Ghettu's Blog

Purulia, also known as ‘Manbhum City’, is a city located near Bardhaman in West Bengal. It is perfectly picturesque containing a variety of enthralling mountains, placid and brilliantly blue lakes and a large number of waterfalls. The fresh air, free of pollution, and the calm and peaceful life, free of rush and competition, will surely make one pensive and will make them ponder over the beauty of the place.

Although we often hear, that March is the best time to visit Purulia, I would any day pick winter season over spring, as it was no less of a wonderful treat to the eyes. We had booked two deluxe rooms in Garpanchkot Prakriti Bhraman Kendra. Our journey started early in the morning on 18th December, 2022 from Kolkata via car. I am sure dendrophiles like me will definitely love the 7 hours long journey through nature. At the end of the day, nature is the antidote to exhaustion.

By the time we reached, I was famished and couldn’t stand another second of hunger. On our way, we had stopped only once at the Hindusthan Dhaba for breakfast, but that surely wasn’t enough to keep a foodie like me filled for so long a span of time. We were greeted to a delectable lunch of steaming rice, lentils, crispy French fries, and piping hot chicken curry.

In the evening, we set out for Garpanchkot ruins. As we all know, “Old places have souls”. History never fails to entangle me in it’s irresistible trap of enchantment. This wasn’t an exception too. The architecture of the ruins spoke of its time and place, but yearned for timelessness.

On returning, we laid our exhausted bodies on the soft beds. Sleep, my best friend, embraced my tired body in less than a minute.

Next morning, we woke up at 6:00 am, even before the sun rose. The magnificent view of the sun slowly rising over the hills gave us positive vibes, and filled us with optimism. Little did we know what life had in store for us in an hour!! We started our day with a bottle of fresh ‘Khejurer Rosh’ or dare juice brought by the local caretaker. It was refreshing, but full of fructose and I personally didn’t quite much like the taste.

Now it’s time to let the cat out of the bag. Let me reveal the adventure I was talking of. We were about to go for trekking on the Panchet Hill!! Well, trekking and me is quite a weird and contrasting combination, because when it comes to my favourites, activities involving physical exertion are always last on the list.

However, this time, I chose to trek because I was comforted by the thought that trekking here was going to be quite easy. Little did my innocent brain imagine the hardships I was going to face!! A few minutes up the track, I was completely exhausted. I had to remove my face mask as breathing became exceedingly difficult. As we ascended, the path became narrower and after a point of time, there was no space left for us to step on. I started losing grip and was moving up almost on all fours, clinging to the rocks. That is when I saw a troop of monkeys staring at me. I felt that they took me for a fellow member of their troop from my gait!!

Descending was even more difficult. Every step seemed to be a war of maintaining balance. After an hour of struggle, I successfully returned.

Later that day, we visited the Joychandi Temple, 22 kilometers from our cottage, one of the most ancient establishments of Purulia. It was established by Radha Kishan Aggarwal. However, the most challenging part was that one had to climb 500 steps in order to reach the temple, not to forget the 500 steps while descending. My legs were almost numb from the trek in the morning. However, gathering all my courage and willpower, I decided to embark on the journey.

After climbing about 100 steps, I realised I couldn’t go any further. My legs were aching badly and the sweltering heat (it was 12:30pm and it was particularly hot at that time, though at nights temperature often dropped to less than 10 degrees Celsius) gave me a terrible headache. Then, somehow, I felt the urge to fulfill my journey. I summoned my energy and got up. I must admit the view up the Joychandi Hill was worth all the struggle.

It was 4:45 AM in the next morning, when the extreme exertion and my lack of fitness took a toll on my health. I started vomiting. I vomited twice that morning and was extremely fatigued. That Day, I visited nearby places such as Beru village, granite hills and the shrine of the local spirit of the forest, Marangburu.

All these places reflected the naive lifestyle of the local Santhals. I must say the shrine of Marangburu bore a creepy atmosphere. It brought to life the religious beliefs of the Santhals.

Next morning, we set off for Kolkata, bidding goodbye to Purulia with a heavy heart. We left behind a land of magic, full of smiling faces, giant mountains, rivers, lakes waterfalls and an undisturbed atmosphere. I will end with my staunch belief that in order to delineate the importance of life, Purulia is a must visit.