Colours of West Bengal
We decided on our Journey to Eastern part of India just like that, no reason why but yes we were long due for our vacation and we just decided its going to be Kolkata or Calcutta.
Thumb rule during any of our exploring trips is book travel beforehand, trains/buses or anything which can be booked prior. We like traveling on reserved coaches even if the entire coach is empty i just get stuck on to my designated seat. While my better half if not restrained would make the entire coach her home.
Trains were booked on onward journey and waitlist was huge. Actually its time for fog to lift across India as spring season is nearing its end, Feb-March is actually pleasant time to visit most places in India nearly...we had to take flight to Calcutta(keep mentioning so that we dont forget the history associated with the name). we land late in the night and to our surprise we see even Calcutta airport is crowded for taking a cab. Crowded means traffic outside airport does not permit smooth flow of vehicles in and out and especially on a weekend the roads are thrown open for heavy vehicular traffic. Now given our lessons from previous travel i approach a Taxi operators booth to book a cab to our place of homestay. There are many first in this travel- 1. what is homestay and what surprises were in store. 2. explore the city (in reality we city dwellers have been yearning to rush to rural or forest backdrops away from milling crowds) 3. what do Romans do in Rome.
Having landed at nearly unearthly hour 11pm, we are desperate for an sumptuous meal, with one hotel right in front of Calcutta Airport( Nethaji Subhas Chandra Bose airport). Now we missed our meal in flight because we presumed there would be something to bite onto even when we have NOT pre-booked our meal. Its not much of worry because entire travel was just 2 hours which was manageable with our snacks in hand. The hotel with bright lit neons spoke of bar and drinks that put me off until my better half reminded me that ain't just bar but people eat to guzzle down the liquor. So we go in and have a decent yet highly priced lassi to finish off.
The Taxi fares were exorbitant, our homestay was in Barasat, the North Eastern fringes of suburban Calcutta, and they charged Rs. 600 for a 10-15km ride wondered what has got into these cab operators charging something which is totally absurd, distraught asked my better half to do an ola, which she did and worked out to Rs. 300, wondered the role Ola played in this consumer empowered scenario. Communicating with local cab drivers is difficult if you don't know Hindi; especially conversation tinged with Bengali. We got into our ride after spending much time acquainting with his slang and resting our faith in Ola maps to reach the place. The cab driver drove like he has to finish the lap to qualify for his next day ride- one the traffic during that time was like who's who of the road competing and brash to core: most behind wheel seem irate with others. We had to take a NH to reach Barasat and the traffic of heavy vehicles was high and unruly.
We reach Barasat into actual unholy time of 12 am. The guest had a tough time explaining the address to the cab driver which is exact opposite in Madras where finding a place is never a issue with many friendly faces around. True Calcutta could be a more dense locale to start of with and to find places could mean like a long way off with more crowd and every inch of space taken giving it a distant kind of feeling.
Barasat is a beautiful place to stay simple homes and relatively calmer lifestyle and less crowd and less honking and much more greenery around. The lanes are so small i wondered how a car would squeeze in, and they did. Lots of jack fruit trees in every home, and small ponds everywhere. Plastic has actually KILLED our way of life not CHANGED. Every pond is dotted with heaps of plastic on its edges. The dressing was entirely different in this place in comparison to one finds in Calcutta city. The local women wore sarees and their trademark Bhindis gave off that charm of quaint town.
Next day we get ready and set out into Bengal's human wilderness. After winding through small narrow lanes dotted with many ponds and vegetable sellers with their fishcart we reach Hridaypur railway station. People; people everywhere at 11 am; this place just means business. Its relatively clean and people here are rather snob than friendly. One thing is not many are keen to tell directions and they are not particularly happy to help when we talk in Hindi, not sure if we spoke in English would it have helped our purpose. Other thing is one cannot deduce people's behaviour in matter of days, so its unfair to say they were a snob but given our predicament of approach we just managed to get into train. The crowd is just dense when compared to Madras; yet the trains were frequent to move around. We learned a lot like station names and pronunciation of the station name and struggling to verify if we were at the correct station when most trains did not have a public addressing system. The Calcutta suburban train commuters had a way of get in and get out system; if your stopping is next move quickly and stand near to the door in the center to alight from the train, if you miss by even few feet you can get left behind in the incoming boarding passengers. Next Calcutta is well connected by trains and there are 4 major train stations in Kolkata- Kolkata or Chitpur/ Howrah / Santraganchi and Sealdah Station. We found, to visit the city; DumDum or pronounced Dham Dham as a good junction. As to DumDum; it has a metro which takes you to heart of city and also connecting to other junctions of the city via suburban trains. From DumDum we took Metro to Park street station and we walked to National museum, our first place of visit in Calcutta. A huge place with collection of ancient and historical artifacts. The national museum had a wonderful Govt. run canteen, the meals were cheap and good too. Definitely on the to do list if one visits Calcutta museum. The city center roads are well kept and did not find many MANLOOS (disgusting men urinating in open places). Tree cover was impressive in this part of Calcutta. On way to Victoria Memorial we stumbled upon a small love corner where eager romeos greedily pecked at their Juliet, looked like he has starved for long. Victoria Memorial is well maintained and well guarded (who knows from what). I personally thought the architecture was beautiful but using that as place of exhibition than any other useful ends is sad. You could convert it into a public place of use where it can earn exchequer purposeful revenue and also for public to host events and feel nice about using the place. I found the place stinking from high colonial hangover on display and nothing to feel proud of being in free India. One portrait showed the images of orderlies and retinues working for the British officers here in Calcutta during pre independence days- surely we would not have thought of painting our maids portraits.
