On my recent short trip to Coochbehar, northern most district of west bengal, india, i couldn't decide which i liked better, the coochbehar palace or the madan mohan temple or the large 44"smart TV in our hotel room.... 😁😁😁 ha ha ha ha.... not joking at all my friends! On this trip i had the chance to watch TV that too straight from the bed. At home in my day to day life TV watching is a luxury which I can't afford. The remote is almost always in the hands of my teenage so or worse still my hubby. Both of them live in worlds totally alien than my own. So i don't watch TV at all. Whatever leisure time i get i remain in the solitude of my redmi note 4....so my friends, the simple act of just pushing in the pen drive and watching movies from a cosy distance lounging on the huge bed with pillows tucked under my head was nirvana in itself 😇. My poor eyes now having reached that age where they cannot decide which to choose myopia (far sight) or presbyopia (near sight)... not having to hold a cell phone while watching movies in it and torturing the poor ciliary muscles (small muscles in the eyeball) every now and then adjusting the focus..... gave my throbbing headache a big relief.
In between watching TV and looking out of the window at the lashing rain.. i did visit the Coochbehar Rajbari(palace). Modelled after The Buckingham Palace it was built by Raja Nripendra Narayan. As in all palaces it did have ornately crafted ceilings, domes and pillars. All the rooms surrounded a lovely courtyard in which seasonal flowers were grown by the women folks. The descendants of the raja, king still live scattered in and around coochbehar and colloquially termed as "rajbanshis". The palace was handed over to the government in 1950.Now its a museum informative and compact not too taxing on the leg muscles. The overlooking garden is magnificent too.
We spent the whole evening at Madan Mohan Mandir, a temple for lord krishna, bansuri-wala, murlidhar... radha was absent from his side, a beautiful golden statute of the child-god adorned the temple.The temple complex as it could be so called was big enough for a huge crowd well maintained by a trust. As the evening slipped into night, the whole town it seemed had gathered there,offering sweets to the god, children scattered here and there playing , some just strolling up and down the adjoining garden. The garden was clean, well lighted along with flowering shrubs were some huge trees bearing fruits. We too strolled in the garden bare-foot along with numerous other citizens of coochbehar.A newlywed couple had just come to seek blessings, the bride and the groom complete in bridal finery. It was a full moon night, the rain had cooled the breeze, there was hushed silence all around, the burning incense sweetened the air, the very old head priest then started the aarti... all of a sudden the atheist in me took cover and i stood folded hands bowing my head in reverence 🙏🙏
