Travel – Page 19 – Footloose Forever

Tree Felling Spree in Kolkata Needs to be Stopped

May 3, 2010February 27, 2016Posted in KolkataTagged deforestation, environment, green kolkata, greenery, Kolkata, Nature, pollution, tree, tree cutting, tree felling9 Comments

Tree trunks lying beside VIP Road , kolkata, west bengal, tree felling

Everyday on my way to office I watch them. They are lying dead. It’s truly sad. They didn’t harm anyone neither they did cause any problem to anybody. If they were alive they could give us pure air to fill our lungs. They could give us cool shelter to rest in the scorching sun. Yes… I am talking about those trees which are trees no more … just logs … lying here and there by the VIP Road – Kolkata’s once pride. I don’t know who to ‘thank’ for this – PWD (Roads) West Bengal or the Kolkata Municipal Corporation!

green kolkata, tree cutting — *Tree trunks lying beside VIP Road Photo: Moon Roy*

The flyover construction works by PWD end much before Shreebhumi-Golaghata area. So there was apparently no need to cut those trees that once graced the VIP Road (between Laketown and Golaghata, the stoppage right next to Ultadanga while you are heading towards Laketown). Just don’t understand how far this ‘tree felling spree’ in Kolkata will continue! And I wonder how the Forest Department can give nod to such irrational tree-cutting exercises!

Recently learnt from an online news portal about the “tree-felling drive” that is going on in Kolkata’s IT hub, Salt Lake Sector V (near Wipro). What is astonishing is that the government is busy in implementing High Court’s order for replacing old 2-stroke autos with 4-stroke LPG autos and banning vehicles that are more than 15 year old. On the other hand, the same government is utterly indifferent when it comes to protecting the greeneries in the city! Why this duplicity?

So far I have not seen any tree-planting project taken up by the local administration or any authority to compensate the loss of green once such construction works are over (check out the entire Dum Dum area and you’ll see). VIP Road is the biggest example. Take VIP-Laketown junction for instance. There were big trees in the triangular divider one of which felled in the storm Ayla and the Municipality did not bother to plant a single sapling there. They are busy in concreting the place and widening the road rather!

Green Kolkata — *Tree trunks lying beside VIP Road Photo: Moon Roy*

Cutting down trees in the name of development and no planting of trees afterwards can only put the city life at stake. Flyovers and skyscrapers are much needed things in a booming metro like Kolkata. But what’s the point in living in a place where our children will were specs from their early childhood; will suffer from respiratory trouble and various skin problems; grow weak and unfit with ischemic heart in a polluted concrete jungle? Side-effects of environmental pollution and global warming are many. It’s a different issue that we read about them in the news papers and magazines and then forget about it.

If the government and corporation act like deaf it’s time for us to wake up …to do something to bring back the greenery … to give our children a less polluted environment to live in. After all Kolkata is our city too. And we do have some responsibility towards it.

Kolkata Twitter Festival: Missed It This Time :(

March 26, 2010August 11, 2014Posted in KolkataTagged Kolkata, kolkata twestival, twestival, twitter, twitter festival6 Comments

Twestival… Twitter Festival … TwestivalKol (abbreviation for Kolkata Twestival) were the topics I was tweeting about (retweeted more…) for the last one week since I met some of the Kolkata Tweeps who volunteered the entire event and who do tweet for a greater cause – @shilps31 (Shilpa Srivastava), @doubts (Kamanasish Roy), @saikatblogger (Saikat Sengupta), @subhojit_g (Subhojit Goswami), @shimulseo (Shimul Aich), @_samiran (Samiran Ghosh), @_anamus (Sumana Chakraborty), the cute and intelligent @princessmithai (Rajrupa Das) and @Shrabasti (Shrabasti Ghatak) and @DaMoViEmAnIaC (the movie maniac) in its true sense Aniruddha Chatterjee… :). Some of them I know personally and I felt honored when they asked me to join them in a pre-Twestival meeting and discussion (even though I was good for nothing… :)) on March 19, 2010.

I enjoyed watching them talking, joking, pulling each other’s leg while planning for the event at the same time. It’s truly inspiring how they managed time from their busy life to stand for what they believe… that is, “education for every child” … and they really worked hard to make Twestival Kolkata happen.

