A memorable short trip to Mandarmani, West Bengal

It was our second trip after almost 2 years. We had planned a short trip to nearby beach location Mandarmoni in West Bengal. I was searching for a nearby location to avoid long leave from work. Here is the summary of our itinerary:

DAY	CHECK IN	CHECK OUT	LOCATION
1	DAY1	DAY 1	Ranchi
2	DAY 2	DAY 3	Kolkata
3	DAY 3	DAY 4	Mandarmani
4	DAY 4	DAY 4	Kolkata

We along with our 6 month old son departed from Latehar in morning for Ranchi. There, we had to attend a marriage function in the evening. Vrishank's Mamas came to Ranchi to attend the marriage function. We decided to celebrate Vrishank's annaprashan there. Mummiji had directly come from Bangaluru via flight after attending her niece's marriage at Bangaluru. She brought with her Yuthika's favourite Biryani from Meghna, which she ate very fondly. Later, after attending marriage function, Mummiji came with us to leave us to Ranchi Railway station for our next destination.

Pic (From Left to Right): Waiting for train at Latehar.

 

Pic (From Left to Right): Vrishank's annaprashan,, Attending Marriage function at Ranchi(Special Thanks to Sanjay Mamaji for this pic).

 Pic : Boarding our berth in Train

I was also excited for the journey to have a glimpse of my alma mater while the train passes through Kharagpur. I made it a point to wake up around that time when the train passes Kharagpur. It was a heavy rainy night, and I had a glimpse of the Light tower of IIT kharagpur, I felt jevulated. I tried to wake up Yuthika, but I do not remember whether she saw it or not.

We reached Howrah in morning. That time, It was drizzling. I, along with my wife, our 6 month old son, took the taxi to reach our hotel.

 Pic (From Left to Right): Arriving at Howrah Railway station, In our cab to Hotel room.

We went to the hotel, relaxed. We had planned to go out after taking lunch, which we did. We had a glimpse of Kolkata around. Kolkata was not a new place to me. I had gone to this place quite often while I studied at IIT Kharagpur.

In the afternoon, we went to Eco Park, spent some time in front of the lake there and in rose garden. We then went to wax museaum on the opposite side of the road. In the evening, we came back to the New market area. There, Yuthika did some shopping, we had some snacks there. Yuthika bought a few things and some things for me as well. Later, we had to have dinner. Yuthika said at times, she would have dinner at TAJ Bengal, so I was expecting we would go to TAJ Bengal for dinner, but in the evening, doing all the shopping, etc, It was quite late, It did not work due to time paucity. We went back to our hotel.

 Pic (From Left to Right): Spending some time in Eco Park and Wax Museum.

Pic: Yuthika having Breakfast at Indian Coffee House, Kolkata.

Next day in morning, at around 10.00 a.m., we had to leave for Mandarmani. But before leaving Kolkata, Yuthika wanted to go to iconic Indian Coffee House for breakfast. We went there for breakfast and had something to eat. Though I had booked train tickets to Digha, we decided to go to Mandarmani by reserved taxi taking into account comfort. We reached our hotel in Mandarmani somewhere around 02:00 P.M. The weather was clear there. To our surprise, our allotted room was already occupied. The Manager made it a point to upgrade our room, and we were accommodated in a sea facing suite room! Yuthika was so happy. She said, “It could not have been better!”

We relaxed in our room for a while. We went out to the sea beach for a walk.. Later we went to the small market area. We did some shopping and had light snacks. Weather was pleasant there. We spent some time sitting by the side of the beach, and watching sea waves hitting the beach and going back. It was a soothing experience.

 Pic : In market during evening walk at Mandarmani.

 Pic : At Hotel room

We hired an auto rickshaw and moved back to our hotel. I do remember, It was a cold night. I went to the beach front at our hotel alone, as we did not consider It right to bring our 6 month old son with us to the beach on a cold night. I spent some time there, seeing the beach, and hearing the gushing sound of sea waves hitting the shore. It was so relaxing. After sometime, Yuthika came to me, we returned back to the room soon. We had a sound sleep.

I wanted to see the sunrise. We woke up early, took my kid in my arms, and my wife along with me, to have a walk on the beach. We walked for some distance. We had some tea and biscuits there. After a calming walk, we returned to our hotel room.

Pic : Spending some relaxing time on the sea beach in morning.

