[MotoStar]

It’s a common trend that we always plan for long holidays. We have seen our parents always planning long trips during Summer Vacation or Puja Vacation. But in recent few years we have started to love short trips which relieves the exhaustion of our daily schedules. It’s like that clear weather after a heavy storm. Now a days people are looking forward for these short trips. It may be a day trip or weekend trip. The excitement remains the same. It’s the same excitement which we used to feel when we were kids, when we saw our parents planning to visit any popular state of our country.

During and after Covid, being at home.. having WFH made our life fully monotonous.. and changing our surrounding for sometime gives us a breath of fresh air. The same is happening to me since I started my WFH. Weeks and weeks of slogging in WFH I just couldn’t bear it anymore and decided to break the shackles. However I was not the only one who required the break. My lifelines(read my better half, my mother, my aunt and my daughter) were also pretty much in the same boat. So we decided to refresh our minds and head off to some place which we can do in a day. After taking a few glances in the internet for some inspirations, decided to head to Burdwan (Barddhaman).

Burdwan, a quaint town about 130 Kms from Kolkata also has its own set of history. So on a monsoony Saturday morning at about 8.45 am took out my trusted steed (The Black Scorpio) from the stable and set off on our journey. Going past Vivekanda Setu and Santragachi and joining the Delhi Highway, the open highways has already started to play its charm.

The first stop at Azad Hind Dhaba at Singur for a bite of Alu Paratha and dahi accompanied by Chicken Malai Kebab fuelled up our hunger to drive more.


The breakfast break

After about an hour of driving across the AH1 and crossing Shaktigarh, took a right turn towards 108 Shiv mandir. However on reaching we learnt that the visiting hour has closed at 12.50 pm and incidentally it was 12.50 pm when we reached. The gates would again open from 3pm and continue till 7 pm. So we decided that we should head to the Tomb of Sher-e-Afghan.

After following the Google map and asking a few locals we drove through some narrow bylanes of Burdwan, where my Scorpio occupied the entire breadth of the road, to reach the Tomb of Sher-e-Afghan. I parked the car in front of a school and went the rest 10-20 odd meters on foot.

At the entrance, we met an old man who voluntarily told us the story of Sher Afghan, Pir Baharam and Kutubuddin. He also volunteered to guide us through the small complex of burial ground which is also considered a pilgrimage site.


The entrance of the Burial Ground


The history mentioned by the ASI. But no english translation was provided.


The plaque mentioning the tomb of Sher Afghan

After spending about 30-45 minutes we headed towards the Zoological Gardens of Burdwan again through the narrowest bylanes. This time however I encountered a bike parked on the road parallel to a cycle van. My practice of dead lifts came handy to move the bike which enabled us to move through. After a few minutes we were on a wide stretch of road which took us to the Zoological gardens.

The zoo however is neither too big nor too small with leopards, crocodiles, Sambars, Spotted deers, monkeys and different types of birds. The place is quite enjoyable for kids.


The Family Crest of Maharaja of Burdwan family at the zoo.


The gate which separates the zoo from the property of Uderaj Mehtab, who was the Maharaja of Burdwan.


The leopards busy with their food.


A creek within the zoo


A Sambar deer in its enclosure


Deer and Daughter


A Salt water Crocodile


A friend indeed

An hour later, we exited the zoo and decided to visit the Burdwan Palace (Burdwan Rajbari aka Rajbati). After parking the car beside a Lake we went on to visit the Rajbari which has now been turned into Administrative Building of the Burdwan University. A host of stray dogs (10+ in numbers) welcomed us by howling and barking and overjoyed jumping (Dog Lovers would know what I mean). After greeting them we went inside the campus to marvel at the well maintained garden, the huge Banyan Tree and then the Architectural flamboyance of the Palace.

Its massive Gothic pillars and verandahs covered with colonial Jafris are really a sight to marvel at. The porticos with cobbled stones still gives the sense of the bygone era.


The huge Banyan tree


One of the many porticos


An abandoned old Amby


The Amby from the front


Bust of Shahid Akhilesh Bandyopadhyay

Some more images of the Palace








With the persistent humidity and heat we decided to now move towards 108 Shiv Mandir which would be our last place of interest today, as it was also past 3pm. So we walked back to our parked car and set the destination for 108 Shiv Mandir which was only about 4 Kms from the Palace.

This last place of visit was also no less of an architectural marvel. After removing our shoes inside the car we headed into the temple complex which houses actually 109 Shiva temples. The entire complex was clean and the ambience was very soothing. The central pond has tall trees surrounding it and provides a shaded pathway to the temples. The complex was built in the year 1788 and is being properly maintained by the Temple Administration.


Array of temples


The line up


Nandi and Bhringi


Panoramic view of the central pond


The history of the temple

After completing the day, we now set for home at around 5 pm. The day went so good that we really felt refreshed. On the way back we however faced tremendous traffic of trucks on the Durgapur Expressway. After having some Lyangcha, Mihidana (Both a type of Bengali Sweets), Shingara (Samosa) and Tea at Shaktigarh we braved lashing rains and slow moving trucks to reach home around 9.30pm, thus ending the day out to gather some emotional energy to face the weeks of work coming ahead.

[car-go]

Fantastic travelogue! Sometime will try out.. though we passed through Burdwan a few time before, did not explore it though; my bad.

[itsMridul]

Very good pictures and a nice write up. However, I have a suggestion. Next time when you visit Burdwan, do visit the temples of Sarvamangala and Kanchannagar, and the tomb of Khwaja Anwar. These are also integral parts of history of Burdwan.

[MotoStar]

Originally Posted by car-go

Fantastic travelogue! Sometime will try out.. though we passed through Burdwan a few time before, did not explore it though; my bad.

Yes this happens every time and we usually don't make any plans to go out of the way and enter Burdwan. But I would surely suggest to go and have a look. In future I might visit again for a couple of more places to see.

[MotoStar]

Originally Posted by itsMridul

Very good pictures and a nice write up. However, I have a suggestion. Next time when you visit Burdwan, do visit the temples of Sarvamangala and Kanchannagar, and the tomb of Khwaja Anwar. These are also integral parts of history of Burdwan.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion. Will surely visit once again to visit the places you mentioned. Additionally I have seen photos of one more dilapidated palace which I would like to visit. But sadly I have forgotten the name of the palace . If you could help me with that.

[MotoStar]

Update: I found the name, Kalikapur Rajbari. Will add this yo the list of your suggestion.

[itsMridul]

Originally Posted by MotoStar

If you could help me with that.

I guess ‘Darul Bahar’ at golapbag you are talking about.

[MotoStar]

Originally Posted by itsMridul

I guess ‘Darul Bahar’ at golapbag you are talking about.

I was talking about Kalikapur Rajbari.