Kolkata.My first Official Visit.

This was my fourth visit to Kolkata and My first official trip.Apart from the company work I had a few things planned for it.

I checked-in in Hotel Natraj in Howrah area near the station and by 7am was ready to go out.I went to the legendary Mitra Cafe hoping to down some famous dishes like Brain chops and fish fry.But to my disappointment I found out that those items would be available only in the evening.I had a boiled egg for breakfast there.Atleast I knew the location now.From here I took the metro to MG Road and there walked around the streets. I was still hungry and desperately wanted a mughlai breakfast and checked zomato for a nearby place to eat a mughlai breakfast and found Sufia Restaurant nearby the Nakhoda masjid.Before I could reach Sufia restaurant I came across Hotel Aminia.I didnt know there was a branch here in these parts.I am still doubtful of the authenticity of that branch.Anyway I was very hungry from my long walk and I walked right in.I had mutton kheema and tandoori roti which I didnt quite like.

Next I walked back to my Hotel in Howrah going past the beautiful Writers Building while doing so.Yes I walked 3km maybe back to my hotel.From there for my official work I went to Ichapur.I was back to my hotel by 11 30am.I took some rest here and for the lunch I already had a restaurant in mind.I always wanted to try korean food for a long time.After seeing so many korean movies and Dramas I was curious to try something.This was my priority one activity for the trip and off I went determinedly.I took an Ola cab for the ride.

At the Family Chicken Restaurant at sector 1, Salt Lake I ordered Chicken Deopbab as it was the only dish I could eat(pork and squid are not permissible items for a muslim) The chicken was also halal here.As I took the first bite,mixing some rice with a chicken piece I didn't quite like it.It tasted very normal but as I continued eating the taste grew on me and by the time I finished I was absolutely delighted with the whole dish.After the meal here I went to college street by taking a share auto first then a public bus.In college street I was excited to see the piles and piles of books scattered everywhere.Nothing like the sight of books to lift the spirits of a bookworm.Taking Presidency College as my pivot I checked out both directions.I bought a good book at a Rs 100 fixed price book stall.I was happy with the deal.

From college street I took a cab back to Ichapur to complete my official work.From there it was straight back to my hotel where I took some rest till 9pm when I checked out.I went to the railway station and had my dinner in the KFC there which was overflowing with travellers.I boarded my train back to raigarh at 12am and slept like a log till the morning next day.

Orchha,Madhya Pradesh

           Orchha is a charming village in Northern Madhya Pradesh besotted with some stunning pieces of architecture.Orchha translates into hidden city. Tucked away in the plains of central India,15km from the city of Jhansi,orchha truly presents a picture of a tiny hidden city what with its glorious structures,cafes serving english,isreali and korean food, souvenir shops and plenty of foreigners.

           I visited Orchha a few days back during my double off.My total journey to and fro from my room was to take up 32 hours and I had a visiting time of 5 hours in Orchha.That too got shortened when my train was late by a couple of hours and I reached Jhansi by 9am.I had a small breakfast and immediately started looking around for share autos to orchaa.An autowallah informed me that share autos to orchha start from the bus stand and he took me there.An auto to Jhansi bus stand takes around 15minutes and Rs10.From there a share auto to orchha takes 40minutes and Rs15.This is a very cheap mode and one can save almost Rs200 compared to engaging an auto.If you are alone with little luggage share auto is the preferred mode.

           I reached orchha at 10am.As I entered the town clinging to the side of the auto I could see the landscape dotted with many ruins here and there.I got down at the last stop and to the left side I saw the entrance to the palace complex.After a quick look at google maps I trudged along the road leading to the palace complex.The right side of the road was lined with souvenir shops and two cafes claiming that they were recommended by Lonely Planet.One of them really is,as in my preparation for the trip I had referred to Lonely Planet and could recall the cafe name.The other one I couldn't recall and maybe I need to check the latest edition.