Best thing about Victoria memorial is its impressive lights display at night, looked like the England queen was standing in full splendour for Calcutta to admire her beauty. The park earmarked around the memorial is huge and well maintained. A lot of crowds were milling around which is unusual at such historical places i have visited. We sat on the benches near a small pond admiring the huge expanse of skyline giving a glimpse of huge skyscrapers piercing through Calcutta skyline.
Next we walked back to Maidan Metro station keeping in mind our evening's dinner plans. The Plan was to hunt for an authentic Bengali meal. My better half is good with android and in a swift swipes she zeroed in on Aaheli Restaurant near Esplanade Metro station. We decided to take immediate Metro to reach Aaheli. We took Maidan Metro and got down at Esplanade. We reached early for dinner hence decided to explore the New Market Kolkata for some window shopping and we ended up buying a beautiful saree and imitation Jewellery. We entered the restaurant at 7.30 pm and found the place ok, the food we ate was amazing, especially enjoyed the Hilsa cooked in mustard oil. Then we walk back to Esplanade Metro took train to DumDum and from there to Barasat. The best part is you travel with Calcutta people and observe a lot, Men ogle at women a lot which when noticed is nothing different but not welcome as i feel its not appropriate to give such dirty looks at a women whom you are not acquainted with. Now point is even if you know the woman you need not stare in public to make it obvious. The city is safe for women from what we gathered, we get down at Hridaypur at around 10.30 pm and for our pleasant surprise we take a 3 wheel man driven small cartwheel. Without much harness or even things to hold on to we were rolled down the road and lugged up the road to reach our place of stay by late 11.30 pm.
Next day is all together new and undefined in our lives. We have a simple breakfast at our hosts place and seek his advice for places to visit- he suggests college street for books and Hooghly river front; and take a rickshaw to Hridaypur station. We decide that we shall go to DumDum and then get down at Mahatma Gandhi road Metro. We reach Mahatma Gandhi Metro station by 12.30 pm. The crowd is good and asking directions from people we move away from main road to more narrow roads and more people milling. College street is specifically meant for used books for college and school students. We stopped at a row of shops and bought few books on the footpath, did not drive big bargain but the collection is impressive. One thing about the men selling books; they are more knowledgeable than me: who is trying to belt out some memorized Booker prize winners. These sellers have their own set of Booker winners worthy to read especially not too popularly known Indian authors. Its mid afternoon and we feel a need for a snack; ask them where one can get a coffee or tea, they direct us to Indian Coffee House.
Never thought it would be such a large congregation of people which is very diverse- college students/ teachers/ businessmen/ children hanging out with friends and casual walkins. What made us feel different was the milling of people going and coming and not stuck for eternity like cafe coffee day kind of feeling and add to it lots of smoke (cigarette) makes it a authentic Kolkata culture i suppose; we from Madras have welcomed the ban and take active part in dissuading people from smoking in public but in Calcutta we were intimidated by large presence of smokers especially in public and even women(equal share in vices). The food is ordinary nothing great coffee not close to anything like Kumbakonam filter coffee, but what is so nice about this place? its just happening not dead or dull, the interiors are old and not much effort put to give it a paint job probably old world charm and prices reasonable.
Then we walk out of the smoke den into human den- the streets of Calcutta. There we came across tram chugging along the age old track laid long ago. We get into tram and take the tickets to BBD Bag, closer to riverfront. Tram is an old world charm. A must in Calcutta to feel the way life was many decades ago. Its cheaper to settle down into your small seats to see Calcutta go by slowly. One thing which troubled me was the Tram has been relegated to lower hierarchy in preferred mode by Govt- one badly maintained/ people's apathy to it even though they grudgingly give space for it to move on like an old bull past its prime. We reach its final stop near BBD bag. Actually we walk little further ahead from the Tram depot to BBD Bag. That is were we need to buy ticket for Howrah ferry ride. Its a waterway mode of travel within Calcutta for its office goers. It was jam packed during early evening. The ride was cheap and we took a return ticket back to BBG Bag. We were excited to know that we had travelled in most modes of transport in Calcutta. Hooghly river is as any polluted river which must be saved for city's good. From BBD Bag ( Binoy Badal Dinesh Bag) we took a direct train to Hridaypur which was from Sealdah to Bangaon. We reach Hridaypur station and decide to have tea in matki. Then we take a 3 wheeler cart ride to main road. We did not have our dinner so we decide to check out local cuisine and to our surprise its more of biryani or fast food. At last we stumble upon a newly opened eatery and true to its name we have a home cooked meal generously served with hair in the meal. Thought what makes the meal taste like home cooked? On way back we come upon a sweet shop which was serving rasogullas made from jaggery- they were sweet and yummy. We decide to pack some for our journey to Siliguri the next day. There is something about the sweets which Bengalis eat, they are different and true to their taste and quality. This season its puja time and the rasogullas are made from gur ( Palm Jaggery) which are soft and delicious.
