To Shantiniketan with Ma

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This summer, mom and I went to Shantiniketan, Bolpur. It's two hours from my hometown. I had to plan, book, sort things out beforehand because I had other plans and work to complete. So I booked a homestay for two days. Boarded a bus and reached Bolpur at around 1:30pm. From the Bolpur bus junction we took a Toto to our homestay. It cost us Rs60. Then  we requested the Toto owner to show us the whole place for the next two days. I had eight places in my mind for this two days trip. That afternoon, mom and I, were given a welcome drink. We had lunch in the homestay, a comfortable afternoon nap in the AC  and woke up at around five in the evening and got ready for our first day trip to Konkali tola. Konkali tola is not in Bolpur. It is situated near Bolpur and is one of the 51 Shaktipeeths in India. The Toto driver came at around 5:15pm and we reached there around 6pm. The place was comfortably less populated than the other Shaktipeeths. I think it's because it's less known and less popular than the others. The 'konkal' Or the skeleton of Sati is believed to lie under the 'kund' ( a small water body) behind the temple in Konkalitola. The main temple has a market attached to it and in the market there is a Shiv temple too. It's a big place and there is river Kopai,to the north of the temple. So we did not only get the chance to worship Devi ma but we also got the opportunity to witness and participate in the Ganga Aarti ( Aarti in front of River Kopai but addressed to Ma Ganga). It was pleasant. The Aarti got over at around 7:30pm. In our Toto we headed back to our homestay. On our way back home we bought two packets of momos as our evening snacks from two students of Visva Bharati campus. After reaching our homestay we went to the beautifully decorated terrace of our homestay where we enjoyed our evening snacks and the cool breeze. We had our dinner in our homestay at night, watched television and went off to sleep. 

The second day was all loaded and we had to start with our journey early. We had a lumpsum complimentary breakfast in our room and then headed to see all the places in Shantiniketan. The Toto owner told us the package and he charged us with Rs1200 for the whole trip. So we started our journey with a visit to Surul Rajbari. It reminded me of Sohabazar Rajbari,Kolkata. Surul Rajbari has a 'choto rajbari' attached to it and a Durga temple too. It has got huge white pillars and big Zamindari windows. Mom and I clicked photos there and then we went to our next destination, Shilpo gram. We had to pay Rs35 each to enter the place. Shilpo in Bengali means 'artistic' and gram means 'village'. So this artistic village occupies a huge area and has well maintained and well built mud made structures. The huts were unique. Each hut represented the type and kind found in different states of India and they were designed accordingly. There was a 'putul ghor' ( doll house). It was nice but I found it terrifying. A huge artificial lake was at the edge of the village with two three wandering singers ( bowls) sitting here and there and singing to their heart's content. There were many sculpted figures too and right in the end was a small 'sonajhuri' kinda market. Nice business strategy I would say. There was also a huge stage in the middle. After spending nearly two hours in Shilpo gram,we headed for a Visva Bharati campus tour. After the campus tour we went to the Tagore museum and then came back to our homestay at around 2pm.

We freshened up, had our lunch, took a small nap and headed for the main tourist attraction of the place ' Sonajhuri Hat' which is a market that is all about Shantiniketan and it's ethnic style. One gets books, clothes, jewellery, food, etc typical to Shantiniketan, here in Sonajhuri Hat. We spent one and a half hours there. Soon it was time for all the vendors to call it a day at Sonajhuri for the sun had set. We came back home and on our way home had tea at a local tea stall. 

Next day we checked out from our homestay at 10:30am. We boarded our bus at around 11:00 am and then left for home. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the place,  enjoyed the homestay, the shopping (😜), the food and everything else that was a part of this beautiful two days trip. Here are a few pictures from the trip.












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