty of fluids, avoid alcohol and caffeine. Once you’re affected by AMS primary measure is to stay at the same height for 1-3 days as a measure of acclimatisation or if possible descend, take Acetazolamide tablet 250mg 12 hourly after consulting with a doctor)! It had past 3 afternoon and we were 2-3 kilometers away from our destination when we aborted our trek and reserved a passing by jeep (we were really lucky!) for the remaining bit of our journey. In 10 minutes the jeep jumped up and down quite a few times to drop us at Muktinath before it was 4:00 PM. We (except Dr Ridmi, who was even fit for completing the trek) didn’t have any fuel left in us to search for a good lodge, so we crawled into one which was just adjacent to the jeep-stand, with our baggages and altitude stuck health. Getting hot water was a fancy there too, so I kept on tossing on bed with dust coated skin, light head and ‘120 plus’ heart rate for the next twelve hours while Dr Yoho suffered from tightness of chest and clattering teeth (due to hypothermia). From inside our log cabin we could hear the local people celebrating Diwali tihar with traditional songs and music... quite a marvellous experience eh?...

We felt better next morning (28th Oct), although not completely recovered... and headed for Muktinath Darshan. Again there was few hundred metres to ascend. Muktinath is an important pilgrimage place for both Hindu & Buddhist. The holy shrine at Muktinath is in a grove of trees and includes a Buddhist Gompa and the pagoda style temple of Vishnu Temple, Containing an Image of Vishnu. The Pagoda style Muktinath Temple is symbol of the religious symbiosis between both Hindus and Buddhists, against a backdrop of incredible starkness one can sit and stare to the south the snow covered Annapurna range, or to the north the Tibetan plateau. Hindu believes that lord Vishnu got salvation from curse of Brinda here. Therefore he is worshipped as Muktinath (the lord of salvation). On the other hand Buddhists regard as Buddha. Buddhist worships Vishnu as Avalokiteshvara. The Temple depicts metal statues of lord Vishnu, goddess Laxmi, Saraswati, Janaki, Garuda, Lava-Kush and Sapta Rishis. We somehow managed to reach the temple at the base from where one has to hike some more height to reach the temple at a greater height. There was snowfall in the top temple, we heard. We were eager to go but our recent AMS hadn’t forsaken us completely; so, had to give up our religious endeavour (we took it as ‘God willing’). It is believed that one should visit this temple after completing pilgrimage of four special religious sites, Chardham Yatra of India! Once Pilgrimage journey made to this holy Muktinath, holy dip in the Kunda and bath beneath of 108 waterspouts “Muktidhara” is believed to bring about salvation (Moksha) and fulfill one’s wishes (but as I said earlier God had some other wishes for us, may be a ‘second visit’ some other time!). The Buddhist nuns take care of cultural heritage inside Muktinath temple. Unfortunately, photography inside Temple and Monasteries is strictly prohibited. Another attraction for the pilgrimage is the River kali Gandaki from where one can collect fossils of the prehistoric age popularly known as ‘Shaligram’. One may find such a stone within a few minutes or it may take hours and without success. Nevertheless, these fossils can be collected from the local people at a price. Shaligram is considered sacred and is kept in prayer room in the house. It is supposed to be symbol of Lord Vishnu. Then we bought some woollen caps and gloves from local handloom artists and walked down to our lodge by 11:00 AM to checkout and get down to Jomsom by jeep. The over-packed vehicle took 1 hour and 30 minutes to reach Jomsom. Coming down to 2720m from 3800m gave lungs full of relief for sure... after resting an hour in the hotel we went out to experience the town of Jomsom by 3:30 afternoon. The more we walked on the stony roads of the remote town, better we felt its distinctness from the rest of the world. The ideal harmony of wildness of its climate, bareness of its soil and tranquillity of its summits was an awesome evidence of Nature’s craftsmanship. There is apple tress in everybody’s garden... apples fall off from trees and roll on the ground like what we see with guava in plains! The airport at Jomsom has such a small runway that only a very experienced pilot can tackle. We tasted dried apple chips, local Marpha apple brandy and also bought some apples... Tibetan curio shops near the airport were too expensive to get a good deal. Hotels, lodges and homestays all around the main road showing how important role tourism plays on local economy... We couldn’t miss visiting the Jomsom Hospital with its hand few beds and basic facilities... the tiny medical store outside depicted the residual melancholy about the local health resources. Darkness surrounded faster than we had thought… it was our last night in Mustang in this trip, so we decided to take Nepali food once again for dinner in some simple nameless hotel (rather homestay) run by a past middle aged Jomsom lady… her blabbering while she cooked for us ‘hot & homely’ kept us wet with the aroma of Mustang and hospitality while serving us dinner acted as sauce to the plain food. Streets were blessed with either dim light or no light at all… so we returned to our hotel fast for the warmth of the wood and wool.

Morning (29th Oct) sky seemed slightly overcast… gulping few mugs of tea we rushed to catch the earliest morning bus of seven. The green minibus was already filled with other trekkers, travellers and hand few local people, so we were lucky to get three backseats just to experience the life of a ping pong ball for next 3-4 hours! Our bus started its journey late and along with that it stopped in all possible halts for all possible reasons ranging from delivering boxes of apple to some village market to picking up postal sac from some other remote post office, ultimately delaying us to reach Ghasa. There also the irony didn’t leave us at our fate for it took almost 3 hours for the next bus for Beni to depart while I passed my time crunching packets of chips, watching hundreds of passengers waiting with similar keenness and kids busy in their respective worlds. As the number of passengers waiting for the minibus was much more than it could accommodate I knew there would be survival of the fittest and I didn’t like to come to the weaklings group… but Western people can never compete with Subcontinent machos in some feats like hurrying into a bus/train breaking all etiquettes of a queue… so I ended up on some seat while watching a countless passengers in despair from inside the window shield who failed to be successful. We gave a hearty farewell to Mustang and our bus descended along the wild unpaved road with the rhythm of the accompanying river. There was some problem with the engine of the bus which forced the driver to drive extra-cautiously and halt at every turn and that in turn delayed our arrival to Beni to post 8:00 PM. The last bus to Pokhara had left long before, so we had to reserve a taxi like the last time and yea, the driver charged even more. We reached our hotel at Pokhara little before twelve and finished our supper which they had kept in hotpots like famine victims.