Next day we say bye to our warm hosts and move once again into bustling Calcutta. This time our boarding station is Kolkata-Chitpur in Belgachia. Train started on time and the sights we were treated to were beautiful.The mist on the villages refuses to lift until 10 am, down south the mist is intense during the dawn and clears by 8 am at this time of year when Spring has just ended and Summer is on horizon. Nice things about these parts of Bengal is its fertile and Paddy is cultivated in large swathes of land, the irrigation looks from canals and diverting small streams. Our train passes through famous Santiniketan. The train moves close to Jharkhand, mineral rich state and quickly turns tracks again into West Bengal. We cross the mighty Ganges whose flow mesmerizes us sitting in the train. Its like the river letting us pass with a benign smile. We could hear the gush of the river flow enveloping us with our sights just stuck down as if sky is not present. The train passed over the infamous Farraka Barrage- built to tame mighty Ganges. Why infamous as few people consider this as a biggest environmental disaster to brace this part of the world. To put it short, Ganges has been doing its work of depositing silt in the downstream places for god knows how many eons and all of sudden Calcutta feels thirsty and they decide to tame mighty Ganges even at the detriment of down stream farmlands in Bihar/ West Bengal and Bangladesh even stopping the movement of fish species. Who decides to tame mighty Ganges for a few greedy humans?
You get to see the kind of vegetation spread over these stretch of gangetic plains, paddy, Mango orchards in and around Malda, and Bamboo thickets near a small pond in many villages and nearly drying up canals and many places who fell behind transplanting was managed by few family members completing the task. The train is delayed by an hour and we reach New Jalpaiguri by 8.30pm. Once outside New Jalpaiguri station there is taxiwala rush for us and definitely its fleece them on all of their minds, somehow in this disturbance we spotted a quiet rickshaw wala waving at us and we obliged and got into his small rickshaw with our luggage to our room nearly a kilometre away. We pay him and move into a hotel room which is ok. The weather is actually very pleasant, one forgets in the preoccupation of getting to room and freshening up. We switch on our antennas once refreshed and wonder how nice the city is, next we walk down the streets to have a meal for the night. We walk into a small eatery with just 4 or 5 tables, actually we were served one of the best Dhal Makhani made from Black dhal in a long time.
Next day we hail a rickshaw to station for our journey by Heritage toy train to Darjeeling actually all kicked up and filling jumpy jumpy like a kid at idea of travelling by toy train up Himalayan hills. New Jalpaiguri must be rated as one of worst railway stations with respect to the access to its entrance. Dirt and slush all over and no proper pathway or even a decent road for passengers and auto rickshaws in general as they too find it horrible to park their vehicles in stagnant water pools all over. A dedicated platform and clumsy looking toilet at the end of platform where the sewerage water is let onto tracks makes this truly HERITAGE ride. The toy engine and the coach gives us a old world charm, there ends the charm, one steps into the coach the seats half tattered, non functional air-conditioned Dibba and a common man's coach which costs a fortune and one can wonder how much a seat in air-conditioned dibba would cost. The toilet shows us the earth below such a rustic charm to it, a misstep means we running along with the train on single foot.. The railways intent of running this service is highly suspect which i realised as the journey progressed.
There was extra buzz today 23rd February 2020 as hover cam and a bunch of IndianRailway's PR team were trying to capture handful of Europeans enjoying their presumably first toy train ride. With all fanfare they start the train 45 minutes late for whose fault everyone keeps guessing. The train is actually nice to be in if it had completed its nearly 6-8 hours Darjeeling journey but had to be stopped twice before it could even ascend the hills. Reason- 'breakdown' it could happen to anybody even for those paying hefty 2nd class AC sleeper fares and eagerly waiting when this toy would be up and running. The train and its track alignment makes for a funny experience with people laughing or children waving and much more and absorbing the sights more calmly. The Toy train lived upto its horrid reputation; a breakdown can happen any time which we realise just then. Now any machine needs care and maintenance, now its like a city bus which is run for thousands of Kms. without much care and breaks down one fine day. The same happens here. I actually wondered why so many to run a Toy train then i realised its the handy men to make this poor old beast to chug along. The trains stops more than a km away from Sukna station and it just cuts a sorry figure before enthusiastic tourists from all over India and world. The PR team scoots away in the car as if nothing can be salvaged while TTE who until then was all smug was cut to size by the passengers, After having waited by the ghat road for more than 2 hours we leave with our luggage back to starting point. I was happy that the ashen faced TTE promised that all tickets would be refunded without much hassle except for those bought at counter must spend extra time and effort to navigate the IR ticketing counter; wonder the state of foreign tourists trying to get refund?
After a bitter experience with Toy train ride we hitch a taxi to be taken back to Darjeeling More a place about 10kms away from Sukna railway station. There we get into a share taxi ride which most people travelling to Darjeeling prefer and is the most reliable transport to the hills apart from your own private car. The share car means you share even your personal space, after sharing our personal space in Kolkata local trains we share it in this cab too. I happen to be skinny which is comfortable for others. Actually the ride and scenery is beautiful, this is our first trip to Himalayan ranges and the beauty is just spread out on a vast canvas: the nature. We reach our destination at around 5pm at a place before Sonada. Actually we travelled 50 plus kms.
Thumb rule during any of our exploring trips is book travel beforehand, trains/buses or anything which can be booked prior. We like traveling on reserved coaches even if the entire coach is empty i just get stuck on to my designated seat. While my better half if not restrained would make the entire coach her home.
Trains were booked on onward journey and waitlist was huge. Actually its time for fog to lift across India as spring season is nearing its end, Feb-March is actually pleasant time to visit most places in India nearly...we had to take flight to Calcutta(keep mentioning so that we dont forget the history associated with the name). we land late in the night and to our surprise we see even Calcutta airport is crowded for taking a cab. Crowded means traffic outside airport does not permit smooth flow of vehicles in and out and especially on a weekend the roads are thrown open for heavy vehicular traffic. Now given our lessons from previous travel i approach a Taxi operators booth to book a cab to our place of homestay. There are many first in this travel- 1. what is homestay and what surprises were in store. 2. explore the city (in reality we city dwellers have been yearning to rush to rural or forest backdrops away from milling crowds) 3. what do Romans do in Rome.
