GOPALPUR ON SEA

The morning was pleasant after a short drizzle at late night. Santosh and Bidyut started at around 4 am from Panskura for Howrah by local train. Soumya and I joined them at Bagnan and Ramrajatala respectively. It was too early to catch Falaknuma Express from Howrah railway station. None of the eateries at the station was prepared to serve us. The day started with vegetable sandwitch and hot coffee from Comesum Plaza. Falaknuma Express started at 7:15 am. Partha and Sudip joined the team at Kharagpur with bagful of breakfast. Plateful of momo, bowls of hot soup, boiled egg, bananas and sweets heightened the enthusiasm. Rain and sun made the journey beautiful. The lunch was sweet curd and lassi at Bhubaneswar railway station. Train speeded through Chilka to Brahmapur. It was around 5:30 pm. We hurried towards Gopalpur from Brahmapur railway station with an old ambassador taxi. Unfortunately that old cab could not move much. The next lap was an auto rickshaw journey. The rickshaw was so small that Santosh – our team manager, could not get a seat and took the hassle of remaining standing for the next 14 kms inside the small rickshaw. Nothing stopped us, we moved as the time was much more precious to reach Gopalpur before it was dark. Ultimately we reached Hotel Song of the Sea – our home for next two nights, a little before the dark.  

It was not a large hotel. The owner Mr. Sanjeev Bedi (Ph: 0680 2343647, 0680 2225056, 0680 2223781, M: 9861535627) was a perfect business man with full of manners. He provided three beautiful sea facing rooms to us. The sea was just a few feet away from these rooms. The waves and roars almost touched us throughout the remaining moments. The time passed away unnoticed with the gusting from the waves. The hotel was located at one end of the beach, at the foot of light house. The isolation from the chaos and crowd of tourists gave the hotel another feather. The big glass windows and hanging balconies were perfectly fitted for enjoyment. The rooms including the toilets were clean. The beds and linens were perfectly spread to give proper rest. But maintenance was lacking with scanty and untrained manpower. No calling bell or intercom facilities were available to call the attendants. Electrical appliances were not working properly. Generators were not using timely. Room service was not adequate. The exciting garden and lawn was not tuned for a long time. Dining room was large and impressive, but serving was poor and inefficient. Food charges were high and orders were required to put hours before. Remarkable absence was the availability of water purifier. Even purified bottled water was not on hand at the hotel.

The main beach front was beautiful but not free from filth. The beach road or the marine drive was even better with old world charm. Few hotels and some very old houses with ruins of an ancient settlement through the wide beach road up to the back water added substance to this tourist place. Evening walk with the marine drive was really momentous. The silence from the crowd and absence of chaos was the beauty of the ambience.

Dawn appeared with a collage of moving colours on the sea. The mesmerizing rise of sun from the lap of the sea was unforgettable. The reflection of colours from a ball of liquid gold was presenting a stroke of lively virtues. The meaning of life was converging to a new height with heavenly ethos.

With a light breakfast Sudip, Soumya and Bidyut moved for a short day tour for Gopalpur port, back water and a local temple. They returned by the noon. Gopal da (A local tour operator, M: 9437127548, Ph: 0680 2242963) did everything for there hassle free roaming. I and Santosh took a beach walk and captured spectacular moments. Partha was slightly indisposed and preferred to enjoy the ambience from the room and balcony. The light house door opened at 3:30 pm and remained so till 5:30 pm. All except Santosh ventured the top of the light house. From the top it was another awesome experience. A 360® view of Gopalpur with the sea was amazing. Evening came with the blow of light beams from the tower. We took dinner at Swosti Palm Resort. Though the hotel was far away from the beach its restaurant was impressive. The dinner that was served at Swosti was unforgettable. We tried our best to stay with the beauties of Bay of Bengal as late as possible. Returned to the beds with heavy hearts for the daily monotony.

Next morning was not as gorgeous as the last one. Sky was not jolly; mostly covered with cloud – may be due to unhappiness of our departure. By 6 am we started for Brahmapur, again with a auto rickshaw arranged by Gopal da. Quickly Gopalpur moved away from our vision. Swiftly roars and gusts exceed away from our sight. Brahmapur was rapidly approaching; but our mind and soul stayed behind at the beaches of Gopalpur, at the top of the light house and at the loneliness of the marine drive.
Again the Falaknuma Express started for Howrah at 7:55 am. With the memoirs of Gopalpur suddenly came Kharagpur at around 3:30 pm. Everybody except me got down there. Partha went to Medinipur, Santosh to Kalaikunda, Sudip to Debra, Bidyut to Panskura and Soumya to Bagnan. I returned to Ramrajatala through Santragachi,  it was evening 20^th August 2012.

