TAJPUR TALES - "THINGS TO DO IN TAJPUR"
A much awaited and a much needed trip! With the extended lockdown and work load you would definitely want some fresh air to breathe in the green and the clear blue sky to be your perfect detox-er, especially for a travel freak like me. But this time my detox-er was the “Vitamin- SEA”! After a lot of planning, plotting and struggling the trip was finally settled. Tajpur it was…… It was 6.30 am and I was all good to go. My eyes eagerly waited for the black jazz when it finally got parked under my building. I quickly climbed down the stairs with my beach hat and dslr in one hand while the other one had my wheeled backpack (comparatively tiny to the quantity & size I usually carry while on a trip). Two familiar faces, of course of my lovingly idiotic friends( Saptarshi and Apurv), with blooming mischievous smile at the early hours of the morning with a surprising opening remark “just one small bag?” is enough to make you realize that the trip has started! We were supposed to pick two more (newly married couple- Rupayan & Sohini) and two other beautiful ladies (Paro & Sumedha ) of which the latter had happily selected this very time of the trip to fall sick! Although later Paro realized that the opportunity cost would be too high to stay behind because the trip was anyway on! Sadly Sumedha couldn’t make it because she was genuinely ill and broke my dream of clicking best friend pictures with her all of which I had since long been pinning on Pinterest! (PS Sumedha-I MISSED YOU)
Nothing comes easily so our trip had been facing quite a lot of bummers from repairing the car’s ac which had stopped working the last afternoon, to the Kolkata Police stopping us to verify papers, to Sumedha falling sick to Apurv's childhood dream being rudely crashed of stopping at the Sher-E-Punjab dhaba of Kolaghat for the much awaited selfie with Sap, to Rupayan’s unbeatable determination to fix the back seat belts before he could risk to travel in the highway which took way more than half an hour easily! *phew. Now I don’t know if that was because he wanted to live further happily ever after with Sohini or was it because Sap was driving! (just kidding)!
So after all the bummers we finally reached Tajpur! The best part was when Apurv drove us straight to the beach. A very glimpse of the Bay Of Bengal crashing majestically had blown us off! Wow!
ABOUT TAJPUR: 170 kms away from the bustling chaos of Kolkata, Tajpur is a hidden serene secret of west Bengal in the Midnapur district. If you are a person who loves to soak in tranquility then Tajpur it is. Unlike other beaches on the same stretch Tajpur has a different vibe. This virgin beach is comparatively less crowded, cleaner and more beautiful. The beach gives a unique look with the red crabs frequently popping up from the sand giving it a look like that of cherry tomatoes being spread over a naked pizza bread. Another specialty which the beach could brag of would be of its inverted crescent shape. The peaceful environment can be the best for your naked eyes to observe the time lapse of the sun either rising or setting in the most minute way.
The sea seemingly made us happy but the view around was a disappointment. Tajpur was still fighting to overcome the disastrous effects of cyclone Yash which recently hit her. Trees fell all over, heaps of mud dumped here and there, the beach-line guarded with strong boulders to stop the then ferocious waves from causing further damage and so on. I took a few snaps and we headed towards our hotel.
I was super happy and super hungry. All of us were actually. As Apurv's dream had already crashed and since then we all were starving. We, without any delay ordered our lunch and meanwhile chose to freshen up. We decided to hit the Talseri beach which was on the Odisha border just 26 kms away from Tajpur. Talseri is also famous for red crabs found there and also because the Tropic Of Cancer passes through it. Lunch was ready at the restaurant. It was a delicious lunch I must admit. We ordered a lot of food. From different types of fish to chicken to mutton. But the star dish was the crab! Had crab after years.
After a sumptuous lunch we started off for Talseri but guess what? Another bummer. Talseri was not in a good shape to welcome tourists due to what cyclone Yash left it with. So we decided to head back to the Tajpur beach itself. It was nearly the golden time for sunset. Tajpur beach offers the entire palette of sunset colors which can be the best colorful eye spa for your soared eyes.
The beach side shacks were mostly closed. I heard all about how these shacks can prove to be an add-on of extra chocolate sauce to your sizzling brownie. They not only provide chilled beer but also keep a plethora of sea fish, prawns, crabs and desi chicken, interestingly all alive, and you can choose your own ones for a delectable snack while enjoying the sea! So here again, the idea of grabbing some chilled beer and hot fish fry while enjoying the sunset, swinging in the hammocks which could have given us a bingo feeling, had to be dumped. I believe this time mother nature wanted us to enjoy her differently.
