Located in the remote part of Bero in Purulia district of West Bengal is 'khalaichandi hill' also popularly known as 'Chandi hill', which is the smaller one of the two prominent rocky hill formations of this region, the other being the Bero’ hill, taking its name from the place itself. Here one will find magnificent awe inspiring rock formations.
On a September morning in 2010, I and my wife set out for this place, from Durgapur, armed with just a snap of this place, that is so charecterised by two hills jutting out in the horizon, with the smaller one having a ivory white color temple at its foot, taken from a distance atop another most prominent hill of this region, the Panchet hill, as the only locational guidance and visual clue for this place. After a 45 minutes drive through the newly constructed four lane National highway No.2(G T road) we reached Niamatpur crossing. Here we took a brief stopover, not missing out on the fabled ‘chai’ from that roadside ‘dhaba’, whose story has reached far and wide. After getting us rejuvenated by the tea, we again started off and reached 'Sarbori moore' crossing in next quarter of an hour.
We checked with a few local people about this place, showing them the picture of the place that we were carrying with us and came to know that these two hills are near Bero and that we have to go to a place called 'gobak' crossing, from where we can reach this place easily. Once we reached ‘gobak’ crossing we again checked with a few local people who directed us to proceed further through a village, that as right ahead of us. The road through the village was narrow, almost like a dirt lane, taking sharp turns now and then, leading ultimately to a unmanned level crossing. We were little worried about the road conditions ahead and was having apprehensions whether our car would be able to negotiate ditches and potholes, in spite of the villagers informing us that we would find better road after we cross the railway line that went from Asansol to Adra junction. But to our surprise we found nice asphalted road through a wooded region that lent a very peaceful and serene ambience in the middle of the rough and uneven landscape, that is so very synonymous to Purulia. Then came that moment when that small stretch of vegetation gave way to the sight of the two prominent rocky hill structures rising up in the horizon, that I had captured in my snap from Panchet hill, some one month ago. We were really elated to see that view of the two hills and decided to explore first the smaller one among the two, that had the white temple at its foot.
By the time we were close enough to it, black monsoon clouds were already above us trying to play spoilsport to our efforts . After a short spell of shower that found us stranded in our car, we started exploring the area surrounding the hill and found that it is spread over an wide area consisting of smaller hillocks made of large and medium size boulders, similar to granite rocks, forming some very exotic and unusual structures. That is when one local person told us that this smaller hill is called ‘Chandi’hill or ‘Khalaichandi’ hill, further adding that, the Government had ‘bought over’ the entire hill and is cutting out these rocks for using them in construction work elsewhere. This very disturbing news made us wonder whether we will ever be able to see this hill standing tall against the skyline, or these strange rock structures, in some five years of time from now.
We carried on and after a couple more snaps we settled for a sumptuous home cooked meal(my wife had ensured that she cooked one of my favourite dish)that we had against the backdrop of this hill with its magnificent natural rock formations amidst the wide expanse of barren unfertile land of Purulia district, that was interspersed now and then by hills big and small, some prominent ones, rest unknown trying to make their presence felt under the blue and grey autumn skyline. I paid my tribute to this panoramic landscape by capturing its beauty, in few more snaps, before finally wrapping up at 4.30 p.m. Though it was little early to leave the place and miss out on the sunset, but the fact that we had to drive back all the way to Durgapur(some 80 kms away) and pass through the wooded region that is not one of the most safest place after sundown, left us with no other choice.
While the car moved away further and further from this place with its two hills, that had caught our imaginations for some time now, I could see in my car’s rear view mirror the hills against the golden color glow of the setting sun, that made me reflect on the day’s happenings and wonder whether we would ever get another such opportunity in our life to experience the joy of finding out a new place in a completely uncharted location
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