Weekend-Kolkata

A trip to Shillong, Meghalaya

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Later when I Googled, I found that it is indeed a reservoir and an artificial lake and was created by damming the Umium river and covers about 220 square km. This is first hydro-power project in this part of the country. Barapani is a major tourist attraction. Plenty of photos are available on the web.

We reached Shillong late afternoon. I was very excited, keen to find Shillong of my dreams: hills, fern, orchid and low cloud. Unfortunately, the sights and sound of the city did not match my imagination.

We drove past the crowded Police Bazaar area, the assembly and the polo ground and reached a quieter part of the town called Upper Lamthumai. Our hotel, Roseville Hotel, is located there.

Roseville Guest House: The hotel, more like a home stay, has cottages for guests and a well maintained garden. I identified Pine and Birch trees and some flowers. It has an old world charm. The property is famous for beautiful rooms and heritage rooms and was earlier managed by ITC Welcom. The tariff: Rs 3,000+25% tax per day.

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Rambha and Barkul – The flavours of Chilka

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A few were really very nice. Having spent our time at Kalijai we hopped back into the boat and returned to panthanivas. After lunch we took a Tata Iris van and moved on to take a llok at some local places of interest. First we went to Nirmaljhar temple 11 kms away. Inside the small gate there is a small pond in the centre, a small temple on the left and the main temple on the right. A stream flowing from the Easter Ghats has been directed here into a small kund, The sweet sound of flowing water was the only one that could be heard. There was no other living being inside. At the rear, there are small deities of ‘Dashabatara’. Though the temple has immense significance we hardly saw any signs of maintenance. We moved on to Narayani Mata temple 10 kms away. This temple is situated atop Valerry hill. After ascending the loopy road our car came to an abrupt halt. There were several cars and busses ahead of us caught in a fierce jam. Each was having its free run with restless crowd of people don’t know from where created a ruckus. The lone traffic police stood helplessly. After failed attempts by our driver to make a way through, he asked us to make the rest of the journey on foot and parked the car. We started walking past the vehicles and crowd and made our way up the steep road.

I could not understand what we so many people doing here. The area was surrounded by jungle with ‘saal’ and other trees. As we climbed further up the road we saw groups of people cooking food on giant pots. That’s it! These local people are having a picnic, and what a place to choose – a jungle. Never before I had seen so many people (thousands) picnicking in a forest. After walking further we came into a clearing with several steps. There were few shops selling puja items. Manu devotees were buying these for offering to the goddess. After climbing one more flight of stairs we reached the temple sitting amidst the forest with trees and boulders hanging over it. There were lots of monkeys prancing around and I had to be very careful with my cameras. My son was however very amused. The temple complex had a small ‘kund’ and one side there were a few fallen tree trunks (courtesy phailin).

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Visiting Kaluk in West Sikkim

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If you are an aficionado of history, then Rabdentse is a place not to be missed if you are on a trip to West Sikkim. Located on a ridge near Upper Pelling, Rabdentse was the ancient capital of the kingdom of Sikkim from 1670 to 1814. It was destroyed by the Gurkha invasion and now only the ruins of the palace remain. The remains of the palace have been declared as of national importance by the Archaeological Survey of India. The ruins offer panoramic views of Mt. Kanchendzonga.

Vikram dropped us at the point from where we were to trek about 1.5 km through forest to reach the ruins. A huge decorated gate leads to the trekking path. We started our journey through a stone-cobbled path through the forest. The path was narrow and dark. The forest was deep. There was not a person to be seen anywhere. It was super-thrilling!!

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Khecheopalri – The Holy Lake of West Sikkim

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Siliguri to Pelling in West Sikkim is 131 kms and takes approximately 3 hours for straight drive. Needless to mention that the drive is subjected to imponderables like traffic snarl, road repairs and broadening work, tea and meal breaks. As such it is safe to plan approx 4 hours for the drive. Pelling to Khecheopalri is 32 kms and takes about an hour‘s drive along a graveled road. As usual the condition of road from Siliguri to the lake can best be described as “the good, the bad and the ugly”. Last year at a chance meeting a MLA from Jorthang told me that this West Sikkim road is being turned into a four lane highway, insallah.

Road from Siliguri to Sevoke is a smooth broad 2 lane highway (NH 31) that knifes through the neat sevoke Military Cantonment and Sevoke Forest. From Sevoke Bazaar to Coronation Bridge (3 kms) is another smooth, well carpeted road snaking along he mountain curves runing almost parallel to Teesta River. This road is adorned with good highway signs; however, unfortunately this stretch is marred by delays due to railway gate blockage and heavy traffic from/to North East, Dooars, Sikkim and Kalimpong. From Coronation Bridge to Teesta Bridge near Teesta bazar (37km) NH 31is forever in the making and subject to traffic jams & delays caused by repairs and expansion; as such, it can be dusty and slushy depending on the season.