We lazily left our bed quite late in the morning (30th Oct), had tea and left for main bus terminal at Prithvi Chowk to book our bus tickets. Having reserved our seats we finished our breakfast in a sweet shop nearby… as we had 3-4 hours at our hand I thought of strolling by lakeside to pass some time and my co-travellers also wanted a bit of shopping. They bought trekking sticks (after finishing the trek!) as a sweet souvenir of our Muktinath trek. By afternoon 3 our shabby looking bus left Pokhara… after an uneventful and scratchy overnight journey we reached Nepalgunj before the first light of 31st October to resume ploughing our respective fields…
Before ending this travelogue, few more things I would love to tell you about ‘travelling Muktinath’ as Mukinath is a prime destination for a majority of tourists. Travellers willing to submit themselves to physical endurance test can only go there. There are several ways to reach Muktinath. Pokhara is well connected by road and regular flights to Kathmandu which has international airport. Either one can take a flight from Pokhara to Jomsom and then hike for 7-8 hours from Jomsom to reach Muktinath or trek all the way from Pokhara through Kali-Gandaki valley which takes a week approximately. Bus & Jeep Services (shared/reserved) are available from Pokhara to Jomsom via Beni, Ghasa correspondingly where one has to change the vehicle and it takes about 11-14 hours. In the daytime at Jomsom, shared jeep services (depending on passenger availability) are available for Muktinath which takes around 2 hours. Helicopter services are also available from Pokhara & Kathmandu. Actually, there are plenty of ways a traveller can travel, depending on his time and budget… but above all, the devotees believe that one should have the blessing of the Lord to reach to His holy place.

Glimpses of Dooars

2011-10-11T12:44:00.001+05:30

You take the ‘hot & sour’ pain of cruising hundreds of kilometres of potholed highway blistering your butt baking your backbone… and then finally your black rubbers touch the road through the undulating hill slopes, widespread mushrooming green tea gardens divided by babbling mountain brooks, sky-scraping Sal forests fortifying the humble tribal settlements, vast grazing lands with royal presence of the great Himalayan ranges in the very horizon as a natural backdrop kissing the clear blue sky, you should be delighted to realise that you’re driving into Dooars! This green beauty stretching herself from River Tista on the west to River Sankosh on the east, over a span of 130 km by 40 km along the foothills Himalayas occupies a major part of Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, offers the tourists miraculous scenery with wildlife-rich tropical forests and enthralling sight of river-valleys-hills which can be the experience of a lifetime! Derived from the word 'doors', Dooars acts as a gateway to Bhutan and the North-Eastern states of India. Unfortunately “Dooars” is the very word that made our 2011 Durgapuja holiday trip a Semi-flop (Wait, I’ll tell the reason little later)… No it’s not that we didn’t enjoy our tour but sadly we couldn’t make optimum use of those three days (excluding two full day drive of around 570 kilometres each on some real bumpy road) which we had squeezed out after a dozen of ‘yes’ and ‘no’s at different dates from different family members till the journey actually materialised (yea, arranging a family trip is twenty-five times harder than a solo trip)…

After I came back to Bardhaman, three-four days prior to our journey date I had to look for a proper vehicle to comfortably accommodate four of us plus the driver. I was largely diffident to take our car for this trip due to the pathetic road conditions which I had witnessed during my last ride and my notion that paying for a hired vehicle keeps one away from the probable headaches of a car owner. It was not as easy as I thought. Getting a good car took some good litres of sweat out of me as during Puja taxi owners prefer to keep their motors under their arms to exploit the freaky demand of lucrative local Puja-parikrama lovers. Our trip was getting uncertain and this forced me to incline for ‘self drive on own vehicle’ idea till I managed to get one Mahindra Scorpio for a steep rate just one night before the scheduled journey.

On 2nd Oct we left for North Bengal by morning 9:30 with Bappa, a young man as our driver. We were late in commencing our journey which we realised only after we reached Aambari (where our guest house had been booked) the next day 4:10 AM. The route we took: Bardhaman – Guskara – Sainthia – Rampurhat – Nalhati – Morgram – Farakka – Malda – Raiganj – Dalkhola – Islampur – Bidhannagar – Ghoshpukur – Phasidewa – Aambari (Distance = 571 Kilometres). Somehow the agony of ‘Semi-flop’ status of the trip is off-putting my writing extravaganza and so I express my regret for not writing the day to day details of the tour which I had done in my previous blog posts. I’ll only write about the highlights here while providing you with the photos which are surely some potent analgesics to my pre mentioned agony. Before I proceed further I feel I should let you know how our trip became ‘Semi-flop’ (which off course we came to know only after reaching Aambari)… As I’m mostly out of Bengal I had given the responsibility of booking our lodging long back to an acquainted who lives in Kolkata. Owing to his lack of knowledge about the tourist interests of the area he had mixed the word Jaldapara (which I had told him on phone) with Doars and accordingly had booked a (any, I suppose) forest department guest guest house at Aambari which was not only outside Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary but also away from it some 110 Kilometres! So at that point only the fantasies of dwelling amidst Asiatic one horned rhinoceroses vanished like an unfaithful genie. We were damn tired of the long drive and didn’t get an better alternative to falling asleep ASAP and remain so till next day noon time. The range officer was empathetic of our situation when he came for a courtesy visit on 3rd afternoon before we had taken our lunch. He gathered information from his fellow officers and as expected, the government lodge inside the sanctuary had no vacancy. But the gentleman did something for us which added motion to our ceased spirit once again. That day itself as per his advice and arrangements, after a sumptuous lunch and a nap in the wooden bungalow we made our way out for Neelbari (a place close to Indo-Bhutan border, some 15-20 Kilometres from Madarihat which is the entry point of Jaldapara) by 6:00 evening. Like the previous day, the problem with head light crawled in again in the middle over dark NH31. After some struggle we reached Neelbari range by 10:00 PM, covering a distance of 119 Kilometres and occupied the Eco-cottage after some light dinner. There the range officer booked our next day morning elephant ride at Jaldapara and having spent a full day fruitlessly we went to bed.

