West Bengal

Amkhoi Fossil Park

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The angiosperm wood fossils which are displayed here were collected during pond digging from Amkhoi village of Illambazar Forest, Birbhum District. These specimens are definite proof of the presence of a vast dry deciduous forest with a few evergreen elements in this area, which prevailed 15 to 20 million years before present (Late Miocene). Wood fossils can also be found in different places of Birbhum, Bardhaman, Bankura and Medinipur Districts of West Bengal as well as in Mayurbhanj District in Orissa.

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Sukharia – the land of the Mitra Mustafis

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The village of Sukharia is associated with the Mitra Mustafi family whose other settlements were in the villages of Ula Birnagar and Sripur. The Mitra Mustafi family is sometimes called the family of Dewans as most of the family members served in different positions in the revenue departments during the rule of the monarchy.

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Atla and Nalateswari

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Next day we have time in hand so we decided to visit a Shakti peetha called “Nalhateswari Devi” According to the mythologies it is here where the “nala” or throat of goddess Shakti had fallen and so the shrine came to be known as the Maa Nalateswari. It is located in Nalhati, a municipality in Birbhum District of West Bengal near the West Bengal – Jharkhand border.

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The legendary Tarapith temple

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 In next 30 mins we were at Rampurhat station, for going to Tarapith one needs to take means of transport from here only. There are numerous mode of transport starting from e-rickshaws, Van-rickshaws, Autos and maruti omni.We hired an  Auto rickshaw for INR 300 and dumping our luggage we sat in bliss and waiting to reach our destination as soon as possible. The entire way towards Tarapith is now becoming commercialized day by day due to increasing number of devotees and mostly its now a weekend getaway as it serves both spiritual and fun peaceful sojourn for travelers.

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Kolkata to Kumaon- the lake city Nainital

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Our first halt was at “cave garden” .A network of inter connected rocky caves and hanging gardens, it leads the visitor into a mysterious and ancient dream world and gives the tourist an encapsulated glimpse of what the wilderness of the hill region can offer right in the middle of civilization. An wonderful world of our prehistoric ancestors. Six caves were in the form of Tiger, Panther, Porcupine, Bat cave etc.

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Kolkata to Kumaon – Patal Bhubaneswar and Mukteswar

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Apart from mythology the limestone creation is thrill fully unique, the cave is still building from crystallization. The many forms resembles the tail of Gods, one unique formation described as the spine of “Sesh Nag” and one ice like formation is called “Jyota” of Mahadeva, a mushroom like formation holds four stalactites called the four ‘Yug”. It is said that when a specific stalagmite would touch the stalactite hence the “Satya with Kali”, the earth may end. For both the believers and non-believers the place gives a life time experience.

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My jaunt to the Brighton of the East from Kolkata

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 We drove past Vidyasagar Setu aka Second Hooghly Bridge that connects the City of Joy with Howrah and stands at the banks of the River Hooghly. One can get a magnificent view of the entire city from this bridge. Well it is a toll bridge with superfine smooth finish. Then took the Kona Express way and sped all through the National Highway crossing Kolaghat Thermal Power Station and then Nandakumar More. From here we encountered small towns and villages on a single lane carriage path that snakes its way through them.

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Kolkata to Kumaon- Mesmerising Munsiyari

Kolkata to Kumaon- Mesmerising Munsiyari

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It was the longest road to Munsiyari of around 180 kms, via “Thal”, in all of our itinerary of hill destination planning. Though majority of the roads of Uttarakhand are much predictable and in quite good, balanced condition but went through many reviews of Munsiyari roads I came to a conclusion that the road would be quite tougher than other days.

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Bhalkimachan – the royal bear hunting grounds

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The Zamindars and the royal family members of Burdwan used this place as a hunting spot and constructed several Machans for their convenience. Thus Bhalki and Machan combined to give the place its current name Bhalki Machan. The etymology can be broken down into Bhalu ki Machan. Bhalu means bear. Machan means an elevated resting place for the hunters to hunt down wild animals.

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Khana Mihirer Dhipi

Chandraketugarh – a tryst with the mystical ancient history

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When king Chandraketu was ruling the kingdom, a Pir named Gorachand arrived from Arab and tried to convince the king to convert his religion to Islam. During that time, he showed several magical tricks. One of the tricks was that he bloomed Champa flower during off season on the Bera (fence). From that time, the place is called Berachampa.

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