Having landed at nearly unearthly hour 11pm, we are desperate for an sumptuous meal, with one hotel right in front of Calcutta Airport( Nethaji Subhas Chandra Bose airport). Now we missed our meal in flight because we presumed there would be something to bite onto even when we have NOT pre-booked our meal. Its not much of worry because entire travel was just 2 hours which was manageable with our snacks in hand. The hotel with bright lit neons spoke of bar and drinks that put me off until my better half reminded me that ain't just bar but people eat to guzzle down the liquor. So we go in and have a decent yet highly priced lassi to finish off.
The Taxi fares were exorbitant, our homestay was in Barasat, the North Eastern fringes of suburban Calcutta, and they charged Rs. 600 for a 10-15km ride wondered what has got into these cab operators charging something which is totally absurd, distraught asked my better half to do an ola, which she did and worked out to Rs. 300, wondered the role Ola played in this consumer empowered scenario. Communicating with local cab drivers is difficult if you don't know Hindi; especially conversation tinged with Bengali. We got into our ride after spending much time acquainting with his slang and resting our faith in Ola maps to reach the place. The cab driver drove like he has to finish the lap to qualify for his next day ride- one the traffic during that time was like who's who of the road competing and brash to core: most behind wheel seem irate with others. We had to take a NH to reach Barasat and the traffic of heavy vehicles was high and unruly.
We reach Barasat into actual unholy time of 12 am. The guest had a tough time explaining the address to the cab driver which is exact opposite in Madras where finding a place is never a issue with many friendly faces around. True Calcutta could be a more dense locale to start of with and to find places could mean like a long way off with more crowd and every inch of space taken giving it a distant kind of feeling.
Barasat is a beautiful place to stay simple homes and relatively calmer lifestyle and less crowd and less honking and much more greenery around. The lanes are so small i wondered how a car would squeeze in, and they did. Lots of jack fruit trees in every home, and small ponds everywhere. Plastic has actually KILLED our way of life not CHANGED. Every pond is dotted with heaps of plastic on its edges. The dressing was entirely different in this place in comparison to one finds in Calcutta city. The local women wore sarees and their trademark Bhindis gave off that charm of quaint town.
Next day we get ready and set out into Bengal's human wilderness. After winding through small narrow lanes dotted with many ponds and vegetable sellers with their fishcart we reach Hridaypur railway station. People; people everywhere at 11 am; this place just means business. Its relatively clean and people here are rather snob than friendly. One thing is not many are keen to tell directions and they are not particularly happy to help when we talk in Hindi, not sure if we spoke in English would it have helped our purpose. Other thing is one cannot deduce people's behaviour in matter of days, so its unfair to say they were a snob but given our predicament of approach we just managed to get into train. The crowd is just dense when compared to Madras; yet the trains were frequent to move around. We learned a lot like station names and pronunciation of the station name and struggling to verify if we were at the correct station when most trains did not have a public addressing system. The Calcutta suburban train commuters had a way of get in and get out system; if your stopping is next move quickly and stand near to the door in the center to alight from the train, if you miss by even few feet you can get left behind in the incoming boarding passengers. Next Calcutta is well connected by trains and there are 4 major train stations in Kolkata- Kolkata or Chitpur/ Howrah / Santraganchi and Sealdah Station. We found, to visit the city; DumDum or pronounced Dham Dham as a good junction. As to DumDum; it has a metro which takes you to heart of city and also connecting to other junctions of the city via suburban trains. From DumDum we took Metro to Park street station and we walked to National museum, our first place of visit in Calcutta. A huge place with collection of ancient and historical artifacts. The national museum had a wonderful Govt. run canteen, the meals were cheap and good too. Definitely on the to do list if one visits Calcutta museum. The city center roads are well kept and did not find many MANLOOS (disgusting men urinating in open places). Tree cover was impressive in this part of Calcutta. On way to Victoria Memorial we stumbled upon a small love corner where eager romeos greedily pecked at their Juliet, looked like he has starved for long. Victoria Memorial is well maintained and well guarded (who knows from what). I personally thought the architecture was beautiful but using that as place of exhibition than any other useful ends is sad. You could convert it into a public place of use where it can earn exchequer purposeful revenue and also for public to host events and feel nice about using the place. I found the place stinking from high colonial hangover on display and nothing to feel proud of being in free India. One portrait showed the images of orderlies and retinues working for the British officers here in Calcutta during pre independence days- surely we would not have thought of painting our maids portraits.
Best thing about Victoria memorial is its impressive lights display at night, looked like the England queen was standing in full splendour for Calcutta to admire her beauty. The park earmarked around the memorial is huge and well maintained. A lot of crowds were milling around which is unusual at such historical places i have visited. We sat on the benches near a small pond admiring the huge expanse of skyline giving a glimpse of huge skyscrapers piercing through Calcutta skyline.
