A few hours in Kharagpur

JuliaF

It looks as if I might have about 4 hours in the daytime in Kharagpur between coming by train from Bishnupur/Bankura and going on to Balasore (for Chandipur).

Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do?

Interesting buildings, temples, parks, markets, restaurants ...
Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

somnath

May be IIT Campus ?

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Nattusbs

I am at IIT-Kharagpur.

Honestly, there is nothing much to see here - the road to the IIT campus is downright awful. One needs a moon buggy.

Let me know the date that you will be here and if I am free, would meet you at the station.

Cheers

Nattusbs

JuliaF

Nattusbs, that's very kind of you!

Plans are still fairly fluid, but this would be sometime in mid to late December. I'll contact you by PM.

We could have a little mini IM meet-up on Kharagpur station.

mobilerug

You can visit nearby Midnapore town where few old temples and their ruins exist. There is also one Gopegarh Heritage Park worth visiting.

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JuliaF

Thanks mobilerug, that's a great idea. I hadn't realised it was so close to Kharagpur - only 13km I read somewhere. On wikipedia Midnapore was described as a sleepy provincial mofussil town - and that's exactly the sort of town I like! And with old temples and a river too - perfect.

Later on we're thinking of going to Tamluk, Mahishadal, then Geonkhali and/or Nurpur. Do you have any suggestions?

mobilerug

Mahishadal Palace (Rajbari) is basically in ruins but still you can visit while staying at Geonkhali. Tamluk will then be on the way to Kolkata. Instead of Nurpur, you can visit Gadiara which is on the other bank. There is a tourist lodge of WB Govt at Gadiara.

JuliaF

Somnath, Nattusbs and Mobilerug thankyou for your help.

What we did in the end was spent a night in Midnapore and enjoyed it. We came in on the Adra-Midnapore passenger from Bishnupur and found a hotel near the station - Reshma Lodge, good, clean and quiet with a small balcony.
We went down to the Kasai river by cycle rickshaw. It was a wide river with lovely sandy river bank (better than some beaches ) with lots of people bathing, washing clothes and children playing. very pleasant and friendly.
We attempted to go to a place called Pathra, which is mentioned on wikipedia as having some ancient temples a few km from Midnapur, but nobody we asked seemed to have heard of it - does anybody here know anything?
So we just stayed in the town, wandered round and ate lots of Bengali sweets Also one of my best masala dosas ever, with grated carrot, beetroot and coconut in a tiny little place near the station.

It was very easy the next day to get a train to Kharagpur and then we were very lucky to get a quick connection to Balasore.

So after starting this thread, I only spent probably 10 minutes in Kharagpur, at the station

Khak

kharagpur is supposed to have the longest railway platform in the world (around 1000+ metres)......... walking up and down the platform with jhalmuri in your hand may consume some of your spare time

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