Marvelous Mukutmanipur

It was 3 months since I have returned to Kolkata from Bangalore. Since my return I was trying to plan a road
trip with my friends and was eyeing the 15 th August extended weekend, destination was Puri, but that failed.
So when my friend Abhijeet came up with the proposal to visit Durgapur to pick up his luggage as he is
relocating to Kolkata, I annexed it with a 2 day one night road trip to Mukutmanipur. Booked a six bed cottage
at the WBFDC Sonajhuri resort for Rs900, filled up the tank on 12th Sept evening, checked tyre pressure,
burned some CDs to listen to and went into bed with plan to wake up at 5am in the next morning.

13th September 2008

Woke up around 5:15 am and quickly bathed & packed to leave around 6am. Washed the wind screen & rear
screen of the car and hit the road at Maniktala around 6:15 am. Picked up Suvajit from Maniktala crossing and
moved on to pick Tathagata from Khanna Cinema hall bus stop around 6:35 am. Then we moved on quickly
through Shyambazar to Dunlop and took the Bally Bridge to avoid paying toll.

It was 7:10 am when we paid the toll at Dankuni and Tathagata took the mantle of driving. He drove at
moderate speeds of 80-90kmph as we covered the Singur Tata Plant and diversion to Tarakeshwar. Then it
was fun time for Suvajit on the fine road towards Palsit. A moderate driving crossed us Palsit around 8:15 am
and I took charge again towards Shaktigarh where we had our breakfast with Kachori & sabji.

While we were having breakfast, Abhijeet called and we told him to be there at Muchipara Crossing of
Durgapur on NH2 GQ around 9:30 am. When we started again it was 8:30 am and with the goal to cover
85km in an hour I pressed hard on throttle. Except for a 3-4km stretch at Panagarh where 4 lane Bypass is still
on papers, we cruised at 100-120kmph. The Panagarh stretch was in worse condition than when we had
crossed it in May this year, with broken and potholed road lining up the truck & cars as all of them were
moving very slow.

Anyway, we reached Durgapur (Muchipara) at 9:25 am and met Abhijeet. He guided us to his den and we
refreshed ourselves for an hour or so. We left Abhijeet’s place around 10:45 am and went to Muchipara again
to buy some essentials and then drove towards the Durgapur Barrage. The barrage road crosses mighty
Damodar River and goes towards Bankura to intersect NH60. The Durgapur Bankura road was moderately
good 2 lane driveway with patches of bad roads after every 500m or so. So our speed was restricted to 60-
80kmph as I tried to go as fast as I could is the scorching sun. The 47km drive took almost an hour and at
Bankura we asked the locals to get to the road which leads to Khatara.

We took a tea break at a junction where the south-west path goes to Khatara, the south direction goes to
Shalbani and the path due east is the NH60 which goes to Medinipur and Kharagpur via Bishnupur. Abhijeet
got the first chance to drive here as we speeded in this better stretch. The surface was almost void of potholes
but the drive was bumpy as and when he was crossing 80kmph, due to poor rolled surface. From Khatara we
turned right towards Mukutmanipur on a road that is in between one & two lane in width. But the surface was
good as well as the scenery.

We reached Mukutmanipur at 1:30 pm, just what we have predicted earlier in Durgapur when we called the
resort canteen to ensure that we get the lunch on arrival. After entry formalities at the reception we were
escorted to our cottage which was too hot to be comfortable and at that point I thought that I have made a
mistake by not booking an AC cottage. (We booked this as all AC cottages are 2 bed and we were 4).
Anyway, after splashing some water on our tired and sunburned faces we wend for the lunch we turned out to
be fantastic with rice, dal, bhaji & chicken (cost Rs.55 per meal). Then we went up the hill on which the resort
is based to find some cooler places with a view of the dam below. We spent 2hours gossiping and then went
ahead with our car to see the dam by having a drive over the long paved wall. But at the gates we were
informed of the necessity of having a pass from the barrage authority to enter the barrage way with a car. So
we went to the office and found it closed. The leaving staff told that they only issue passes from 8am to 12am
in the morning and 2pm to 4pm in the afternoon.

Dejected, we roamed around the dam for some time and then hit the path towards Ambikanagar to see the
ruins of an old broken palace of local king (RajBari) but saw nothing worth mentioning and experienced
typically bad village roads where broken patches were large enough to engulf my small Alto. However some
hillocks at the background of lush green paddy fields soothed our eyes as dusk presented itself with fine
colours all around. On returning, we parked the car and entered the dam, walking, to savor the sunset. After
30mins of rambling and low light photography a sudden rain made us scamper to our car which in turn dashed
to the safety of the resort.