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| Incorrect spelling of Mahabalipuram during those times when the painting was commissioned |
Next we walked back to Maidan Metro station keeping in mind our evening's dinner plans. The Plan was to hunt for an authentic Bengali meal. My better half is good with android and in a swift swipes she zeroed in on Aaheli Restaurant near Esplanade Metro station. We decided to take immediate Metro to reach Aaheli. We took Maidan Metro and got down at Esplanade. We reached early for dinner hence decided to explore the New Market Kolkata for some window shopping and we ended up buying a beautiful saree and imitation Jewellery. We entered the restaurant at 7.30 pm and found the place ok, the food we ate was amazing, especially enjoyed the Hilsa cooked in mustard oil. Then we walk back to Esplanade Metro took train to DumDum and from there to Barasat. The best part is you travel with Calcutta people and observe a lot, Men ogle at women a lot which when noticed is nothing different but not welcome as i feel its not appropriate to give such dirty looks at a women whom you are not acquainted with. Now point is even if you know the woman you need not stare in public to make it obvious. The city is safe for women from what we gathered, we get down at Hridaypur at around 10.30 pm and for our pleasant surprise we take a 3 wheel man driven small cartwheel. Without much harness or even things to hold on to we were rolled down the road and lugged up the road to reach our place of stay by late 11.30 pm.
Next day is all together new and undefined in our lives. We have a simple breakfast at our hosts place and seek his advice for places to visit- he suggests college street for books and Hooghly river front; and take a rickshaw to Hridaypur station. We decide that we shall go to DumDum and then get down at Mahatma Gandhi road Metro. We reach Mahatma Gandhi Metro station by 12.30 pm. The crowd is good and asking directions from people we move away from main road to more narrow roads and more people milling. College street is specifically meant for used books for college and school students. We stopped at a row of shops and bought few books on the footpath, did not drive big bargain but the collection is impressive. One thing about the men selling books; they are more knowledgeable than me: who is trying to belt out some memorized Booker prize winners. These sellers have their own set of Booker winners worthy to read especially not too popularly known Indian authors. Its mid afternoon and we feel a need for a snack; ask them where one can get a coffee or tea, they direct us to Indian Coffee House.
Never thought it would be such a large congregation of people which is very diverse- college students/ teachers/ businessmen/ children hanging out with friends and casual walkins. What made us feel different was the milling of people going and coming and not stuck for eternity like cafe coffee day kind of feeling and add to it lots of smoke (cigarette) makes it a authentic Kolkata culture i suppose; we from Madras have welcomed the ban and take active part in dissuading people from smoking in public but in Calcutta we were intimidated by large presence of smokers especially in public and even women(equal share in vices). The food is ordinary nothing great coffee not close to anything like Kumbakonam filter coffee, but what is so nice about this place? its just happening not dead or dull, the interiors are old and not much effort put to give it a paint job probably old world charm and prices reasonable.
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| Near Hooghly river front, a sewage outlet ( not sure if treated sewage) |
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| The Indian Coffee House |
Then we walk out of the smoke den into human den- the streets of Calcutta. There we came across tram chugging along the age old track laid long ago. We get into tram and take the tickets to BBD Bag, closer to riverfront. Tram is an old world charm. A must in Calcutta to feel the way life was many decades ago. Its cheaper to settle down into your small seats to see Calcutta go by slowly. One thing which troubled me was the Tram has been relegated to lower hierarchy in preferred mode by Govt- one badly maintained/ people's apathy to it even though they grudgingly give space for it to move on like an old bull past its prime. We reach its final stop near BBD bag. Actually we walk little further ahead from the Tram depot to BBD Bag. That is were we need to buy ticket for Howrah ferry ride. Its a waterway mode of travel within Calcutta for its office goers. It was jam packed during early evening. The ride was cheap and we took a return ticket back to BBG Bag. We were excited to know that we had travelled in most modes of transport in Calcutta. Hooghly river is as any polluted river which must be saved for city's good. From BBD Bag ( Binoy Badal Dinesh Bag) we took a direct train to Hridaypur which was from Sealdah to Bangaon. We reach Hridaypur station and decide to have tea in matki. Then we take a 3 wheeler cart ride to main road. We did not have our dinner so we decide to check out local cuisine and to our surprise its more of biryani or fast food. At last we stumble upon a newly opened eatery and true to its name we have a home cooked meal generously served with hair in the meal. Thought what makes the meal taste like home cooked? On way back we come upon a sweet shop which was serving rasogullas made from jaggery- they were sweet and yummy. We decide to pack some for our journey to Siliguri the next day. There is something about the sweets which Bengalis eat, they are different and true to their taste and quality. This season its puja time and the rasogullas are made from gur ( Palm Jaggery) which are soft and delicious.
Chalo Darjeeling
Next day we say bye to our warm hosts and move once again into bustling Calcutta. This time our boarding station is Kolkata-Chitpur in Belgachia. Train started on time and the sights we were treated to were beautiful.The mist on the villages refuses to lift until 10 am, down south the mist is intense during the dawn and clears by 8 am at this time of year when Spring has just ended and Summer is on horizon. Nice things about these parts of Bengal is its fertile and Paddy is cultivated in large swathes of land, the irrigation looks from canals and diverting small streams. Our train passes through famous Santiniketan. The train moves close to Jharkhand, mineral rich state and quickly turns tracks again into West Bengal. We cross the mighty Ganges whose flow mesmerizes us sitting in the train. Its like the river letting us pass with a benign smile. We could hear the gush of the river flow enveloping us with our sights just stuck down as if sky is not present. The train passed over the infamous Farraka Barrage- built to tame mighty Ganges. Why infamous as few people consider this as a biggest environmental disaster to brace this part of the world. To put it short, Ganges has been doing its work of depositing silt in the downstream places for god knows how many eons and all of sudden Calcutta feels thirsty and they decide to tame mighty Ganges even at the detriment of down stream farmlands in Bihar/ West Bengal and Bangladesh even stopping the movement of fish species. Who decides to tame mighty Ganges for a few greedy humans?
