West Medinipur- Tribal Communities-2

Munda Tribal Festival Dance

Munda Tribal Group-These kind of tribal communities is Non-Aryan and are the original inhabitants of ancient India. According to history, their origin was from Jharkhand and thereafter they were spared in various parts of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and also other parts of the country.

The Munda tribal community had great contributions to India's independence.At the time of India's freedom movement, entire Munda tribal group were involved indirectly in such freedom movement and some of them were took direct part in freedom movement;Birsa Munda was one of them. In Munda tribal groups, Birsa Munda is a respected name as they worship him as their god. In 1900 Birsa Mundas had died in Ranchi Jain suspiciously; then his was nearly 25 years. He had dedicated his life for India's independence. His dedication is still acknowledged with honor not only by the Munda people but also by the Government of India.

Munda Women Wearing Colorful Dresses

Munda group has their own religion called Singbonga; Singobonga means Sun God. They fully rely and believe that Singbonga is the supreme power and such Singbonga is always protecting them from all evils' power and also give punishment of their sins. After established of British rule for India, most of the Christian Missionaries were come to India and they mostly started their work to do well for common people and converted mostly poor people and tribal class to Christianity; thus the major portion of the Munda group is to christens.

The cultural side of this tribal group is very strong. They have their own dance form and songs by which they can be identify separately. The Nupur dance is one most popular form of dance of them; they wear Nupur in their ankles and dance in various festivals of joy.

The work culture of this tribal group is also similar like Santali tribal group . It is the fact that the occupational life of the tribal communities is majorly depending upon the forest. Since from the ancient time, tribal communities' lives was nature dependent. Since from the ancient time they are collecting woods from the forest and selling those woods in the local market and earn money which leads their families. As the time passed, their work culture is changed like earth cutting, labor works at various construction sites, and also land cultivations.

Earlier they had no enough knowledge of cultivation as their food habit was very peculiar; they are generally animal flesh eaters; as per their need they would go forest and haunt animal and arrange their food. Thereafter, in the long run, government preserved forests and separated them from their nature-life and rehabilitated them in other places with some cultivation lands with knowhow of cultivation.

The society of Munda community has their own identical arrangement; there has sub-group of Munda tribe community and the name of those sub-groups is Patar, Mahali, Kampat etc. among those sub-groups, some subjects are common; Gotiora- is common in every Munda village, where the traditional cultural songs, dance and also music are practiced by the young Mundas under the guidance of experienced seniors. Another common thing is Panchayat heading of a surpanch or group of surpanch who controlled the entire society and every villager is bound to obey the decision of the Panchyat. Another common thing is Akhra ; this kind of Akhra is the place of entertainment of Munda tribes. All festivals of the Munda tribes are celebrated together. 

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View of Santali Traditional Dance

One of the main characteristics of the West Medinipur district is that this district has a major portion of tribal inhabitants. This tribal communities are divided between various names;

Santali-This tribal class is most popular in Bengal and also in India.This tribal group is generally lives at the north and western part of this district which is mostly hilly area.This tribal group was first find-out by Walter Hamilton in 1820.There is different opinion about the name of this tribal;some opinion which is very near to believe is that this name had come from smanta or may be saont; because this place was known as samanatbhum. It was also the opinion that this tribal class belongs to this region.

View of Santali Festival Dance

Historically, it can be said that Santali group was mostly found in Jhargram and nearest parts of the Medinipur district. Forest is closely attached to their daily life; they collect Sal-tree- leaf from for nearest forest for making plates which are mostly used for different ceremonies of our Bengali people, they do agricultural works surrounding the plain area of the forest and now most of them come to town area and do digging of earth work for the foundation of buildings, well, etc., for their such digging works, they use to call in local name Mita.

Santali Women-Welcome Mood

After discovered them, the American Baptist Foreign Mission had especially taken care to improve their lifestyle and tried to bring them in mainstream of development of the society. But the main mission of that mission was to convert them to their religion; in spite of this, the mission had tried to give them proper education. On the inspiration to this Christian mission, namely, Rev. J Philips, Rev. G Kennan and also Rev. L.C. Kitchen had struggled much to know the origin of this tribal group and as per his strong effort, the entire world came to know about Santali language,Olchiki.This is the mother language of Santal.

Rev Philip had first time published Santali songs and poems in Bengali language in the year nearly 1845. He first took initiative to start school for them at Jaleswar. Rev Philips had done huge research on Santali Language and wrote most famous two books; Santali Bhasa Siksha in 1850 and another book Santali Language in the year 1852 where he included grammar and more than 5000 words of the Santali language. This is great work undoubtedly and he deserved thanks from this group of the tribe.