In the morning (3rd Oct) we witnessed a mesmerising sunrise from the side of tea gardens over the clearly visible high mountain ranges. Dew wet tea leaves on both side of the road instilled the morning freshness which acted as caffeine to our nerve and made us to rush for Jaldapara with added vigour. It was a unique sweet feeling of driving the Scorpio into the Sanctuary after taking the necessary permit. Till we reached Hollong lodge, my eyes alternately moved left to right and the vice versa in case any inhabitant of the jungle pop its head or even tail out of the green curtain but it was in vain. Hollong is 5-6 Kilometres inside the main entrance. Again the aggregation of so many elephants in front of the guest house was so picturesque… especially the breastfeeding baby elephant. Soon our elephant ride began. Our elephant entered into the forest in a couple of seconds. Sitting on the top of a royal creature and swinging our body with its unique elephantine rhythm is another pleasant sensation. The elephant will take you inside the forest till the density of the tress and their branches caress your skin all over the body and you feel somewhat uncomfortable to manage the passing by branches dying hard to lick your body. We could spot Sambar (the largest of Asiatic deer) and Rhinos (Asiatic one horned rhino) only and honestly speaking, I was satisfied with the luck. After our elephant ride was over, suddenly I saw the Range officer hurrying with a group of staffs towards the back of the lodge and came to know that a naughty rhino has entangled the telephone wire of the campus into one of his limb and escaped with the communication medium! Fortunately the wire could be extracted out of him without the use of anaesthesia. I was happy again… Oh let not forget few basic facts about Jaldapara… This vast grassland with patches of riverside forests, was declared a sanctuary in 1943 for protection of the great variety flora and fauna. The Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary is a fusion of a variety of woods, grassland, swamps and streams which covers an area of 216.51 sq km. Drained by rivers like Torsa, Malangi, Hollong, Chirakhawa, Kalijhora, Sissamara, Bhaluka and Buri Torsa, the Sanctuary provides widespread grassland which is safe haven to a wide variety of mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds. During the monsoon (usually June 15-September 15) the sanctuary remains closed to tourists.

Sun was getting overhead to squash out our morning pulp. Enquiring for the jungle safari (by jeep) was the second thought in my mind, first being lookout for a decent place for a late breakfast. Later on when I went to the jeep booking counter I found the office closed till that time and no forest personnel nearby could tell me the exact time of its opening. Although the jeep safari was arranged by the Hollong Ranger it couldn’t be done that very day as my mother was not feeling well in the afternoon and in a family trip I didn’t prefer to enjoy any amenity individually… After our breakfast we went to South Khayerbari Park (Animal rescue and rehab centre), about 10-15 kilometres away from Madarihat. There I couldn’t dare to miss out the leopard safari in a battery operated vehicle. Seeing the same leopard from inside and outside of the cage are so different! There were two leopards in that compound. One of them chose to remain inside its concrete shelter whereas the other kept giving pose for my amateur photography like a pro model… my hundred kisses and prayers for her wellbeing. Next we saw a roaring (or was it just conversing with his mate?) tiger from quite a close proximity. Being oblivious of a hat and sunscreen was really punishing us… having sipped coconut water and after few more clicks we came out of the park by mid afternoon. Putting the cooling meter to maximum we drove for Dhupjhora (a place situated at the bank of Murti River, some 10 kilometres away from Lataguri).

The awesome scenic drive from Moynaguri to Dhujhora took us to our resort at South Park by evening 6:00 and watching the dusk engulfing Murti River was a big bonus to happily end the day, after clocking a mild 60 kilometres in the entire day. The enchanting view of the orange sunrays drowning into the pebbly river was not just the asset we could procure from this drive but the yard close encounter with a giant tusker that crossed our road while we stopped in the middle of Lataguri and South Park was the best award we could get! We had actually stopped our vehicle in that charming road to take few snaps… little did we know that a massive elephant will appear from nowhere with his ivory load at few yards away from us from one side of the road and give us a curious look to scare us like hell. I had every chance of capturing that priceless frame in my memory card but the imminent fear of that jungle king attacking our motor like a matchbox drove us running into the doors forgetting every other reasons. But then the elephant steadily crossed the highway and entered into the forest in the opposite side. I repented later for missing such a wonderful chance of clicking… what I could do atmost was to click the crossing elephant from inside the windscreen in the falling daylight simply to get a blurred and noisy photograph. After reaching our destination we found our booked cottage to be neat and clean and about 10 kilometres far from the entrance of Gorumara National Park at Lataguri which we had crossed while going there. We finished the homely dinner by 9:30PM as an amazing jeep safari into Gorumara National Park was waiting for us in the following morning.

The jeep driver knocked us awake before the crack of dawn and we couldn’t get ready before 5:20AM. Standing on an open Maruti Gypsy is always of extra ruff and tuff delight and just imagine how much it had been at the very daybreak on a wax smooth road in the middle of a forest, surrounded by innumerable wild inhabitants! I got the necessary permits from the ticket counter outside the Gorumara National Park and began our safari for Chukchuki tower (some 10-12 kilometres inside the Park) with our allotted guide. Honestly speaking I found this jeep safari much less “a journey close to nature” than the elephant ride… after all who is the bloody pervert among those wild creatures who would prefer coming close to the sound of jeep engine and disagreeable whiff of its exhaust in that infinite green zone! But off course if you think it as a drive then it is very scenic with lots of leafy aroma and oxygen to rejuvenate your city tampered lungs and brain. May be jungle is the only place where you fall in love with a bouncy drive. While going in we couldn’t spot any animal… luckily we saw a gaur (Indian Bison) from the top of the watch tower who came to take his ration from the salt pit. A spotted deer appeared near the bison from behind the curtain of shrubs and disappeared equally fast to deprive us from taking a shot. We spent some time there, walking around the observatory tower and then returned to our jeep. The guide showed us a peacock behind a bush while cruising out of the jungle but it was too veiled by the leaves to appear in my camera sensor. Goddess of luck had more to endow us with… just then a full size peacock crossed our road… we felt ‘being amidst wildlife’ once again!

After lunch we made our way back for Ambari once again as there was no better alternative than resting in the second half of the day to stay prepared for the long return trip to home in the following day. While returning I spent some time (or should I say quality time?) hopping on the shallow and crystal clear water of river Murti. It was pure fun watching the local kids swimming on that knee high water. Eventually I had to put a full stop to my water bliss as the sun above was least sympathetic to this poor tourist. The rest of the day was sheer uneventful apart from the scrumptious supper at Ambari forest guest house. As decided earlier we commenced our journey back to Bardhaman sharp at 4:45 AM morning, on 6th Oct. To our delight we were munching more kilometres with respect to the clock and could reach Malda city by late noon… so thought of being a guide for others to a short 1 hour trip of Gour which I had visited few weeks earlier on my motorcycle. Everybody enjoyed the result of my idea which gave me some extra fulfilment. Our plan of a night halt at Nalhati to give a visit to the famous temple of Nalhateswari was messed by an uninvited ill-occurrence. A white young goat came in front of our scorpio before the driver could act. One of its hind limb got fractured… we were surrounded by a huge group of villagers, 99% of whom were damn inclined to watch the drama of futile arguments and unjustified claims. In such situation sometimes you are compelled to accept the unjustified demand of the ‘victim’… a big joke anyway… we had to agree to that thinking of our vehicle’s good health. But then we had lost our mood of lengthening our trip and hence decided to return to Bardhaman. By 7:00 PM evening we were safely inside our home, straightening our vertebrae on the bed, fairly dipped in the lingering smell of the majestic jungle and partly trying idly to dissociate the fatigue of being a co-driver cum tourist for a yummy distance of 1483 kilometres…

This trip of Doaars has been so curtailed and superficial (that’s the reason I’ve titled this travel post ‘Glimpses of Dooars’)… but I’m a happier traveller at the moment… wondering why? Because now I’m with an augmented appetite of travelling Dooars exhaustively and I’m much more information loaded which will aid to my foresaid statement! It’ll be really hard to refrain from the seduction of the Chapramari wildlife sanctuary, Buxa Tiger Reserve, Chilapata forest, Totopara and so on… but I’ve to wait patiently till Time gives me the necessary freedom. Respond to the songs of birds and call of wild animals… make a trip to the exhilarating land of Dooars… be the proud owner of some priceless memoirs… for sure you’ll relish throughout your life.