GORUMARA

Gorumara National Park – the ranked 1 national park in india.
It took near about two hours to reach gorumara through birpara and binnaguri from jaldapara wildlife sanctuary. For two nights rooms were booked at Jatra Prasad Wild Resort at east lataguri. The resort location was very nice as the forest starts from the front of the resort itself. The resort was very small with only four rooms made out of wooden planks. The feelings was staying within the forest. Next morning came with the chirping of birds. We started early for murti. Within half an hour we reached murti. It is actually a hilly river bed on the background of forest and hills. Murti river is flowing in a speedier pace. A few modern resorts and a west bengal forest development corporation (wbdfc) bungalow were there. The ambiance was very calm and peaceful. The sound of water and wind enchanted us. Then we moved to chalsa. A typical small town on the lap of Himalayas. It has a rail station and a few hotels. Any body intends to go to gorumara can get down at chalsa or new maynaguri by rail, then to lataguri by bus or hired vehicle. Lataguri is the entry point of gorumara. A large area of forest and teagardens with rivers can be observed from the chalsa view point. We started for sultankhola through meteli and samsing. The roadside tea gardens on undulated lands till my vision permits are really mesmerizing. The plucking of tea in the gardens put an extra beauty to the scenario. Within an hour we reached sultankhola. Our vehicle was not allowed till the river. We walked past the beauty of quite hills through a kilometer. It is a small falls with roaring move. The sound of water was heard from a distance. We did not expect such a heavenly place in such vicinity. Two resorts are there, managed by wbfdc. There are also some village guest house type lodges in the top. These lodges are in beautiful locations, very cheap, absolutely neat and clean with all modern amenities. It took nearly an hour to return to gorumara. We took the lunch in front of the safari booking counter. ‘mashir hotel’ gave us a nice treat in the lunch. We started to prepare for the gorumara car safari.
There are two types of car safari at gorumara. One is available from the car safari booking counter and another is available from the nearby office of the forest range officer, lataguri range. Both the safaris started at 3 pm. We opted for the later one. The booking time for both the safaris started at 2 pm. At 2 pm ‘lataguri gypsi owners association’ reserved a car for us, number rhino – 53 at the office of the forest range officer, lataguri range. Distribution of car is done through first come first serve basis. Only nine cars are available for this type of safari in each session. On a car six passengers, one guide and one driver is allowed to enter. Car hiring charge was rs 840. Subsequently this car distribution was authorized by the said forest office. They charge rs. 50 for the vehicle entry fee , rs 25 is the per head entry fee, still camera charge is rs 20. We were allowed to stay inside the forest from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Guide charge was rs 100. In the next three hours the safari car kept touring throughout the jungle in search of the wilds. The guard and driver were very innocent and informative. This safari is not available on Wednesdays. Moreover the jungle closes for any type of entry, except the official purposes, on 15th June. In winter the afternoon safari starts at 2 pm and continues till 5 pm. There is also a morning safari which starts at 6am in summer and 7 am in winter and continues for 3 hours. The other type of safari takes the tourists to a particular observation tower from available 6/7 towers, keeps them at the tower for the rest of the time and again returns back to the starting point. For each tower a prefixed number of tourists are allowed for each session. Tourists are to select a particular tower subject to the availability. Car for the safari can only be booked after getting the permission for going to a particular tower. This safari is not available on Thursdays. All the entries must be accompanied by a guide provided by the ‘gorumara national park forest guide association’. Only the pre-licensed cars of ‘lataguri gypsi owners association’ are allowed to enter for this type of safari. Under this type of safari tribal dance is offered at some towers. At ‘madla’ tower bullock cart safari within the forest is also available. Outside cars are also allowed up to the ‘madla’ tower, but to enter through ‘ramsai’ range. Unfortunately, even after searching a long we could not find even a single rhino. But we found innumerable birds and peacocks. Also a group of few elephants. The jungle was dence, wind was muddy and the ambiance was cool. We enjoyed the trip very much. 
Next morning we start for jhallong. The way runs through the chapramari wild life sanctuary. Within an hour we reached sipchu – recently became renowned for police firing on gorkhaland agitators led by gorkha jana mukti morcha. A martyr’s monument has been built on the firing spot. We advanced towards jhallong with a heavy heart fot the agitators. We moved towards jhallong with river ‘jaldhaka’. The beauty of the valley with hills and the forcing river is beyond my expression. Jhallong housed a hydel power station. We took our lunch at Green Island. It is a nice tiny island on river jaldhaka surrounded by tall green mountains. A local man has built few lodging cottages for the tourists. These cottages has all the modern amenities and very neat and clean. Also very cheap as long as the location and the services are concerned. The food was also very nice. Contact: 9474391835, 9434171710, 9475082597 and 9474876793. Anybody would enjoy the stay and the food. The next destination was ‘bindu’. Took 1 hour steep hilly driving from jhallong. It is on the border of India with Bhutan. A major river dam project on jaldhaka is another attraction of bindu – though access is restricted. The beauty of bindu will always take back you to this remote hilly point. A few local lodges have been constructed like other spots. This is a new development in the hills of west Bengal proving much needed income and employment to the poor peoples of the hills. These people are very innocent and simple. Their sense of courtesy and friendliness is beyond question. Now it is time to return to cooch behar. It took near about three and half hours. 0n the way we entered south khirbari nature interpretation centre. This centre can be entered through madarihat or jateswar. South khairbari houses a beautiful children park, a picnic spot, an observation tower and a tiger rescue centre. This centre closes at 5 pm. We reached cooch behar at 8 pm. The journey was memorable with the nice guidance and driving of our expert driver kamal subba. His contact number is 9932590283. Kamal is a charming personality with always smiling face. We could not have enjoyed the tour had it not with kamal.