This tribal group had strong participation in India's freedom movement. Some eminent personalities of this tribe had directly involved in India's freedom movement and they were fully inspired the non-cooperation movement towards Mahatma Gandhi and controlled common Santali people for not paying taxes and revenues to the colonial British rulers. In the long run they got direct involvement in confrontation with colonial British rulers.
Santali has their own songs and dance form for their different occasions and festivals which give them separate identity in the world. 

West Medinipur-3

West Medinipur-View-3

There are many other places which are the also the attraction of tourists;

Jhargram-This place is near Medinipur. This place is famous for the Raj Palace. Other than this place, there are some another attractions like Radha Krishna Temple, Kanak Durga Temple, Chilkigarh Palace; all these are located within 12 km distance of Jhargram. Excluding the above, there is the deer parks within 3 kms away from Jhargram town, a rose garden at Jangalmahal that is located in between Jhargram and Lodhasuli and also another attraction is Sabitri Temple where the image of Devi Sabitri was made naturally by approaching stone.

Dantan- This place is one important in Medinipur. The Samoleswar Mahadeb Temple is one of the attractions of this place and it is located very short distance more Dantan Market. Bidyadhar Puskarini is another attraction of Dantan. This a lake and it is approximate in size is 1600 ft in length x 1200 ft in width. Sarasanka Dighi is also another attraction of this place, most probably; this lake is noticeable largest lake among other lakes of Bengal.

In west Medinipur are having different structures of Muslim which is also attractions of the district, like, Tikia Masjid situated at Mirbazar, Dewan Khana Masjid situated at Aligunj. These are most famous structures of other Muslim structures of the district. Most probably, during the period of Aurangazeb, the famous emperor of India, these structure was made.

Vidyasagar Smiriti Mandir- is also a reputed structure of the district. Dr Radhakrishnan had placed the foundation stone of this building in the year 1938 and the opening ceremonial of this foundation had led by the famous Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. Many historical remnants and residues were collected from various parts of the district are still preserved at Vidyasagar Smriti Mandir Other than these, most historical valuable copper-coins displayed the time of Raja Sasanka, statues of Jain and Buddhist age, terracotta works, manuscripts,etc are also kept here.

Nearly two hundred years, the British rulers were ruled in India, so naturally, churches, tombs were built by the British in this country. Thus they constructed John Pears' tomb, Church at Keranitola,Baptist Mission Church of America close to Abasgarh and all these were built nearly 18th to 19th century.

Malancha-This place is situated on north-west part of Kharagpur. The main attraction of this place is temples of different Hindu gods. Dakshina Kali Temple was constructed in the year 1634 by bricks and its decoration is of Terracotta style. Like this temple, other temples are Nandeswar Siva Temple, Balaji Temple; Siddheswari Temple etc. are also the center of attraction of the visitors. It is the belief of the local people that theses temples were built during the time of Bishnupur Dynasty.

Egra- is another town of Medinipur-west. Here is also having different temples. The most renowned temple is Hatnagar Mahadeb temple. This temple was designed and constructed on the base of architectural style of Orissa. The popular pond of Medinipur is also situated here, called Krishna Sagar. The local myth is that the famous Bengali Novel-Anandamath was written by the author Bankim Chandra Chattyopadhyay at this place and at that time he was the magistrate of this district under the British Government. 

West Mednipur-2

West Medinipur- view-2

Chandra Kona-This town is situated between Ghatal and Garbeta. The main attraction of this town is forts namely Ramgard, Lalgard. These forts were constructed at the time of Chauhan kings. The image of Raghunathji is setup at Ramgard fort in 1522. The image of Girdharji was set up at Lalgard fort in 1655. Other than these two forts, there are other forts like Raghunathgarh and another fort was also found in ruined condition, namely Dwasdash Dwari  Dwadash Dwari is Bengali term, it means is 12 doors ; the ruined fort had 12 entrances or doors.

There are different temples at Chandrakona town. All these different temples were dedicated to the various god and goddess name, like Malleswar Mahadev, Jagannath Mahadev, Raghunath Jiu, La Jiu, etc. The other important temple of Chandrakona are Navaratna Temple. This is situated at the lalbazar area. This temple is richly decorated with terracotta art.

Garbeta- According to the history, in 15th century, one Rajput, Gajapati Singha defeated the non-Aryan ruler of this place and set-up one new dynasty in Bagri area. He had also built one fort at the eastern side of Shilavati River at his time; but that fort is massively ruined in the long run. At the north side of this fort have a well structural temple called Ma Sarbamangalla as the same was dedicated to Devi Durga. There is also having other temples with attractive sculptures. The famous fair of this place are usually arranged at the time of Holi the festive of colors which generally come once in a year at the time of spring seasons.

