Hey guys,
This is Rae. So, yesterday I went on a mini-vacation for the weekend to Shantiniketan with my family and two of my friends. Shantiniketan is a city in West Bengal, around 4 hours from my home and it’s a peaceful place. The weather is beautiful and it is filled with lush greenery. It is known to contain Rabindranath Tagore’s house and trees where students received education. It also has a renowned Vishyabharati University in which many students enroll for art subjects etc. We travelled by car and stayed at a guesthouse belonging to one of my friends’ relative. It was really relaxing and a break from the stress of school and studying. We mainly lounged around all day and in the evening went to the lawn to play badmintion while our parents roamed the fair happening nearby. Today, we managed to wake up super early, snagged a quick breakfast and we visited the banks of the Kopai river. I had hoped to see a beautiful river snaking past the land and glittering but all I saw was a half-dried up river with very less quantity of water and filled with trash and other plastic items which was rather disappointing..one more reason why we should be aware of what is happening around us. We visited the nearby ‘Goyalpara Gram’ which is a village fair where the rural people set up mats and organised a fair, selling handmade handicrafts like bags, wallets, wooden sculptures, earrings and necklaces. It was traditional and colourful so of course we took out our money and bought some things. I bought a really pretty pair of silver earrings which I think wll go great on festival days. We wanted to visit the university but it was locked due to the pandemic. Then, we walked to a nearby restaurant, Kasahara and had a delicious lunch of fried rice and crispy chicken. Yum! While returning, we travelled past my maternal grandfather’s house and it looked the same as always- a white-yellow bulding with a sprawling garden and a big backyard , now filled with wild plants and creepers, growing from all corners. The sight of the house made me nostalgic since I remembered it from the time I had come here with all my cousins and relatives. Later, we went back to the guesthouse, packed our bags and got in the car. We reached home around 7 and it was raining cats and dogs. It might have been a very short period of time but it was wroth it. This trip was a break and a time of relaxation, where I embarced traditions, hung out with friends and family, took selfies and had my share of food! Stay safe and happy! More later…
Ciao,
~RAE
Musings of Rae 