Coming back to the resort we had snacks with tea and pakora and then played cards for an hour when the
resort staff knocked and called us for dinner. After dinner we enjoyed till midnight before going to bed. At
10pm we drove the car out of resort to the barrage gate and then walked in, moonlit night with sparkling dam
waters was as romantic as it can get with four boys. We sat on the dam wall after walking about 500m and
kept on chatting till a local shouted and signaled with torch light that we were disturbing his much needed
sleep. We apologized and walked back. Some time later around 11pm we drove the car into the resort and
prepared to sleep after some mirth. We slept comfortably as the evening shower eased the heat. It was cold
enough in the late night to have a wrapper to avoid shivering.

14th September 2008

In the morning we woke up around 7:30 am and readily went for a breakfast with bread & eggs. After a cup of
tea & sweets we went to the barrage authority office to get the pass to enter the dam. We noted the odometer
reading as we passed the gate and drove at 15-20kmph, with intermittent stops to enjoy the view and to
capture them for eternity. It took more than half an hour to cross the 8km long barrage way, at the end of
which we turned the car and speeded back to the starting point in 10minutes. With twists & sharp turns, the
solitary barrage way is a nice place to enjoy driving although the surface quality was not silk smooth. Created
blocking the flow of Kangsavati River, reportedly it is the longest earthen dam in the World.

The check out time from the resort was 11am so we quickly had tea in a roadside stall and went to our resort
to have a bath. We vacated around 11:10 am and at the reception asked for a shortcut road to Bishnupur
through Chenchuria Eco Park. We returned on the same path to Khatara & then drove towards Bankura for
some 15km when we again asked local people and took the narrow road that shortens the distance to
Bishnupur by 30-40km. The road surface was initially good with some broken patches and I left the driving to
Abhijeet. We were not cruising fast but enjoying the unspoiled beauty of paddy fields, villages and forests.
Later on Tathagata drove for some 10kms as we entered Bishnupur at 2pm by crossing a rail gate (Bishnupur
Bankura Purulia line) and stopped at a decent hotel to have our lunch.

Our short stay at Bishnupur was to savor the beauty and architectural elegance of the famous Terracotta
Temples and to buy the renowned handloom Baluchari Sarees for our mothers. We started with Rasmancha
and after seeing a few more went near Dalmadal Cannon to buy Baluchari Sarees direct from the house of
manufacturers. It rained outside as we were busy choosing the best suitable ones from the eye catching lot
shown. When we came out around 4pm rain had stopped and after a tea break we drove towards Arambag on
state highway. Road was fantastic, 2 lane with smooth surface & moderate traffic, capable of speeding up to
90-100kmph. In anticipation of bad road forward I sacrificed the pleasure and left driving to Abhijeet. He
drove well till 6pm and then switched on the headlights. From the outskirts of Arambag the roads became
worse and I chose to drive.
Around 6:15 pm we left Arambag for Champadanga after a small break with tea and ‘chop’. Roads were not
as good as earlier but drivable. From Champadanga the path due right goes to Dankuni to meet NH2-GQ via
Sheakhala (Bally Bridge is 52km). The left path goes to Tarakeshwar and then meets NH2-GQ further away
near Singur (bally bridge around 85km). We tried the shorter one and fell into the biggest mess of this trip.
The road was all bad and pothole ridden, broken patches were wide and deep enough to scratch the bottom of
small cars. With truck lining up it was very difficult to drive at more than 20kmph. At the beginning I tried to
overtake trucks but fell into trouble and put immense pressure on the suspensions. Then after some 20km we
took another break and estimated that a sedate driving would land us in Kolkata at 10:30 pm.

Conveyed the same to our homes and drove slow and steady up to Dankuni and reached the Rail Gate around
9:30pm. Had to wait there for 15mins as tow trains passed and then we hit the GQ and cruised through
Nivedita Setu (New toll bridge adjacent to Bally Bridge), albeit waiting at the toll gates for some time due to
lining of trucks too keen to enter Kolkata. After the bridge we took the Belghoria expressway which landed us
straight to Dumdum Airport at a cruising speed of 80-90kmph. Then after dropping my friends one by one
when I parked the car in garage it was 10:40pm.

It was a challenging drive with most of the road driven was SH & even roads made on Prime Minister Gram
Sadak Yojna. More over it was a nice outing out into the pollution less green nature into the Lap of the Valley
of Kangsavati River. It was an experience with friends that we will talk & relish in future as well.

Some facts of the trip

1. Total road traveled 521km
a. traveled on NH2-GQ : 170km – 32.63%
b. traveled on 2 lane SH : 302km – 57.97%
c. traveled on 1 lane village road – 49km – 9.40%
2. Total fuel consumed 27.35liters – avg FE : 19.05kmpl
3. Drive time (excluding breaks)
a. while going : 5hr 30mins
b. while returning : 8hr 15mins
4. Average speed : 37.8 kmph