Bhubandanga

After our drive down to Kolkata from Bangalore last month, we were on self lockdown as Covid was our on rampage across the country. We were not prepared for this situation. Our plan was to get into at least 2 - 3 weekend breaks after reaching Kolkata. 

Nevertheless, we thought of hitting the road on last extended weekend (14 - 16 May), the choice was between Digha (the most popular sea destination for Bengali) and Shantiniketan. Finally it was Shantiniketan we zeroed on. 

We booked WBDTC resort which was bit on the outskirts of Shantiniketan, and we were the only guest who had booked the resort. Here is a bit of history of Shantiniketan. 

Santiniketan was earlier called Bhubandanga (after Bhuban Mohan Sinha, the Zamindar of Raipur), and was owned by the Sinha family. In 1862, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, while on a visit to Raipur, showed interest in land near Birbhum. There was only one building there, namely “Santiniketan” (which is still there adjacent the Upasana Mandir known as “Odisha Bhawan”). Maharshi liked the place and registered it in the name of Maharshi Devendranath against Rupee One as token value. He called his home Santiniketan (after the name of the house). Santiniketan became a spiritual centre where people from all religions were invited to join for meditation and prayers. He founded an ashram here in 1863 and became the initiator of the Brahmo Samaj. Binoy Ghosh says that Bolpur was a small place in the middle of the 19th century. It grew as Santiniketan grew.

A certain portion of Bolpur was a part of the zamindari of the Singha family of Raipur. Bhuban Mohan Singha had developed a small village in the Bolpur area and named it Bhubandanga. It was just opposite Santiniketan of those days. Bhubandanga was the den of a gang of notorious dacoits, who had no compunction in killing people. It led to a situation of conflict and confrontation, but the leader of the gang, ultimately, surrendered to Debendranath, and they started helping him in developing the area. There was a chhatim tree under which Debendranath used to meditate. Inspired by The Crystal Palace built originally in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851 and later relocated, Debendranath constructed a 60-foot × 30-foot hall for Brahmo prayers. The roof was tiled and the floor had white marble, but the rest of the structure was made of glass. From its earliest days, it was a great attraction for people from all around. In 1863, Debendranath Tagore took on permanent lease 20 acres of land, with two chhatim (alstonia scholaris) trees, at a yearly payment of Rs. 5, from Bhuban Mohan Singha, the talukdar of Raipur. He built a guest house there and named it Santiniketan (the abode of peace). Gradually, the whole area came to be known as Santiniketan. Here Rabindranath Tagore started Patha Bhavan, the school of his ideals, whose central premise was that learning in a natural environment would be more enjoyable and fruitful.

After he received a Nobel Prize in 1913, the school was expanded into a university, known as Vishva Bharati University, in 1921. In the year 1924 based on the same ideology and with the intention of educating and training the people belonging to deprived part of the society he founded Siksha Satra with only 7 students. Founded in 1921 by Rabindranath Tagore, Visva Bharati was declared to be a central university and an institute of national importance,* in 1951. Visva-Bharati University, founded by Rabindranath Tagore is Shantiniketan’s sole university, offering courses across the arts, history, sciences and foreign languages. It is considered one of the premier universities in India and serves as the town’s cultural and academic center. Notable figures and alumni of the university include Satyendra Nath Bose.

We started our 176 km journey from Nirala, Bansdroni, Kolkata around 7:30 am, fill up diesel and checked tyre pressure and finally started around 8:00 am. Our first pit stop was at  Excellency Dhaba inside HP Petrol pump, Gobindapur for breakfast and bio-break. Breakfast menu had 3 options, puri sabji (4 puri with chole), alu paratha and egg omelette. We ordered puri sabji along with omelette and tea. The food was served in 10 min. The puri's were bit oily, though the chole was good. They serve extra chole  if you require more. 

