Santiniketan tour – a journey to feel the blessing of Kobi Guru Rabindra Nath Thakur

I have written the blog post of about “Santiniketan tour”  after 9 years of our family tour to Santiniketan in the Month of September 2009. If you plan for 2-3 days week end tour from Kolkata, Santiniketan icould be a top choice for travel lovers.

Our journey to Santiniketan – long drive experience 

We took road journey to reach Santiniketan. It was a nice driving experience in rainy morning in September. We started from Kolkata in the morning around 6 pm. Though it was September month, one round of morning rain made the journey cool.

We took National Highway 2 (NH2) to reach  Panagarh, after Panagarh we took right turn from the Darjeeling more towards Illambazaar. On the way, after crossing Illambazaar, we drove through a Sal jungles. It was 9 am. We are listening the famous song of Rabindra Sangeet. Melody of Sangeet mixed with the beauty of nature, made my car driving memorable.

After few minutes of drive, we reached Sir niketatan. We booked our stay at Poushali lodge inside the Santiniketan campus. Our lodge was located next to Prof. Amarta Sen’s house. In fact, in my knowledge, it was only lodge located right inside the campus.

Sightseeing inside the campus

We visited many memorable places inside the campus. Just to name a few,…

Campus tour:We visited many memorial buildings and exhibition centres inside the campus.

Memorable experience to spend morning time in the Amra kunja (mango gandel). My wife was singing a Rabindra Sangeet, and my little daughter Richita was dancing to that song. I  writing this blog post after 9 years, still that time, song, dancing sequence and tranquillity of green campus are afresh in my mind.

The whole day, we spent in the campus. We also visited a mini zoo inside the campus.

Upasana Griha at Santiniketan (dated September 2009)

a) Amar Kutir

b) Vidya Bhavana

c) Kala Bhavana

Prakriti Bhavan Nature Art Museum

 

d) Partha Bhavan

Patha Bhavana Bolpur

e) Sriniketan

Santinikatan Building

Pathsala under the tree in Santiniketan

Amra Kunja – My daughter was engaged in drawning

 

Santiniketan mela just opposite Partha Bhavan- local studnets sold home made foods and crafts

F) Ballavpur wildlife sanctuary (Deer park)

Inside the deer park

Second day: we visited places outside the campus

1) Kankalitala Temple (The Shakti Peethas): it was about 5 km from the campus.

At Kankali Tala Mandir on 17-09-09

On the way to offering puja at Kankali Tala mandir

2) Kopai nadi: it is really awesome place for nature lover. You can walk through the nature, see the brids chattering over the tree. Spend some time near a lonely river kopai still bearing the memories of Kobi Guru Rabindanath Thakur.

Kopai Nadi , Siteseeing

Khoai -Nadi -canyon

3) Prakiti bhraman kendra: it shows the marvellous creation of arts.

Praktiti Bhavan -Near Khoai Nadi

Praktiti Bhavan -Near Khoai river

4) Village tour for kutir Shilpa.  I couldn’t not recollect exact name of the village. Based on the guidance from local people, we drove 30 minutes through the village road to reach that nondescript village to see the Bengal tant work in that report. It was day of Vishwakarma puja. When we reached the village, the whole area was decorated with flowers and pandel. We were tourists there, still they treated us as special guest. They invited us to have prasaad in a makeshift tent.

We spent the whole afternoon in that village, and returned to lodge before dusk.

 

Return to Kolkata

It was our last day (3rd day) in Santinikatan.

Someone told us there was tribal mela near kopai nadi on every Saturday afternoon. We couldn’t miss that chance. We waited till 4 pm to enjoy mela.

Purchasing crafts in the Tribal meal near Kopai Nadi

Crafts at display in the fair

After mela, we are now ready for returning to Kolkata

Baul song near the kopai nadi, made the afternoon nostalgic.   we left Santinekaton, it was 430pm. We started for Kolkata carrying with sweet memories of Santiniketan and Kobi Giru Rabindran Nath.