[SVK Rider]

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but having new eyes!”


This was an impromptu plan while we were having our regular chat time in the evening with cousins.
My 2nd cousin was super excited to have another family trip like every year we do but this year due to COVID 19 we almost had nil hopes for this year’s trip. However with time and situation and new normal strategies we all felt that we can actually venture out but with proper precautions. Moreover my cousin did a day trip to Mandarmani and he confirmed that it can be done with the family. However we were not very keen in visiting Mandarmani as we prefer places with less amount of tourists, thus brainstorming started for such kind places. The idea of visiting Muruguma dam came from me only as I had visited this place with my previous Figo in 2017 and man it was an awesome trip. I know the place very well and the service of the hotels also. Finalized on the same and did the booking through online instantly. We were lucky to get rooms on the desired dates having really less time.
Purulia always holds a special place in my heart. The locals of Purulia, their simplicity and the way they treat their guest makes me visit probably every year to this part of my beautiful Bengal. Oh yes not to mention about the breath-taking landscaps which greets you differently in every season.
So after the confirmation from the hotel end so went for some necessary shopping for the trip. For rest of the trip members this is going to be their first road trip.
I decided to take the Kharapur – Gatshila – Duarshini – Bandoan – Purulia route as shared below.

The itensary is simple, the the Kharagpur route, have breakfast somewhere in between as we were carrying our breakfast. Drive till Muruguma and take rest for the day.
We planned to start in the early morning around 5 as we needed to pick our Didi and Jamaibabu from their place which is in North Kolkata and we stay in extreme south.

Day 1 – The journey begins
With all the excitement we started around 5.45 in the morning and reached Kesptopur by 6.40 as there was almost no traffic and we didn’t get any signals also. After picking them the actual journey started. It was really fun to have brothers and sisters on board for a road trip like this.

While going we took the Kolkata – Kharagpur – Galudi – Banduan – Purulia route. The map is given below. I have selected this route particularly as it is more scenic to me than the Kolkata – Durgapur – Bankura _ Purulia route.

The drive was mainly uneventful. We were carrying our breakfast with us so that we do not need to stop over any of the road side dhaba for food during this covid situations. Once we reached Kolaghat we realised that we actually took a good decision for carrying food as almost all the hotels had heavy crowds for the breakfast itself.
Just before Kharagpur we stopped for the breakfast. With luggage of 5 people the boot of my Ecosport a.k.a Romina looked like this.


After breakfast again started and after crossing Kharagpur the roads became really scenic and everyone started to enjoy the drive more. Some pictures on the way








It took more than 6.5 hrs to reach our resort Bon Palashi in Muruguma. The eco huts are located just beside the dam and with a really good view. Ample parking facility available. The rooms are very specious and well maintained. The amenities are basic and serves the purpose.
As soon we reached they properly did the sanitization procedure before we proceeded for the rooms. After freshen up we had our lunch and man the food was really awesome. They generally have the Thali system for the main meals.

Too bad we didn’t took any pictures for the food as we were so hungry we just started eating as soon it was served. After the lunch went for exploring the area by walk. The area is very scenic with small hills and adjoining forests. As the sun sets one can hear the “madol” (a type of drum) played by the locals. The cattle returning home and with their watchers and the faint music from the nearby locality makes the environment really mesmerizing. Here are some snaps which I took while taking the walk alongside the dam. Too bad due to family cautions couldn’t get to little bit of adventurous walks.
Returning home from work be like . . .

This cow was injured by an elephant and was taken to vet. The way they care and carried in manual ambulance is amazing.

After the sunset in the dam

In the evening there is not much to be done. They had arrangements for the indoor games like chess, carom but those were unavailable this time and upon asking they said it was the management decision due to this Covid-19. One can also enjoy the local Chhau dance by the local Chhau artists upon request and payment. Chhau dance is a typical form of dance originated from Purulia itself and has its own geographical importance. I will be talking more about that in the later part.
Due to this pandemic situation we didn’t also opted for the Chhau dance at our hotel premises also. Probably we didn’t needed extra entertainment as it was only the family trip with cousins; and man we had fun till the dinner. We ordered Bamboo Chiken for the evening and it had mouth-watering taste.

After dinner and long chit chat with brothers and sister I went for some astro photography but failed to do so and called off for the day.


Day 2 – the fun day
The next morning my brother woke me up asking to come by the lake with the camera for some morning shots and yes I am thankful to him for waking me up. The entire place was mystical and beautiful. It felt like we are in some dreamland with the fog and mist around us.
Tried some photography beside the lake and here are some of the results. I do want to come back here again in the monsoons for some dramatic landscapes.