Twestival, since its birth in 2008 when a few London tweeple (people using Twitter) came up with an intention to “leverage the power of online networking” for social cause, has gone global with a total of 175 cities worldwide celebrating it simultaneously this year on March 25.

Twestival supports Concern Worldwide, an international charitable organization working to improve the living standard of people in some of world’s poorest nations. Some other cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi are already acquainted with Twestival in India. But it was relatively new to Kolkata as the city has its Twestival for the first time to bring twitter users living in this part of the world together for the cause of raising fund and supporting the education of under privileged children across the globe.

The mantra was “Tweet. Meet. Give”.

Tweet for a noble cause.

Meet offline to strengthen the support.

Give donation in the aid of world’s poorest.

Therefore, in every reason I wanted to be there at Natya Bhavan, Salt Lake where the Kolkata Twestival was being held on 25^th March. But alas!…the same old story again… I planned for Twestival and Destiny had planned something else for me. I was assigned an urgent work lately in the afternoon and had to complete it by that evening. So, when I got out from my office it was already 7:15. By the time I could reach the venue (from Kalikapur near Ruby Hospital) the program would be over. I rushed towards home hoping to catch up with some live tweets on the event and of course the snaps that people uploaded on @twitsnaps.

It was an enjoyable evening for everyone present there. Kolkata Twitter Festival was an assortment of painting exhibition by destitute children from SOS Village, a video show on the sufferings of the under privileged and deprived children; a musical performance by a local band and most interestingly a candid speech by the chief guest @greatbong aka Arnab Ray, the renowned blogger and writer whose blog I just love reading… and so much I wished to meet him in person and hear his speech. I also had one question for him – ‘why does he follow MrTweet only’? Doesn’t he find anyone else worthy of following (on Twitter of course …:P )!

A friend who attended the event told me that @greatbong talked about how to use twitter effectively for business promotion while sharing his views on blogging which I think I did miss greatly.

To end, I must mention that a sum of Rs. 17000, raised from Kolkata Twestival will go to the charity Concern. But I personally feel that had Twestival t-shirts (quite attractive!) been available at the venue (profits earned from the sale will be sent to charity), the amount could be higher. Well…. 17000 is not bad at all for a debut performance! Hoping for more funds, more fun and stronger fraternity next year – a bigger Kolkata Twestival in every way …!

Collage: A Short Trip to Port City Vizag

March 6, 2010March 27, 2015Posted in TravelTagged araku, bora cave, rishikonda beach, sea beach, Travel, Vizag, vizag trip51 Comments

Again the smell of salt waters… again those foaming waves breaking on the shore… again the trailing foot prints on wet sands… I am talking about my recent trip to Vizag. The feel of cool seawater touching my feet was so refreshing… after a l-o-n-g time! I had waited eagerly for this trip for the last few months. The thought of going closer to nature always thrilled me. It was a short but much desired break. We started planning for Sikkim and ended up in Vizag… 🙂

The port city has a rare combination of sea kissing the foot of the hills.

We were a large group of eight. Some of my dear friends were there in the group to make the trip even more memorable for me. Starting from Howrah at 8:35pm, February 25 we reached Vizag the very next day at 10:20am. And to my astonishment it was 20 minutes earlier than the scheduled time (quite unnatural for Indian Railway!).

Destination Rishikonda Beach

An SUV was waiting for us outside the station. We reached the hotel only to keep our luggage and a take a bath. Rest of the day we were busy in enjoying at Vizag’s famous Rishikonda Beach and Kailash Giri. Unfortunately, it was not a sunny afternoon with the sky partly clouded. Still, the beach looked beautiful with roaring waves of Bay of Bengal thrashing the rocky shore!

Toy Train Ride at Kailash Giri

The hill of Kailash Giri (‘Giri’ in Sanskrit means mountain) has a well maintained garden, food courts, ropeway and toy-train rides on the top of it. The breathtaking view of the entire coastal curve and the city was what I think the best thing we had at Kailash Giri.

Vizag, sea beach — The city of Vizag – photo: Moon Roy

I tried to capture the beauty of this gleaming harbor city at night.

Vizag city, vizag at night — Vizag at Night – photo: Moon Roy

Inside the Submarine

That evening we also visited the submarine museum, a must-see in Vizag. It was a real submarine called INS Kursura. After more than thirty years of service to the Indian Navy the submarine has now been rested. It has been transformed to a museum and is open for visitors.

