15th October 2010, 22:55
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| Senior - BHPian  | Messenjore during Monsoon celebrating 6th Birthday! Rural Bengal is usually green, but its around Monsoon's that the green turns into lush green, different shades of the same colour. However its also during monsoons that the roads are in its most deplorable condition, so even though the lovely countryside beckons you, people who love their cars, do not really venture out much. Even expressways catch some pimples and blisters. However this time we decided not to really bother. Moreover, Monsoon is officially over. Although its pouring more now than it did during the "official" Monsoon. The scenery after passing Panagarh, towards the Birbhum district turns really scenic, the road lined on both sides by red soil and beyond that there's either forest, or open cultivated fields. So the destination had to be somewhere on that side, somewhere we can spend the normal weekend away from home. Two of Dad's friends also wanted to join, however they would travel separately. Bolpur/Santiniketan automatically ruled out, have enough of "Rabindranath" already. Those not "initiated" into the Bengali way of life, it starts with Rabindranath, his work, his words. People don't want to be bothered with useless physical activities such as driving. Instead they take the train so that they can collectively discuss Rabindranath. Bolpur would have ensured, that lesser Bengali's like me, would have been completely looked down upon, humiliated for ignorance and sent to the mental assylum for showing indifference. Now another point of this trip was to give the car a run to celebrate its 6th Birthday that took place on 10th of September 2010. Although the celebration was delayed due to certain work constraints. 6 years earlier the first destination the car went to was Tarapith, a religious place in Bengal, however, on the way the car took a detour to a place called Messenjore, we then decided that we would come back someday and stay for a night or two. Unfortunately 6 yrs, 82k kms later, we realised, that we never kept our words to ourselves.  So we decided upon Messenjore,the first destination that the car went to, a quiet tranquil place in Jharkhand, where the Messenjore Dam had been built to contain the river Mayurakshi (Mayurakhkhi in local speak). T.B.C Few pics   |
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18th October 2010, 20:16
| #2 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bong-land
Posts: 2,323
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| This came out as a surprize  - never knew that you went out for this drive. Please upload more pics once you are through with pandal hopping. Happy Bijoya Doshomi. |
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18th October 2010, 22:30
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| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
Continueing from where I left off The Last time we visited this place, we came to know that the Mayurakhshi Bhavan situated on a hillock protruding into the reservoir is a guest house maintained by the Irrigation department.  So our plan was to book it through the Irrigation department office. Although there was quite a bit of "processing" that went through to book those rooms, as in anycase, we were asking for a great favour, to let us stay at the Mayurakhkhi Bhavan for a night.  Anyway, the route to Messenjore is quite simple. You drive to Panagarh, take a right onto the Panagarh-Moregram stretch of NH60. Drive 70 kms to Siuri (Suri). From the railway crossing at Suri, drive another 10 kms to reach a more called "Seoraphuli More". Take a left turn at this junction leaving the NH60. Drive for 30 kms to reach Messenjore. The road till Panagarh was really superb was dispatched under 2 hours (as has become the norm now), through pouring rain. Although 6 yrs back when the car was new, this road was still being made and it took us 4 hours to reach Panagarh. With the new car on the horrible state of GT road at Shaktigarh, I was wondering if the thing will reach back home in one piece. Now after all these years and so many KM's I know, that the car has taken much worse in stride and there is still not rattle or squeek from the body. The road after Panagarh, 6 years back, turned out to be a dream stretch, till Rampurhat, allowing for the first time to see what the "Josh" machine was capable of. Showing us its brilliant handling and body control. The rear seats were pretty comfortable for my Mother. Now the stretch between Panagarh and Illumbazar (24kms from Panagarh) had large craters on the "down" side of the road, forcing opposite traffic to travel on the wrong side, hurtling towards you. However Illumbazar crossed, road turned nice. The rain accompanied us through out. Soon we were at the Seoraphuli more taking the left turn. The initial half a kilometer is worse than in shambles. But if you are driving a well built car, such as the one I was, no need to worry, it will survive much longer. Then the road turns really really beautiful, meandering through the rural Jharkhand after crossing the Border. There are a few occasional potholes though, but then, being the monsoons in this part of the world, thats small change! We reach Messanjore 1 hour 40 minutes after starting from Panagarh. So in essence if one drives non stop one can reach within the whereabouts of 3 and a half hours from Kolkata (Vidyasagar Setu). The view from Mayurakhhi Bhavan  The other side  TBC.. | |
