Relief In the Suburbs

Nature at its very best in Gopegarh

             “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over the other”

 Life is really stressful nowadays, starting from school life till the last breath and hence sometimes travelling is the greatest stress reliever .College lectures, exams, tuition, etc   all gives us more stress no relief. So this semester break  after giving a sarcastically wow written examination me and my friend  made an instant plan and went to a friend’s house in Mednipur West,West Bengal,India. Paschim Medinipur (also known as Midnapore West) is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal , India . It was formed on January 1, 2002 after the Partition of Midnapore into Paschim Medinipur and Purba Medinipur . The district has 4 sub-divisions: Kharagpur , Midnapore , Jhargram and Ghatal .

Kolkata to Medinipore route

We started our journey early around 6am as it was 130 plus kilometres from Kolkata.

The Howrah Bridge with all its might

Boarding a bus we reached Howrah Station around 7.45 and as usual long queue in the ticket counters.standing there around 10 mins we got the ticket and ran as the train departure time was 8 am.It was a tiring journey as we had to be seated for three hours .As we crossed Kharagpur,and another station after that we came across the famous KANGSABATI river .A rail-bridge over the river was wonderful and we promised to come here to see the scenic beauty within the next day.Reaching there my friend came to pick me up and it was just few  minute’s walk.The place where he lived was very pleasant no car honks, bus traffic but just the cool air.

White flowers on the rooftop garden

Newly bloomed red flowers

Marigold Flowers

The houses had rooftop gardens showcasing beautiful flowers. 

Boys playing football in Rangamati

That day we went to a place called Rangamati where we watched local boys playing football. We saw how skilful they are while playing the game. 

After enjoying the game we went to  “Mela”(Sanskrit of fair)  which was organised within a church so people call them Xmas Mela. We walked around looking at the different kind of stuffs.

Christmas Mela

Jesus Christ model in the church

Inside the church

Depiction of the birth of Jesus outside the Church

It also had rides that are normally found in amusement parks, after few hours of walking ,talking we were tired and also heard our tummies calling so we went to sweet shop named ,RADHAKANTO MISTI BHANDAR.It was costly so we took a samosa  which had noodles inside it with a imli chutney and it tastes WOW,I still  remember the taste of it.Then around 10 pm we came back to ours friends place and his mother is a wonderful cook and we loved everything that she gave us to eat. As it was a suburb area and it is winter time temperature dropped drastically and it was 12 degrees around 11pm.When I laid my back on the bed, like stories, I could hear the train whistling, sounds of the train tracks and it made me feel out of the world and as of my long journey I forgot my tiredness and lost myself in a  time loop as train whistling was very frequent, I don’t remember when I fell asleep. 

Next day we went to    Gopegarh Heritage Park it was opened since many Midnaporeans are fond of walking, a number of parks have come up in recent years. 

Gopegarh Heritage and Nature Eco-Tourism Center

Trees near the entrance of the Eco-Park

Tracks in the Eco-park

Another tracks in the Eco-park leading to picnic spot

Gopegarh Heritage Park (Midnapore) is a good picnic spot for families and youth and was opened in 2001. Booking for sheds and boating facilities can be arranged at the Forest Range Office. 

Kangasaboti and Rail-Bridge from viewpoint

A history that I heard was Gopegarh king built a small house just to overlook the enemy’s movements as the park is over a high risen ground. 

Gope Raja's House

The remains of the 500 years old building still stand portraying historic activities.  Beautiful landscape and the my dear railway bridge could be seen from that place, gardens full of flowers  and the  road from my friend  house to the park seemed to be like walking in the middle of the jungle. 

Again when our tummies called we had to come back home and later that afternoon we went to my WOW place .i.e. the rail bridge under which the KANGSABOTI river was flowing waiting for no one but to see the sea. 

Rail-bridge on River Kangsaboti 

We took a motorcycle ride there. On the rail bridge we walked beside the railway tracks observing the river flowing beautifully to the sunset. As we were standing a train gushed passed us and took everybody by surprise. 

Kangsaboti River from Rail-bridge

The valley around the river was full of shrubs and picnic going people lit bonfire and enjoyed the sunset taking in the warmth of the fire amidst the cold wind that blew across the river. 

Shrubs around Kangasboti

Kangsaboti just after sunset 

Then seeing the beautiful sunset we wandered back home feeling sad as the next morning we have to leave this wonderful, jolly place.

Railway Station from over-bridge

 Next day we again boarded the train and returned back. Life again started the way it used to be but a promise I made that I will go back taking more days in my hand  just to sit in the rail bridge where I can be free from all the stress and problems and enjoying what real enjoyment is,” looking at my mother nature…”

Blog Story:     Aviroop Chakraborty

Edited by:       Riddhisattwa Bhatttacharya

Photography: Riddhisattwa Bhattacharya

Device:            Lenovo P1M 

Applications: Device Camera,Open Camera, Snapseed

Special Thanks to Amit Maity and his family, Koushik. Our trip wouldn't have been possible without them.