Amkhoi Wood Fossil Park, IllamBazar, near Bolpur (Shantiniketan)

Amkhoi Wood Fossil Park

IllamBazar, near Bolpur (Shantiniketan)

The villagers of Amkhoi village, near Bolpur, while digging a pond in 2006 stumbled upon giant bone-like structures. Unable to figure out what they were, they informed the local administration.

Entrance of Amkhoi Wood Fossil Park, Illambazar

These lead to a scientific investigation revealing what look like giant bones were actually fossilized wood. Scientific digging continued at the pond site extracting more such fossilized wood specimen, which was estimated to be 15 to 20 million years old.

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Cossimbazar, colonial mansions, cemeteries and church

Cossimbazar

Colonial mansions, cemeteries, churches and more

Also see: Murshidabad Heritage Festival 2022

The non-descript settlement of Cossimbazar is sandwiched between Murshidabad and Berhampore. Once a busy river port and a flourishing trading center it presently lives in the shadows of its more famous historic counterpart Murshidabad. Only a handful of tourist who visits Murshidabad makes it to Cossimbazar, which have all elements of an independent tourist destination.

Cossimbazar
Top row left to right: Palace of Roys, Nandi Family Mansion and Old English Cemetery
Bottom row left to right: Dutch Cemetery, Dos Shiva Temple and Armenian Church

The emergence of Cossimbazar as a river port happened in the early part of the 17th century long before the emergence of Murshidabad. By the mid of 17th century the Dutch, French and British have already established their trading post (known as factories) in Cossimbazar. Known for its exotic silk Cossimbazr soon started attracting traders from far and wide turning the small settlement into an international trading hub.

Nandadirghi, Buddhist Vihar, Jagjibanpur, Malda

Nandadirghi Vihar

Buddhist Vihar, Jagjibanpur, Malda

Also see: Gour Pandua Tour

During the summer of 1987 Jagadish Gayen, a farmer from the remote village of Jagjibanpur bordering Bangladesh in Malda district, stumbled upon a copper plate. The plate measured 52.5cm x 37.5cm and had inscription on both side.

Ruins of Nandadirghi Vihar at Jagjibanpur under restoration

Gayen had no idea what was written but he could figure out that the plate was something extraordinary. Understanding the historic importance he submitted it at the panchayet office. The plate soon moved to the BDO office and then onwards to the DM office and final made its way to the State Archaeology department.

Nimasarai Minar of Malda, tower of a medieval inn

Nimasarai Minar, Malda

Tower of a medieval inn

Also see: Gour Pandua Tour

Today Malda town the district headquarters of Malda district serves a base for tourist visiting the two medieval citadels of Gour and Pandua. Today Pandua lies about 32 km north of Malda, while Gour is 15 km south of Malda.

Nimasarai Minar, Malda

Today Malda town with its share of hotels and restaurants serve as a night stay option for tourist heading for the two medieval citadels of Gour-Pandua. Today good roads connect both the ancient towns to Malda and vehicles are readily available for tours covering the monuments of the twin citadels.

Experience Ganges, a bus and cruise tour along Hooghly River

Experience Ganges

3 day & 2 night bus and cruise tour along Hooghly River

Rivers always played an important role in shaping civilizations. The Hooghly River, a distributory of the Ganga (or Ganges), is no exception. The river have played an important role in shaping the history of colonial India.

Experience Ganges Group at Jalashree Floating Restaurant, Chandannagar

Calcutta (now Kolkata), the first capital of British India and the second city of the empire was also established on the Bank of the River Hooghly. It was not only British but other European power also had there presence along the river. This included Bandel (Portuguese), Chinsurah (Dutch), Chandannagar (French) and Serampore (Danish).

Historic Sites of Bardhaman Town

A compilation of historic sites of Bardhaman town

From colossal colonial styled gateways to magnificent Mughal styled mausoleum and from elaborate temple complex to the resting place of the first husband of the Mughal empress Noor Jahan

Clockwise from top left: Curzon Gate, Christ Church, Mazar of Pir Baharam, 108 Shiva Temples, Sarbangla Temple and Nawab Bari

Located about 100 km from Kolkata, the town of Bardhaman predates Kolkata by at least a couple of centuries. It can serve as a interesting day or a weekend trip from Kolkata covering an wide range of historic sites.

Forever Digha

One of Bengalis’ top three tourist destination

The travel loving Bengali is always been mocked as DiPu Da (Di for Digha, Pu for Puri and Da fro Darjeeling) after their three favourite tourist destination. From Kolkata, Digha is the nearest of the three. Probably it is the most visited tourist spot for Kolkatanas.

Tourist walk along the Digha sea front

Interestingly the popular Bengali tourist spot has a long historic connection dating back to the early days of East India Company. In 1780s Warren Hastings, the first Governor General of Bengal, stumbled upon a 7 km long casuarina dotted beach in Midnapore. He was so impressed with the stretch of beach that in a letter to his wife he referred to it as “Brighton of Calcutta.”

Dariyapur, Dokra Village

Dariyapur

Dokra Village

Also see: Weekend family trip to Bhalki Machan

The Covid 19 outbreak have changed the way we live and after spending over 10 months confined at home we finally decided to hit the road. The visit to the Dariyapur, Dokra Village was part of a weekend trip to Bhalki Machan.

Gate of the Dokra Crafts Centre, Dariyapur

It was a two-day trip and included several side trips covering a variety of places. Our first stop for the second day was the Dokra Village of Dariyapur.

Ichai Ghosher Deul, a towering temple on the banks of River Ajay

Ichai Ghosher Deul

A towering temple on the banks of River Ajay

Also see: Weekend family trip to Bhalki Machan

The Covid 19 outbreak have changed the way we live and after spending over 10 months confined at home we finally decided to hit the road. The visit to the Ichai Ghosher Deul was part of a weekend trip to Bhalki Machan, which was known for its crumbling tower like structure.

Ichai Ghosher Deul

According to local folklore the tower like structure in Bhalki Machan served as hunting platform, which was used by the local landlords to hunt bear. But historians have a different story and historical records confirm the tower was actually a Great Trigonometrical Survey (GTS) Tower, used for surveying and mapping the country almost 200 years ago.

A weekend trip to Bhalki Machan, first family outing since Covid 19

A weekend trip to Bhalki Machan

First family outing since Covid 19 outbreak

The Covid 19 outbreak have changed the way we live and after spending over 10 months confined at home we finally decided to hit the road. We are lucky to travel just before the lockdown started in March 2020.

On the way to Bhalki Machan, breakfast stop at Azad Hind Dhaba

Our last family weekend tour involved the visit consisted a visit to a fortified temple complex, an excavated Buddhist Vihar, a canyon not as grand as the Grand Canyon and finally a village of brick built temples (Also see: Weekend Family tour of West Midnapore)