Sunday, June 10, 2007

Feeling Homesickness

British church in Kharagpur

I have seen Europe quite a lot, starting from UK, Scandinavia, Central Europe and Greece of course. But I haven’t seen many places in India, which are not only worth visiting, but some of the bests in the world.
My home towns are Kharagpur and Kolkata, in West Bengal, India. I am going to India for a month and eagerly waiting to see my homeland. I live in Kolkata, but my place of birth is Kharagpur, 130 km away from Kolkata. My parents are still living there and I still feel absolute peace in this small town.
In the above picture, look at the natural surroundings of the British church in Kharagpur. There is no din and bustles of traffic, so not polluted like big metros. One section of Kharagpur is well maintained because of the planned Railway Colony. These establishment was done by the British and still holding its majesty. But the other part is quite congested.


Small Villages between Kharagpur & Kolkata

While I drive from Kharagpur to Kolkata, it gives me immense pleasure, not because of the smooth road, not for coming back to big metro, but mainly for enjoying the typical country nature of Bengal. The changing landscape, kaleidoscopic nature of soil, small villages, green meadows, and yellow crop fields captivate me. That’s the reason poet told “ Chaya sunibir santir neer, choto choto gram guli” , the English meaning is somewhat like..


“In the midst of wide stretched meadow
Small villages in the lash green shadow
Where blows the gentle mild breeze
We find there absolute peace.”

The veil of emotion is torn once I enter the majestic gigantic second Hoogly Bridge of Kolkata, which lies over the sacred river Ganga. This bridge is called Vidyasagar setu, named after the prophet of modern Bengal. The former old Howrah Bridge (Rabindra Setu) is still popular for its unique architecture, but the new one is simply superb. These two bridges are the gateway of Kolkata, the crowded, congested metro city of Eastern India – which is often know as city of joy, for its charming lively nature, despite of having many poor and slams.

Vidyasagar setu - Kolkata
The reason being, I am writing this post is I am traveling to India next weekend and eagerly waiting to see my home towns after a long time. It will be quite hot and humid, the scorching heat may create some problem, but still I am happy to fly back for three weeks. Will not be able to post regularly during my visit to India, but obviously will drop some interesting photos from India after my visit to the great nation.

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6 comments:

Kalyan Panja said...

Being used to your lovely pictures from Europe regularly, looking at these pics at first glance, I felt it was from Europe only.
I can understand your emotions and even when I stay out of Calcutta just for a few days for any work in many nice place, still my heart pulls me back here.
Some of my aunts stay enroute to Kharagpur in Panskura and I visit them 2-3 times a year, the green fields and the mango trees, flying kites in the empty fields after the harvest, just lures me everytime. So I can well understand your emotions right now. I got a bit carried away na.

Lovely post along with those lovely lovely pics & wishing a safe journey to Kharagpur...Calcutta...India.

Nanditha Prabhu said...

lovely post and good shots too... i hail from gods own country, kerala....whereever we are we still carry with us the Indian spirit

Sigma said...

The pics are lovely, but the one of the British Church is superb! It's natural surroundings hold the charm of the bygone era ... really a great shot!
Though I am afraid I wasn't charmed by the bridges much - I love natural beauty much more :-))
Enjoy your trip home!!

Pijush said...

@Kalyan, Thanks for sharing your experience, yes it is something very special for me and close to my heart. I will enjoy my stay in Kolkata/Kharagur. However, I will not be able to check your blog regularly, but surely try to post some comments.

@Nanditha, Welcome to my blog, you have such a nice blog, I glanced through it, need some time to give feedback. Keep coming, thanks for visiting.

@Sigma, Thanks for the comment. Yes the British Church is superb in deed. Will keep posting some more landscape pics form India.

Anonymous said...

so very artistic!!
love those colors of ur photos!

Anonymous said...

lovely photos!!