Ahiron Part 2: Beyond the Fences.

(contd from part 1)... the taste was not that would satisfy the thirst. In fact, the eeriness of that portion coupled by the suicide story and the folk lore of seeing the figure in the dark, that had left that portion of the house barren for the past 30 years, was not to be stopped in the night. The time, when I felt it.

     Confronting with bad luck, Mayukh Da (Dr. Mayukh Banerjee) won his share of birdies, getting some very vibrant colours in the feathers. He, with his Canon EOS 40D was clipping through the foliage, his 70-300mm Tele sniffing out the birds. Here are some examples:

             But, Nikon (D5000) was never behind and I did what my Wide angle lens was designed to do; take down landscapes and lifescapes. Some macro for the other fliers, the insects:

              I had my own plans and waited long for the night fall. That day, in the evening; an hour after lunch, we heading to roam around in the surroundings along the NH-34. The Raiganj Bird Sanctuary was in its amateur state, but had our share of luck with a pristine sun set. The bird watcher trapped in some more. Even Nandana stood to the occasion and gave a perfect pose. The picture that I named as "To the tunes of Sun God".

Nature was beautiful...

            By nightfall, we headed back to our base camp. We enjoyed the dinner, but now was my time of expectation. The date that I am talking off was a Saturday, 5th March, 2011. More so, it was a New Moon Night. Pitched darkness. Being a desolate place, amidst ruins of the 300 years old mansion, the night spelled its presence more. I went to the roof, along with Jayanta Da, Nandana and Niladri. I tried to test the "Night Shot" of my new camera. I deliberately focussed towards the corner that faced as well as covered the haunted portion. The shot was never clicked. I tried it 10 times...but the shutter wont respond. Manual Mode or Automatic Mode, the stuff wouldn't obey the master! I turned around and took a shot, it obeyed the command. I felt excited... (having goosebumps right now also). I asked Jayanta Da to stand between me and that "ODD" corner. The camera responded (see pic below). I asked him to move a little behind..after a particular distance, the shot became un-responsive. Is it peculiar? The villagers say that they see figures in the night in that direction!!!

The fence that goes beyond Jayanta Da wouldn't "take a pose". Thats the haunted arena, the "CORNER".

I not only tasted it...I felt it, and more followed when I insisted to sit in that dark corner with Niladri, Jayanta Da and Mayukh da, for the night chat - o - party! Loved the fun, Loved the ambiance. 

The love for unknown would soon culminate into the intrigued aspects of history, which shall follow in the next two parts (Part 3 and Part 4)... the real bengal...the real history...the bud of British East India was preserved within the dusts of Murshidabad. They were as exciting as the Fences; which surround the forbidden zone.

Ahiron Part 1: Meeting the Ghosts.

       Since August 2010, all my lab mates have been hearing the grand paternal property, located at Ahiron / Ahiran, Murshidabad. The property of the "Das Family", whose one of the heir is my lab-mate Nandana. Due to my fascination towards the world of unknown and the spirits, I have always been in the search to visit places that are eerie and haunted, especially in the winter, whence the ambiance gets rather than you getting through with the ambiance. Nandana had mentioned that their paternal home (which is a palace), has a section that has the haunting. It was a great opportunity to feel the ghastly secnario out of the books and the movies, for real. The plan kept on moving... as if the ghost kept on alluring us, especially me. With the winter in mind, the primary plan was made for a weekend visit in Dec 2010. It moved away to Jan 2011, Feb 2011; but ultimately, in the fag end of winter, Nandana insisted it to be made this March and so was the plan placed. 4-6 march 2011, we went to Ahiron, Murshidabad to visit the Das Villa.

           We boarded the 9:25PM Malda First Passenger from Howrah on 4/3/11 and reached the Jangipur Road Station at 5:15AM. It was 47minutes late. The late was due to a Goods Train, and that was enough to let us miss the morning rise. But with four cameras up and clicking, Mayukh Da, Niladri, Jayanta Da, Nandana and myself welcomed the morning of 5/3/11 from the roof-top of Das Villa, Ahiron.

               Nandana's dad and grand mother also came in to over see the proceedings of the trip. We were over joyed with the Luchi, Aloo Bhaja, Begun Bhaja along with sweets for the breakfast. The trip was up and running.

                  The house was divided into several parts. In fact the nearby houses were also constructed on the land possessed by the Das family. All of them were barren in the second floor, as all the members of this huge family were spread all over the nation as well as in international location. (Felt like "Chader Bari"; the Bengali Movie). The feeling came in more when the family gathers every year for Laxmi Puja in their temple. The entrance of Nandana's portion has two lions guarding from the cement fence bordering the roof.

               The morning was spent well in the Mango Gardes of the Das family. Huge.... infact Mayukh Da ran behind the birds and we ran behind the scenery. Till now there was no indication of anything or any one, about the spirit, except fpr the fact there was a 30 year old desolate plot within the house. May be this was like getting a taste of the eeriness.

But.... (part 2)

For the sake of writing.

Many a day has past. Just when the judgement day for one is arising, the day to grab my passion instrument comes upfront; this Wednesday, 2nd of March, 2011.

The day brings forth completion of the 7th year of my Dad's demise, the 26th birthday of one of the closest friend of mine, Soumillo and also would open the gateway for the Nikon D5000 body + lens system. It will fetch me Rs. 33,000/- (18-55mm Lens Only, Carry Case and 4GB SD Card.) The grey market asks for Rs. 30,600/- for the same.

