I was on a weekend trip 200 km away from Kolkata, in the district of Murshidabad, West Bengal. Before talking about the details of the trip, here is a small info blog on the place itself. ✌
Murshidabad was previously called Maksudabad and was a small insignificant village in Bengal. In 1704, Murshid Quli Khan, the General of Emperor Aurangzeb, shifted the capital of Subah Bangla (Bengal Province - present-day West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Bangladesh) from Dhaka (present capital of Bangladesh) to Maksudabad and renamed the growing town after himself. However, it was not until 1716 that he was recognized as a Nawab by the Mughal Emperor. The town grew in stature to the present day districts of Nadia and Murshidabad.
Today, the town of Berhampore (locally called Baharampur) is the centre of the district. It is well connected by road and Railways to Kolkata. A train journey takes about 3 to 4 hours with both reserved as well as general/ local coaches available and the buses (all private, non-AC) take about 6 hours. The best times to visit are between November to February or during the rainy season. Summers are a strict no-no! A two to three days visit from Kolkata is more than enough for this tour (even if you rest for a day!)
For hotels, there are only a few good comfortable stays at Berhampore. I suggest staying there instead of the town of Murshidabad about 10 kilometres away, because after the sites of attraction close down, the town has very little to do, or very few options of good food or hotels, unlike Berhampore. Hotel Samrat, Hotel Sagnik. And Moti Jheel Resort are some of the names I would suggest for food and lodging. And if you want a taste of rustic Bengali food, there are thalis all over the Dhabas on the roadside, with pocket pinches of 70 for veg thalis to 90 for fishes 110 for Chicken and eggs and 120 for mutton thalis that come with rice, dal, sabzi, and bhuji as well. For good food like Chinese, continental or tandoor, always count on your hotel restaurant.
Once upon a time, the Nawabs of Bengal invented the use of delicacy fishes like Hilsa, Bhetki, and Promfrets in the preparations of Biriyani, Kebabs and Mughal dishes. Sadly, the small town of Murshidabad today is unaware of the fact, and doesn't promote much although all the fish dishes I tasted were far better than their meat counterparts.
We went via the Hazarduari Express, from Kolkata railway station, at 6.50 am. and got down at Berhampore Court station at 10.30 am. We had decided on a day's stay at the Chota Rajbari of Kassim Bazar, a 1903 built mansion, by one Dewan of the British who was given the title "Raja". To book rooms here, one needs to visit their online site or call as per the site instructions. The palace provides Bengali Food, and home-like hospitality to the visitors. The museum is adjacent to the Rajbari too is a must-see, with a pocket pinch of 30 for non-stayers, and free for the boarders. The first things I noticed are the shady huge mango orchards that are found often on the roads here and the soil here is bright yellow, typically like the kind of rocks I saw at Haldighati.
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