Retired Nomads Part 4: Santiniketan Tour & Train Return to Kolkata, India

Sunday November 23, 2025

After finally getting a bit of sleep from the parties last night, we were awakened by howling and barking dogs. We managed to take a shower in the weird bathroom, and we had time before the restaurant opened, so we went for a walk around the area and found ourselves in a nearby village. The dog that seemed to live at the resort was waiting outside of our door when we left and followed us down the stairs.

There were quite a few dogs following us on our walk and one was particularly jumpy and clingy and a local walking by intervened.

the cottages - they were cute on the outside

the restaurant is the glass & rooms above

pool

on the walk

that's one flat toad

ducks waddling by

cute baby goat clinging to a ledge

Walmart on wheels

house used a lot of bottles to decorate

are we ready to move?

Our breakfast experience wasn’t any easier than dinner last night. It was open and appeared to be a buffet. (Indian food only) We asked if we could order omelets and the same guys that spoke no English looked confused. I suggested we just leave and go to the nice hotel for breakfast, and we got up to leave but they blocked the door and said we could get omelets.

We ordered cheese but they came with hot peppers and other vegetables which we were fine with us (they were tasty) but they made another one plain cheese for the one that doesn’t eat spicy food.

We met Maitreyi in the lobby and we drove to the University area where we crammed into a tuktuk to see the area. Santiniketan Visva Bharati Campus Area is known for its unique blend of nature and learning, featuring open-air classes, unique architecture, art, and deep cultural roots. It is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site for its post-colonial educational model and spiritual exploration. Honestly, it was a small area, and it was more of a pain getting in and out of the tuktuk at the various stops and it was not easy to see or take photos, that we could have just walked. However, at her pace we might still be walking.

Santiniketan is important because of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Rabindranath Thakur FRAS, also known by his pseudonym Bhanusimha was a Bengali polymath of the Bengal Renaissance period. In 1913, Tagore became the fourth non-European to win a Nobel Prize in any category and also as the first lyricist and non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was a versatile polymath: a poet, composer, writer, playwright, painter, and philosopher who introduced new forms into Bengali literature, composed the national anthems for India and Bangladesh, and was a major figure in the Bengal Renaissance, bridging Eastern and Western cultures.

We got out to see Upasana Griha, built by the father of Rabindranath Tagore in 1863.It’s a prayer hall made of colored Belgium glass and marble and is known as the Glass Palace. It was not open to go inside.

Tom & Greg and we were facing them

Tagore House

Upasana Griha - Glass Palace

student housing

Banyan tree - lessons were taught under the tree

Chhatimtala - a peaceful meditation spot where Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore's father meditated

We skipped the Rabindra Bhavan Museum dedicated to his life as it was really crowded and went to the market we missed yesterday. Sonajhuri Haat (bazaar) is an open-air market. It runs weekly every Saturday by the Khoai River. The market is held under Sal, Sonajhuri, and Piyal trees. This natural setting adds to its calm, rural vibe. Normally only on Saturday, Maitreyi said due to its popularity it’s open almost every afternoon. Baul music was playing and we watched tribal dances. I got 2 pairs of earrings and a couple of the dance groups grabbed me to dance with them. We got some ice cream and took in all the beautiful things they were selling. Maitreyi and the drivers bought quite a bit of stuff.

video only in the online album

Next, we stopped at a roadside small producer of date palm sugar syrup. We tasted some but didn’t buy any.

Our next stop was Amar Kutir, a Batik and Leather craft area. It was founded by freedom fighter the late Susen Mukhopadhyay in 1923 with objectives as envisaged by Rabindranath Tagore in his experiments in rural reconstruction at Sriniketan.

The leather factory wasn’t ready for us, so we went straight to the village. It was a quaint area with local musicians performing and some geese waddling by to amuse us. We stopped into a small, cramped museum that wasn’t worth taking our shoes.

Freedom Fighter monuments

Tagore Statue

the museum - the guide on the left

Our next stop was to the Batik Unit. We have visited quite a few batik centers and have even made our own in Java or Yogyakarta. We didn’t take our shoes off to go in but the guide took is to the doorway and we could see fine through the windows.

We stopped at the store selling the local items and I found 2 more pairs of earrings. Amar Kutir is associated with the Self-Help Groups that are spread across in the extended villages near and far to its campus. The women from these villages channelize their craft and time for the Kantha Stitch Works to bring the best of products to this store. They had a wide range of those Kantha products like saris, salwar suits, shawls, leather crafts, metal and glass works, etc. They had beautiful things, but not room in the suitcase to bring anything home.

batiks drying

Our last stop was the Leather Unit, and they had an impressive factory and were eager to show us how they did each step.

between buildings there was a boar lying down and I startled it

We had a late lunch which had tasty chicken curry with rice and naan. It was packed with families enjoying their lunch. The restaurant had a lot of interesting art on the ceiling and the walls.

We got to the train station over an hour early. We blew past anywhere that we could find a drink to bring onboard or any snacks. Instead, we went straight to the platform and just sat. A train was coming in a few minutes, but our tickets were only good on the later one. No drinks were sold on the platform or anywhere close. Then we found out the train was running about 20 minutes late. It was fun watching the trains coming and going and some were so full of people that people were sitting on the steps and hanging out of the doors.

arrival at the train station

neighborhood next to the train tracks

While the train was nicer and if it hadn't been dark, we could have seen out of the windows, our seats were worse than last time where we had our own space. This time we were at a table with 4 other people with luggage under the table and no place for feet or our backpacks. The upper racks were full, so I had mine on my lap the whole 4 hours and unable to move since we were so crowded in. Since we booked so far in advance we wondered why we didn't have better seats.

We got in around 9:00 that night and the driver was there to take us to Raajkutir, Kolkata – IHCL SeleQtions, which was the perfect hotel to end our trip. We grabbed dessert at the hotel and called it a night.