Submarine museum, Vizag — The Submarine Museum in Vizag

The Journey to Araku

When you are in Vizag a day trip to Araku Valley is a must. We booked tickets for Araku as soon as we reached Vizag. The train to Araku will leave from Vizag as early as 7am next morning. The journey through the hills of Eastern Ghats range was remarkable. The train passed through a total of 52 tunnels with the picturesque Araku valley on one side and the steep rocks on the other. Though it took a long 4 and ½ hours to reach Araku it was never tiring, rather an interesting journey all through.

Araku, Vizag — The journey to Araku Photos: Debasmita & Moon

At Araku we boarded a tourist bus that took us along the winding hilly roads only to stop over the tribal museum and the Gala Viewpoint.

Insight into the Tribal Lifestyle

The collection at the Araku tribal museum tells the tale of local tribes – their culture and customs, their art and occupation. I liked the tribal jewelry, especially the necklaces made of one and two rupee coins. The wood crafts by tribal artisans are simply amazing. Wooden bowls, toys and showpieces are perfect blend of simplicity and uniqueness … ideally reflecting their plain-sailing, free from complicacies rural life. Kudos to them!

Araku Tribal Museum, Vizag — Tribal Museum at Araku, Vizag photo: Moon Roy

Viewing Araku from Gala Viewpoint

The view from Gala Viewpoint, the highest point on Araku hills, was awesome. The entire Araku valley bathing in the sun, was visible from there. The vista of lush green valley in the lap of the mountain and the clear blue sky over the top was so captivating, so beautiful that we stood spellbound for a few moments.

Araku valley, Vizag, gala viewpoint, — The stunning view from Gala View Point, Araku

Borra Cave: the Natural Wonder

Our next and final destination was Borra Cave, a wonderful creation of Mother Nature. Until we reached there I had no idea of what was in store for us. It is a 150 million year old cave that contains naturally created stalagmite formations inside. Exploring Bora Cave was once in a life time experience for me.

Borra cave, Araku, Vizag — Entering Borra Cave

Bora cave, Araku, Vizag — Inside the Bora Cave, Araku, Vizag – photo: Moon Roy

Stop Over at RK Beach

On our way back to hotel we decided to stop over Rama Krishna Beach or more popularly, RK Beach. The moon was in full bloom and we were dying to see the beauty of moonlit beach. But much to our disappointment it was all neon and halogens that flooded the beach with a dimmed moon over the pitch black sea. However, I couldn’t ignore the glittering garland of neon lights along the promenade. Here is a glimpse.

RK beach, vizag — RK Beach (Rama Krishna Beach) at night photos: Moon Roy

The city, the hotel and the journey everything was so nice except the food. It was ‘awe’-some. .. 😛 :). Anyway, the next day afternoon (February 28) we boarded the train to Howrah to get back to our routine life… to get back to work again with sweet memories of Vizag in mind.

Autumn in Kolkata: One Evening by the Lake

August 1, 2009February 2, 2015Posted in KolkataTagged autumn, blue sky, Kolkata, lake, Nature, Rabindra sarobar12 Comments

Rabindra sarobar, Kolkata lake, autumn, kolkata

Hi friends…this is my very first post and I thought I should begin with Kolkata. What could be better than a multifarious theme like Kolkata? It is the place where I was born and brought up; lived happily and experienced some of the best moments of my life! But Kolkata has changed a lot with the passage of time.

I think you all will agree with me that the City of Joy is not the same any more that it was in our childhood. Still one thing I feel the same way. It’s the arrival of autumn. Though it’s officially the time of monsoon I saw the glimpse of autumn in the blue sky and in the stretches of thin white clouds. It reminded me that the Durga Puja is only one and half months from now (and I should start shopping… 😛 🙂 ).

It was one bright afternoon… recently… I was passing by the lake (Rabindra Sarobar of course!) with a friend of mine (Deblina). Though we were in hurry yet could not evade the smell of fresh calm waters and beckoning of deep blue sky. We spent some quiet moments by the lake. I was spellbound. It felt like those moments were eternal… permeating my senses and touching my soul! The view was awesome. I tried to capture it with my mobile cam and could not restrain myself from sharing it with you. Hope you like it too! 🙂