The Morning Sun . . .

The little things matter,


After this we finished our breakfast with Luchi (Puri), Ghoogni (a type of sabji), boiled egg, one sweet, due to last night enjoyment we got one extra sweet from the hosts who eventually became friendly with us in no time.
After the breakfast we went for the local site-seeing in my beloved Ecosport. There is a slight feel of hills on the way for the site seeing. Went for the Ayodhya Upper Dam and Lower Dam projects. Must say these places are really well maintained and till now free from urban pollution. Won’t say much about the places and let the pictures do their job.
On the way to the upper dam found this awesome mustard field where we did some DDLJ type photo-session on demand of my brothers.

My Handsome brother Dipanjan


My Lovely Niece Tinni


My Didi and Jamaibabu Nabanita and Palash


My other handsome brother Koushik

[SVK Rider]

Continued to Upper Dam




Tripper Boyz . . .


Wish I could fly . . .


Lower dam




Enroute lower dam


A tunnel cave short of, probably for passing excess water during monsoons. Don’t know exactly what its purpose is; however we saw it on the way.


After this we visited Charida or Mukhosh Gram (Mask Village), the place for the Chhau Mask.
The uniqueness of the PuruliaChhau mask and its tradition makes it registered in the List of Geographical Indications. There are a series of procedure to be followed while making these masks. Mainly they are made of clay, soft paper, diluted glue, cloth, mud, fine ash etc. This was started during the time of King Madan Mohan Singh Deo of Baghmundi long back in history.
Some examples of the Chhau Mask and its final touch up from the Chhau artist.




By the time we finished the mask shopping and completed the visit it was too late and we were too hungry, so without making any further delay we started back towards hotel.
Some more from the Mukhos Gram, must say the art is truly incredible and needs some special attention.






On the way back we stopped in Marble Lake for a short span of time yet tried to soak in all the nature around it. It was already late and chilly breeze started to blow eventually. Did some photo session there also and went back to hotel. Some snaps from Marble Lake


After the sunset in Marble Lake


And some more posing



The return journey was pretty much uneventful yet scenic. Too bad I do not keep the dash cam videos as I didn’t took my laptop to store them.
Some Soft-road with my Ecosport, though went to this place by mistake.

A panoramic view of Ayodha Hills from a distance.

In the evening it was purely family gossip session, brothers and sisters together with some wine and music along with bonfire made the evening memorable and short. Likely after dinner we went for a short walk before calling it off a day.
The Chilly winter nights and bonfire is always love


The night view of our rooms

[SVK Rider]

Day 3 - The Spooky Catch in the Trip . . .
The next morning I and my brother decided to pay a visit to the infamous Begunkodor station which some people say as a haunted station. We made some arrangement for having a motorcycle from locals who were working with the resort itself. After morning tea I and my brother went out for the station which was about 45 mins ride from our resort.
The morning tea


The entire route is too scenic and goes through the villages and jungles of Purulia. The ride itself was so scenic that we stopped at few places and sat there for few minutes to take the feel of that place. Few Pictures from the way
Our ride for the morning


Into the nature with some fresh chilly air. . .



A Rider will never miss any chance to ride two wheels . . .

Must say it’s a cable machine . . .


Upon reaching the “Begunkodor” station, we found out nothing special/supernatural, it’s just another rural railway station with an abandoned station master cabin. Yes the place is completely desolated and hardly people visit there. However if its night time then the situations might be different, we didn’t face anything bad or negative energy from there, however we did face some issues from the locals out there. While we were taking a walk from one end to the other of the station from the outer boundary itself, a local in a motorcycle came and short of threatened us to leave immediately else he will bring up men and beat us to death !
Yes that’s correct and when he saw me taking pictures then he got more furious and started shouting. However sensing the probable danger we decided to leave the place quietly without any further discussion with him and left the place immediately. We came to know about the fact that they do vandalize cars and all if they get to see outsiders or cars/bikes which are not local. However the experience is something different yet thrilling. Could manage only 2 pictures from the location.
1. Begunkodor station

2. Our bike near the station.


After this again we came back through that beautiful route through the villages and jungles.
Some snaps on the way back





Finishing our fresh morning ride we then came back to our hotel and had some nice photoshoots.






After the photo session we did our morning breakfast and pushed off for home.
Some customary pictures
Our Rooms

Infront of the eco huts.


The Muruguma Dam and my beloved Romina


While returning we visited Mayur Hills which is nearby to our resort and after sitting there exploring few mins and taking some pictures we headed back to our home.


