India Diaries – Durgapur : December, 2005

I had never been to Durgapur, Susmita’s hometown, ever since my marriage. Durgapur is the place where Susmita was brought up and the place which had a lot of memories for her. So, I was very thrilled when I boarded the train (Black Diamond) early in the morning at 6:00 am for Durgapur. Appa had come to see me off, in spite of me telling him that it was not required J. When I landed in Durgapur, I was given a rousing reception by 2 wonderful and beautiful ladies – my wife and my sister-in-law. After settling down at home for sometime and chatting with my mother-in-law, we (me, Susmita and Mini Dei) headed for our first mission – to see the places in Durgapur.

The first place was actually walking distance from the house – the Kumaramanglam Park. We spent some time walking in the park and Susmita was a little sad that the park was not maintained anymore. My mother-in-law had prepared some sumptuous lunch. After lunch, it was time for the matinee show – Bluffmaster. This experience was a dampener – the movie was bad and worse was the theater itself (Anuradh). After roaming about a bit at Benachitti market (the biggest market in Durgapur) in the evening, we headed home, had dinner and then went off to sleep.

The next day, we went to see the the Durgapur Dam. We had an interesting experience with a police constable there who was furious that we were taking photos, where it was prohibited in the first place. After cajoling the constable that we wouldn’t do the same mistake again, we took a small boat ride in the reservoir and finally, ended our trip by taking a walk along a road that took us along some green fields. It was really quiet and it was wonderful to enjoy the tranquility. We came back home for lunch and then decided to rest for a while. In the evening, I went for a small run in the nearby ASP stadium – the stadium was good and so was the runJ. In the night, we went to the nearby town of Bidhan Nagar to see the Ram Mandir. The temple was good and we watched the Aarti to our heart’s content before leaving for dinner. We had food at a 4-star restaurant – the Peerless Inn. Although the restaurant was 4-star, the food was not expensive at all. The best part was that even my mother-in-law had joined us in our evening trip and so, it was a great family outing.

Here are some snaps to relive the experience :).

Although 2 days were just about ok to see Durgapur, I think, I shall go for a longer time next time. I would like to just go and sleep and do nothing 🙂 – of course, I can do that at home too, but then that is also my home – ha ha.

Cheers !