Matheran

Neral-Matheran toy train

Matheran Railway Station

Matheran is a smallest Hill station of India. It is situated in Raigad district in Maharashtra.  It is located on the Western Ghat  range at an elevation of around 800 m (2,625 feet) above sea level. It is located around 90 km from Mumbai, and 120 km from Pune. Matheran's proximity to the three Metros makes it a popular weekend getaway for urban residents. The name Matheran means either "forest on top" or "mother forest".

Matheran is an eco-sensitive region, declared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India. It is one of the few places in the world where vehicles are not allowed, which makes the place different from others. Matheran takes you over a hundred years back in time when there were no vehicles.Because of vehicles being banned in Matheran, the place is quite peaceful despite the thousands of visitors coming to visit throughout the year.There are lots of lookout points that provide spectacular views of the surrounding hills and valleys. Matheran has a reasonably dense forest cover.

There are around 38 designated look-out points in Matheran, including the Panorma Point that provides a 360 degree view of the surrounding area and also the Neral town. From this point, the view of sunset and sunrise is breathtaking.

Matheran has been declared an ecosensitive region by the Union Environment Ministry and can be called a Health Sanatorium in itself. The only form of automobile allowed in Matheran is an ambulance operated by the Municipality. No private automobiles are allowed. Within Matheran transport facilities available are horses and hand-pulled  rickshaws.

Nature's Paradise : Andaman

Sunrise from Teal House, Port Blair

Crystal clear Blue water

The Andaman & Nicobar are a group of picturesque Islands, big and small, inhabited and uninhabited, a total of 500 & odd islands, lying midway between India and Burma in the Bay of Bengal.They lie along an arc in long and narrow broken chain, approximately North-South over a distance nearly 800 kms.
According to a Hindu legend, the place derives its name from Handuman or Hanuman, the Monkey God of the great epic Ramayana. Hanuman is said to have used these tiny islands as stepping-stones on his way to Lanka to save Lord Ram’s consort Sita.

Wandoor Beach - Reach in corals

The Andaman & Nicobar Islands were shrouded in mystery for centuries because of their inaccessibility. These are the paragon of beauty and present a landscape full with scenic and picturesque exravaganza. These islands shimmer like emeralds in the Bay of Bengal. The dense forest which cover these islands and the innumerable exotic flowers and birds create a highly poetic and romantic atmosphere.

Red Skin Island - we all enjoying coral viewing, swimming in crystal clear water

Andaman & Nicobar Islands Popularly referred to as the "Veritable Garden of Eden" and a "nature's paradise", the beautiful small and big islands and pristine waters of Andaman Nicobar India are home to the endless varieties of flora, fauna and marine life. The long stretches of white powdery sand are dotted with many crescent shaped virgin beaches, which are covered with thick groves of coconut palm, casuarinas and pandanus trees. The breathtaking natural beauty, the clean environment, thrilling adventure sports, and the warm hospitality of the people of Andaman Nicobar Island attract thousands of nature lovers and holiday makers from all across the globe.

These beautiful Islands are accessible from main land India by ship and air from Kolkata (Calcutta) and Chennai (Madras). We explored the Islands between 20 Oct and 30 Oct 2009 and season last upto April end.

Places to be visited : Havelock Island, Neil Island, Lime stone cave, Rangat, Mayabunder and Diglipur.

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-- Coral Viewing at Wandoor Beach --

Sandy clean beaches

Ross Island

Sunset at Chiriya Tapu

Sunset at Chidiyatapu

A must visit place : Havelock Island

Radhanagar Beach, Havelock Island

Bored with your daily routines in the hustle bustle of concrete jungle?  Want to get lost in the lap of mother nature, beautiful virgin beaches and unpolluted environment? Then pack your bag and take a morning flight to Port Blaire to explore the beautiful Havelock Island of Andaman. Its famous for its crystal clear blue water, virgin beaches and natural beauty. It is one of the must see places of India for every travel enthusiast who love nature.

Waves of blue water, Radhanagar Beach

An inevitable and imperative part of the immaculate Andaman Islands is the land of sparkling blue waters, and endless stretches of golden and silver sand on spectacular beaches, the ecstasy on earth- Havelock. The most visited of the Andaman Islands, Havelock Island is the hotspot for scuba diving lovers. It is famous for its pristine beaches, coral reefs and for a relaxing holiday.

Sunset at Radhanagar Beach, Havelock Island

The distance between Port Blair and Havelock Island is about 38 kilometers. Havelock's famous  "Radha Nagar" Beach, is one of the most popular beaches on Havelock and was named "Best Beach in Asia" by 'Time' in 2004. Other notable beaches include Elephant Beach on the northwest coast and Vijaynagar Beach. Best time to travel Havelock Island is between October end to April. Ships operate between Port Blair Phoenix Bay Jetty and Havelock Island and takes about four and half hours.

