Puri

Puri was on cards for a long time. So this December when I was in India , I decided to finally go for it. I started in the evening by Howrah - Puri Supefast express. In spite of booking ticket in 2nd AC 1 month in advance, I only got RAC. Nevertheless , We reached Puri hotel in the morning. I booked the hotel through OYO platform but thr hotel did not honur the booking so ended up paying it again. It took months for me to get my money back. Day…

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Murshidabad … Beginning of colonial era for 200 years

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ The year is pretty unique in many ways . Corona , national lockdown ,travel chaos and daily changing travel rules all these make travel extremely difficult . Still on 12th Dec after lockdown was briefly lifted I decided to travel to India as planned . After spending few weeks at home and binging on biryanis , I decided to travel somewhere.ย  ย Murshidabad was a good option so I booked a ticket to from Kolkata station on a Friday morning. The journey was comfortable for about 4 hours . I…

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Khirai – Valley of flowers

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ Khirai, a sleepy station next to Panskura Junction is known as Bengal Valley of flowers. Though most of flower cultivation happens few miles down near Dokanda village at lower reaches of Kansai river. A nice day-out . It was sad to see that some farmers were destroying their own corps . Spoke to one and he told me that even the cost of transportation is more then what it would fetch in wholesale market.

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Sundarban – The largest estuarine mangrove forest

This is the largest mangrove forest in the world and not that far from Rajarhat , which was once a small village outside Calcutta. I born and brought up there and spent first 18 years of my life in Rajarhat , still I did not visit Sundarban. So it was always in my bucket list. December is always peak time to visit Sundarban, still I had no option. So I booked a 2 night / 3 day tour from local Calcutta tour company called "Chuti Chuti".

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Around Bolpur – Sabujbon, Amar Kutir, Khoai, Sonajhuri

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ This was our second day at Bolpur. We decided to utilize as much time as possibleย  to explore in and around Bolpur. I finished my breakfast by 7.30 in the morning and then hired a Toto for the day. Our first stop was Sabujbon , this place is around 15 Km from Bolpur in small village called Rosulpur.ย ย Spanning an area of around 100 acres, this site features lush green vegetation for about 80 acres and large water body covers the rest of 20 acres. We spend few hours walking around the…

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Shantiniketan (The Adobe of peace) – Visva Bharati University

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ The trip to Shantiniketan was almost like a pilgrimage to me . I should have visited Shantinaiketan ages ago but due to something or other it got delayed. I made sure that this time that I would have 3 spare days to make this visit happen. We started from Howrah by Shantiniketan Express, which took 2.5 hours to reach Bolpur station. From station WB Tourism guest house is about 1.8 Km, we took a shared Toto to guest house. Latter in the afternoon we went to Visva Bharati campus. Tourists are…

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Ajanta , Ellora & Elphanta Caves en-route to Mumbai – Ellora

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ ย  There is no direct public bus to Ellora from Ajanta. I took a bus towards Aurangabad in Aurangabad - Jalgaon road and got down at Phulambri. Fromย Phulambri I took shared trekker on Amdapur - Jenefal road towards Ellora. This took very long time. Next day I utilized fully to visit caves. Caves in Ellora are famous for sculptures. There are 34 caves which can be visited ; these consist of 12 Buddhist caves, 17 Hindu caves and ย 5 Jain caves. Most of these caves are monasteries or viharsย that are carved…

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Ajanta , Ellora & Elphanta Caves en-route to Mumbai – Elphanta & Mumbai

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ ย  From Aurangabad I boarded an early morning Jana Shatabdi Express to Mumbai. I reached my hotel near marine driveย early afternoon. I had two days in Mumbai before I catch my flight to London. There wasย nostalgia associated with this city, my first job was here , I lived here almost 4 years before I moved to Bangalore. First day I roamed around city , went to Haji Ali shrine, enjoyed vada-pao and took some much needed rest. Day 2, I started early from my hotel to catch ferry to Elephanta islands.…

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Ajanta , Ellora & Elphanta Caves en-route to Mumbai – Ajanta

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ย  On my way to Mumbai, I decided to spend few days in Ajanta andย Ellora. From Kolkata I took Gitanjali Express to Jalgaon. Ajanta caves are approximately 63 Km from Jalgaon. There are over 30 caves which were developed duringย Satvahana period andย Vakataka period. The caves are located nearย horse-shoe shaped bend build by Buddhist monks during monsoon season. Nobody knows how did the artists paint so well, with such precise use of colour, in the dark recesses of these rock-carved prayer halls and monasteries. ย I stayed in MTDC Ajanta T junction resort which…

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Chadar Trek

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณย ย  โ€œLife is an adventure, itโ€™s not a package tour.โ€ ย  ย  ย  โ€“ Echart Tolle When bad luck strikes it takes a moment to change everything. Due to heavy snowfall mountain passes become impassable during winter and some villages in Zanskar valley remainย isolated from outside world. From ancient times frozen Zanskar river is used as a trade route to connect Leh in winter. This trek starts from Leh in Ladakh, literally โ€œthe land of high passesโ€, lies between the Himalayas and the Kunlun mountain range at a height of more than…

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