Karnagarh-This is the name of a fort which is situated probably 10 km distance from the Medinipur town. This ancient fort is still the center of attraction of the tourists. This stone-made fort is almost ruined as the time passed. Still the remaining portion of this fort is attractive for all and according to the history; this fort and its temples, water tanks, etc. ware made at the time of Keshri dynasty.

Medinipur Town-This is very old town. Nearly 500 years ago it was set-up by the Mughal dynasty and then it was under the Jaleswar Sarkar. Probably, in 1783, it was declared as the headquarters of this district. In other opinion, Medinikar, the local lord was discovered this place as the name of Madhukosh and thereafter according to these names together came Medinipur after his expiry i.e.13th century most probably.

Partha-This place is situated at the north bank of Cossye River and it is 8 k.m. distances from Medinipur town. This place is famous for 32 approximate temples that was made of Terracotta arts. Few years ago, one Lord Vishnu idol was discovered at the time of digging  the earth and according to archeological point of view this idol is nearly 1000 years old. The idol is now in the Ashutosh Museum.

West Medinipur-1

West Medinipur

Medinipur is one of the most important districts of West Bengal in India. Earlier it was one single big district. In the long run,after many years, this district was divided into two parts, East Medinipur and West Medinipur. This division was done for smooth functioning of administrative works.

This district is important as the first swadeshi self-declared government was setup at Tamluk at that time when entire India was under the rule of British Government. The name of that swadeshi government was Tamralipta government. Medinipur is also Bengal-Orissa border district.

Following places of West Medinipur are famous for the visit;

Khirpai- In earlier, i.e. in 18th and also in 19th centuries, this town was famous as trading center. Cotton and handicrafts of this area were very famous at that time and these items were exported to foreign countries. Khirpai was also famous for indigo plantations by the British businessmen. They forcibly compelled Indian farmers to cultivate this indigo, because this kind of indigo plantation damage the soil and after cultivation of indigo, the particular land are not eligible for cultivation of any other crops like rice. Now this town has not enough impotency in trading with such cotton and crafts. It is small town and its area is now 12 sqrs. Kilometers approximately and number of dwellers is not much. The main attraction of this place is the Pancharatna temple, this temple is very ancient. The architectural of this temple are very memorable and the images of Krishnalila, Dasavatars of Lord Krishna and also the battle between Ram and Ravana, all these ideas were collected from famous Hindu epics like Ramayana, Mahavarat.Many other famous ancient temples are also existing here and these are also the center of attraction of tourists of whole over the world.

Khargeswar Shiv Mandir- this temple was built in the year of 1861. This Khargeswar Shiv Mandir is located on the north side of Radhamadhab Mandir. This Shiv Mandir is made of Tin roof of atchala style. Atchala means assembling of eight tin roofs and designed as hut.

Umapati Shiv Mandir- This mandir (temple) is also built as atchala style and in the century 19th, this temple was built. The image of Sun is set-up here. This image most probably were made of black stone and the age of 10th or 11th century.

Dalan Mandir- This temple was most probably built in 1746 and this oldest temple of Khirpai. This temple is devoted to Singhabhini (Goddess Durga).

Kankrajhor- This place is near by the north-west part of Jhargram sub-division. This place is mostly covered with various trees like Sal, Teak, Mahua, Kendua, etc. some animals like deer, bear, rabbits, etc. are commonly seen here. The famous temple of goddess Kali is seen here. It is also myth that Kapalkundala, the famous novel by the author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was written here. This place Kankrajhor is famous for its full moonlight view. In winter and spring seasons, the beauty of this place in full moon light is really amazing and memorable.

Many other places are in west-Medinipur to be visit. I will write in brief about those places in my coming episode of the part of this blog. 

Mukutmanipur

Mukutmanipur Dam

Mukutmanipur is a famous urban city of Bankura district of West Bengal. This urban city is situated at the convergence of the two rivers namely Kangsabati and Kumari. These two rivers are very close to the Bengal-Jharkhand border.

Kangsabati Dam was planned in the year 1956 by the former chief-minister of Bengal at Bankura district. It is about 12 kilometers distances from Khatra town of Bankura.Then it was planned that this gigantic and such a long dam would supply its storage water to surrounding 8 thousand kilometers area of cultivation fields and overextended it upto Bnakura,Purulia and West Medinipur and also upper Hoogly district.
Mukutmanipur and Jhilmil are the main tourists' spots of Bankura.The nature beauty of these places is remarkable.This dam project has promoted the tourism and improved the financial condition of the tribal artists for their craft work of bamboo sticks and one different kind of grass called saboi grass.Within 2 kilometers away from these places are having Bangopalpur Reserve Forest.This is the home of vegetation plants and creatures. About 4 kilometers distances between this dam are having another ancient town Ambikanaragar and this town is very significant place of pilgrimage for Jains believers.Most of the significant of this town were destroyed by the fatal flood of the year 1898.