Biking to Murshidabad & Malda

2011-09-07T11:14:00.059+05:30

The consideration of touring Murshidabad didn’t overwhelm me merely because of the historical facts coupled with it. Yea I may sound crude if I confess that I’ve nothing to do with its being the once upon a time capital of undivided Bengal during the Mughal rule or its glory in those days under the whims of Nawabs of Bengal. Similarly the production of mango and silk, for which Malda is notable for didn’t really appeal my senses. A couple of months back I had made a day-ride to the temple town of Bishnupur, after that I had (rather, had to) been squeezed like a crushed sugarcane for the following months. My tongue was out (thinking it over-exaggerated?) like a summer dog and soul started behaving like an unfaithful lady, before I got a break of few days. Men can act doggish, so the former condition was not much of a woe, but how could I live soulless (please don’t take any pun out of it)… This time also I didn’t have much days in hand, 4-5 days were all I could fancy for, so being an ardent addict of hill stations couldn’t think anything except availing Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and spend a couple of days in Darjeeling and Kalimpong each. But, like every time, what I plan doesn’t materialise, I came to know that the toy-train service from New Jalpaiguri station to Darjeeling had been suspended since last year to indefinite period due to landslide and some construction works! Great… no DHR means no Darjeeling tour. Second idea clicked was a biketrip to Ayoddhya Hills. But after some discussion with few prudent heads it turned out to be a very unsafe place due to unpredictable Maoist activities. By then I was determined to make this trip, wherever may it be only on my motorcycle. A nostalgic breeze blew touching my head… I was born in Malda and spent first two years of my life in Murshidabad (Jangipur)… Eureka! It can be real fun riding to a place lying on the bank of Bhagirathi River, showcasing the remnants of royal architectures, free from glossy city life and comprising the simplicity in its air and population. Similarly, on doing a little bit study on Malda revealed before my eyes the significance of places like Gour and Pandua and also its location near the confluence of the Mahananda and Kalindi rivers… I apologise for dragging this intro so long… Now let me narrate you about my solo motorcycle trip to Murshidabad and Malda, covering a total distance of 768 kilometres in 5 days (29th Aug to 2nd Sep 2011) in the subsequent paragraphs.Day 1 (29th Aug, 2011)

Route:- Bardhaman - Katwa - Crossing the River by a boat - Ballavpara - Debogram - take NH34 - Plassey - Beldanga - Bhabta - Sargachi - Behrampur (Distance= 130 KM)

The last day I had planned to commence my ride as early as possible, as soon as the first glow of dawn can be glimpsed through the window panes. But it took some good time to pack my goods and then the pre-journey excitement that ran down my spine didn’t let me sleep up to late hours, rather midnight. Owing to these factors my waking up time as decided shifted from 3:45 AM to 5:15 AM! It was OK, I had nothing to regret, just that a bit more tease from the scorching sun was in my fate… having finished my morning formalities started my journey at 6:25 AM. There was no headache of looking for a petrol pump as I had taken that responsibility the last evening. There was nothing mentionable occurred up to Katwa other than my sudden discovery of that old narrow gauge train which once used to run between Bardhaman and Katwa. I noticed it whistling and marching along the paddy fields just few kilometres before reaching Katwa. That made me desperate to take her snap, which eventually made me ride like a reckless biker, jumping over few speed breakers… Unfortunately she drifted away from the road and meandered into green and I couldn’t see her again before reaching Katwa station. On enquiring about that train local guys told that presently it runs only between Balgona and Katwa. On reaching ferry Ghat a number of motorcycles were visible waiting for the boat. It was first time for my bike to enjoy a boat ride, so my confidence level which was low earlier got somewhat boosted by their abundance. As soon as the boat arrived, people with goods and cycles started rushing and I understood my duty. But there was no proper inclined slab to pull the bike onto the boat and it got struck in the middle, making me totally helpless. Those boat staffs seemed to be prepared for such situations only… they came and lifted my vector by its limb guard grill and back and pulled it over like any other big luggage! This adventure of misfortune didn’t leave me so early. The river was dried in the middle, with water on both sides. So the bike had to be pulled once again over another boat and this time it was a small boat carrying three bikes along with some 10-12 passengers.Only I know how I felt, until my engine crawled over to the solid road on the other bank. In half an hour I reached Debogram and took the NH34. What I assumed of a NH it turned out to be exactly different. Road was full of potholes, which were either two large or too deep. Moreover there’s no place for bike and its biker, every time a truck comes from the opposite side, you’ve to get down the road, doesn’t matter how, to save yourself from seeing the hell. After all these I don’t think I’ve to inform you further that there’s no divider and it is a two way crappy road. In Beldanga there was a long jam of big vehicles which gave me a chance to sip some fruit juice. After a couple of hours of struggle, reached Behrampur at around 11 AM. Again it took some 15-20 minutes to search the Forest dept guest house (at Laldighi). There the room turned above my expectation, freshened up, had lunch and opted for a catnap.The tourist inside me got up and compelled me to put on the helmet again to head for Lalbagh at around 2:30 afternoon. Lalbagh was not far, just 12 Km from my guest house. It was a sheer pleasure to ride along the bank of river Bhagirathi. In the middle, it started drizzling which farther intensified the ecstacy of this solo rider. Stopped in the middle so many times to watch boats passing by or the ripples created by the shower drops while kissing the surface of the river… finally reached my destination in an hour. There was no second thing to do after that than visiting so many famous historical structures and locations one by one at a sluggish pace. Most of those places contain the information board by Archaeological Survey of India from where it was easy to note info about them (provided you ignore their innumerable wrong spellings and grammar at times).