            I approached the palace complex,passed under the arch and just ahead saw the ticket counter.I took the tickets and entered the complex.There was a man seated at the entrance who greeted me warmly and asked if I wanted a guide,I politely declined and went ahead.I came across a big open ground.I went straight ahead.To my left lay the Sheesh mahal,a palace turned into a hotel.One can stay in it to experience of staying in a palace.Straight ahead lay the splendid Jahangir Mahal. The architecture of the Mahal was different from the kind I was used to seeing with domes and arches all around.This one had umbrella like structures called chhattris all over.As I entered in, I came across a sqaure courtyard with a fountain in the middle.There were four exquisite chhattris on the four sides of the top floor.There was excellent symmetry in the structures here.I climbed up the stairs on one of the sides and strolled around all the four sides.The view is stunning from here.One can see the nearby Chaturbhuj temple,the Laxminarayan temple and the Betwa river from the sides.On one of these sides I met a foreigner.One of the many I would see that day.Jahangir Mahal was built in honor of Mughal King Jahangir sometime in the 1600s.

After I saw the whole mahal to my.heart's content I moved on to the Raja Ram Mahal.This Was to the left of the Jahangir Mahal a little bit ahead.Built in the same 17th century this palace was very plain when compared with the Jahangir Mahal.The exteriors are plain,there aren't any exquisite chhattris.But one thing that stands out are the paintings on the wall.The murals are very beautiful and interesting.There are many hidden stairs here and one has to keep looking for a way to to reach the top.From the top the views are magnificent.Some of best pics I took  are from here.

Next I walked back around the main palace complex,behind the Jahangir Mahal is the Rai Parveen Mahal.Built for a courtesan of the Ruling raja here.This is a very small palace.Nothing interesting here except for a few paintings inside.Other than that there is a small garden outside.Everything is systematic here.The whole garden is divided into the mughal style of four quarters.Here I met a tourist from Switzerland who was fascinated by the whole palace.We talked for a few minutes and since I was in a hurry now I left rather quickly.

Around here are some other ruins which I did not visit as my time was running out.I had a train to catch at 3pm.and It was already 12 30pm.I still had to eat my lunch.I pondered over the possibility of visiting the famous chhattris nearby.I finally came to the result that it was not possible.So I went to one of the cafe, Ram Raja cafe.Here I had a banana Pancake.From here I went to a souvenir shop and bought a few things.Next I went to the other cafe on the road, the Bhola Cafe. Here I ordered kimchi,the korean dish but the cook said it was not possible so I settled on the simple egg fired rice.It was horrible.Anyway after this I immediately started looking for a share auto to take me back to Jhansi.I found one nearby.Took it and reached Jhansi bustsand.From there I took another auto to reach the railway station just in time to catch my train back to Raigarh.

I was very happy with this trip and all my 32 hours journey was worth the 3 hours I spent in Orchha.

Hemgir Palace,Hemgir,Orissa

In a remote village of Hemgir lies the Palace of the Zamindars who once ruled the Hemgir Estate.Covering over 900 sq km including large areas of forests,Hemgir Estate was part of the Gangpur State.

While returning from koiligughar falls we stumbled upon this palace while passing through the Hemgir village.I was the first one to spot it,surprised by the distinct looks of the front façade and the small cuboids at the corners.A house featuring an arch made of lions on the front roof in a village was quite unexpected.I urged the others in the group to stop.We got down and after asking the neighbours about the entrance which was,we found out,at the back,we made our way there.

We walked inside a small doorway and to our right there was a small hut which we assumed to be of a caretaker.Even after repeated knocks and shouts nobody came out so we proceed ahead.To the right there were ruins of a small house with very short pillars at the front.The whole house was characteristically short.

Next we went through another doorway to reach a thatched hut which showed signs of life.Satya being an Odiya himself called out in odiya.An old man came out inquiring.We said we were a group of travellers passing by and wished to see the palace.I was expecting a rejection but to my surprise and happiness he lead us to inside the main palace complex.We looked around.From an inscription I found out the palace was built in 1930.This section looked more modern when compared to the first structure which we had seen.The old man explained that that was the older palace which was built much before the 1930s.The best part was that we found an almirah full of documents.I casually looked at some and was excited to see that some of the documents dated to 1930s and 40s. Since these were private property we were a bit hesitant to look at them.

The old man enthusiastically told us about the palace and a few stories.We were grateful for him for his help and his stories.He informed us that the actual owners still come by sometimes to spend some time in the village.Indeed we saw AC in the windows while leaving.It would have been interesting to meet the owners.Later an on online search told me that the present owners were MLAs.Hemgir ascended to India in 1953.  

Koilighugar Waterfalls,Orissa

Koilighugar waterfalls is a small but lovely three tiered falls lies near the village of govindpur in the Jharsuguda dist.