Post our breakfast break we resumed our journey and reached Rangabitan tourist complex.  Rangabitan is a tourism complex by Govt. of West Bengal. The foundation stone reads it was inaugurated by Mamata Banerjee in 2016. It is a beautiful property with a large pond, badminton court, orchid nursery, a mango orchard and lots of greenery around. There are 3 types of rooms, 

• AC Standard Double Bed - INR 1500 per night + GST
• AC Dlx Double Bed - INR 2000 per night + GST
• AC Suite Double Bed Cottages - INR 4000 per night + GST

We had booked 2 AC Suite Double Bed Cottages, and were the only tourist in the resort.  Our rooms were huge and was facing the pond. The pond is well-maintained the water is clear. The property is slightly far from the city center tucked in the Sriniketan area thereby being away from the hustle-bustle and preserving the serenity. However only 7 kms. from Bolpur station and next to Amar Kutir. Since the restaurant was closed the food was served at room. For breakfast we had option between luchi - torkari (shobji), break omelette, milk - corn flakes and bread. Luchi torkari was our favourite and the torkari was really good. 

Lunch and dinner was cooked based on what was available in the market that day. The food was nice homely cooked food. The staff and manager was co-operative and ensure we didn't have any problem. 

Overall we had a great experience staying in Rangabitan and will recommend it to groups of families and friends as an amazing weekend destination. 

On Friday, evening we booked a toto rickshaw and went to Bhubandanga Market. Since we reached late most of the shops were closed.  A bit of shopping was done from the shops which were opened and we planned to come next evening for rest of the shopping. 

Saturday, the plan was to go around the campus, explore nearby places and in evening go back to Bhubandanga Market and specially to a shop called Gunjan. 

As we were exploring the campus, we got breaking news that West Bengal government announced state wide lockdown from next day which means would wont be able to travel back to Kolkata. After speaking with few friends and the resort manager we decided to cut short our journey and return back on Saturday itself.  We started our return journey around 3:30 pm. The resort manager gave us a big box of mangoes freshly plucked from the orchard. 

On the way back we had one pit stop at Shaktigarh. Shaktigarh, is part of East Burdhaman district and is famous for its sweets langcha. So naturally our pit stop was langcha store on the National Highway. We ate, and bought few kilos of langcha. According to local stories, the credit of lyangcha goes to a sweet maker named Lyangcha Dutta of Saktigarh. The noted novelist Narayan Sanyal in his novel Rupamanjari actually tells a story. Goutam Dhoni, a journalist and correspondent of Ekdin a Bengali Daily, tells another tale about Nikhuti (a sweet famous in Krishnanagar). In his latest article in Nadia Darpan (a local Bengali Daily) brings to our attention how Lyangcha has travelled from Krishananagar ( a town in Nadia District) to Burdwan and Shaktigarh. The genesis of Lyangcha actually goes back to the matrimony alliance between the two superpower kings in two different districts of present-day West Bengal. A matrimonial alliance between the royal families of Krishnanagar and Burdwan changed the genesis of Lyangcha.

The story goes that the princess from the then Krishnanagar royal household was married to the prince of the Burdwan royal household. When she became pregnant she lost her appetite and refused to eat any food. She continued this for a long time even though she was requested to break her fast and even medical treatments were started. During this time, she expressed a desire to eat lyangcha – a sweetmeat that artisans from her maternal home used to prepare.

The then ruler of Krishnanagar made arrangements to find out who prepared lyangcha but none of the Modaks/ Moiras (The Bengali confectioner) in Krishnanagar were little familiar to lyangcha. Apparently, even the lady did not remember the name of the sweet. She had mentioned Langcha because the sweet maker who used to prepare this specific sweetmeat could not walk properly (in Bengali, Langcha means the one who limps). Then the sweet maker was called forth to the ruler of Krishnanagar in Krishnagar court, he was immediately sent off to Burdwan. He was given lands and other properties to settle in Burdwan so that he could prepare delicacies for the royalty. Currently, Shaktigarh is credited with huge lyangchas, but the shops in Krishnanagar take a special pride in how Langcha has travelled from Krishnanagar to Burdwan.

Though the trip was cut short, overall it was a nice weekend break. It's time to follow the lockdown rules and stay indoors. The lockdown is till May 30, 2021.  Maybe another short trip one things opens up.