1) Hazarduari Palace – The palace is popularly called ‘Hazarduari’ as it contains about thousand real and false doors. It was built during the time of Nawab Nazim Humayun Jah (1829-37 AD) at a cost of 16.5 Lakhs. The palace was designed by Colonel Duncan McLeod who also supervised its construction. The building, rectangular in plan, standing on the east bank of Bhagirathi is a good example of Indo-European architecture, strongly reminiscent of Italian style. The Durbar hall with its lofty dome, adorned with fine stucco ornamentation, is the most attractive feature of this monument. It now houses a museum displaying the collections of Nawabs consisting of furnitures, oil paintings, arms, statues, rare books and manuscrips (But don’t know why an oil painting named “Bacchus and Ariadne” was getting largest stares! I tell you I’m not in a sarcastic mood though…)
2) Imambara – This largest Imambara of Bengal was constructed during Nawab Nazim Feradun Jah under the supervision of Sayed Ali Khan in 1847 AD at a cost of rupees 6 Lakhs. Only six to seven months were required to complete this monumental construction. This rectangular building is divided into three equal blocks, each with a large quadrangle. It was erected to replace the celebrated imambara of Siraj-Ud-Daulah and adorned in the same fashion.
3) Tomb of Azimunnisa Begum – This ruined mosque was built by Azimunnisa Begum, daughter of Murshid Quli Khan and wife of Nawab Shuja-Ud-Daula. Like her father she is also buried under the staircase. It bears similarities with the Katra mosque in its architectural plan and designs.4) Mir Jafar’s Cemetery5) Nashipur Palace

6) Jagat Seth’s House7) Katgola Garden
8) Katra Mosque – Raised on a lofty platform, it is the most oldest and imposing Islamic architecture at Murshidabad. According to an inscription on the doorway, it was built by Nawab Murshid Quli Khan, the founder of Murshidabad in 1723 AD. Its importance lies not only as a great centre of Islamic learning but also for the tomb of Murshid Quli Khan who was buried under the entrance staircase. The most striking feature is the two large corner towers with loopholes for musketry.9) Jahan Kosha Canon – The great canon known as Jahan Kosha or the World sub-duer lies as a solid testimony of the metallurgical skill of the Bengali blacksmith Janardan who made it. It weighs more than seven tons! According to an inscription engraved on it, it was made at the instance of Subadar Islam Khan during the reign of Shah Jahan in 1637 AD.These were enough for the first day as the darkness engulfed the evening air, adding to my exhausted body and lethargic mind. Decided for an early dinner and returned to my nest by 8:15 PM. Having munched 180 KM in the first day and a tummy full meal, I fell asleep very soon.

Day 2 (30th Aug, 2011)

My second day started at 6:45 AM with stiff and painful arms. It was the gift of Jumbo cool mode of the cooling imp which affected the fatigued muscles. The moment I got down from bed… Ouch… one of my right toes ached like anything… there was a shoe-sore… I needed to bandage it to be able to put on my shoes and walk freely. Having taken some dry-fruits breakfast, by 8:00 AM I made my way out for Lalbagh once again. My plan for the day was to cross the river at Lalbagh to reach Khoshbagh, then from there take the road to Azimganj through the villages, hopping over a few places of interest on the way, to reach Baranagar which is approximately 3 KM from Azimganj, visit the beautiful temples there, come back to Azimganj to cross the river to reach Jiaganj, visit Jain temple, come back to Lalbagh by road to visit the remaining spots which I couldn’t cover the last evening and finally to return back to Behrampur. My motorcycle had to be carried by the boat again, but by this time my mind had got conditioned to such mode of transportation… may be I was loving it!

1) Khoshbagh – It means “the garden of happiness”, the burial ground of the last Nawabs of Bengal. In the centre of a large walled compound, there is a square shade with three enclosures, on a big platform. Inside the enclosure, the cemetery of Nawab Ali Vardi Khan and his grandson Siraj-Ud-Daula are located. There is also a mosque and small burial ground for female members of Nawab Family.2) Tomb of Shuja Uddin Khan – The place is also called Roshinibagh, i.e- the garden of lights, hosts the mosque erected by Shuja Uddin Khan. There his tomb lies nearby. You’ll find this on the route to Azimganj from Khoshbagh.3) Jagadbandhu dham4) Charbangla Temple – After crossing Azimganj, I had to ride for few more kilometres to reach Baranagar. The road between Azimganj and Baranagar is too narrow, broken and fully dominated by mechanised rickshaw vans. The path gets tolerable only near the temples. These temples lie on the bank of river Bhagirathi. These four temples enclosing a small courtyard were built by Rani Bhavani of Natore. Each temple has three arched openings and three Shiva Lingas. Richly decorated, their facades illustrate the best in the ornamental brickwork of Bengal. The Eastern temple is decorated with delicate plaster work. The decorative themes which vary are mainly derived from Hindu epics and puranas.
5) Bhavanisvar Temple – The pious and charitable Rani Bhavani of Natore who passed the later days of her life in this village built this temple with several others. Dedicated to Siva and remarkable for its height and unusual style it is an octagonal structure with domed interior and a corridor with sloping roof. In many places, it still retains the original ornamentation on plaster.6) Rambagh (a Jain temple)7) Dadasthan Temple – After visiting Rambagh I went back to Azimganj to cross the river and reach Jiaganj which lies just opposite to it. It was not hard to locate Dadasthan temple (another Jain temple) but on reaching there the caretaker pointed to a board where the entry time was written (7:30-10:00 AM & 4:00-5:00 PM), where as that time my clock showed fifteen to twelve. Rule is a rule… what could I do… I couldn’t afford to wait till four evening, so made a last self rescue attempt. I humbly informed that aged man that I’d been travelling from Bardhaman, all alone, on a two wheeled caterpillar. This information seemed to have molten him and he opened the gate sympathetically for the poor devotee. Finished visiting the temple had small chitchat and thanksgiving with the caretaker and few more staffs there and then throttled my way to Lalbagh as planned before.