Jhilmil is about 15 kilometers distances from Mukutmanipur.Ranibandh to Jhilmil travel is a memorable journey;the wonderful experience when pass through the road and both sides enormous forest views and thus at last reach at the top of the mound.

Bus Service is available from Esplanade of Kolkata to Mukutmanipur, it will take near about 8 to 9 hours. A/C and Non-A/c,both types of buses are available from Kolkata.

Train Service is also available from Howrah station to Bankura. It will take four and half an hours to reach upto Bankura. From Bankura, city bus service is available upto Mukutmanipur, this journey will take nearly 2 hours. Booking car or by personal car can be reached directly to Mukutmanipur and it will take approximate 6 hours.Hotel facility is also available at Mukutmanipur within the budget.

The following hotels are well known there;

Peerless Resort/Ahla Lodge/Hotel Aparajita/Hotel Amrapali/Hotel Green Park. 

Digha-Seaside-2

Shankarpur Beach

The following nearby places of Digha are very attractive;

Shankarpur is another imminent sea beach. It is located 14 kilometers away from Digha. There is having one temple of Lord Shiva at Chandaneshwar and this temple is 6 kilometer west sides of Digha. In Bengali month Chaitra, a popular annual fair is arranged at this temple. 

Udaipur Beach

Udaipur is a spectacular beach . This beach is located much kilometer west of Digha. This beach is located in Bengal-Orissa border. Though this beach is not being traveled much , but this beach is very beautiful.
Marine aquarium and research center was established in 1989. The main purpose of this center is to show the marine biological diversity of this region and communicate its value to the local people and explore them the research activities. This research center has an inbuilt aquarium which is the largest aquarium in the country. This is also the attraction of the marine center. Every day huge visitors comes here to see this attraction. This aquarium and marine center are open for public 9.30 am to 6 pm in working days.

Junput Beach

Junput is a famous fishing spot and nice-looking sea coast. It is 40 kilometers far from Digha.Here is also a government fisheries department. The light-house and the temple of Kapalkundala is also another attraction of this place. Subarnarekha River is also located 12 kilometers away from Digha; this is the place where this river of sweet water mixed with Bay Of Bengal Sea. This is also attractive destination of tourists of Digha. Talsari is a small channel on Bay of Bengal is located 6 kilometer distances from Digha. This is peaceful places and close to spot of mixing place of sea and Subarnarekha River. Mandarmani is a small beach. This is only very short distance from Digha. This Mandarmani sea-beach is a small fishing and developed tourist spot. Recently, this is very lovely place for spending weekend with families. There are so many other sites are to visit like Science Center, Amravati Lake, Kajo dighi, etc.

From Digha, tourists can visit all the above places and enjoy their holidays. This total trip can be taken for one-week.
There are many beautiful hotels in Digha which are affordable and within budget, like,

 Amantran Hotel, Hotel Sea Hawk, Hotel Aditya International, Hotel Bhalobasha,Hotel Orbit Residency,Hotel Dolphin, Hotel Greenland Inn, hotel Rajeet, Hotel Rohini International, Hotel Sea Coast, Hotel Seagull.

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New Digha

Old Digha

 Digha is a famous seaside of West Bengal as well as India. As per the sitemap it is situated in East Midnapur district of West Bengal and northern end of Bay of Bengal. This is very popular seaside of the world; every year huge foreign tourists come here and enjoy the beauty of the nature surrounding this place . This is also very choice-able weekend for the people of Calcutta.

Digha is approximate 183 kilometres far from Calcutta and Howrah if we go via Mecheda roadway. If we go via Kharagpur from Calcutta/Howrah then the distance is approximately 234 kilometres. Digha-Calcutta distance is also connected to railway links. In earlier days, there was no direct train of Digha, and then people would go Tamluk by train and from there by bus or private cars up to Digha. In 2004, direct train links between Calcutta-Digha was started from new railway station Kolkata-Rail-Station.

This place was discovered by one English tourist John Frank Smith in 1923 and he was started to live there. He was most probably writer and his writings provided the good experience of this place. Lately, after independence of India in 1947, he tried to induce the first chief minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Roy to develop this place as tourist spot.

Mainly in three seasons like summer, monsoon and in winter this place is become overcrowded. In summer seasons, the average maximum temperature is within 37 degree Celsius between April to June of every year. But continue breezing into sea-wind keep the atmosphere almost pleasant. In the monsoon, within July to September last, the climate is full of humidity ; but rainfall gives something relief. Winter season is almost starting from the end of October and till continue up to February. This time the temperature is within 24 degree Celsius. The most preferable time to stay at Digha is October to March, because this time the weather is pleasant and enjoyable.

