20 hours at Ganga Kutir Kolkata – My diary speaks

Friday 21st November  1630 hours

How long do you think will you take to leave office ? Its already dark and we will reach very late – Madhushree calls from home .

My accountant calls me and asks – Sir Are you there in office around 6 pm ? I will complete my bank work and meet you to get all the cheques signed .

I told myself – life is all about juggling . You cannot afford to allow any balls to slip .

Friday  21st November , 2000 hours

We left by 5.30 pm . The road was not as bad as anticipated  and we reached our destination in an hour and half….Silent calm surroundings with warm smiling staff welcomed us at Ganga Kutir , Kolkata . Tugga was very excited as we walked by the side of the swimming pool after a golf cart ride. The blogger in me woke up as we entered the room . Pictures of  room , reception , surroundings were a must . Neat Bed, river facing window, warm coloured spacious toilet, Working TV, enough charging points – we didn’t need anything else.

Would you also please take some pictures of your wife and son ? – Madhushree pushed me..

 

Friday 21st November , 2130 hours

One cup of coffee ,some munchies and freshening up, that’s the time we spent at the room . The fort was looking wonderful with the lights on. I had requested the reception for a ride to the fort and then we can come back and have dinner .  A journey on a golf cart once again made the ride exciting for tugga. That was a clear sky, so standing at the entrance of the main Fort , father and son underwent star gazing classes from Madhushree. Tugga seemed to understand more than me, may be someday I will understand from him .

They say you can never separate a Bong from Chinese food . We are bongs ( although my wife is truly global when it comes to food ) and hence after much debate and deliberation we agreed to have Chinese at The Orient . The Orient offers Oriental cuisine where one can try out Japanese, Thai, Malaysian, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Taiwanese and Chinese dishes . We ordered a Kolkata style Chili Chicken and Noodles . Much to the dismay of Madhushree, I was very happy to see Tugga growing up to a true bong as he relished his Chinese food . The food was good , at par priced and the interiors was worth mentioning . Its a traditional chinese set up with Chinese letters on the wall , paintings, rich colour of red spread around and oriental artifacts. The fried ice cream is a must. It comes in the shape of a ball with hard toughened texture outside but once you break it, its melting ice cream inside .

 

Friday 21st November , 2230 hours .

Happy family retires for the day. As we passed the swimming pool, the silence around and the ambience is enhanced by the sound of water flowing in swimming pool . Ganga Kutir is the addition to Raichak on Ganges, the main Fort . Ffort Raichak stands on 65 acres of land on the banks of Ganges  and built in recycled narrow bricks, giving it an old look . This place was earlier only a fishing dot in the map where fishermen used to park their boats for a halt . Ganga Kutir comprises of the cottages on a place where almost the horizon meets . On a friday night, with nothing else to do we check out on the DVD collection and it turned out to be non impressive . Good night . The photoblogger will have an early morning tomorrow .

 

Friday 22nd November 0545 hours

I tiptoed out of the bed so that Tugga doesn’t wake up . If you are at Ganga Kutir then don’t miss out on the sunrise . The place where the horizons meet gets lit up by sunlight almost appearing as gold dust …

Friday 22nd November 0830 hours 

If weekdays breakfast are like a T20 match for me – hurried, quick decision making, less options, then for a holiday I wanted to play a 2nd/3rd day test match innings . Slow , absorbing the atmosphere and surroundings , being exploited with choice of which one to take and which one to omit , evenly pacing out the innings between fast and slow . The spread was average with common stuff like couple of South Indian dishes , some cereals , eggs made to order etc . But on a chilly morning when you are relaxing, the lazy time adds on to the taste . Go for it . Sit in front of the swimming pool and enjoy your lazy breakfast. Multiple cups of coffees over the next 3 hours, lazy drawings with Tugga , nonsensical conversations with Madhushree allowed the time to slip away.

Friday 22nd November 1400 hours 

This section will be a separate section altogether as we had lunch at Sonar Tori (read it here)  . The food, the ambience , the interiors done by ace designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, is a journey through an ancient traditional house in Bengal .

Friday 22nd November 1600 hours 

All of a sudden the phone becomes active and few official calls remind me to come back to reality and time to wrap up . Toys get packed . The camera get packed . Clothes get packed. Bed and toilet checked so that nothing is left behind . Memories were also neatly wrapped between three of us for quick easy reminescence for the coming few days .

Ganga Kutir will take you around 3 hours from Kolkata Airport . Suggest you do the bookings in advance as it is highly sought after weekend destination. There isnt any ideal season to visit Ganga Kutir as the entertainment and fun inside the resort is self sufficient . In Summers and monsoons you can spend almost an antire day in the swimming pool and in winter just enjoy the warmth of the sunrays over a cup of coffee . The food is generally good and Oriental cusisine at “The Orient” and authentic bengali cuisine at” Sonar Tori” is must check out .

This place is not for excitement filled adrenaline rushes but when one feels for quick rejuvenation and introspection this is the place to go. It is meant to slow down the clock, to look back and look forward with your loved ones.

If you have around 1 day to unwind this weekend or in the coming weekends, then you must try Ganga Kutir

Thanks to the entire team of  Ganga Kutir at Ffort raichak Kolkata for making our stay a memorable one and a very special thanks to Rashmi from the reservations for all the cooperation .

P.S. We paid for all the meals and our stay in Ganga Kutir and this is not a paid promotion or a review of the resort .