We walked towards the beach. On our way we clicked a lot of pictures catching the sunset at the backdrop. A boat parked nearby was our star prop for the day’s photo shoot. The beach view was still a messed up beauty. Few broken, few abandoned boats were found occasionally parked by the sand. beyond which fringed in the casuarina trees and eucalyptus which stood in long files facing the crashing in waves from a few meters distance. The lying tree trunks added more to the natural beauty.
After spending some time there, we wanted to go near the waves. Sadly the more we neared the more muddy and less sandy the beach felt. We decided to not move any further, rather plunge into the hotel pool to enjoy the rest of the evening without any other bummer.
Plan successful! We quickly changed into our swimming suits and dived in. While the sky was still painted with shades of pink and purple and the pool water looked so aqua, We had a great time in the pool bathing in different shades of color. It is usually said that after swimming you feel double hungry, so did we. We ordered some hot crispy snacks, mostly fish and chicken, accompanied by some chilled beer.
Had a light dinner and went out for a walk. It was past twelve and looked pitch dark near the beach and only some creepy sounds of different varieties of insects could be heard. The moon chose to hide from us. Spine chilling experience it was. We went back soon and decided to crash in. Finally it was a good night from Tajpur. Next morning I literally woke up to this! Have pinned the picture below. We Had some quick breakfast and decided to take in the pool again. It seemed as if we drove all across from Kolkata to Tajpur to enjoy the swimming pool of La Macaw! But since we had no other option feasible then.
After our pool time we got ready as it was already time to check out. We ordered our lunch while we got ready. Again the lunch was great, after which I took a stroll around the resort. Clicked some pictures and was finally ready to check out. We wanted to visit the beach one last time before we departed. The sea was in its usual form. The beach was broken so we had to take to the boulders to get down. We did. We sat there for sometime staring at the sea and clicking at the last moment of course!
Another point to note. the road leading to the Tajpur beach (3kms approx.) from the highway is though horrible but offers scenic beauty as you get to see a lot of embankments and fish cultivation farms. we could mostly figure out prawn cultivation. Due to shortage of time we could not make it but it is worth paying a visit.
And finally a good-bye from Tajpur. Oh yes, let me tell you Apurv's dream finally came true as we stopped at the Sher-E-Punjab in Kolaghat and had some hot tea, kachouri and gulab jamun during our return to Kolkata and most importantly he could take a selfie with Sap. Since it was quite late, we decided to have a light dinner there itself. We treated ourselves with some hot aloo paranthas and chicken tandoori with some lime soda at the Kolaghat express dhaba (as sher-E-Punjab had a huge waiting line).
At last! All in the car, the car starts swash we go and here ends my travel story about my trip to Tajpur!. If you have some amazing experience at Tajpur then do share and let me know in the comment section.
HOW TO REACH TAJPUR? However I would like to list down a few “Things to do in Tajpur” and “Places to visit near Tajpur” for you all, so that it becomes little of a help for any of you who might plan for a trip to Tajpur soon. I must say Tajpur is an easy access both from Odisha and Kolkata. From Kolkata, Tajpur is well connected by both road and rail. l Rail- to Ramnagar Railway Station from where Tajpur is 10 kms away. You can hire a vehicle and reach Tajpur. Other railway stations are Digha and Kanthi which are 52 and 38 kms away respectively from Tajpur. l Road- if you are a person who loves road trips then this option would be the best for you. The most preferred road is NH16 via Kolaghat which takes around 4- 4.5 hrs to cover 173 kms.
WHERE TO STAY IN TAJPUR? There are many good rated hotels and resorts in Tajpur, mostly near the beach. Some of them are Tajpur Eco Resort, Tajpur Sea View Retreat, Tajpur Residency, Sea Bird Resort, La Macaw and so on. So for us hotel "La Macaw" hosted us for a day. I loved the cottage rooms we booked, especially the one Paro and I shared because it overlooked the pool! What else can your Pisces author want more of? There was a small patch of grass surrounded by our white cottages. It looked pretty. The rooms were well sanitized and well organized. This hotel also had other normal rooms of which few faced the sea.
THINGS TO DO IN TAJPUR
Enjoy the inverted Crescent-shaped beach
Play sneak-n-peek with the Red crabs
Munch on the fresh Sea food at the beach Shacks
Capture the beauty of the tall Casuarinas & Eucalyptus
Catch the golden sunset
Photo shoot by the parked boats
Check out what all fish the Fishermen caught
Visit a Fishing farm
PLACES TO VISIT NEAR TAJPUR There are a lot of places near Tajpur as Tajpur is tucked in between many sea beach destinations like the following. Once in Tajpur you may visit the nearby sea beaches if you have enough time to spend with the sea.
Talseri
Mandarmoni
Digha
Udaipur
Shankarpur
Chandpur
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