The Shantigarh The Shantigarh: Fill & Download for Free

I am very happy to share with you the best moments at Bolpur, Shantiniketan. It is located in West Bengal in Birbhum district. We made a booking in advance from Kolkata at West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation. I went there with my father and mother. My father arranged the tip and I went to the office at Esplanade in Kolkata to book the tickets.The trip was booked at 26th March 2013 and ended on 28th March evening. The trip was organized as a Package tour by West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation. There were two buses which took the tourists to the Shantiniketan Tourist Lodge.Our bus started at 7 am on 26th March 2013. I went to the tourism office with my parents in a taxi. The taxi driver was Muslim with a long goat beard and had some bargain over the taxi fare and then finally settled. We were asked to report at 8 am and one week ago, we were summoned in a counseling session at the tourism office. The bus started at 8:30 am. We were given breakfast which consisted of bread, cheese, cake, sweets, etc. The bus stopped at Shantigarh and we took Lancha, an elongated brown sweets full of juice. Shantigarh in West Bengal is famous for Lancha and there are various outlets selling Lancha named as Lancha Mahal, Lancha Sadan, Lancha Niketan, Lancha Ghar, etc. just beside the highway and their owners are calling the vehicles as they are driving along the highway. The Shaktigarh is located in Bardhaman district of West Bengal. We took lancha around 11:30 am. The shop Lancha Mahal is famous as the reputed Bengali actor Uttam Kumar took Lancha from this spot and a frame with his autograph is displayed in the shop.We reached Shantiniketan tourist lodge by 1:30 pm. We took bath and had our lunch at the big hall at the lodge. The lunch menu consisted of fish, rice, potato chips, daal, sukto, chatni, sweets, etc. Upto 4 pm we took rest. After 4 pm, we took a private car as the bus that brought us at the lodge went away on time at 3:30 pm without even reminding us. So we went with a few members to Kankalitala. At Kankalitala, a Kali mandir is there and the folklore says the Kankal of the Goddess dropped here and there is a water body which is regarded as sacred as per the tradition. At 5:30 pm, we reached the lodge from Kankalitala We refreshed ourselves with tea snacks and I played mouth organ at the park in our complex. A few visitors listen to my mouth organ and some took photos and videos of me playing the instrument at the cemented bench in the park. There were two buses that were parked at the corner. There is a swing in front of the bench. There are plenty of trees of all types inside the tourist lodge compound. On the top of one tree, far above our lodge there is a bee hive, a very big one indeed. The trees have created a cool atmosphere in spite of the summer heat.The bauls or the folk singers performed in the evening. On this evening, Sumanta Bas Baul played and the team of 7 performed various songs for 2 hours in the dining hall of the tourist lodge. They took tea before starting their performance. They started and played beautifully and danced and sang and their members also sang and created a beautiful rural atmosphere for around 2 hours with their melodious voice and their charming personality.At the end of their show, they showed us their CD of folk songs named “SONAR MANUSH” and many visitors of the lodge bought their CD whose prize was Rs. 100. They are located at Santiniketan, Birbhum. They can be contacted at 9933361307, 8670570380. The songs in the CD are as follows:Ananda Bajar.Hrid Majharey Rakhibo.Paraney Param JaniyaNa Jene Mojna GiriteDhor Chor Hawa MoreyTomar Agey Ami JadiNakal Pagol Sakal DesheyNadi Bhora DheuE jiboney Kantar MelaManush Bhojley MonarSabdhaney Cholo PothKorli DhandabajiChash dili na nijeerWe took dinner at 9:30 pm and took a walk around the beautiful garden and went to the room in the tourist lodge. It was a bit of cold outside as the area is empty sparsely crowded.On 27th March, we woke up at 5 am. On 6 am tea was served at the door of the ground floor. Then we went to the fair grounds of Basanta Utsab. We went there by walking as rickshaw and private cars not allowed during the time of the program. The Basanta Utsab fair ground was utilized by Biswabharati and the program started at 7 am and ended at 8 am. There were men, women and children among the crowd. The various stalls include handicraft, cold drinks, ice cream, Holi colors, terracotta items.We returned to lodge at 10 am and took the breakfast. We took luchi, bread, sweets, tea, etc. We chatted with our lodge inmates. I met wonderful travelers who have roamed not only India but across the globe. I saw TV where Basanta Utsab programs celebrated in various parts of West Bengal were shown. I took bath and then played flute in a fresh mood. I took the lunch and took a nap.I woke up in the afternoon and went to the shopping complex near the fair ground and purchased a lot of handicraft items. I returned home and took dinner.The next day i.e. the third day I woke up at 5:30 am and took tea. I took the breakfast at 8 am. I chatted with a lot of inmates in our lodge and we shared our life experiences. Then at 11 am we reached the dining hall where we took the lunch and packed our bags to the bus. Our bus took us to Amar Kuthi where we did shopping of handicraft items. We departed for Kolkata around 2:30 pm but while my parents were in Amar Kuthi, I roamed around and took photos of Kopai river and the cremation grounds. I took photos of the complex and the beautiful Rabindranath statue. Around 3:30 pm, we arrived at Shaktigarh. We took lancha and tea and samosa. We took the bus and went straight to the Esplanade bus terminus.Me and my parents took a tram and went to Belgachia and finally we took rickshaws and reached our home at Paikpara. It was a wonderful journey and the baul songs and the morning Basanta Utsab program and also the evening program by Biswabharati Students will never be forgotten. It will always be there on the top of our memories and would love to say that Biswabharati has kept its tradition and in this age of fusion, the original song and dances of Rabindranath Tagore’s creation will remain as an inseparable component in the lives of Bengalis through the performance of the students and their long lived tradition.