As It was a short trip, we had only one night stay at Mandarmani, we readied to leave our Hotel room by 11:30 A.M. While in the car, we were searching for some place to have lunch. Our driver suggested the hotel Sher-E-Punjab, which is on the Howrah - Kharagpur Highway. I remembered how during college days, I went there a couple of times for dinner, and sometimes for seniors’ Campus placement treat. It was a memory rolling back. When I said to Yuthika, I came to this place in our college days also, she mocked me, and said “ Kharagpur me kuch milta nahi tha, isliye etni door aate the.” I was dumbstruck. We stopped there to have lunch. Ordered something and had a nice lunch. Yuthika remarked, the restaurant offered astonishingly good food, and to date, she quite often sometimes reminds me how delicious food she had there.

Pic (From Left to Right): Our Resort at Mandarmani, Halt at SherEPunjab Hotel for Lunch, Celebrating Vrishank's 6th month in train.

After we had lunch, we proceeded for our destination: Howrah railway station. Meanwhile, we had some time in hand, and changed plans to do some shopping in Kolkata. Yuthika wanted to buy some clothes from H&M, the name which I heard for the first time! We reached the mall, and did some shopping. After the shopping, we came to our cab and proceeded for Howrah Railway station. We reached there in time. Thereafter, we boarded our train to Ranchi. In train, we celebrated our son's 6th month birthday. From Ranchi, we took a pre-booked vehicle to reach Latehar. It was a short trip of 4 days only, yet memorable. I would certainly like to take my wife there again.

First Marriage anniversary celebration

We went for our honeymoon in December 2016. We could not travel anywhere in December 2017, as Yuthika was in her first trimester. However, we celebrated our first anniversary at Hotel Patliputra in Patna, not a very memorable one, as I remember, we had a couple of arguements somehow. We keep having some yet :)

Yuthika is very enthusiastic. I feel sometimes blessed to have her. If not for her, life would have been boring. She was too excited for the first anniversary. I am almost opposite, like “no - reaction” person. We had decided to organize a few games for the children and adults alike. 

We hired a anchor. I do not recall her name, she anchored well. She played many games, some like for kids, searching 5 things and bringing the first, for example, a 5 rupee coin, a handkerchief, an old traditional mobile, blah, blah, etc. and whoever collects and brings it first, gets to win the prize. Others like statue dancing competition, etc. 

One thing that I realized then, my family members ( Hajipur side ) were very talented. Though I had spent over 30 years with them, I had not realized really, they could be so talented. My father sang such a nice song. My mother sang such a nice song, My sister Ritu with Shilpi performed such a nice song duo, and some other relatives also performed very well. When I look upon myself, I realize, I am not that confident. I can’t sing a song in front of crowd, though I can give a few liner speech.

Not withstanding, Patna side family members were equally performing better, like Mamaji anchoring, Nanaji, Mamiji singing, Aadya, Ishi, children performing dance.

It was really a nice celebration.

 I am sharing a few pics of celebration of our first anniversary here:

Kerala Honeymoon

DAY	CHECK IN	CHECK OUT	LOCATION
1	DAY1	DAY 2	Alleppey
2	DAY 2	DAY 3	Thekkady
3	DAY 3	DAY 5	Munnar
4	DAY 3	DAY 5	Munnar
5	DAY 5	DAY 6	Cherai
6	DAY 6	DAY 7	Kochi

It was a long distance from Patna to Cochin, I decided to book flight tickets. We boarded Patna at around 20:30 hours in night on 17-DEC-2016. We had a night halt at Bangaluru, where Yuthika had her favourite Biryani from Meghna through her cousin brother. I wish to thank him for her favourite biryani. The Biryani was so good, she decided to keep the leftover Biryani for next morning. She wanted to eat some sweet dish then. I wandered a bit, and brought a packet of Dairymilk chocolates. I Did not know then, Yuthika was fond of chocolates. There were many chocolates wrapped inside the packet, and it lasted for a few days.

Pic: Departure from Home at Hajipur to Patna Home.
Pic: Wait at Bangaluru airport.

Sometime in between during night, I felt sleeplessness. So, my beloved wife, Yuthika asked me to sleep. But, thinking she would be left alone, I also did not sleep. But, I think It would have been better to let each other sleep by turn. We boarded the next flight to Cochin sometime in morning around 04:00 a.m. We reached Cochin early in morning around 06:00 a.m.

DAY 1

Pic: Kochi to Alleppey

There, we were made to wait for around a hour or so, for the boat to get ready for us. We entered the boathouse and It was lovely. There were two rooms, but the other room was locked. The boat pilot and cook were helpful and asked for our needs. We entered our room with all luggage, 2 big one and 1 handbag, I guess. We had some bath and relaxed quite a bit. We were offered fish and rice in lunch, but I did not know that Yuthika did not eat Fish. She had her Biryani from Meghna while I had fish and rice.