There are frequent bus services from Esplanade area of Calcutta and it takes almost five hours of Calcutta. Private and Government, both type of bus services are available from Esplanade. Other than Calcutta bus services are also available from other districts like Midnapur, Asansol, Bankura, Bardwan, Howrah and even from adjacent state like Orissa via Cuttack and Balasore.

The old sea-beach of Digha was wide in past days' but now it is not wide as it was in earlier days due to heavy soil attrition. The tidal sea waves have dazed the land of sea-beach and this is one of the main reasons for shorten of the width of Digha's old sea-beach. The state government has been taken various steps like big stones setting, concrete slabs setting, etc. to protect the land-erosion from the spontaneous tidal waves. Though this kind of protection is few bits protected the land-erosion, but not much to receive the overcrowded load especially in winter seasons.

The state government has developed a new beach within two kilometres distances between old beach of Digha called New Digha. This new beach is bigger than old one and this man-made beach is well constructed and well maintained. It is also out of the overfilled locality and fully decorated with Tamarisk plantations and other natural beauty. All the hotels are situated within walking distance. New Digha is well comfortable with tourists. 

Nearby Places of Kolkata-I

Sundari Trees

Royal Bengal Tiger

Sundarban: The Sundarban is the largest mangrove forest in the world. This forest is world heritage forest declared by the UNESCO and most of which portion is under the jurisdiction of the Bangladesh country and less part is in India. The Sundarban National Park is mainly Royal Bengal Tiger reserve Park. The entire forest is covered with dense mangrove trees.The name Sundarban is Bengali name and its English translation is beautiful forest. Sundar=beautiful and ban=forest.This sundar (beautiful) has come from the name of Sundari trees. This kind of trees is huge in numbers.

According to history, this area was traced to 200 and 300 AD. In earlier place was under control of pirates of different places. In 1860's, this forest was again tracked down the East India Company and in 1875 the large portion of mangrove forest declared reserve forest as per the Forest preservation Act 1865. In the year 1911, It was come to the notice that this forest has not been neither had been tracked nor had been census. The area liked 165 miles or 266 Km added with this forest as it was raised from water.

Sundarban is a water-logged jungle. Here other than Bengal Tiger, lots of wild beasts are flourished. This forest is lies in the channel of Bay of Bengal and confluence of three rivers like Padma , Brahmaputra and Meghna across of southern Bangladesh. This mangrove trees are the main protector of this forest. This forest is covered ten thousand square kilometers, out of which six thousand square kilometer is in Bangladesh. This salt-tolerant mangrove forest is connected to waterways of every corner and boat is only the vehicle.

Other than Royal Bengal Tiger, there are also various types of birds, spotted deer, crocodiles and also various types of snake. Mangroves of Sundarban are not only protecting the forest area, but also protecting the nearest villages from cyclones.

There are many ways to reach to Sundarbans . From Diamondharbour to Kakdwip and Namkhana . Boats are available from Gangadharpur . Sonakhali Tourist Lodge is best places to stay. For more detail, www.helptourism.com; recently, permit is required for foreign nationals.

Only for enjoying the beauty of Sundarban without adventure, then West Bengal Government package tour of two-three nights. For enjoying adventure, then local bhutbhuti (Motorboat) can be hired and stay whole night in the canals of dense forest. This is only to watch Royal Bengal Tigers that came to the river banks to drink water. From Calcutta, Motor-Lunch can be taken from Calcutta directly and strait to Sundanban. Best time to visit Sundarban is November - March of every year.

Kingfisher Bird

Largetooth Swafish

Food and Lodging information of Kolkata-VI

This blog is something different than my earlier five blogs on visible places of Kolkata.

I would like to give little information about some hotels of Kolkata . Though there are many hotels with their different  rates. So , anybody can stay there according to their planning.