You get to see the kind of vegetation spread over these stretch of gangetic plains, paddy, Mango orchards in and around Malda, and Bamboo thickets near a small pond in many villages and nearly drying up canals and many places who fell behind transplanting was managed by few family members completing the task. The train is delayed by an hour and we reach New Jalpaiguri by 8.30pm. Once outside New Jalpaiguri station there is taxiwala rush for us and definitely its fleece them on all of their minds, somehow in this disturbance we spotted a quiet rickshaw wala waving at us and we obliged and got into his small rickshaw with our luggage to our room nearly a kilometre away. We pay him and move into a hotel room which is ok. The weather is actually very pleasant, one forgets in the preoccupation of getting to room and freshening up. We switch on our antennas once refreshed and wonder how nice the city is, next we walk down the streets to have a meal for the night. We walk into a small eatery with just 4 or 5 tables, actually we were served one of the best Dhal Makhani made from Black dhal in a long time.
Next day we hail a rickshaw to station for our journey by Heritage toy train to Darjeeling actually all kicked up and filling jumpy jumpy like a kid at idea of travelling by toy train up Himalayan hills. New Jalpaiguri must be rated as one of worst railway stations with respect to the access to its entrance. Dirt and slush all over and no proper pathway or even a decent road for passengers and auto rickshaws in general as they too find it horrible to park their vehicles in stagnant water pools all over. A dedicated platform and clumsy looking toilet at the end of platform where the sewerage water is let onto tracks makes this truly HERITAGE ride. The toy engine and the coach gives us a old world charm, there ends the charm, one steps into the coach the seats half tattered, non functional air-conditioned Dibba and a common man's coach which costs a fortune and one can wonder how much a seat in air-conditioned dibba would cost. The toilet shows us the earth below such a rustic charm to it, a misstep means we running along with the train on single foot.. The railways intent of running this service is highly suspect which i realised as the journey progressed.
Nerve wracking Darjeeling toy train ride
There was extra buzz today 23rd February 2020 as hover cam and a bunch of IndianRailway's PR team were trying to capture handful of Europeans enjoying their presumably first toy train ride. With all fanfare they start the train 45 minutes late for whose fault everyone keeps guessing. The train is actually nice to be in if it had completed its nearly 6-8 hours Darjeeling journey but had to be stopped twice before it could even ascend the hills. Reason- 'breakdown' it could happen to anybody even for those paying hefty 2nd class AC sleeper fares and eagerly waiting when this toy would be up and running. The train and its track alignment makes for a funny experience with people laughing or children waving and much more and absorbing the sights more calmly. The Toy train lived upto its horrid reputation; a breakdown can happen any time which we realise just then. Now any machine needs care and maintenance, now its like a city bus which is run for thousands of Kms. without much care and breaks down one fine day. The same happens here. I actually wondered why so many to run a Toy train then i realised its the handy men to make this poor old beast to chug along. The trains stops more than a km away from Sukna station and it just cuts a sorry figure before enthusiastic tourists from all over India and world. The PR team scoots away in the car as if nothing can be salvaged while TTE who until then was all smug was cut to size by the passengers, After having waited by the ghat road for more than 2 hours we leave with our luggage back to starting point. I was happy that the ashen faced TTE promised that all tickets would be refunded without much hassle except for those bought at counter must spend extra time and effort to navigate the IR ticketing counter; wonder the state of foreign tourists trying to get refund?
Soothing Hills of Darjeeling
After a bitter experience with Toy train ride we hitch a taxi to be taken back to Darjeeling More a place about 10kms away from Sukna railway station. There we get into a share taxi ride which most people travelling to Darjeeling prefer and is the most reliable transport to the hills apart from your own private car. The share car means you share even your personal space, after sharing our personal space in Kolkata local trains we share it in this cab too. I happen to be skinny which is comfortable for others. Actually the ride and scenery is beautiful, this is our first trip to Himalayan ranges and the beauty is just spread out on a vast canvas: the nature. We reach our destination at around 5pm at a place before Sonada. Actually we travelled 50 plus kms.
TIEEDI Herb Garden Dwelling
We had booked this homestay at a nature conservation & support and community waste recycling center. Actually we chose this place for their work with nature and local community. Its actual location is called 8 mile Gorabari. Its a beautifully built small cottage with a wonderful porch and cosy little kitchen for guests. The portion i discussed is common area and there are separate places for stay inside the huge nature surrounded premises. Actually they have meticulously crafted tree houses of different sensibilities built entirely from local resource and designed luxuriously and priced at that level. We chose a more simple one for our stay not the tree house room. Later it took a while to realise the amount of effort being put into this place to support local communities and also nature conservation. The story goes that this place where we were staying used to be a huge dump yard of plastic waste. It took more than 2 years to clear a huge ravine full of garbage with support from community. Due to their efforts once dead stream is back to life which flows right through their nature estate. Now continuing their conservation efforts they are growing more indigenous varieties of trees and composting organic waste in their estate. Organic waste generated from their nearby villages is collected and composted. Our room faced the hills or to be precise the place is between hills. We were overwhelmed by the nature's towering presence around us and it felt benign. We spent the night in the chilly Himalayan summer in company of some wonderful people volunteering at the farm. Next day we had a sumptuous breakfast and head out to a small trek to visit local people in their villages. The climb at that altitude is actually arduous for not acclimatised tourists. At our pace to cover 2 kms uphill it took 2 hours. What struck us was the relative cleanliness because of an initiative by local community to keep plastics away and trash bins at certain points. The life on hills is different to plains and if it rains it just RAINS. By time we reached a dwelling the rain was heavy and we took shelter in a comfortable tin roofed house. People are warm and gracious and appreciative when we show our humility. One gentlemen had retired from Indian army Gorkha regiment or something like that. He was 60 plus and didn't look like one, the army's discipline is not to be messed with. Then we say bye and head out to higher ground to meet another family. Now to our guide a dynamite sized gentleman who happens to host local radio show and also a guide in this part of the world is a Tibetan and have made this place their home many decades ago. They were celebrating their Buddhist new year on 24th February also known as Losar. The local community were dressed to their best and visit their elders during these days. We were treated to a traditional sweet dish made from quite a lot of ingredients like loads of butter/ dried coconut/ egg/ dried nuts/ sugar. We paid our respects to their deity and moved to still higher place for our afternoon lunch. The rains took a brief break before it opened up again to a heavy downpour. We settled down for a vegetarian lunch in local cuisine. The heavy downpour has made the temperatures drop drastically and make us shiver. Actually the advisable clothing in Darjeeling during this time of the year is windcheater as the cool breeze is chilling to core. It Takes an hour for the rain to subside and we slowly make our way to the room. The down hill journey is through more habitations and newly laid cement path. Take It Easy, Easy Does It.