 Pic: Boathouse at Alleppey

DAY 2

Pic: Alleppey to Thekkady

After spending a night at Boathouse at Alleppey, the next day, our taxi again picked us at the scheduled time and we drove to Thekkady. We stopped somewhere in between to have a sip of coconut water and some snacks, I remember. It was a Monday and Yuthika was fasting, being a devotee of Lord Shiva. So, she had to take only the milk drinks and fruits.

Pic: Yuthika having coconut water while on way to Thekkady.

Pic: Our Hotel at Thekkady.

We reached Thekkady at around afternoon. We checked in to our hotel and had some relaxing time. We freshed up and hurried to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, but upon reaching there, we realized we were late for the sight see tickets. We spent some time there having a memorable evening and having evening snacks.

Pic: Evening Snacks, etc.

She could only watch me eating bread-omlette as It was her fast day. She reminds me even to till date, while she accompanied me through out the journey while I had good food. This is her witty attitude, I like it! I must admit the patience of her and all girls/ women there who keep fast, I was feeling so hungry, how must have she felt, while She accompanied me on all walks in evening and night, I had snacks, dinner, and she only watched me enjoying food and may be seeing me eat was her “food”! Later in evening, we had a wonderful walk of the area, we visited some shops, and purchased some stuff. Yuthika bought a nice dress, which was our first shopping together. Sadly, we could not preserve that piece! She also bought a couple of nice painting of elephants on a cloth and a old aged man with beards, which decorates our sweet home now. She also got them framed, and I am hopeful, we can preserve these (a few of our first shopping together) for many years to come.

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Pic: Some of our first shopping together

After spending some quality time on the streets of Thekkady in evening and having some dinner, Yuthika had some fruit drinks, we proceeded to our hotel room. We cosied up in our bed, and I still remember the wonderful moments spent there. We spent some quality time in our balcony, eating fruits, which I had bought for my beloved wife!

DAY 3

Pic: Thekkady to Munnar

The next morning, we had a heavy and tasty breakfast at our hotel. Our taxi driver was there to pick us up, we drove to our next destination “Munnar”, also called the "Kashmir of South India". The journey to Munnar was through hilly terrains and breathtaking, also tiring.

Meanwhile, I had some nap on Yuthika’s lap. We reached our resort “Dream Catcher resort” at around evening time The scenery was breathtaking. We had welcome drinks, and the attendants took us to our pre-booked rooms. The room was neat and clean, attendants very helpful, View of the balcony was awesome! We spent some quality time in evening walking in the tea gardens possessed by the property. We had a tasty dinner at the resort restaurant. It was a around full moon night, and the night was not very dark. What I was about to do early morning next day, took Yuthika by surprises. I wanted to see the sunshine together, so, I woke up her early morning and took her to the highest point ( terrace) of resort, surrounded by mountains, It was a breathtaking view, and waited until the sunrise. I have written a poem which may describe the beautiful moments:

Pic: View from our balcony

Pic: Tree house in tea garden

Pic: Meditation (pose) at terrace

“Below the open sky,

with the twinkling stars,

amidst the high mountains,

with a cool breeze,

while the sun glazed its rays

on our only self,

through the shining moon,

The universe witnessed our moist kiss,

as mighty and as powerful,

as the powers which witnessed,

allowed us to be!”

We could not actually see the fireball of the sun, but we could see the reddish sky spread through the mountains and sky. After sunrise, we came back to our hotel rooms, had a couple of hours’ sleep. We had a heavy and tasty breakfast, and geared up for sight see.

DAY 4

We started from our resort for Mattupetty dam. An another pleasant surprise awaited us there. While we were having sight see and photography, all of a sudden, I spotted my college friend Nishant with his wife. It was a pleasant surprise to me, and reminded how small the world is! Both of us planned our itinerary separately, and yet destiny had it that we were able to see each other there. 

Pic: Boating at Mattupetty dam

Pic: Selfie at TATA Estate

Pic: Group Photo with friend

We had some coconut water and snacks. Then, we started for Rajamalai (Eravikulam) National Park. En-route, we visited a small temple located by the side of road.

Pic: Pic clicked by our driver en-route

We had to take the earmarked state bus to reach to the top of hill, and the view was breathtaking and majestic. I could not spot any of the animals, but it was worth for the view.

Pic: Group Photo at Eravikulam National Park.

Pic: Selfie pointing to the sign board

At the top was a bakery shop which offered some snacks. We had some sandwiches and Coffee. After a wonderful and tiring day, we took back our seats in our TATA Indica car and the driver drove us to our resort at Munnar. We had some good time in evening. The resort was good and walked around the property it had- Tea gardens, etc. The resort had organized a night fireball at the tea garden, we went there and spent some time, but it was not as filmy as depicted in the movies! We had a nice dinner at the restaurant, and went back to our room.