A V Hotels Pvt . Ltd/ Website , www.fhrai.com/ Email , ashokesingh7@gmail.com
Alipore Guest House/ Website , www.aliporeguesthouse.com/Email , aghouse42@gamil.com
Allenby Inn/ Website , www.fhrai.com/ Email , allenbyinn@vsnl.net
Ashoka Hotels / Website , www.fhrai.com/ Email , ashokesingh7@gmail.com
Astoria Hotels/ Website , www.astoria.in/ Email , astoria@hotmail.com
Beeu Hotels/ Website , www.fhrai.com/ Email , beeuhotel@yahoo.com
Capital Guest House / Website , www.fhrai.com/ Email , cghcalcutta@yahoo.com
Chrome Hotels/ Website , www.chromehotel.in/ Email , stay@chromehotel.in
Circular Hotel Pvt . Ltd/ Website , www.fhrai.com/ Email , hotelcircular@gmail.com
Dee Empresa Hotels/ Website , www.deeempresa.com/ Email , booking@deeempresa.com
Executive Point/ Website , www.executivepoint.com/ Email , exepoint@cal.vsnl.net.in
Fairlawn Hotel Pvt . Ltd/ Website , www.fairlawnhotel.com/ Email , fairlawn@cal.vsnl.net.in
Green Inn/ Website , www.greeeninn.com/ Email , hotelgreeninn@yahoo.com
Heera Holiday Inn/ Website , www.heerainn.com/ Email , heerainn@gmail.com
Hotel Akash Deep/ www.hotelakashdeep.com.in/E-mail , hotelakashdeep@vsnl.net
Hotel Hindusthan International/ www.hindusthan.com/ resvn@hindusthan.com
Hotel Lindsay/ Website , www.hotellindsay.com/E-mail , hotellindsay@vsnl.net
Hotel VIP International/ www.vipcontinental.net/ hotel-vip@sify.com
Hayatt Regency/ www.kolkata.regency.hyatt.com/ kolka-hrk@hyatt.com
ITC Sonar Bangal/ www.itcwelcomgroup.in/ itcsonar@itcwelcomgroup.in
King Crown/ Website , www.kingcrownhotels.com /E-mail , kingscrownhotels@rediffmail.com
Hotel Walson/Website , www.fhrai.com/E-mail , info@walson.in
Hotel VIP Continental/Website , www.vipcontinental.net/E-mail , hotel-vip@sify.com
Hotel Victrerrace International/Website, www.victerracegroupofhotels.com/E-mail , hotelvic@gmail.com Hotel The Sojorun/Website , www.hotelthesojourn.com/E-mail , info@hotelthesojourn.com
Hotel Shalimar/Website, www.fhrai.com/E-mail , hotelshalimar@vsnl.com ,
Hotel Par Inn/Website , www.hotelparkinn.co.in/E-mail , hotelparkinn@hotmail.com
Hotel Paramount/Website , www.fhrai.com/E-mail , hotelparamount.hp@gmail.com
Hotel Oriental/Website , www.fhrai.com/E-mail , pranabbedi@gmail.com

Other than the above , there are many three stars/five stars hotels are also available for accommodation and food.Most of the hotels have pick-up and drop facility.

In my  coming next few blogs I will write brief about nearby places of Kolkata that are also great attraction.

Visible Places of Kolkata-Part-V

Salt Lake Stadium-Calcutta

In my earlier five blogs I have written brief of the history of Kolkata and few important visible sites of the city as there are many other places to visit such as ;

Princep Ghat- that was built at the time of British period and this was constructed under the supervision of
Mr Jems Princep , the famous researcher and the honourable secretary of Asiatic Society .

Kumartuli- The famous place of talented potters who work throughout the year,especially at the time of Bengali festivals like DurgaPuja , KaliPuja,etc. they are very busy . Their creation also go to foreign countries of the world where the Bengali communities belong .

BurraBazar-This place is famous from the British period.This place is the biggest wholesale market throughout the country.

Other than these , there are so many place surrounding Kolkata for amusement of the children and also the families;

Nicco Park- This is right place to go in weekend with family including children.This is Kolkata's Disneyland . There are having so much amusements if rides like Toy Train , Cable Car , water Chutes, water coasters, Moonwalker , cave ride , and also beautiful rose gardens and such a big food park.

Nalban Boating Complex- This place is located at the heart of the Salt Lake City . Distance from Kolkata is just 12 Kms of this place . This place is also superb and ideal to spent few hours with family , friends . Here have boats many boats like Sikara of Dal Lake of Kashmir . All boats are artistically decorated and waiting for a little trip of boating on the lake.

Swabhumi- This place is situated on the side of eastern bypass road and just opposite to Salt Lake stadium . This place is may consider as the gateway of India culture and arts . There are so many Mdhubani and Gond paintings , Dokhra arts , designer garments designed by famous designers . This place is always busy with various exhibition.

Salt Lake Stadium- This is a famous and so big stadium in the country . Several cultural programs are performed here . Mostly this field is known to the world football playing ground . Famous leagues and tournaments are organized here . Few worlds famous football players was played here.

Aquatica- This is a famous amusement water theme park which is unforgotten experience for all . There are several water rides which give adventure and thrill to the visitors . This water park is only five feet deep and waves are created artificially.

Wet-O-Wild- This is the latest addition of the water park . This wave pool is nearly forty thousand square feet spreads and twenty eight square feet is full of water . Here has artificially created sea beach .
All these amusements and cultural views are within much closed distance of Kolkata . 

Visible Places of Kolkata-Part-IV

St Paul's Cathedral Church-Calcutta

St Paul's Cathedral , This church was built between 1839 & 1847 . This church is one of the most important churches in India . It is situated at the eastern side of Victoria memorial hall and southern side of the Maidan . The tower of the church was broken in 1897 due to  an earthquake and redesigned and further rebuilt the same . Some plaques and discolored glasses will be found there .

