Road Trip to Mayapur

On 27th Dec, 2009 we embarked on a road trip to Mayapur. We started the journey from our residence at 6:30 AM in the morning, took VIP road to Dum Dum, then took Jessore Road to Barasat, and finally reached National Highway 34 which would take us to Mayapur. As usual, I enjoyed the ride, there was a nip in the air, and it was mist all over. My chauffer took care of the driving, while I relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of rural West Bengal. My wife and son chose to sleep.

First stop I made was after Ranaghat, to have a smoke. I took some snaps of the countryside. One of them is given below:

From mayapur

I also took a snap of busy NH34 in the morning, with my car parked in the side. You can also see my shadow, while taking the snap.

From mayapur

After a few more kilometers, after passing Krishnanagar, I stopped at the bridge over Jalangi river. The view was breathtaking, the morning mist still present and I am afraid I could not do justice to the view.

From mayapur

From mayapur

I also saw an industrial chimney polluting the serene countryside. Decided that it should be one of my subjects.

From mayapur

After a few more kilometers, we took a sharp left turn (Almost an U) towards Mayapur. Suddenly the road started to get crowded as we reached the temple village. I asked my driver to drive straight on towards the launch jetty, as I wanted to picture the point where river Jalangi meets river Ganga. The photography session was not that great though, as it was very misty and I was not getting clear views at high zoom.

From mayapur

The following picture is taken from Mayapur side of river Ganges, while women were bathing on the other side, a typical scene along the holy river in India

From mayapur

The following two pictures also show the rivers in various moods

From mayapur

From mayapur

Mayapur is a village of temples, and the following are two temple pictures I shot from a distance.

From mayapur

From mayapur

Then we went to the ISCON temple complex. Camera was not allowed in the temple and I did not want to leave my costly camera in the hands of others, so I stayed outside while my wife and son went inside and had a view of the museum. I loitered outside and took a couple of shots of the museum.
The following picture captures the whole museum (a little bit dark) as it was very sunny outside.

From mayapur

The following two pictures show statues in various poses of sankirtana.

From mayapur

From mayapur

After my wife and son came out of the museum, we spend some time basking in the afternoon sun. It was lunchtime for my kid, so we quickly bought a jar of ghee from the temple goshala (cow shed) and went back to our car which was parked almost half kilometer away. After my son's lunch was over, we went back to Krishnanagar to have our lunch at a road-side dhaba. We also bought sor-bhaja and sor-puria which are local speciality sweets. After our lunch, we took NH 34 again to come back home.