We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give ― Winston S. Churchill

Antima Khanna

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Shantiniketan

Year 2014 was pretty exciting for me.
I did some solo travels and got to experience life outside the comfort zone.

It was from a long time that I was planning for a trip to Calcutta (West Bengal).
They say that December would be the best month to visit there.

Hence, I took my last journey of the year 2014 to Calcutta & Shantiniketan.

I love to travel by Train, but this time because of dense fog in New Delhi & Uttar Pradesh
it became a 30 hr long journey :'(

But, reaching Calcutta at 1:00 am was also a thing because the city was lit up with Christmas decoration.

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My reason for this vacation was to attend Poush Mela in Shantiniketan.

I have a very good friend of mine, from Bangladesh, Nevine Sultana.
She is the one, who introduced me to this festival and a lot more in that town.

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Nevine ; My Inspiration

Shantiniketan, is a small town near Bolpur, West Bengal.
It is some 2 Hrs away from Howrah by train.
You can take Shantiniketan Express, which is probably the best train to commute on that route.
It runs around 10:10 am from Howrah and reaches Bolpur at 12:25 pm.

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Howrah Station

I was lucky this time, as I got to share this journey with the famous
Ecomonist and Noble Prize winner , Mr. Amartya Sen.

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Bolpur Station

Shantiniketan is a town found by Rabindranath Tagore.

I got to stay there with Nevine, in her relatives house.
You can also book a guest house easily,
The rent would be 2000 per night (approx) during the mela,
otherwise 700 per night

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Our Guest House
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Nevine’s Aunt : An Accountant, Singer, Animal Lover, Packing Queen and a beautiful Human Being
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Neighbours
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Neighbours

I got to visit some interesting places in that town like,
the Poush Mela, Adivasi colony, Pottery Studio, Kala Bhawan etc.

I shall be writing about each one of them in my upcoming posts.

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One of the Oldest Bookstore
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The Old Banyan Tree

I also got to visit a small store ; Alcha
It is the store of Nevine’s friend.
And a beautiful place to spend time and shopping for a handicraft lover like me 🙂

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The Entrance of the Store
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Some Wallets & Handbags
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Handmade Painted Mirrors
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Wood Carving
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That’s me, post the shopping from Alcha 😀

Shantiniketan, is a small town with simple people
living with just the necessities.

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Old Houses of Shantiniketan
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Wild Flowers
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Streets of Shantiniketan

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The city still believes in the ideas of Tagore,
they keep their surroundings clean with minimum use of plastic.

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No Plastic Zone

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 I am leaving you with this small trailer.
There will be some interesting articles coming up
on wax-pottery, print-making, Dhokra etc.

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Christmas Celebrations

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Also, shall be posting the moments from Calcutta 🙂