St Andrews Church , This church was first opened for public in the year 1818 . This place belonged to Mayor's court and the Supreme Court of Calcutta in 1726-1792.This place was occupied by the Church of Scotland . This church was built under the supervision Maria Imhoff , wife of Sir , Hastings . The color of the church is white and distinguished of Doric friezes pillars .

Nakhoda Mosque , This is an important masque for Muslim . This is richly decorated . It is situated at Jacquaria Street , close to the junction of Chit pore Road and Mahatma Gandhi Road . Md Abdar Rahim Osman founded this mosque in the year 1926 .

Kalighat Temple , This is world famous Hindu temple of Goddess Kali . It is also called Kali Temple . There is a mythological myth that the little finger of Sati MA out of her 52 pieces was dropped at this place . Thus this temple was built on the basis of this myth . This temple is situated at the Kali temple road which is connected the SP Mukherjee road and also near to Hazra crossing . This place is very attractive to tourists of the world .

Pareshnath Jain Temple , This is very holy temple for Jains . This temple is very magnificent for its beauty enhanced by glasses and coloured stones . It was built in 1867 .

Dakshineswar Temple , This Hindu temple is situated at Dakshineswar and this place is almost 16 km from Kolkata . This place is famous for the famous Hindu spiritual Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa that got his nirvana at this temple . The sculpture of this temple is very magnificent and good looking . This is also very attractive place for tourists . Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansadev was the guru of the famous Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda . We can go there by train from Sealdaha Station or by bus or by car .

Belur Math , This is the Headquarter of Ramakrishna Math & Mission Society . This is a social organization which is involved in various social works for the welfare of the common people of the country . The architecture of Belur Math is very magnificent and nice view . This Math is the residence of monks and followers of Swamiji . This is nearly 16 Km far from Calcutta . There is frequent train service from Howrah . We can go there by  the bus or by car also . 

Visible Places of Kolkata-Part-III

View of Maidan

In my last three blogs , I am writing in brief about the visible places of Kolkata . Actually , there are so many place to visit in Kolkata .

Maidan: Maidan is actually the property of the Indian Army as well as of the Fort William . Nearly , 5 square kilometers of land was developed by the earlier British ruler . It was mainly developed for parade of their soldiers . Thus it is also known as Brigade Parade Ground . At the centre of this ground have a monument . This monument was founded in 1828 . It was dedicated to the name Sir David Ochterlony , the Major-general of British East India Company on his success against Marathas fight of Delhi and conquest over Gurkhas and Anglo- Nepalese's wars . This monument was designed by J P Parker and the cost of the construction paid from public funds . After independence , in 1969 , August , this monument renamed as Sahid Minar as dedicated in the name of those persons who were sacrificed their life towards the Indian freedom movement . The view of entire Kolkata from the top of this monument is very magnificent .

Eden Gardens Stadium: Eden Gardens is the famous cricket stadium in the world . It is the dream of every cricketer of the world to get chance to play cricket throughout his entire cricket life . Cricket playing was started in the year 1864 . Nearly 85 to 90 thousand spectators can sit here at a time . The glorious history of this cricket stadium is very attractive . Most of the famous cricketers of every national team of the world have played here . Beside of this stadium , the biggest Netaji indoor stadium is also situated . The siting capacity of this stadium is also huge . Both the stadiums are situated near Maidan . Opposite to the cricket stadium are having various tents of different football clubs . Near this cricket stadium are also having national radio station called Akash Bani . It was also founded at the time of British period . Opposite to radio stations are having Governor House , called Rajvavan .

Alipore Zoo , Alipore Zoo was opened for public in the year 1876 . This is oldest zoo of India . It was the creation of Sir Richard Camac Temple that was the Governor of Bengal during the time 1874 to 1877 of the British Period . There are rare collections of different animals in Alipore zoo . In front of the zoo are also having one aquarium which contains sea-fishes with exclusive verities .

Kolkata is situated on the bank of the river Ganges . So that , Ganges beauty is also the attraction of the tourists . Here is Millennium Park , from where the beauty of the Ganges is magnificent . Boats , Steamers are coming and going , crossing the Ganges , dropping passengers . There is circular Railway service near the bank of the Ganges of Kolkata side . This service is available between Majherhat to various places through Seladaha station .

The second Hooghly Bridge called Vidyasagar Setu is new addition which connects quickly Kolkata- Howrah and surroundings . It was constructed with latest technology , cable attachment which holds both sides of the bridge . Before this  bridged , there were two options to connect with Kolkata- Howrah , one Steamer- service and second one is Howrah Bridge which was constructed at the time of British period . Then to reach  longed distance between the Howrah and adjacent areas was very time taking matter . This new bridge has solved  the problem , now to reach various districts and adjacent provinces are possible within very short time due to this new bridge .