Dad & Daughter moment


The return journey was pretty much uneventful. We had our late lunch short of food in Durgapur KFC. Finally we came back to our home and it took around 8 hrs including all the food and fun breaks from Purulia to Home.
The place will always be very special to me and with the promise to come back again closing the travelogue.
Parting Snap of our trusted steed!

[Samba]

Originally Posted by SVK Rider

a local in a motorcycle came and short of threatened us to leave immediately else he will bring up men and beat us to death !
Yes that’s correct and when he saw me taking pictures then he got more furious and started shouting. However sensing the probable danger we decided to leave the place quietly without any further discussion with him and left the place immediately. We came to know about the fact that they do vandalize cars and all if they get to see outsiders or cars/bikes which are not local. However the experience is something different yet thrilling.

You are the 3rd person I know, who faced similar consequences.

I have heard a couple of reasons for this.

First was, locals were too irritated as tourists and You-tubers has stamped this place as a haunted place. They were not liking this, hence the revolts.

Second was, few people are into some illegal activities like drug peddling and they use this abandoned station for doing so. Just to keep the crowd away from this place, they stamped this place as haunted, so they can carry-on with their illegal activities in peace. Now when, this haunted tag started attracting more people, those guys started facing trouble, so when they see tourists around, they just try to scare them away.

Did you manage to find any info from the locals on what the actual cause is?

Regarding the travelogue, its superb! Loved the pics. The last pic of your Ecosport is stunning!

Purulia is a place, which is very close to my heart.

My last 3 visits to Purulia were in 3 different cars!

You can have a wild guess, in which car, I enjoyed driving the most in this region?

It had to be the old gen Figo, which was just made for these twisty ghat roads!
That telepathic steering & awesome handling!

The other two were fun too in their own ways, one was a fast one, while the other one was a go anywhere kind off!

[sayakc]

What a way to start a Monday . The photos add to the flavour of winter in those parts. And your visit to Begunkodor was the added spice.

The villages of Purulia holds a special place in my heart and love going back there given the time. We had visited Muruguma on Mahalaya 2019 and got to see kash phools. But winters have another charm.
We too stayed at the Bon Polashi resort and the cook there was a master. Though we stayed there for a night, in the hind sight we should have stayed for atleast 2 nights.

May be I missed it, but did you take the hill road to Ajodhya Pahar from Murguma? That road offered some incredible views.

Best Regards,
Sayak

[SVK Rider]

Originally Posted by Samba

You are the 3rd person I know, who faced similar consequences.

I have heard a couple of reasons for this.



Did you manage to find any info from the locals on what the actual cause is?

Regarding the travelogue, its superb! Loved the pics. The last pic of your Ecosport is stunning!

Thanks a lot Samba, After we came back enquired about the same from the locals, they have a 50/50 opinion. some of them say its truly haunted and they do not go out there, where as few said its created by few locals to prevent tourists from visiting there. however the reason is unknown to me till now.

Thanks a lot once more for the complement, Infact I have also visited the same with 3 different machines, this time it was Ecosport in 2017 it was Figo and 2018 it was my CBR

Originally Posted by sayakc

What a way to start a Monday . The photos add to the flavour of winter in those parts. And your visit to Begunkodor was the added spice.



May be I missed it, but did you take the hill road to Ajodhya Pahar from Murguma? That road offered some incredible views.

Best Regards,
Sayak

Yes dada I took the hill road from Muruguma, the Mustard field was on the same way itself. Indeed its really scenic.

[Travelmania]

Wonderful writeup with mesmerising pictures. Though not been to Begunkador, your story is a thrilling narration for sure. Romina is looking stunning as usual through your lens. I must mention the last photo—myself being an Ecosport owner feeling proud to see lovely pictures of the breed.

[BlackPearl]

Lovely crisp travelogue SVK Rider. Begunkador seems to be an interesting place except the interference from the locals. There must be some background regarding their hostile behaviour. We had been to Purulia in 2015 and had stayed at an Ashram. We absolutely loved Purulia but the biggest problem that we faced was the lack of proper places to stay. Things must have improved now. Could you please post a few interior pictures of the eco huts of Bon Palashi if possible? Keep traveling and making memories!

[SVK Rider]

Originally Posted by Travelmania

Wonderful writeup with mesmerising pictures. Though not been to Begunkador, your story is a thrilling narration for sure. Romina is looking stunning as usual through your lens. I must mention the last photo—myself being an Ecosport owner feeling proud to see lovely pictures of the breed.

Thanks a lot for your kind words. Yes the begunkodor experience was very much different from the regular ones.