           Myself along with my work colleagues made a day trip there a few weeks back.Anil sir,Amol sir,Vinay sir,Naveen sir,dhiren,satya and myself made up the group.We started at 8am and after going through many small villages along the way we reached the waterfalls at around 10am.The villages in these pars of India are very beautiful with small ponds everywhere.
           The kolilighugar falls,well, fall in steps.There is a pathway made along the small stream on which the falls are located on the upstream side.One can walk over it to cross over to the other side.There is an ashram just at the start of the walls and there is a small souvenir shop as well.This was unexpected.The stream upstream of the falls along with the forest surrounding it makes for some beautiful scenery.There were even some beautiful ducks peacefully swimming in it.

            We gingerly descended onto the second tier of the falls and slowly entered the gushing water.It was very chilly and fast.Slowly we got accustomed to the cool water.We spent an hour splashing around in the water and then emerged out only when we were content.The area where the water falls is deep and is excellent for people who know swimming and diving.

            It is a nice little place to chill out.Very good for a day trip.But in my opinion not suitable for families with small kids.

How to reach- My friend Satya saved the route we took from our place near tamnar by using the application 'My tracks'
here is the route map.

Jamshedpur,Jharkhand

Having not visited any place in Jharkhand before I decided to check out Jamshedpur in my last Double off.It has nothing much to offer so I'll keep this short.

     I reached Jamshedpur by 5 30am.I Had breakfast in the railway station itself.The station,by the way, was very clean and big.Next I started walking in the direction of Bistupur.The environment outside the station reminds one of kolkatta's Howrah environs.All dirty and grimy.Away from the vicinity of the railway station though the city is clean.I walked all the way to the Millennium garden turning.In between I passed by a few gates of Tata Steel's plant.From there I took an auto to Sakchi.The share autos are very cheap there.In sakchi I strolled around looking at the local market which was put up for the day which was a sunday.After a rather disappointing walk I decided to take a nap and took a room in one of the hotels nearby.At 2pm I woke up and went to Cafe Regal in Bistupur. It was the highlight of the whole trip.The cafe has awesome vintage ambience.It has a nice corner lounge too with some great books.When I entered, bright sunlight was shining in from the windows and everything looked so classy.Soon I was met with the very affable Mr varun,the owner and he suggested I take the Parsi special which is made only on Sundays.I did and within 20minutes, a plate of rice,a bowl of dal and a bowl of chicken was placed before me.When I saw it I realised it was nothing but Bagara Khana and Dalcha.It was delicious and reminded me of the food my mom used to make.After this hearty meal I headed back to the railway station and returned to my room by 12pm.

In Review : 2014

In Review-2014
Bungee Jumping,Zip Lining,River Rafting,Body Surfing,Trekking,Camping,River Crossing,ATV ride,swimming under waterfalls,camp fires,roaming in forts,visits to museums,tram rides and a ride in India's fastest train.This year has been one of the best for me.

Dehradoon,Uttarakhand

Last year has been the one of the best for me.I got to realise one of my dreams of river rafting and Bungee Jumping in Rishikesh,India.

In May I went for an all out Adventure Trip to Uttarakhand. I did a 3 day trek and sumitted a 3050MSL peak,called Nag Tibba Peak.



Here are the posts-Introduction, Day 1 ,Night 1 ,Day 2 ,Night 2,

Then did river rafting in River Alakananda followed by one of the most extreme adventure activities, Bungee Jumping and Zip Lining.

Nag Tibba Trek,Uttarakhand

River Rafting,Uttarakhand

Bungee Jumping,Uttarakhand

Jhansi,Uttar Pradesh

A brief visit to Jhansi,Uttar Pradesh saw me visit the fort of Rani Lakshmi Bai and a small beautiful museum.

Kolkatta,West Bengal

Then in September I went to Kolkata,West Bengal.A trip in heritage tram was the best part.

The year ended with a visit to the quaint hill station of Chhattisgarh called Mainpat.This was my second visit to this place and it was with my colleagues from work. A campfire and a dip in the chilly waters from a waterfall were the high points.

Mainpat,Chhattisgarh,India.(Post 2)

Mainpat evokes memories of sleepy villages set against a backdrop of green rolling gentle hills and colourful fluttering flags of the Tibetans.The virgin forests,the numerous waterfalls and a unique place where the land shakes under ones feet make mainpat a perfect retreat for the people of Chhattisgarh.I personally found the solitude of the place its biggest draw. It is my favourite place in Chhattisgarh.