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19th October 2010, 12:30
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| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bong-land
Posts: 2,323
Thanked: 426 Times
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Were there any check posts at WB / JH border? if yes, what kind of documents do you need to carry? Do you have a GPS thingy with you or do you rely on the one installed in the 'talu'? Do start the one on the North Bengal trip as well. | |
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19th October 2010, 12:54
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| Team-BHP Support   | |
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19th October 2010, 23:31
| #6 | ||
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
Do not have a GPS. My mobile was a navigator, but hadn't been required to use it. It went Kaput in that frustration. The other travelogue will come. Quote:
There wasn't much photographic opportunity with the car on this trip. Backgrounds and access were mostly unfeasible. But have one or two car snaps. Will upload. The other travelogue @planet mentions has some car snaps. A few more pics of the area Another view from Mayurakhkhi Bhavan  The Messenjore Dam   From the Dam  Anyway continueing with the story, will try to end it pretty fast Very near to Messanjore is Dumka, a half hours drive. There is a small hillock there called Kuruwa Pahar, which boasts of a really nice view. Went to this place the following Morning.     However, although the experience was nice, the views were pleasing and in general achieved what we set up to do. There was a single fly in the ointment. The service at Mayurakhkhi Bhavan. Saying that it was lackluster, or below par, would be an understatement. There was absolutely no courtesy whatsoever. Ofcourse, they are government employees and could not care less about us lesser mortals. Even the lawns were unkept  Few examples. We had booked in advance, they had the information that we will turn up. We actually reached at 12:45 pm. We were told that we were late, the cook has gone for the afternoon, we have to make our own arrangements. Unfortunately, this place does not have restaurants like we have come to expect. We were pointed to a shanty food joint thats quite popular with local travellers. The bathroom Geysers were taken out, they would only return during winters. They would not serve tea/snacks in individual rooms, but at one common place. Worse still, we were asked to go and place diner/lunch (next day) order at the dining hall. Although the lack of menu items (we did not get any mutton in both the days) we could attribute to the remoteness of the place. There wasn't a drop of water from the taps for a good hour on Sunday morning. Firstly there wasn't anyone to talk to, then there was the usual passing the buck that the mechanical department is responsible and all. It was pretty certain that these guys are not yet introduced to the word hospitality. On the contrary, if people visit their place it would probably mean work for them. On a positive side, the place was not at all touristy. The fish from the reservoir was really fresh and tasty. One of the reasons to venture out to the countryside is fresh food. But here the choices were far too limited. restricted. But as I said earlier, we enjoyed all the other aspects. A car snap to conclude!  | ||
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21st October 2010, 12:29
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21st October 2010, 12:41
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21st October 2010, 15:09
| #9 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Bangalore
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21st October 2010, 23:20
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| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
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@Saurabh, at one side we see the apathy of the folks from the Irrigation Department, but on the other hand that apathy also manages to maintain tranquility. The drive from Messenjore to Dumka is kind of meandering with the road rising up, going down and quite entertaining to drive on, especially knowing that the traffic is few and far between.   We were also concerned about the disturbances, however we were told not to worry. Sharing a few more pics The details, if anyone is interested   Some local views just off Messenjore   The road from Siuri to Messenjore Whats a Monsoon drive without pics of rain drenched scenery    One snap of the rain drenched cat (after reaching Messenjore)  | |||
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