Beautiful Dolphin Yatri Niwas, where we stayed at Havelock

View from Dolphin Yatri Niwas Resort

 Ships run between Havelock and Port Blair

Phoinix Bay Jetty, Port Blair

 

Cellular Jail : Andaman

Cellular Jail, the  notorious jail of Andaman

HISTORY : Till 1857, Andaman & Nicobar Islands had been just another dot on the map of the British empire. Came the struggle for India's independence and the first mutiny in 1857, the British rulers found new use for these islands and thereby starts the agonizing story of the massive and awesome Cellular Jail. Located at Port Blair in the Andamans, the Cellular Jail is closely associated with the freedom struggle.  The patriots, whoever raised their voice against the British rule, were sent to this Cellular jail. Thousands languished for years in solitary confinement in its cells. Many perished. Thus giving Andamans the notorious sobriquet of 'KALA PANI' or the Black Waters.


TODAY : Today, the Cellular Jail is a National Memorial, a tribute to theose who dared.  That’s why the visit to the Cellular jail is a pilgrimage for every Indian.The freedom what we are enjoying today is the result of the sacrifices of those who suffered for years in the solitary confinement in its small cells.The saga of  the heroic struggle for freedom is now brought alive in a moving sound and light show. 

Cellular Jail Andaman. Now it is a National Memorial

Cellular Jail's Corridor. At the left side you can see the lanterns are still hanging

Picture of one of the Cells where prisoners used to be kept for years

There are photo galleries of the freedom fighters who were imprisoned in this  Cellular jail (Kalapani) as punishment by the British rulers then. are well maintained by the Government. Visitors can see the names of the prisoners and period they served their term in that jail. Among those prisoners some were having artistic talents and they spent time by painting. Those paintings are also preserved in a well maintained painting gallery. Those are open to public and still photography is allowed. Some of those beautiful paintings are posted below :

Painting : Kalapani (above)

 Another beautiful painting

Shantiniketan : Abode of Peace

Two young tribal girls (Santal Ramani) and a boy. Scupture by Ramkinkar Baij. His large compositions in cement on the simple lives of the Santals, placed in the campus, are  the great contributions to the heritage of Indian sculpture.

Santiniketan is a small town near Bolpur in the district of Birbhum  of West Bengal, India, and its distance from kolkata is about 180 KM.

Once upon a time today’s Shantiniketan was known as Bhuban Danga, which was the den of a local dacoit named Bhuban Dakat. “Danga” means a vast unfertile plane land. The land was owned by the Tagore family. Rabindranath Tagore’s father, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, renamed it as Shantiniketan, which means abode (niketan) of peace (shanti). 

Campus

Rabindranath Tagore started an open air school there for children named as “Path Bhavan”. Tagore’s idea was that of learning in a natural environment, in the open, under the trees, would be more closer to nature. Classes in the open still in vogue there.

Open air class- still in vogue

After Tagore received the Nobel Prize in 1913 for literature (for the book Gitanjali), the school was expanded into an university named as Visva Bharati. Today Visva Bharati is one of the renowned universities, which attracts thousands of students each year. Visva Bharati's symbolic meaning being defined by Tagore as "where the world makes a home in a nest". The aim of this educational institute was the quest for truth, blending the methods of learning of the East and West. Visva Bharati, now more than a hundred years old, is one of the most prestigious universities of India with degree courses in humanities, social science, science, fine arts, music, performing arts, education, agricultural science and rural reconstruction.  

Rabindra Bhawan (Also called Bichitraa). It is the museum where Tagore's paintings, Nobel medallion and his used items are displayed here.

Kala Bhawan

Murals on the wall of Kala Bhawan (art College)

Kala Bhavana, the art college of Santiniketan, is still considered one of the best art colleges in the world.

Kala Bhawan students during off period

Prime minister of India Smt. Indira Gandhi, renowned film director Satyajit Ray and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen were among its most illustrious students. 

"I consider the three years I spent in Shantiniketan as the most fruitful of my life ... Shantiniketan opened my eyes for the first time to the splendors of Indian and Far Eastern art. Until then I was completely under the sway of Western art, music and literature. Shantiniketan made me the combined product of East and West that I am."

[-Satyajit Ray, as quoted by Amartya Sen in The Argumentative Indian, pp. 115, Penguin 2005]

The most prestigious possession of Shantiniketan, the pride of the nation, the “Nobel Prize” medallion of Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore which was in display in the ‘Rabindra Bhavan’ (Museum) till it was stolen in the beginning of 2006 and till today it is untraceable, even CBI has failed to trace it.

Shantiniketan is also a tourist attraction today because Rabindranath wrote many of his literary classics here.