Back-doors are not always sensible option though, so I will chose for the former.

But, with everything in store, when lot of things dont fall into places, you kind of get sticky. Even the warmth of excitement cannot get you in proper mood...appreciably Right!

But, lets see. Let the CMOS sensor come into hand. Then may be I will start talking. Infact have a plan to open a dedicated website based on my photography so far.

A Day in the Life of a Loner.

Loner and Lover. Both has five letters, the first two and the last couple letters are the same for both; the difference comes in the middle. If you are "N"ot in love, then the n-factor creeps in, making its place. If you have a "V"alentine, the needless to mention where the V gets it's place! ... and that too, How!?

Come Valentine; and I am off with a very depressing tune. The depression comes when you have to satisfy your thoughts with the re-tracing your habit of playing with the manikins within the flash-player supported game on Facebook called Farmville! I did that on 11th Feb, 2011. I enjoyed it at the start, but with time and change of Network providers,  felt bored. Hence resorted to Blogging!

Life is full of transits. It so happened that I was walking by the streets of Vellore, when I spotted two children readily begging for some tea and cookies, beside a roadside, make shift tea stall. I felt very sad. Nor because the food that I asked to gulp down for two days at that instance, but felt the urge which may be hunger can bring to all human beings! After Laughter and Cry, this must be the third feeling that sounds (hunger-pangs) same in all humans! Out of the feeling, I bought two cakes from the stall and handed them over to them. The two almost faded across the horizon, the glow of the setting sun marking an end to the second day of the conference! Gosh! I never felt a transition like this before.

As I turned around, a pat or two touched my shoulder. A woman of mid fourties, came up and spoke to me in broken English which meant, Thank you for the aid, but I want my children to earn and not eat on donations. So I am returning you back the cakes. Wow! I was taken aback. Though process making the ultimate gateway to the factor called "Honor Living". Soldiers have that in the battle field; this lady was about to train her soldiers for the same. Am sure, they will rise and fade like the sun, that I moments ago admired!

Great thoughts!

courtesy: Click here

Yeh Saali Life Hain! (WTF... This is Life!)

Analogous to the title of the recently released Bollywood Movie, which I had an opportunity of paid screening at Roxy on 8th Feb, 2011. The title, Yeh Saali Zindagi. The day also ear marked my home coming from Vellore, after attending the three day long conference at VIT, the Environmental Mutagen Society of India's annual conference, 2011 [in short; EMSI 2011].

I would like to draw in the attention of various travelers who wants to enjoy time with nature, away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. A place that comes out remote, full of green and wild life. But before that I would like to mention that just as the wounds were fresh and paining with the Eden Gardens losing the first and only India match (against England) in the ICC WC 2011, an exciting news flashed the web world, that has already started to heal the wound. The link (click here), mentioned the possibility of arrival of Team Argentina, the soccer team (that will have likes of Lionel Messi, Tevez, etc) to play a friendly with the reigning champions Spain at Yuva Bharati Krirangan, Salt Lake, Kolkata, India. The possible date, to be arranged by IFA is Sept 2011. But it could have been better if done in December 2011 as Septemder is Lag Monsoon season! In 2008 Maradona stepped here, so did Kahn, years ago Pele also stepped in this City of Joy / City of Palaces! The sports loving residents of Kolkata are surely loving it (even without McD! )

I would like to less of Science in here. The breathe that I enjoyed out there at Vellore was the greenery of the Campus. But the real part, enjoyed by Avisek (Friend from M.Sc years) and myself along with Debarun from NIT DGP, was on Sunday; the last day of the Conference, 6/2/2011.

We got up early and took an auto ride to Amirdhi Forest. Some people call it Amirthi (few because very few people know about it), but the real name is Amirdhi Forest Mini Zoo. It is 48Kms from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT). You can take two routes:

1) Buses are there from the Vellore Fort Bus Stand (also called Old Bus Stand).

2) Take an auto. A ride up and down (make sure you take the to-fro option for lack of conveyance) will cos you dear, but the trip is worth the money, if you follow up ahead out trail. We took this option and it cost 3 of us (max ppl 4/auto) INR 700/- "only".

Amirdhi forest house a mini zoo. Never had I seen a Fox caged; this zoo has. One of the main attraction is a small water fall. Unfortunately, the way through the zoo to the site was sealed as three youths jumped to death a week ago of our visit (6/2/11). But when we have our determination and the madness to take some good snaps (as this was my first trip in 3 years, last such trip into forest was in 2008, Ghatshila).

The entrance of the zoo was up hill while a small road leads down to a stream beside the fence of the zoo. We sneaked the watchful eyes (it was 8:30AM and the security personnel were off guard, somehow) and moved across the fence into the non-metaled road. We touched the cool waters of the stream, drenched out of the gravel laden rocks of the mountain. Upstream is the above mentioned falls. Upstream, through this rocky path, its 5KMS. Time permitted us only 3Kms. But the journey was really great! I didn't even hesitate to wet my shoes, as I was so excited. Here are some samplers for the eyes.

All the above pics and many more can be viewed in facebook also. But we three "Musketeers" enjoyed a lot! Amirdhi Forest is a culmination of factors that brings out the beauty of RAW nature! A nice hour long drive from Vellore. This is a must to go places if you are at VIT / Vellore / CMC Vellore.

Copyright: somnath-is-here.blogspot.com

(l-r): Myself, Avisek and Debarun.