Panchet hill happened to be one of my favourite destinations to escape the maddening city life and unwind and every time, I visited this place on a day’s trip and return back to my hometown, Durgapur, in the evening, this awe-inspiring landscape, with its vast expanse of forested land and rolling hills(all belonging to the same Panchet hill), has unfolded many surprises. One such uncharted territory being the West Bengal Forest Development Corporation’s ‘Prakiti Bhraman Kendra’, nestled within this beautiful landscape, which I had long thought of visiting and spending a night over, but was unable to justify myself with a strong reason, being from a place that is well within commutable distance for a day’s trip. Finally on a February afternoon of 2011, I visited the Asansol booking office of WFDC for reserving a room in their ‘garpanchkot’(‘gar’- meaning ‘fortress’ and ‘Panchkot’ is the local name of Panchet hill) resort for spending the next day there. The next day being Sunday, I was not sure whether their would be any room left vacant, given the fact that this is by far the most heavily booked resort in the entire south Bengal and that rooms are booked at least three months in advance. But soon I found myself lucky enough to get a reservation of a room at a pretty decent rate, for the next day.
DAY -1
Though we thought of starting early the next day but was delayed and finally reached the resort at 12.30 pm and after completing the usual formality of verification of booking reservation documents, our car was allowed to pass through the main gate( earlier we were prevented at this very gate from entering, as we didn’t have any booking, on one of our several visits to Panchet hill ).
Our very first expression on entering this resort was a whole hearted appreciation for WFDC people for setting up and developing such a nice place that brings to the mind every visitor a sense of peace(the beautiful landscaped garden with various flowering plants and nicely built cottages) and security(a well protected and guarded compound).
We were given a double-bed room overlooking the garden with a clear view of the Panchet hill from the window, reminding us of hotels in any hill station like Darjeeling or Otty. After freshening up, we had our lunch at the spacious dining hall, which was a circular one storey glass building located at the middle of the campus, surrounded by the garden. The lunch consisted of fish curry and rice, that tasted very much like a home cooked food, unlike any restaurant food, which are generally rich in oil and spices.
While my wife opted for taking rest and went back to the room I picked up my camera a headed for the hill. After hiking for some 15 minutes through a rocky trail, I found it wise to abandon my climb and return back to the resort and take a guide and resume my climb up the hill next early morning, given the fact that it was already late afternoon and that the rocky trail was getting steeper and steeper. Back to our resort I thought of heading for the main road that runs along the foot of the hill and connects the resort and many other small tribal(mostly ‘Santhal’ people) villages with the nearest city of Asansol.
The long walk took me through winding roads that had serpentine curves every now and then, with the Panchet hill and its forest on one side and some small hamlets on the other side. The silence of the entire place was occasionally disturbed by the vehicles that pass by the road, with its passengers staring at me with inquisitive eyes.
After clicking a few snaps of the landscape and its flora, I called my wife to bring the car and join me for the ‘gor’ or the old fortress at the other side of the hill.
By the time we reached the ‘gor’ the sun had already gone down in the horizon and its last rays of the day falling on the ruins of the old palace and its temples, created a silhouette that made those facades look like some ghostly figures standing and hiding some untold mysteries related to this land. I captured the moment in the camera and as darkness engulfed the entire area we decided to leave the place for the resort.
Returning back tired and exhausted we went straight for the snack bar which is a elegantly made spacious circular bamboo structure. We ordered some ‘pakoras’ and coffee and gorged them hungrily. It was 7pm in the watch and we thought to take a stroll in the garden under the starlit sky. It was a very rare experience as we seldom get a chance to see a clear sky in the city. As we were enjoying the ambience of this place we got to hear the news that one rouge tusker has created havoc in some nearby village and killed two persons. Soon there were few vehicles carrying senior government officials from Administration, Police and Forest Department. I overheard their conversation about the elephant approaching the hill and coming towards this place. It was a rare experience and in fact first time in my life, where we were holed up in a resort in the middle of a forest at the foot of a hill and bracing for an impending danger from a wild elephant. After we finished our dinner in the midst of this turmoil, while my wife left for our room to retire for the day, I stayed back and occupied a place on several of the benches that were there on the lawn to get the latest information about the tirade of the tusker. Finally with no news of further developments, I also opted to call it a day.
DAY -2
As planned I started the day early and reached at the snack bar for having my morning cuppa and proceeding for the hill with the guide. The officials and those working at the resort are quite helpful and had already arranged a guide for me to assist me in climbing the hill. The trail was familiar as the other day I had made an unsuccessful attempt to trek up through this same route. After climbing almost for fifteen minutes we reached a place that had a very big rock whose top portion was flat like a table. The guide told me to climb the rock and take a view. It was a panoramic view and though we could see the various cottages of the resort below, even the one where we were put up, we were unable to see the river Damodar and the Panchet Dam, owing to thick fog blocking them from sight.
Although this was not the top of the hill, but was some 25 minutes away from there yet I was advised by the guide not to scale up any further since the climb from here to the top would be quite tough as the slope would become steeper. The climb down was also trickier and difficult than the climb as I had to sit and crawl at few places to keep my balance and protect myself from a fall. Finally I reached back the resort, little disappointed that I was unable to reach the top of the hill. After we had breakfast at the dining hall, we left the resort for our home back in Durgapur, carrying with us lot of happy memories of a fantastically maintained property by WFDC.