Major Events which attracts tourist to the campus: Numerous social and cultural events takes place through out the year which are part and parcel of Santiniketan. These are Basanta Utsav, Poush Mela ,  Rabindra Jayanti to name a few. But the place can be visited without any event just in tany weekend and one fine morning two years back, we did the same thing and  we  reached Shantiniketan by morning train. We hired a Maruti van and took the local sight seeing  and we visited Khowaier haat, Deer park, kankhali tala, Amar Kutir, Rabindra bhawan (Museum) and villages attached to shantiniketan campus. Next day we visited the Sangeet Bhawan, Kala Bhawan, Uttarayan, The Sculptures of Ramkinkar Baij, kala Bhawan Hostel where Nanda Lal Bose, Ramkinkar baij and other prominent artists lived once.

 Khowai Saturday Market ( Saturday Haat)শনিবারের খোয়াইয়ের হাট

Note from the author : This article has been transferred from my another Blog. Two years back it was posted there when this blog was not in existence. Now I thought this is the right  place for the article to be posted.

Kolkata, the City of Joy

2nd Hoogly Bridge (Vidyasagar Setu)

VICTORIA MEMORIAL : A beautiful memorial in honour of Queen Victoria of England, was constructed at a cost of Rs. One crore and five lakhs and opened to public in the year 1921. Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, wanted that the most suitable memorial would be a "stately", spacious, monumental and grand building surrounded by an exquisite garden. The memorial is not less in any manner than what he thought. It is surrounded by sprawling lawns, exquisite gardens, fountains.

BRIEF HISTORY : Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) - the city of joy, city of Rabindranath Tagore, city of Satyajit Ray, city of Mother Teresa, city of intellectuals, city of football, city of procession, city of political movements, city of Bundhs (strike) , city of arts and culture (cultural capital of India), city of festivals and at last but not the least it is also known as city of best sweets and cuisine. Kolkata is the Capital of the Indian state of “West Bengal” ("East Bengal" is not in existence, its now a separate country, known as "Bangladesh"). Kolkata city is located in the eastern part of India on the east bank the river Hoogly. The city is the 4th largest city in India.

More than 300 years ago, the city (as a village then) started its journey. What we see today, has been built up slowly and reached to today’s state. The brief history goes like this - In 1690, Job Charnok, an agent of the East India Company landed on the eastern bank of river Hoogly for British trade settlement and he purchased the three large villages along the eastern bank of Hoogly, namely Sutanuti, Gobindapur & Kalikata. Gradually, over the years, the “village Kalikata” was developed into a city “Calcutta” by the then rulers of the land.

Calcutta served as the capital of India during the British Rule until 1911. Once the city Calcutta was center of modern education, science, culture and political movements in India. The Bengal as a whole was much developed those days in all sectors including politics, which gave birth of a proverb - “what Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow”.

Hand pulled rickshaw to Tube rail : This city is unique in many ways. This city having many transportation systems which other metro don’t have. There is primitive transportation system of hand pulled rickshaw which is a black spot of the city from humanity point of view but on other side Electric Tram, completely pollution free, are still pride of the city. Initially the tram was horse driven and later Electric tram came on the roads and the same is still running in the city. Being a slow moving transportation system, may not be popular but due non pollutant, environmental friendly the citizen like it to stay. Electric Tram is seen only in Kolkata (Calcutta) in India. The city has many transportation systems starting from hand pulled rickshaws to underground tube rail, slow moving tram to Volvo bus.

Most intellectual city of India : Most Nobel laureates of India have been associated with Calcutta University or Calcutta at some point of time. The city has produced six Nobel Laureates so far. They are:

1. Sir Ronald Ross (1902 Medicine)
2. Rabindranath Tagore (1913 Literature)
3. CV Raman (1930 Physics)
4. Mother Teresa (1979 Peace)
5. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1983 Physics)
6. Amartya Sen (1998 Economics)

Calcutta to Kolkata : In 2001, the name of Calcutta was changed to Kolkata. The names Kolkata and Calcutta were probably derived from Kalikata, the name of one of the three villages (Kalikata, Sutanati & Gobindapur). While the city was always pronounced either “Kolkata” or “Kolikata”, in Bengali, its official English name was only changed from “Calcutta” to “Kolkata” in 2001, reflecting the Bengali pronunciation and to end the legacy of the British.

Festivals : There is a Bengali proverb - “Baro Maase tero Paarban”, which means in twelve months, thirteen festivals. Durga Puja is the most notable festival of Bengalis which celebrated every year like a carnival. It’s a religious and social festival of Kolkata. Other notable festivals include Deepavali, Eid, Christmas, Holi, Poila Baishakh (Bengali new Year), Saraswati Puja, Rath Yatra. Among the cultural festivals “Kolkata Book Fair” is the most popular and its now a yearly event which takes place in the month of January every year.