There were loads of plans for next day but the rains were to stay put the entire day, we just gazed through our glass windows at the rising and descending thunder cloud over the hills. we enjoyed local cuisine and chilled in our rooms. Our experience tells if it rains in these hills its just a chilly windy rains like there is no end hehehhehe we enjoyed the weather.
Next day as per plans we pack for Siliguri and say bye to our good hearted hosts and hitch a shared cab ride back to Siliguri. The ride back was as pleasant as going up, the wooden houses and at times metal sheet houses supported on wooden stilts on the edge of the road makes for a great view of valley below and mountains above. The roads are not that wide and make for inexperienced hand at driving unsafe. Its always better to reach the hill towns before sunset and not advisable to start late to Darjeeling as visibility drops fast on a rainy and winter months.
We start at around 10 am and reach Siliguri by 12 pm to the New Jalpaiguri station for train back to Kolkata. Our train leaves on time by 12.35 pm and the return journey is greeted by familiar sights which one does not get tired. As we are reaching the end of Spring most canals have dried up in farmlands with just last few fields lagging behind in transplanting paddy saplings. We reach Calcutta by 11 pm.
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| This tree begins to flower in this season and it boasts of impressive 15 colours |
There were loads of plans for next day but the rains were to stay put the entire day, we just gazed through our glass windows at the rising and descending thunder cloud over the hills. we enjoyed local cuisine and chilled in our rooms. Our experience tells if it rains in these hills its just a chilly windy rains like there is no end hehehhehe we enjoyed the weather.
Next day as per plans we pack for Siliguri and say bye to our good hearted hosts and hitch a shared cab ride back to Siliguri. The ride back was as pleasant as going up, the wooden houses and at times metal sheet houses supported on wooden stilts on the edge of the road makes for a great view of valley below and mountains above. The roads are not that wide and make for inexperienced hand at driving unsafe. Its always better to reach the hill towns before sunset and not advisable to start late to Darjeeling as visibility drops fast on a rainy and winter months.
We start at around 10 am and reach Siliguri by 12 pm to the New Jalpaiguri station for train back to Kolkata. Our train leaves on time by 12.35 pm and the return journey is greeted by familiar sights which one does not get tired. As we are reaching the end of Spring most canals have dried up in farmlands with just last few fields lagging behind in transplanting paddy saplings. We reach Calcutta by 11 pm.
The ethos of Kolkata
Its difficult to soak into this post Communist era Kolkata and only remnants are seen like Tram and the Spirit of Bengal in integrating lots of diverse people and also the things we take dearly are all inexplicably part of daily life- Metro/ amazingly good & less expensive street food/ delicious good sweets/ Suburban rail and footpaths. Now we get to see huge Howrah railway station at this midnight hour with less crowd and noise. We pack our night meal and get into a Ola taxi. This gentleman as many other taxi drivers are no same but different. He takes us through Howrah bridge; looks like a sleeping giant during night, Writers building, Mohan Bagan's training grounds, Kolkata's Eden gardens, RBI office and Governor's residence and GPO Kolkata. Most of these buildings can be related to colonial architecture of Chennai's own similar functional buildings. The city which roars and rumbles through day looks calm and sedate at night.
The eye sore of Kolkata traffic is the unruly private buses terribly unruly from outside, once you hitch a ride you forget how the bus behaves sitting inside and we are blissfully unaware of its tantrums on the roads.
This time our place of stay is Ballygunge, little to the south of DumDum; probably centrally located in Kolkata. Narrow lanes greet us to a quiet place away from traffic. We have untimely dinner and get to sleep and wake up late to plan the day. We decide we shall spend day on streets trying the street food. We decide our mode of transport is suburban train travel and locate the nearest station to Ballygunge. One thing is for sure where ever you are in Kolkata there is train somewhere waiting to take you into its journey. On way to railway station we observe a small shop manned by a man serving Jalebis and few others inside making Kachoris. People were standing outside with a Mantharai tree leaf cup and taking in the servings so we too jump in and i help myself to Jalebis and samosas. Then we walk ahead and buy tickets to our destination- Dakshineshwar temple. Now Dakshineshwar Temple can be reached by first taking train to Sealdah station and from Sealdah, trains going towards Dakshineshwar. Sealdah is a huge railway junction wherein there are 15 platforms, within few minutes of our reaching we get into a train going to Dakshineshwar.