I visited mainpat last year and heres my post about it.Last week myself along with my work colleagues made another trip there.This time I suggested we stay the night there.We made the required arrangements beforehand and off we started at around 5pm from our place near Tamnar which is 45km from Raigarh,Chhattisgarh.Our group consisted of my seniors Amol,Yashwant,Naveen,Varun,Vinay,pankaj,satya and myself.

We reached Kamleshwarpur, which is where both the staying options of mainpat are available,at around 10 30pm.We chose the private resort Mercury instead of State Tourism's one as it was way cheaper.An arrangement was made with the manager of Mercury for a campfire.By the time we arrived the campfire was ready and our dome tent was yet to be set up.It was very chilly and the warmth of the fire quickly made us settle down around the fire.we started off with the obvious horror stories but an hour into it we couldn't quite get the spooky atmosphere going as every now and then someone cracked a witty reply to a scary situation and the whole tense build up was broken.Vinay sir told a couple of awesome stories but we had nothing much to go on so we changed tracks and launched into a full scale jokes mode.Now amol sir started off a joke that nearly had people falling off their chairs with laughter. He followed it up with another and now my cheeks were paining.One followed another and we had a wonderful night.We stayed near the fire till 1 am and then went inside our dome tent.There were cots and sleeping backs ready for us.The bags were of quechua make and quite good.We tucked in ready to sleep but with the excitement we couldn't quite sleep right away.More round of jokes followed and there was jumping around in sleeping bags.We finally slept around 3am.

The next morning I woke up with a start as Yashwant sir was yelling at the top of his voice waking everyone.It was 6 30am and we all went for a walk in the cool morning breeze to a nearby check dam.We strolled around, took in the views and took some pics.The breeze especially was refreshing.Next in the schedule was an ATV ride.Only satya and Myself were interested in that and we took it.The handle was a bit off to the left and we had some problem negotiating the vehicle.After the ride we headed off for River crossing near a nearby stream.The resort people were very laid back in their attitude and they took their own sweet time in setting up the equipment.They set up a rope across a small stream with a tree on each side.We decided to start with the one who weighed the least and that was me.I got ready with the belts,carabiners and the gloves.The crew put me in position with me hanging with my hands holding the roller.Then they left me and away I went rolling till I reached the mid point.From there I used my hands to roll to the other side of the stream.Having done a 1km zip line and bungee jumping in rishikesh I was mildly excited with this experience.After my turn it was satya's turn and one after the other everyone did it.

Next we moved to Jaljala.This was a bizarre place where the land under our feet moved as we jumped up and down.When I first heard about the place I did not give it much thought.But having reached there and experiencing it first hand was very thrilling.We jumped around here for quite some time and next moved on to a nearby waterfall.These falls are a bit far from jaljala but the route to reach it starts off from the same place.We hiked through the forest and descended down to the falls.The falls were beautiful.Vinay sir,amol sir and yashwant sir couldnt control the excitement and they jumped into the chilly waters.Shivering in the ice cold water they shouted and screamed as they tried to muster some resistance in their bodies.After they could hold on no longer they left the water and after some group pics we moved on to our next place,Fish Point.

   
There was a huge crowd at Fish Point as it was a sunday.We reached,immediately selected a place and undressing till our undergarments jumped into the ice cold water.We frolicked around in the water for some time and only came out when we couldn't handle the chilly water anymore.Next we moved onto Tiger Point.

It is so named because a Tiger was spotted here a long time ago.This is area is located around 5-10km from Kamleswarpur towards sitapur side.We sat around here,had some bhel and took some pics.It was soon dusk and it was time to go.On our return journey we had an awesome dinner at Tamjeed dhaba.It capped off a wonderful journey to a gem of a hillstation that is Mainpat.

A short video of our trip.

In Brief -
Mainpat is 178km from Raigarh and 80km from Ambikapur.
Best time to visit is in the monsoon season and winter season.
Staying options include the privately owned Mercury Resorts and a Govt owned Resort.
A car can be booked from Raigarh.It costs around Rs3000 - Rs4500.People here genrally charge Rs11 per km here.Buses ply between Ambikapur and Raigarh but they are largely unreliable and not comfortable