8) Motijhil Jama Mosque – After reaching Lalbagh, I took a gentleman’s help to locate this mosque. It was founded by Nawab Md Nowajesh Ali Khan in 1750 AD.9) Motijhil – It is a horse-shoe shaped lake just adjacent to the above mosque.I was full with whatever I had seen and done till now, so headed back to Berhampur at around 2:30 PM. I had practically lost my appetite under the sun… so settled with lassi and caffeine drinks before jumping onto the bed. Although I couldn’t extract a proper afternoon doze and the pain had started spreading to shoulder and finger joints, but the falling evening created a guilt feeling against my resting desire. I had to leave the room with my camera and wallet by 6:00 evening. Having met the Range officer while going out, I enquired him about the room charge for two days. He hesitantly informed me of the recent steep hike in their tariff. I was not happy indeed but had to maintain my courtesy. He was nice enough to give me a little discount on the total. But again he was nagging enough to repeatedly advice me not to ride to Malda on a bike, rather I should take the train! I never argue when I’m in any tour, so thanked him and rode to a petrol pump. There was such a big queue of waiting two wheelers that it made me feel pity for the local bikers. My turn came in almost 18 minutes… no sooner I rushed towards the river bank to watch people running for boats under the glow of yellow street lights. I was pleased to take some night shots and ride few kilometres along the river bank road. What was more pathetic I felt was the worst condition of the entire road along the bank of the river, compared to the roads of the other parts of the city.Then went for some small purchases where the shopkeeper got shocked to hear that I was going to Malda the following morning on two wheels. Finishing my dinner came back to my room… 65+ KM in the whole day was a good dessert for this biker… warning of so many guys didn’t easily vacate my mind… anyhow I had to fall dead asleep… because next day could be a tough day (You never know!)…

Day 3 (31st Aug, 2011)

Route:- Berhampur - Cross the bridge to get NH34 once again - Morgram - Continue along NH34 till you reach Malda City - Farakka - Sultanganj - Sujapur - Malda (Distance= 137 KM)

The mobile alarm rang at 3:15 AM but failed to make me sit before 3:45 AM… Packed my baggage… refuelled my stomach with crunchy-dry breakfast and fruit juice… took a fast-forward shower and rolled out my wheels by 5:30 AM. The moment I crossed the bridge and put my tyres on NH34, the picture of the ‘going to be journey up to Malda’ became clear before my eyes. The road was in utter misery throughout the 137 KM stretch… it was dusty due to the passing by big wheels… Every time a bigger vehicle overtakes me or vice versa I had to pass through the curtain of dusty air stitched by their tail as if to cast a spell of blindness to this innocent biker! Mostly you can overtake all the vehicles (even four wheelers) there because all are busy to save their pipes and chambers from breakage. Only threat was the state transport buses… they drive real fast… committed to overtake everyone on their way and not to brake at any circumstances… You may see there’s no vehicle at your mirror in first instant… within a second or two you’ll probably find a red & black bus flying towards you! Whenever I faced such instances, I always got down the road and respectfully made way for the hauling monster (Here I’m criticising their mannerism as a biker but we shouldn’t forget that whenever we need to travel to any place we always put a Gov. bus as our first preference next to train, due to their fast service!). I started feeling cramps of hunger inside my belly, so stopped in front of a dhaba just before Farakka.It was impossible to rest there much longer due to my growing impatience of reaching the destination… reached Farakka bridge… unaware of the restrictions, wanted to take some photos… but the police men in duty came running to kill my zeal… then I could see the prohibition notice… there speed limit is limited to 20 KM/hr… so other than few other bikes, all biggies were going decent making my ride easier… not much easier though… because the road over the bridge was so damn broken! After crossing the bridge and coming away safe distance from the policemen I took out my cam and captured a partial image of the Farakka bridge whatever was visible from that distance (after all I wasn’t taking the photo of the bridge… while taking the photo of the road the bridge came in the frame… so, I’ve got my logic to defend myself from pricking conscience too!).It was the great festive day of Ramzan Id, so faced a huge crowd clad in white clothes and religious caps around Sujapur. It was not easy to penetrate the dense gathering of celebrators for a couple of kilometres along the national highway… Cuting through the traffic jam, lakhs of Id festive makers and millions of potholes, reached Malda by 10:30 AM and searched for my pre-booked guest house Gour Bhavan (at Mongolbari). The room there was too big for the poor AC to cool… so dragged the couch near it and stretched my body before taking a much needed bathe.I readied myself by 1:45 afternoon and rode towards Pandua. Well throughout this travelogue you’re reading of “bad” roads, so here I won’t speak the same once more, simply a single sentence will make your idea clear about this road… while driving to Pandua I was thinking, if this is not the hell then how bad the hell would be! Throughout it was pathetic. On reaching the guest house, for once the idea of extending my trip to Raiganj to avail the chance of visiting beautiful Kulik Bird Sanctuary was convincing my determination but when I came to know that the road going to Pandua was the same highway to travel Raiganj, my balloons of desire splattered like pulpy tomatoes under the truck tyre… Finally the monuments of Pandua and Adina soothed my injured soul with their majestic exquisiteness.

1) Eklakhi Mausoleum – This massive mausoleum with a lofty dome was probably built by Raja Ganesh or Kans whose son Jadu converted to Islam, became the Sultan of Bengal under the name of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah. It costed one lakh rupees and hence the name ‘Eklakhi’. The stone members of earlier structures were utilised in it. Its facades are rightly ornamented with carved bricks. Inside it lie the tombs of Jalaluddin, his wife and his son.2) Golden Mosque – This doubled isled mosque with ten domes and corner turrets was erected in the honour of Saint Nur Qutub-Ul-Alam by Makhdum Sheikh, a descendent and a follower of the saint.3) Adina Mosque – Built by Sultan Sikandar Shah, Adina Mosque is the largest Islamic monument in the whole of Bengal. It consists of a large rectangular courtyard surrounded by rows of arched and domed bays, an impressive nave along with beautifully decorated mihrab and pulpit.

4) Adina Deer Park – It was so ecstatic to ride through the forest road amidst green and green. Some immature tourists who shout at the flock of deer are sure to dishearten you. But again, ‘ape to man’ evolution can be remembered and felt sympathetic about the fact that there are souls among us who are yet to cross that phase of transformation, God help them! Thousands of chirping birds are sure to still the show.

By 7:00 evening, having throttled 195 KM in the whole day, I came back to my rest house in Malda to quit the day gracefully. Next day too many marvellous structures were to be seen at Gour… but before that I had to leave Gour Bhavan and occupy a room in the New circuit house (at Mogdompur) as I couldn’t manage to get a booking there for 1st September. Had a sumptuous Bengali dinner and kept on scanning through the google map till I fell asleep.

Day 4 (1st Sep, 2011)

I woke up slightly before the sunrise, packed my luggage and rode to New Circuit House. There the caretaker turned out to be a better early riser than me, so thing became easier… freshened up, had some breakfast and started my journey for Gour by 7:40 AM.After I crossed few kilometres from Malda and took the left turn for Gour, the road condition changed like a magic… The butter-smooth road seduced my rational mind very soon and I rode in crazy speed the entire extent, partly not to miss the chance in a good road, and hugely to shed off all the frustrations I had accumulated so far in the whole trip due to worst possible highways…In 10-15 minutes I entered Gour to get absorbed in its opulence.