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

Lovely crisp travelogue SVK Rider. Begunkador seems to be an interesting place except the interference from the locals. There must be some background regarding their hostile behaviour. We had been to Purulia in 2015 and had stayed at an Ashram. We absolutely loved Purulia but the biggest problem that we faced was the lack of proper places to stay. Things must have improved now. Could you please post a few interior pictures of the eco huts of Bon Palashi if possible? Keep traveling and making memories!

Thanks a lot Sumitro da for your kind words.
Regarding the interior of the rooms, we actually made them messy as we entered the room, thus do not have very good pictures of them. They have the basic amenities there and the rates are also decent.
The Rooms costed around 1800 for double occupancy and 2200 for three people. I forgot to mention about the food totally which is awesome. Morning Tea, Breakfast, Lunch Evening snacks and Dinner charges are 600 per head per day.
Sharing few of the pictures of the room which I found decent enough cleaned to be given.

[ARAY]

What a lovely write-up. Because of C19, I had the chance to explore a bit of WB.
WB has a lot of potentials and we hope to see those tourist spots flourish with time.
I had been looking at fellow Bhpians' blog on Purulia and kept wondering when we would be able to visit. This time I met a wonderful rider like yourself at TeamBhp Kolkata meet and visit Purulia and explore a bit of it as well.

Sharing few pictures from my trip -

Viewpoint #1


Duster at the tunnel


Beautiful roads of the Valley


Duster at the beautiful Rocky spot.


I saw a Stone Quarry truck getting back from the lake below. The terrain was tough with lots of loose rock. However, I had to go there.

The famous Masks from nearby Charida Village. We arrived there late in the evening and I have got to say, some of the masks were Scary.
Link : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhau_mask

Finally a picture with Duster with your Bike at Pandua offroading. It was a fun day indeed.

[SVK Rider]

Originally Posted by ARAY

What a lovely write-up. Because of C19, I had the chance to explore a bit of WB.
WB has a lot of potentials and we hope to see those tourist spots flourish with time.
I had been looking at fellow Bhpians' blog on Purulia and kept wondering when we would be able to visit. This time I met a wonderful rider like yourself at TeamBhp Kolkata meet and visit Purulia and explore a bit of it as well.

Thank you so much, that you liked the travelogue and the pictures you've shared are lovely.
Indeed it was great meeting you in the Winter Meet this time.

[red.devil_19]

Originally Posted by SVK Rider

While going we took the Kolkata – Kharagpur – Galudi – Banduan – Purulia route. The map is given below. I have selected this route particularly as it is more scenic to me than the Kolkata – Durgapur – Bankura _ Purulia route.

Nice write up SVK Rider! The snaps look amazing.

I am planning a drive from Kolkata to Ayodhya Hills. Have two route options:
1. via Asansol
2. via Ghatshila

I am considering driving via Ghatshila for the onward journey & via Asansol for the return leg.

Could you please elaborate a bit on the road conditions? Unlike your robust Ecosport, I'll be driving a humble sedan & wanted to know if there is anything to watch out for? Also, since my family will be travelling with me, would you be able to tell if are there any decent pit stop options between Kharagpur-Ghatshila & Ghatshila-Ayodhya Hills? Hope this route is safe to travel.

[SVK Rider]

Originally Posted by red.devil_19

Nice write up SVK Rider! The snaps look amazing.

I am planning a drive from Kolkata to Ayodhya Hills. Have two route options:
1. via Asansol
2. via Ghatshila

I am considering driving via Ghatshila for the onward journey & via Asansol for the return leg.

Could you please elaborate a bit on the road conditions? Unlike your robust Ecosport, I'll be driving a humble sedan & wanted to know if there is anything to watch out for? Also, since my family will be travelling with me, would you be able to tell if are there any decent pit stop options between Kharagpur-Ghatshila & Ghatshila-Ayodhya Hills? Hope this route is safe to travel.

Thanks a lot for the appreciation.

Coming to your point, I visited this route in last winter, and that time it had superb road conditions. You wont be having any trouble with any short of cars in this route, except few unwanted speed breakers which are awkwardly high.
The route is absolutely safe as I took the route via Ghatshila while going to Purulia and via Asansol while coming back. The Ghatshila route is longer but very much scenic and with less amount of traffic.
However for pit stops I would suggest to plan in advance, as there are not many good options between Kharagpur and Ghatshila or Ghatshila to Purulia.
Its better if you plan your stops in Kharagpur area and Ghatshila before proceeding towards Purulia.
One more thing during this covid times, since you will be crossing borders, do check for the covid regulations for going through Jharkhand state.
Rest everything is perfectly fine.
Happy driving and wish you a safe journey.