BIHARINATH

Biharinath is a beautiful place. Away from chaos, in the mid of nature with full of silence. We started from Howrah railway station by Satabdi Express in the morning for Ranigunje. It took around two hours. Biharinath was an hour away from there by a hired cab through Mejia and Pabra. The journey was beautiful through the bridge over Damodar and many tribal villages. Ups and downs, undulations and small hills with valleys. Greens and water bodies without the touch of modern times. Muddy red roads with bullock carts showed the way to Biharinath Hill. Two of our friends came from Kharagpur through Bankura and Saltora. Biharinath is also accessible through Madhukunda. Asansol is very close to Madhukunda by train. There are lots of local trains plying in this Asansol Adra section. It takes around thirty minutes from Asansol. But the transit time may be larger. From Madhukunda regular trekker services are available at a charge of Rs 10 per head. But if time is precious then move through Ranigunge. Hired cabs are available at the taxi stand outside the railway station. They generally charge Rs 600 for one way journey to Biharinath.. Only a private accommodation is available – it is ‘Biharinath Tourist Point’. But the lodge is extremely nice with full of amenities which sometimes are not available in big cities. Very Food is tasty but costly, may be due to its isolation and distance.. This is a new property which started during the last puja. The hotel is very nice with all modern amenities. It is also well maintained and very neat and clean. But I am not sure how long they will be able to keep it with a scanty man power. Though they are very cordial, the manager knows the business well. Likewise they will charge high prices for the food and bottled drinking water. We found this hotel at a Kolkata tourism fair. Reservation office is at Baguiati (Kolkata). Contact: (033) 6954 7111, 8017202499, 9732861020. No online booking is available. There is another private guest house available at Biharinath named ‘Atithi Niwas’, which is managed by some private party and owned by local panchayet. Do not try that.

Biharinath is really the abode of peace. The scenic beauty of the surrounding and the silence of the ambience mesmerized us. A small shiva temple in the foothill put a religious importance to the place. The temple is surrounded by a few water bodies. The temple bells added a different beauty to the silence of the time. The nearest human habitat is at a distance of two km from the spot. Different types of birds and butterflies are another enjoyment. If luck favours then different wild animals can come to your vicinity. The silent nights are even beautiful with illuminated IISCO at the northern horizon. Morning came with the tweeting of birds. We stated for trekking to the summit of Biharinath. It is only 1485 ft high. Local people guided us. Biharinath takes different colours in different seasons. In rain it is extremely green, but in winter it is red with palash and simul. The memories of lightning and the sound of rain breaking dark nights of biharinath will always stay behind in our mind. 
We returned through Asansol. While returning we went to Garh Panchakot and Panchet Dam. Baronti and Mython Dam are also very close. One of our friends returned to Medinipur through Sarbabi More, Raghunathpur and Adra. We returned Kolkata in the night by Volvo service. Again in the chaos, pollution and daily frantic dull life – but with the beautiful memories of Biharinath. Biharinath will rejuvenate our mind and soul for a long time.