Indulgence to foods & sweets: As already mentioned about Kolkata that it is a city of best sweets and cuisines. Food and sweet are the two greatest indulgence of Kolkata people. Kolkatans love to eat and also they re great hosts. Every meal, ends with choicest sweets and Misty doi (sweetened curd). The unique range, quality, taste, variety and cheap rates of sweets can leave you amazed. The kolkata sweets are best sweets in India and unparallel in quality. Misty doi (sweetened curd) and confectionery of Patali Gur (date palm jaggery) are two delicacies of Bengal.

Besides Mughlai (tandoori, kebabs, biriyani etc.) Continental, Thai, Tibetian cuisines, Chinese cuisines are also very popular in Kolkata. Authentic quality Chinese cuisine is available in the eating houses/ Restaurants in Old China Town run by the Chinese people. Kolkata is also having varieties of quality foods on the streets. These foods are cheaper and there are some reputed points in the Dalhousie and Esplanade area. These points are only open during day time for the office goers and visitors to the city. We can proudly say that this kind quality foods are not available out side this city. Non-Indian food outlets like KFC, Macdonalds are present in the city. Junk foods are too available in every corner of the city. The Phuchka of Kolkata (Pani Puri in Bombay, Gol gappe in Delhi) is the best and nowhere this quality of Pani puri is available in India.

Dakshineshwar Temple

Places of Interests :

Besides Victoria Memorial which is land mark of Kolkata, other places of interests are Science City, Indian Museum, Birla Planetorium, Nicco Park, Botanical garden, Iskcon Temple, Belur Math, Kalighat, Dakshineswar kali Temple, Tagore House, Swabhumi, City Centre and South City Malls.

Belur Math

Nicco Park, Salt Lake, Kolkata

Mani Square Mall, Kolkata

City Centre-II & Swiss Hotel, Newtown, Kolkata

 Road to Airport through Newtown

A Riverine Nirvana : Sundarbans

Sundarbans is the location for them who like nature in its wildest forms. Sundarbans offers you a very extra ordinary natural scenic views and a journey through a riverine waterways for a lifetime experience. We experienced this journey throgh riverine waterways of Sundarbans on 23 and 24 January 2009.

It is also the perfect place for the ordinary holiday makers who desire to be away from hustle bustle city life for few days. Its only 100 KM from the city Kolkata.

Sundarbans, literally means beautiful forest, is a combined forest spread in Bangladesh and India. The vast swampy delta of the two great Indian rivers, Brahamaputra and the Ganges extends over areas comprising of mangrove forests, swamps and forest island all interwoven in a network of small rivers and streams. Sundarbans is the biggest mangrove forest in the world and is a treasure island of bi-odiversity. The Sundarbans has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. The part of the forest within Indian Territory is called Sundarbans National Park and is in the district of South 24 Parganas of West Bengal, India. The Sundarbans National Park is the home of the Royal Bengal Tiger. The tigers have adapted themselves very well to the saline and aqua environs and are extremely good swimmers. Nowadays, a behavioral change being observed in them as they are frequently coming to the villages despite of presence of natural food like deer, pigs etc sufficiently.
Sonakhali (100-kms), Raidighi (76-kms), Canning (64-kms), and Najat (92-kms) from Kolkata (Calcutta), which are all near the Sunderbans and have access to the riverine waterways leading to it. We reached Sonakhali jetty at about 1030AM and took a journey by Launch to Sajnekhali. Reached Sajnekhali at about 0230PM and checked in in the WB Govt. Tourist Lodge.

(Seven points where seven rivers meet)

We visited two watch towers at Sudhanyakhali and Dobanki through waterways while watching both the banks. While moving on waterways, various types of trees can be seen on the banks. While sailing to Dobanki you can see the Saptamukhi, the seven points where seven rivers meet.

(Sunset at Gosaba)

Bada Imambada : Lucknow

The Bada Imambada or Asafi Imambada was built by Nawab Asaf-ul-Daula in 1784 as a relief work during the terrible famine that year. Apart from the galleries in the interior, there is no woodwork anywhere. The interior vaulted hall, measuring 162 feet in length, 53 feet in width and 50 feet in height, is said to be one of the largest apartments of its kind in the world.

From the outside, a staircase leads to a series of artfully designed labyrinths (bhoolbhulaiyan) where it is very easy to get lost. You can wander through the zigzag narrow galleries for hours without finding your way out! It/’s a very eerie sensation, moving towards the sunlit corridors that seem to be going out, only to find that you are actually deeper in the labyrinth. Most visitors therefore are only allowed inside with guides who are familiar with the maze.

The great site was visited by me in the month of May 2008. During my visit what I saw was that the maintenance of the historical monument is very poor. One can conclud this from the accumulation of dust inside the durbar hall. Full of dust.