View of Monument

Visible Places of Kolkata-Part-II

Town Hall

Indian Museum: Indian Museum is one of the oldest museums of the entire Asia . This museum was established in the year 1814 . It is situated between Park Street and Lindsey Street . Here has kept 4000 years old mummy of a man of Egypt . Old coins , fossils , stone , ancient arts . In Bengali museum is called "Jadughar".

National Library: National Library is the largest library in India . It is situated at Alipur of South Kolkata . Earlier it was the house of Lt . Governor of Bengal at the time of British raj . Huge collection of rare books is having in this library . Not only that , collection of books of various languages of India is also having in this library . The surrounding of this library are also very beautiful .
Nehru Children Museum: This museum is situated on Chowringhe Road . This is specially made of the children.

Birla Planetarium: This is also an attractive place for tourists . The latest technology is used here to show the entire galaxy . This is also situated near Chowringhee Road .

Rabindra Bharati Museum: This museum is considered as storehouse with the collection of famous things used by the great noble prize winner Bengali poet , Rabindra Nath Tagore . Not only his items , but also his paintings , manuscripts , books , etc. the house of the poet is considered as heritage buildings . These buildings were constructed in 18th centuries.

Marble Palace: This situated at chorbagan area . This place is full of rare collection of antiques that has / had enough artistic and historical value . Most of these collections are related to Western arts and cultures with Victorian age furniture , paintings ,etc.

Shovabazar Raj Bari: This palace of Sovabazar was constructed by the king Nabokrishna deb . This is very old palaces considers / considered at the starting period of British Raj . The celebration of Durgapuja is the big festive of this palace and it is myth that the first Durgapuja was started in 1757 after the victory of the battle between Plassey by the first commander in chief of East India Company , Lord Robert Clive.

Town Hall: this hall is situated near Kolkata- High court . This building was constructed by the public lottery money in 1814 . The style of construction of this building is Western model.

Writer's Building: This building was constructed in 1770 by the British ruler of India.This is not one building, there are so many buildings , collectively called Writer's Building . Earlier this place was the residence of British administrative workers of clerical grade in the British ruler . After independence , these buildings are used for ministerial administrative works and minister chambers the Bengal State Government . This building is situated at BBD Bag ,Dalhousie .

Visible Places of Kolkata

Rickshaw Puller

Kolkata is a most decent place to visit . Since from the British raj , Kolkata is the prime centre of discussion of the country India . It is always highlighted by the other countries of the world . Kolkata was always advanced in culture , education and sociological development since from the British raj . British administrators were very much keen on this Kolkata as it was their capital . Thus one myth was very popular with the country that "what Calcutta thinks today , India thinks tomorrow".

Kolkata- the name of the city was given very shortly , just few years ago . Earlier it was known as Calcutta . Calcutta itself has a big history that I wrote in my earlier blog , "Kolkata- the city of history".

 
In the field of Art & Culture , first of all , the name of Academy of fine Arts . It is situated at heart of the city . This is one of the oldest fine art societies in the country . It has eight galleries at its ground floor . These eight galleries provide huge space for displaying exhibition single or group of arts of the artists . On the first floor have an extensive museum where has a large collection of various types of arts done by the famous artists of the country .

Birla Academy of Arts & Culture , This is another perceptible place in Kolkata . It is also popular like Academy of fine arts . Birla academy of arts & culture is absolute treasure for arts' fans . Its' all collections of India modern arts are enough to motivate to the new artists . These collections of modern arts are like to inspire the new artists generation after generation . Rabindra Sadan , Rabindra Sadan is an auditorium situated nearby academy of fine arts . It is dedicated to famous Bengali poet , Nobel Prize winner , Sri , Rabindra Nath Tagore . This is not a general auditorium , most of the time , the selected dramas , dance dramas , etc. is taken place . Other than these many functions , group theaters , etc. are also taken place at this auditorium .

Mohar Kunja , This is an open stage for performing various cultural programs , like traditional vocal song program performs by vocal artists , band music programs.

Victoria Memorial Hall , This memorial hall is constructed by earlier British ruler in the name of their Queen Victoria . This is a museum of various portraits , and other things which were used at that time . Surrounding this Victoria Memorial Hall is having beautiful and decorated garden as the cool example of natural beauty .

Nandan is another place of attraction of culture . It is constructed mainly for showing selected , prize winner movies of India and also of the foreign countries . The area of Nandan is also very beautiful and this is divided between two parts , Namdan-1 & Nandan- 2 .

In my coming blogs I will write in brief of other important places of Kolkata .