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Days Out in Brahmaputra Valley-Nameri & Tezpur

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I have seen elephants so many times, fed them bananas, saw Mahout riding them and heard their trumpeting, but that sound was not like trumpeting. It was more like roaring of tigers or lions that I heard in zoo. So I was not at all convinced with the judgement of Jainul Abedin. I thought it’s better to keep my eyes open and brain in action for own safety, especially because we were accompanying by a forest guard with a very little on field experience. But he was at the helm and we needed to follow him. A single man with a 3not3 rifle, GOD knows, if loaded or not, the ratio was 5 of us to him. He suggested Kamal and Prakash to move ahead of him and me, Chandra & KKD to follow. We were moving cautiously and quietly. It was a serious situation, no animal was visible yet, only the heart shaking rumbling sounds. We all were trying to escape somehow and were following each other’s steps. Jainul was looking confident to handle the situation, he pointed towards the bush to spot some wild elephants hiding there. I immediately made up my mind of running zig zag in case of an attack. They were growling loudly and we all were maintaining absolute silence yet moving forward. . How could I not click a snap of them? I looked through the lens, not sure of how much could I zoom in. But before I could click Jainul pulled me and virtually taken away from there. He cautioned, “Are you carzy? Elephants will not spare, if caught.” He forced me to go fast to catch my friends who were far ahead by now. I did in the end catch up with them and we did escape safely. It was perhaps Jainul’s quality training that enabled him to be alert on time, identify the noise correctly and handle the situation brilliantly.

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Days Out in Brahmaputra Valley- Learning Bihu

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People gathered here in huge number and many had already occupied the chairs kept under sheds circling the field. Others, like us, who reached here late, were trying hard to get a convenient place to watch the jubilant youthful passionate Bihu dance. I found my place in the middle of crowds. But some tall youths, who were blessed by the GOD with such a sterling heights, suddenly came and stood in front of me. They were standing like a monument and my visibility to the field came to an end.

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Santiniketan-Trip to Tagore’s Abode

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As I saw little children studying beneath the trees I kept comparing it with the classes held in our city schools with air-conditioners and state-of-the-art technology. How claustrophobic the city children must be feeling, I wondered. For once, I imagined myself to be a child, sitting with those little kids beneath the shadowy mango trees reading Tagore’s verses or perhaps solving sums even. We also visited the various schools inside the campus like ‘Patha Bhavan, China Bhavan, Hindi Bhavan’ where various subjects are taught in foreign languages as well. With alumni list including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and Satyajit Ray, nothing more is required to be said about this world class university. On our way back to hotel we took a glimpse of the prayer house.

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Santiniketan-Roadway and Lodging Review

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The place was named Amrakunj as Tagore had planted by himself 108 mango trees in this garden. As I saw little children studying beneath the trees I kept comparing it with the classes held in our city schools with air-conditioners and state-of-the-art technology. How claustrophobic the city children must be feeling, I wondered. For once, I imagined myself to be a child, sitting with those little kids beneath the shadowy mango trees reading Tagore’s verses or perhaps solving sums even. We also visited the various schools inside the campus like ‘Patha Bhavan, China Bhavan, Hindi Bhavan’ where various subjects are taught in foreign languages as well. With alumni list including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and Satyajit Ray, nothing more is required to be said about this world class university. On our way back to hotel we took a glimpse of the prayer house.

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The Sunderban Tiger Reserve -Nature at one of its best

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where one can only see the azure sky merge with equally breathtaking river at a distance, small village boys running around on the “kuchhe pakdandi” of the adjoining villages, million hues created by a lone cloud that tries to mask the majestic sun and the alluring riot of colors created by ripples on the bluish silver water. One is bound to get lost in the soothing effect nature weaves here.
The first stop is at Pakhirala from where the permits are obtained by the streamers and boats to pass through the river. The second stop is Sajnekhali where tourists halt for the night to start the journey early next morning.

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The grandeur of the North-East – Kaziranga National Park

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The manager of the resort, Avik a young man in late twenties met us at around 6 p.m. and told that he has firmed up the arrangements for Maruti Gypsy, which would take us for a safari from the East Point of the park. The resort has a policy of not serving any eatables in the cottages. Hence the family assembled in the “Minivet Pelican” dining hall, which is open from all the sides and is located in front of the cottages and amidst the tea plantations. A couple of drinks followed by a dish of butter chicken and yellow daal, gave us adequate impetus to have a good sleep.
The Gypsy reported at 7.00 in the morning and after a quick breakfast we headed for the park. I being the oldest was given the seat next to the driver, while others accommodated themselves in the open rear portion. The driver introduced himself as Arun Deb. He did his high school education at Jorhat and after doing some odd jobs, bought a second hand Maruti Gypsy and came to Kaziranga. During the six years driving in the park, he probably knew all the better viewing points.
We reached the Park Administrative Centre in Kohora, which has three tourist routes under its jurisdiction – Kohora, Bagoti and Agaratoli. The park area is divided into four ranges. The four ranges are the Burapahar, Baguri, Central, and Eastern. They are headquartered at Ghorakati, Baguri, Kohora, and Agoratoli, respectively. The Park is open from November 1 to May 15. Only light vehicles are allowed on the park roads. You can book the Gypsy or take your own vehicle too, which needs to be accompanied by a representative of the forest department. At the gate one has to register and obtain an entry permit.

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Bakkhali-Henry Island-Frazergunj (Weekend hideout from Kolkata)

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But there is no connecting bridge. What we experienced here was something amazing and unique. A huge barge operates between the banks to transport vehicles. We drove our car to the barge, sat inside it and the barge took us to the opposite bank. Huge size lorries and buses are also transported in the same manner. It was a memorable experience sitting inside the car and floating on the river.

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