DAY 5

Pic: Munnar to Cherai

We had a heavy and tasty breakfast at resort. Breakfast was one of the best offerings by hotel/ resort. We took our time and enjoyed every bit of the breakfast. Surprisingly, we could eat a lot in the breakfast. Breakfast had a large number of items in the menu: -Most of the south Indian dishes, North Indian as well. Overall, the breakfast was too satisfying!

Then after, we started for our next destination: Cherai beach. We reached our hotel Renai Blue Water" at Cherai in afternoon. We were to spend a beautiful evening walking on the beach, but before that we spent some relaxing time in our hotel room.

In evening, we dressed casually for the beach, we spent some relaxing time over there, walking on the soft sand, playing with the waves. While, playing with the waves, at one instance, one of my slipper got into the wave, and was blowing away, but suddenly the waves brought it back on the beach, somehow, I again lost hold of it, and It was going away, when I thought to let it go, but this time again, the waves brought it back on the beach. Yuthika was surprised that I was not worried at all about the loss of a slipper to the ocean!

Pic: Playing with waves on beach at Cherai.

Pic: Checkout from hotel at Cherai.

We found a quiet place to sit and enjoy calmness and gushy sound of the sea. Yuthika gave me her mobile phone to keep in my pocket. Somehow, the phone got slipped from my pocket, and it fell directly on the  stone present there, the screen got damaged. She was little upset as It was a gift to her by daddy. Sadly, most of our honeymoon pics were taken by that mobile, which were lost when she gave it in repair shop later at Patna and It was formatted by the serviceman!

We spent the whole evening walking on the beach. It was time for restaurant hunting for dinner. I wanted to try some seafood. We searched in google maps, we could see a few reviews of a nearby restaurant with similar cuisines. We walked around, It took us some time to get to that place. Upon reaching there, we saw a very little or almost no crowd, we decided to not go there, we instead returned back, and went into a restaurant nearby our hotel. Our table was in open air and we enjoyed the ambience. We had some non veg items, and the food was good. After a heavy dinner, we returned back to our hotel.

DAY 6

Pic: Cherai to Athirapally

We had a heavy breakfast at our hotel for our next adventure: Athirapally waterfalls! Actually, Athirapally falls was not in our holiday package, but while I had a little talk with my sister Rashmi (she lives at Tiruchirapalli with her husband), she advised me to visit the Athirapally falls. Our parents were very cautious about going near the water, and advised to stay away from the water. Nevertheless, I talked with my driver, who talked with his tour operator about this extra trip and It was organized with the payment of a little extra charges. Looking at the Athirapally falls, It was scenic and truly a picnic spot, and so many people were there with men, women, children.

Pic: Bathing in still waters at Athirapally falls.

Pic: Clicking a Selfie at Athirapally falls.

We had a light bath in still waters at falls, had a couple of photography. After bath, we came to know, to have a magnificent view of the falling water, we needed to go to the bottom of falls. I did not know, how many steps we had to descend. Yuthika was in. Then I remembered, Mumma ji had told me that Yuthika had played Basketball at national level during School. Well, I can understand the stamina of a player! It was tiring going to bottom and then returning back, but she was with me, and together, our descent and ascent seemed little tiresome, but more fun. At one point of time, I was saying, "Let's go into the Jungle", and she was like, "Jaana hai kya?" I nodded in negative.

Pic: At the bottom of Athirapally falls.

Pic: Walking upstairs from bottom to top at Athirapally falls.

Afterwards, we came out. We were wet, and we decided to change in the car itself. We searched for our car among a many number of cars parked there, somehow there was confusion with talks between us and the driver due to less space available on the road/ parking area and we had to search our car. We changed in our car. We had some light lunch and fruit drinks. Yuthika did some shopping, and bought pretty items for everyone at both homes.

Pic: One of our shopping at Athirapally falls.

Pic: Athirapally to Kochi

A few of the shopping decorates our sweet home. Yuthika has a very artistic view and keeps looking for little but lovely things.

We took our seat in car and the driver drove us to our hotel: Golf View at Kochi. I made it a point to click a photograph with my humble driver who was with us on all our adventures.

Pic: With our driver

Later in the evening, we had a walk on the pavement of the main road connecting it to the airport. It was our last evening at Kerala. We walked holding each other’s hands, and after a while we returned to our hotel. We had light dinner. We went back to our room. Yuthika gave me a nice massage, and sometime later, we got lost into sleep.

DAY 7

We said bye to Kerala on 24-DEC-2016 when we boarded our flight early morning from Kochi to Patna via Mumbai.

It was a beautiful trip and we got time to understand the best of each - other.

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