1) Baradwari Mosque – It is more popularly known as “Barasona Masjid”. With the arcaded aisle of its corridor, this mosque is indeed the most impressive building of Gour, built by Sultan Nasrat Shah. It is called Baradwari, a building with twelve doors, but has only eleven openings. Its corridor is domed but the three aisled hall is now domeless, although its domes, originally gilded gave its name the ‘Great Golden Mosque’.
2) Dakhil Darwaza – This impressive gateway formed the Northern entrance to the fort of Gaur and was possibly built by Barbak Shah. Salutes fired from it also gave it the name Salami Darwaza.3) Firoz Minar – This tower 25.6 m high with spiral staircase having 73 steps was probably built by Saifuddin Firoz, an Abyssinian who became the Sultan by killing Barbak Shah.4) Fath Khan’s Tomb – Here lies the tomb of Fath Khan, son of Dilwar Khan, Aurangzeb’s General, who was sent by the emperor to kill Saint Shah Niamatullah suspected of advising Sultan Shuja to rebel. On arrival at Gour, Fath Khan is believed to have vomited blood and died on this spot.5) Qadam Rasul Mosque – Remarkable for its highly ornamented bricks, this single domed structure with a square interior and a verandah on three sides was erected by Sultan Nasrat Shah. It enshrined the Prophet’s footprints in stone which now remains with the Khadims at Mahdipur.6) Lukachuri Gateway – This double-storeyed eastern gateway into the inner ramparts of Gour was built by Shah Shuja in 1655 AD and served probably as the royal entrance. Its upper storey was probably used as Naqqarkhana or Drummer’s chamber.7) Chika Mosque – Containing some carved stones from a Hindu temple and enamelled bricks in chronicles, this single domed structure is called a mosque, but probably a mausoleum. Tradition says that it was used as a prison by Sultan Hussain Shah.8) 22 Yards Wall – Only a part of it remains now, which is presently under repair by Archaeological Survey of India’s initiative. In close proximity there is an excavation site where one can see the buried remains of a palace. It is thought that the wall used to fence the excavated royal structures from all the four sides.
9) Tantipara Mosque10) Lottan Mosque
11) Gunmant Mosque12) Kotwali Darwaza at Mohodipur, just on the crossing of Indo-Bangladesh borderThe BSF man on duty was nice enough to offer me a chair to sit. Sitting there I could see Bangladeshi tourists peeping from the other side to get a glimpse of Indian soil. We had chitchat for sometime. It wasn’t permissible but he allowed me to take a snap of the Kotwali Darwaza. Then in half an hour of resting under the shady tree with the BSF personnel I rode back to Malda. It started raining but I didn’t stop, rather kept on pushing with light shiver on the shiny black road. By 3:15 PM, finishing few small this and that work I returned my den having covered a modest distance of 68 KM. It had to be my daybreak as the remaining portion of the day went uneventful, with me lying most of the time on the bed. Next day, the longest ride of the trip was scheduled!

Day 5 (2nd Sep, 2011)

Route:- Malda - Farakka - Morgram - Take NH60 till you get the left turn for Panchgram - Panchgram - Khargram - Kuli - Futishanko - SH6 - Dakbangla - Ketugram - stick to SH6 till Koshigram - Take Katwa-Bardhaman road - Bolgona - Take Dewan Dighi road - Bhatar - Amarun - Nutangram - Khetia - Bardhaman (Distance= 258 KM)

The caretaker’s repeated banging (yea, not just a knock) of my door woke me up at around 5:10 AM. Slender discontent of failing to start my journey by 5:00 morning didn’t leave my head as I hurried into the bathroom. Bags were refilled with my goods for the one last time of this trip and I zoomed out of the compound by 6:00 AM. Nothing remarkable occurred throughout my return journey. I kept on riding on rough roads while dipped in the memories of last four days. Each and every day was tiring but at the same time returned me with sense of achievement and gratification. It was difficult to stay away from the standing testimonials of Gour. Relief came in the form of a good road as I took the left turn from NH60. It rained in the middle and made me shiver but who cared to stop… After crossing Dakbangla I got dry weather and a lush green meadow few metres down the road captivated my power of decision. I rested on a plastic sheet over the wet grass gazing the infrequent vehicles passing through the nearby road. I didn’t realise how quickly one hour passed… so had to shake off my infatuation for nature for that moment. That phase of relaxation helped me to cover the remaining distance. Ultimately, finishing 258 KM I reached my home in Bardhaman at 2:15 afternoon.

Few more lines I would like to add here as a ‘might be boring’ inference… Please don’t judge the potential of Murshidabad & Malda as historical tourist spots by their lack of tourism infrastructure and popularity in media. Just make a plan for two-two days for each of the district and get down on the track with your bags. Seeing the road condition (although it might be more terrible right now due to ‘post-monsoon’ factor), I would suggest you to take Train route… if you can tolerate little adversity even state transport buses can be second option… and off course cabs for the rest of the tourists who don’t prefer any of the above options. I don’t want to be a source of negativity but for the reason of personal safety of any rider I would discourage for bike tours till the roads improve. Things are so simple there that any outsider can easily get into. Locals are cooperative mostly. There’re plenty of places to stay and take food from, so nothing should really be a problem for a traveller. The last word for all bikers- Ride Safe… always Ride with a Helmet… Cheers!

Biking to Bishnupur

2011-06-29T21:24:00.012+05:30

A time comes when you manage to squeeze yourself out from your working cage even if it’s for a few days (that’s what you get at most anyway!) and puff out a big sigh… Coming back to hometown and receiving warm hugs from family members is off course a rejuvenating spell to your “I’m made a robot” soul… But what comes next to your mindscape? I don’t know of you unless you’re of my sort; for me it’s the ‘Vroom’ of my two-wheeler, ‘Click’ of my camera or the call from some unknown soil… This time I had planned of a bike ride along the coasts of Bengal that would have demanded almost a weak. Alas, my luck gave me a scornful smile! The day I happily arrived my home after a long hectic journey, I got calls and FB messages from my colleagues about the premature killing of my leave (You can well visualize how badly I hated it right?). So my well-planned 20 days vacation was truncated to a bad joke for 3 days! I didn’t just want to eat a stomach-full home meal and 12+ hours of sleep at subnormal temperature. ‘Indiamike’ travel forum came to my mind… I sprang up, went online, logged in and searched for places near my hometown (Bardhaman), which could be rode in a day. Having covered a plenty, didn’t have much options to go for. Description of one place struck my senses and that was Bishnupur!

Bishnupur, famous for its exquisite terracotta temples, renowned terracotta crafts and the gorgeous balucheri sarees made of tussar silk, is a town in Bankura district in the state of West Bengal, India. There’re a number of temples standing as a statement to the magnum opus talent of the artisans of the region, crafted from the local laterite and brick. Temples are covered with terracotta tiles depicting scenes from the epic Mahabharata, Ramayana etc. This temple town has a rich history that you can read in ample after a brisk google search. Owing to its significance as a tourist destination it is nicely connected via roads to almost all major places of Bengal.