Dakshineshwar Temple has large no of devotees visiting and the WB Govt. has built a foot over bridge which is convenient and comfortable to reach the temple. The temple is unique in its architecture which i never saw anywhere in South India. The goddess Kali was sight to behold with her pure black complexion and big eyes and large red sindoor on her forehead. The impressive crown on her head adds majesty to her persona. The timings are strict for darshan and we could see the deity from little far away. Its important to know the timings before we visit any temples in India as Goddess does not see her devotee always.
The place is old and situated next to Hooghly river hence has got the kind of feel to it. There are lots of other deities especially Shiva's lingas surrounding the main temples, some distance apart. We have loads of lassi and snack to eat and get started to our next destination- Mishti Hub.
Now we do not have a Metro or train to this place which is considered a must visit for people with sweet tooth to eat and indulge. We decide to take a bus to Eco park. As mentioned earlier they are run by private operators and their way of running and stopping is known only to regulars. We get into one such bus and it was cheap for us and also in quick time he reached the destination. Sitting inside one does not worry much and i realised how dangerous the bus drivers were like honking incessantly and pushing away private vehicles literally off their path. At Mishti Hub we were happy to see nearly a dozen stores serving just the Bengali fare. I was so spoilt for choice from which shop to start, my better half started away, ordered for her favourites and we helped ourselves and then decided what to buy. The thing with Bengali sweets is one variety must be stored in cool place to last longer and other are dry varieties which need not be refrigerator.
After Mishti Hub, with sweets in hand we wait for bus to go back to Ballugunge. By now for a tourist in Kolkata must have memorised few central connect points to reach anywhere. A AC bus stopped at our stopping and we asked for DumDum he said yes, we move into the bus to be assured of a comfortable journey in a Govt. run road transport in a while in Kolkata. We have actually completed the experience of every possible public transport in Kolkata and we are pleased its the BEST to move around and very economical. From DumDum we take train to Sealdah junction to reach Ballygunge. From Sealdah we take train to Ballygunge. From Ballygunge we take bylanes to visit a popular Clothing store dealing with handlooms of Bengal, Tantuja. We reach Tantuja wondering how old the city is by wondering how closely the houses are built. Huge pavements to keep safe distance away from actually unruly cars. People driving cars seem obsessed about honking which i consider to be bare necessity to tell a sleeping person before me to give way not to push aside a hapless fellow motorist following traffic rules. We got to drink Madki chai near Tantuja and not buy anything from Tantuja. They put a hurriedly done print out about audit work going on, wondered why then keep shutters open, lights on and board to shoo away customers. Next we move little further and find a Khadi store were we indulge in few Bengal cotton sarees. Then feeling more comfortable with our way around we head back to our quaint place. We freshen up and are famished and decide to splurge on some tasty Bengali meal again, with Google in hand not much to worry we come across 6 Ballygunge Place restaurant. A few minutes walk from our place of stay, a well maintained posh restaurant, even though its pricey, the food was good and actually worth the money. We had ordered a jackfruit vegetarian fare which was good and different. We would recommend this to any traveller in Ballygunge and wanting to try local food. With a wonderful meal we head toward our room thinking about unexpected and beyond expected things happening when one undertakes a spontaneous journey to Calcutta and Kolkata; of a same coin.
The last thing we learn is Kolkata's diverse rail network. We take back a train to Chennai from Santraganchi Station. As usual this station too looks like as if its undergoing a long drawn out operation to set things right but all in the middle of operation where all people doing job have left it gone for tea break. Its messy and rubble strewn everywhere certainly not on tracks but the semblance of railway station is missing. Tall over bridges for passengers to carry their luggage and most waiting on the foot overbridge to listen to the PAS about upcoming trains. Seriously Indian railways has localised( more out of laziness) solutions by which one can make out where train is coming without actually running to different platforms to and fro. There ends our wonderful Journey to Kolkata. Apart from my cribbing its still a best place to travel and visit without any fear of theft or safety. We carry loads of good memories with us. Govt. must put sincere efforts to improve on infrastructure for tourists especially rail. Trains connect the nook and corner of country and much needs to be done. One positive is ordering meals from Private vendors in major cities through mobile, which is decent in taste and prompt. Many things must be done, True passengers too must do their bit to keep the trains clean.
Hope to chart a new journey next year and more fun and learning. Back to stinking Madras for its criss crossing sewage ridden waterways. But the comfort of familiar faces and sounds makes one feel at home.
The last thing we learn is Kolkata's diverse rail network. We take back a train to Chennai from Santraganchi Station. As usual this station too looks like as if its undergoing a long drawn out operation to set things right but all in the middle of operation where all people doing job have left it gone for tea break. Its messy and rubble strewn everywhere certainly not on tracks but the semblance of railway station is missing. Tall over bridges for passengers to carry their luggage and most waiting on the foot overbridge to listen to the PAS about upcoming trains. Seriously Indian railways has localised( more out of laziness) solutions by which one can make out where train is coming without actually running to different platforms to and fro. There ends our wonderful Journey to Kolkata. Apart from my cribbing its still a best place to travel and visit without any fear of theft or safety. We carry loads of good memories with us. Govt. must put sincere efforts to improve on infrastructure for tourists especially rail. Trains connect the nook and corner of country and much needs to be done. One positive is ordering meals from Private vendors in major cities through mobile, which is decent in taste and prompt. Many things must be done, True passengers too must do their bit to keep the trains clean.
Hope to chart a new journey next year and more fun and learning. Back to stinking Madras for its criss crossing sewage ridden waterways. But the comfort of familiar faces and sounds makes one feel at home.
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