Visiting "Tagore's Paradise" ~ DAY 1 at Shantiniketan

        Have you ever been to a place where the only sound that welcomes you is bird's chirping,  rhythmic dholak beats or folk songs? Or a place where the only sight you get is people sitting under trees with canvases & paint brush , bauls singing their heart out & numerous sculptures waiting for silent appreciation..My weekend trip to Shantiniketan gave me the opportunity of getting soaked in Indian culture. A small town near Bolpur station which got an existence because of a great poet's vision and hard work of several people linked.  It was here that Rabindranath Tagore started Patha bhavan, a school whose central idea was learning in natural environment. Its said after he received Nobel prize the school was expanded into the University which proudly stands till date.

         

Temple Premises

       Me and my family boarded the Howrah-Suiri Express from Howrah junction at 8.35am. After an uneventful and short journey reached Bolpur station at 12pm. The first thing I saw after deboarding was a giant Wall carving of Rabindra Nath Tagore, the great poet ,writer, lyricist, composer and singer and at that very instant I knew the destination for weekend trip couldn't be better. The station outside had queue of rickshaw pullers and we hired one for reaching our hotel. After freshening up and munching our lunch we set off to visit places around Shantiniketan. 

        

Sacred Pond where Lord Sati's body part is said to have fallen

Our first destination was "Kankalitala Temple", one of the 51 Shakti peeths , located 9kms from Bolpur. It is believed that Lordess Sati's waist bones fell here. The entrance of the temple was lined by shops selling flowers, sweets & chunris. When we reached it was around 3 in noon.. the place was deserted and quiet except for a few beggars, handful devotees and few sadhus singing devotional songs.  Offering our homage to Lord Sati we moved on to our next destination- Prakriti Bhawan.

Sadhus singing devotional songs in temple premises

A sculpture at Prakriti Bhawan

"Prakriti Bhawan", completely justifying the name, is a museum containing sculptures made by collecting tree branches & stones from different parts of world which under natures effect have taken up human or animal shapes. The road leading to the bhawan was canopied by trees, and the gallery area surrounded by small mud huts and a pond, it was picturesque. But it was the collection that left me awed, if not looked from the correct angle the sculptures were just either a tree trunk or a plain stone but when viewed at an appropriate angle they took unbelievable shapes. 

Way to Prakriti Bhawan

    

A guide explained us through the structures. The Museum also served as a cultural school for the underprivileged. Our strolling was accompanied by melodious songs sung by the young girls and few others practising dance moves. 

       

Kurti fabric design being done at Amar Kutir

Leather bags being made

    

 From Prakriti Bhawan we moved on to reach "Amar Kutir", a society set up for rural development. Although many tourists find the emporium here worth visiting as they get authentic leather goods, kantha stitched sarees and kurtis, bamboo crafts and batik works at reasonable rates, what I found more interesting was witnessing the artists giving shape to these hand-made products in a small industry set-up in same premises.

The friendly artists explained me through the process while I was busy capturing the moments through my camera. The live baul singers added more charm to the place. When we left Amar kutir it was over 5.30pm.. 

       

Khaoi Haat Area

    Our driver suggested us to visit the Khoai Haat next..A makeshift market, amidst hundreds of trees, setup by local rural people on every Saturday and only until sunset owing to the lack of electricity facility. I am so happy we took his advice and went to the Haat..The parking place was full of vehicles and the place was heavily crowded. There were numerous baul singers singing with their groups, numerous villagers displaying their handmade products ranging from decorative items to wearable products for sale, numerous tourists ,numerous photographers capturing moments, numerous villagers selling homemade  sweets like rabri, kheer.. It was magical !! It was my first visit to any village haat so I was all the more excited.

Glimpse of Khoai Haat

         Good time flies off fast so did our time in the haat.. We stayed there till sunset getting soaked in rural Indian culture until the villagers started to windup the setup.. The day one at shantiniketan was a perfect one and we started towards Hotel making plans for day 2 at the Culturally rich land.