How to reach there?
There’re regular and frequent bus services available between Kolkata & Bishnupur, which roughly takes 4-5 hours. This place is also connected by rail to the rest of India via Kharagpur & Bankura. For the timing and train number it is always advisable to search in railways website because available data in Internet may not be up-to-date. Alternatively you can always reserve a vehicle from Kolkata or any nearby places. Once you reach Bishnupur, you better hire private auto-rickshaws or cycle-rickshaws, though I personally would prefer the later option due to its sluggish pace that enables your eyes to record the details of the town and its people better. These transports are cheap, so fare is not much of a concern (We didn’t have any concern anyway as we went on our motorbike).

Here begins our Trip (25th June, 2011):
My little brother (Anurup) who is luckily also a bike enthusiast agreed to join me. We had packed our small backpack last night before going to bed. He dropped dead asleep soon while I kept my eyes open on my mobile screen detailing the place till my eyelids got fatigued. As if I was ready for the alarm at 4 AM! (Or is it like this that I couldn’t get a sleep?) I woke my bro up with 10-15 minutes of genuine effort and rushed to bathroom. Eventually mom got up and didn’t leave us before we had our morning tea (what a bliss it’s when you’re at your home!). There was mild drizzle, so we couldn’t leave home before 5:45 AM. The sky was overcast and I could sense the kissing of minute particles of monsoon rain over my face and forearms… yea I was loving the sensation.

We crossed the Krishak Setu over the river Damodar and took the Arambagh Road. I knew the route but was not sure of the distance exactly, so thought of refueling our vector just after leaving the outskirts of Bardhaman. We were never in hurry, kept slowly swallowing kilometers over the nice state highway. There’s no dust and smoke of big vehicles due to the wet road and wet air! What could be better than that when you’re riding on a two-way road? We reached Arambagh and it was time for taking the road to Bankura-Bishnupur. We crossed Ramakrishna Setu over Hooghly River and took the road to Bishnupur.

Now it was the time for some woes as the road changed to its unpredictable texture. You can find a smooth 100-200 miters or so and suddenly a big trench (yea I really mean a trench) where if you miss the brake by chance, it can result to an unconscious stunt with your bike, making you fly like a circus biker. So the message is be steady, slow-paced and real careful. If you’re planning to drive your four-wheeler then you have to be twice slower than a bike (you know the reason) if you love your machine. I feel SUVs are better suitable for that road. At least I won’t gamble with my Swift there.

Soon we came across a group of three big elephants near a place called Kotulpur. Anurup spotted them first and showed me, as I was the pillion. I took out the cam and took some shots as we passed by them slowly. Our bike was looking like a toy and it seemed that those men riding them were displeased (the reason is really obscure!) with my photography zeal. So I couldn’t take the risk and signaled my brother to accelerate.

Gradually we entered the forest road of Joypur. The road became butter smooth once again. The tall green trees (numbered by forest department) at two sides were a real comfort to our eyes. Although the sun had come up the air was cool and fresh. I came to know from a local boy that one can spot deer in the early morning in that road! It was past 9 AM, so there was no luck for us. Yet we were content with the pure lush green and headed to Bishnupur with added energy.

We could reach our destination by 9:30 AM and surprisingly saw that our trip-meter was showing a “100 KM”. Good, that means it was the distance of our home from the town of temples. I got down and inquired the directions of the places in my list. An aged man came to our rescue in no time. He was damn cooperative and explained me in that details which my stupid patience failed to put up with. But I listened to that nice man until he was satisfied with his guiding endeavor. Then we went to different places of tourist interest one by one. Here I won’t write the details of each spot because I believe travelers in general aren’t that much seriously eager for the background histories, rather they are more compatible with the visual appeal. Off course I’m not talking of those serious group of travelers (the group where I don’t belong to) who don’t miss out any single chronology. Anyway for such details you’ve always the power of googling at your hand. So I’ll be simply posting the photographs with the name of the places, which hopefully make you interested for a Bishnupur tour. Outside the Mrinmayee Temple we took 2-2 glasses of Lassi and came to know from that Lassi seller that tourists usually gather from Dushera month. I was extremely happy to get the place empty with only a hand few of tourists which gave me a easier scope of clicking my shutter! In the whole trip we had to take tickets twice, once a 5 rupees ticket of Archaeological Survey of India for visiting 3 temples (Jor Bangla, Temple of Shyamrai and Rasmancha) under their care and another 5 rupees ticket for Lalgarh Nature Park.

Small Gateway:

Large Gateway:

Stone Chariot:
Lalji Temple:

Radhashyam Temple:

Mrinmayee Temple:

Jorbangla:
Shyamrai Temple:

Rasmancha:

Dalmadal Canon:

Famous Bankura-Horse:
Radhagovinda Temple:
Radhamadhav Temple:
Lalgarh Nature Park:

We covered thirteen places by 1:45 PM… two three places were there yet to be seen like a museum, Nutan mahal etc But we were left with no energy as the sun overhead had sucked that by then! Anurup wanted to freshen up in a hotel to get rid of the dust and sweat over the skin. But I knew once we enter a hotel and take a bath nothing will appeal our decision more than a small nap and which eventually would delay our ride back home to indefinite extent. So I swapped my cap with his helmet and speeded out of Bishnupur. On the way I noticed a board on my left ‘Mallabhum Institute of Technology” just outside Bishnupur. There was no reason, still I took the left turn and rode till I got a glimpse of the institute. Nothing grand about it, just remote, small and tidy sort… Reaching Joypur we found a manageable roadside restaurant ‘Banalata Restaurant’ attached to a vehicle exhaust analysis center. There you can lunch in AC cabins by paying 100 rupees extra to your food bill. You’ll get semi-decent Chinese and North Indian dishes along Bengali preparations. Pricing was OK. We had our lunch, sipped a coke and rode back to Bardhaman in a post lunch lazy mood.

Having munched 217 KM we returned back to our place by 5 PM… stopped by River Damodar to take some snaps that concluded our journey.

As a bottom line note (not trying to sound nerd though) I must say, make out some time, gather traveling spree and head out for Bishnupur. You don’t have to plan anything really; it’s that simple! You’ll be touched by the simplicity and down to earth nature of locals. Your each breath will provide you the relaxing aroma of rural Bengal even when you’re in the town. Accommodation won’t be a problem, so I would recommend to make a 2 days stay to make your trip more effortless and absorbing. Have a good trip… and a last word for bikers- Ride Safe… Ride with a helmet…