Aircraft Museum Kolkata - one of a kind museum of Bengal

The aircraft museum of kolkata is one of a kind museum in kolkata and it is the second museum after Visakhapatnam. 

The aircraft museum of kolkata is a great initiative taken by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA)  it is basically a naval museum in newtown, kolkata. Its exact location is DJ block, narkel bagan action area 1, next to newtown police station. It covers an area of 2.2 acres inside and the net worth of the project is around 11 crores. 

In the naval aircraft museum kolkata you will get to see a Dicomissioned 29-year-old Tupolev TU-142 that was handed over to the West Bengal government. It was brought to west Bengal from Tamilnadu in 6 pieces by road via trucks and was assembled back into an Aircraft by the West Bengal government. The aircraft had been in service for 30 years from 1988 to 2017 after which it was decommissioned. The aircraft, nicknamed the Bear was the heaviest and longest turbo propeller ever made in the world which was used for long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare operations of the Indian Navy for close to three decades.

Other exhibits for its interior and surroundings like a mannequin pilot, bombs, machinery etc.

The aircraft museum of kolkata was inaugurated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on 8th June 2022. Apart from the aircraft on display, there is a small children's park and a coffee shop.

Alipore Zoo - Kolkata's biggest tourist attraction

The zoological garden of Kolkata, Alipore zoo is one of the most attractive tourist spots of Kolkata and also one of the oldest zoological parks in India. The zoo was inaugurated in 1876, and it is almost 46.48 acres The zoological garden of Kolkata is said to be the home of Aldabra giant tortoise Aldabra giant tortoise 'Adwaita', a tortoise who had lived for over 250 years before he died in the year 2006. 

A place is a perfect place for family for some kind of amazement and especially during the winter season the Alipore zoo of kolkata shows its original colour with its crowd 

Alipore zoo kolkata timings:-

1. Zoo timings: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

2. Aquarium timings: 10:30 AM to 5:00 PM3

3 Ticket counter timings: 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM

4. Weekly off: Thursdays

If a Thursday falls on a public holiday, the zoo stays open for that day and then is closed on the next working day. During the period of 15 December to 31 January, the zoo is open for all seven days.

Alipore zoo kolkata tickets and charges:-

1. For visitors above five years of age:

i) Days other than Saturdays, Sundays and government holidays: INR 25

ii) On Saturdays, Sundays and government holidays: INR 30

2. For visitors below five years of age: INR 10

During your visit to Alipore zoo kolkata, you will see a wide diversity of mammals birds animals reptiles and many more. The zoo has carnivorous animals Bengal tiger, jungle cat, jaguar, fishing cat, Himalayan black bear, sloth bear, etc. A myriad of herbivorous animals like swamp deer, brow-antlered, sambar deer, hog deer, barking deer, spotted deer, white fallow deer, blackbuck, Indian one-horned rhinoceros, Indian elephant, zebra and hippopotamus can also be found here. It is also not uncommon to spot animals like the chimpanzee, hamadryas baboon, bonnet monkey, olive baboon, rhesus monkey, Assamese monkey and common langur.

The zoo is also home to several colourful and exotic pheasants like the Chinese silver pheasant, golden pheasant, reeve's pheasant, Lady Amherst's pheasant, green pheasant and Nepal Kalij pheasant. Other birds found here include the bare-eyed cockatoo, citron crested cockatoo, sulphur-crested cockatoo, spoonbill, Sarus Crane, painted stork, adjutant stork, white stork and black-necked stork.

The Alipore zoo also has an exclusive Reptile House that is solely meant for the reptiles and is home to the Indian python, Indian cobra, common krait, banded krait, rat snake, checkered keelback water snake and common wolf snake.

How can you go to Kolkata Alipore Zoo:

From Esplanade:- The best and most economical way to go to Alipore zoo Kolkata is by bus which is easily available from the Esplanade bus stand & any bus that goes to Behela will also go to Alipore zoo

From Kolkata Station:- You can take a bus to Shyambazar or you can also cover the distance by walking and then you will get a direct bus to Alipore zoo or you can also take a metro to Esplanade then you can follow the same route to from Esplanade

From Howrah:-You will get a direct bus from Howrah bus stand for Alipore zoo. 

Alipore Jail Museum - The history still remains in Kolkata.

Until 2022 Alipore Jail Museum, Kolkata used to be a prison & nightmare for many people who used to stay there for many reasons. The Alipore Jail Museum of Kolkata will take you a decade back where you can feel the souls of the freedom fighters who stayed there in different cells in tough conditions just because they wanted India to be independent. You can find the cells of Netaji, Nehru, Chittaranjan das, and many other freedom fighters. Along with it, you will also see the place where many people were hanged to death. 

The timing of the Alipore museum/Alipore jail museum Kolkata & Entry Fees

• Tuesday to Sunday: 11:00 AM to 5:30 PM 
• Monday closed
• The ticket counter closes at 5:00 PM
• Tickets:-30 INR per head (school students are allowed free) 
• Light and sound show(Tuesday to Sunday ) :100INR per head
• Light and sound 1st show:- 6:00 PM
• Light and sound 2nd show:- 7:00 PM

How will you make your way to Alipore jail museum kolkata? 

• From any part of kolkata you first need to come to Jatindas park metro station or Hazra, then from there you can avail a bus or an auto to reach Alipore jail museum kolkata. 
• Exact location:- GOOGLE MAP

The history behind the Alipore jail museum kolkata. 

160 year back from today Alipore jail used to be covered by thick forest, and both the banks of the river Ganga was covered by intense thick forest. The British established the jail here as it was a perfect place to keep the freedom fighters away from society in an inhuman ruthless environment. 

Things you can find inside the Alipore jail museum kolkata. 

• Gallows - The place where the prisoners were hanged to death. It was a place where many freedom fighters ended up serving Independent India. Some freedom fighters who ended up here serving the nation are Kanailal Dutta, Satyendra Nath Bose, Biren Datta Gupta, Gopinath Saha, Pramod Ranjan Choudhury, Anantahari Mitra, Dinesh Chandra Gupta, Ramkrishna Biswas, Dinesh Majumdar. Opposite to the gallows, there is a long stretch of rooms having small windows where prisoners were kept and they were forced to look at the people who were hanged to death, but these tortures didn't lead the freedom fighters down as "Vande Mataram" was the ultimate motive of their life. After the gallows, there is a chamber where doctors used to check prison who was hanged to issue the death certificate

• Detention cell:- It's just beside the doctor cells. There are 3 cells where the last few hours of the prisoners who would be hanged were, and the last wishes were granted. These cells have seen many prisoners last few hours. 

• W&B12 - This ward had several cells in which Chittaranjan Das, Subhas Chandra Bose, Jatindra Mohan Sengupta and Bidhan Chandra Roy (2nd Chief Minister of West Bengal 1930, 5th Sept - 1931, 1st Jan) were kept here. Besides this cell, there is a cell called "Kal Kothri" (Black Hole of Calcutta) The walls of these cells are painted pitch black and there is not even a single widow or any space for free air to enter the cell. These cells were specially made for the freedom fighters to torture them and to know their plan of action. On the same ward's 1st floor, there is a cell dedicated to Netaji, he lived here from 1930, 23 Jan till 1930, 23 Sept Netaji was kept there for 8 months where he spent his time reading books and medicating. Besides this in the 8no cell Desh Bandhu Chittaranjan Das was kept for protesting against the British government In the 6 no cell former mayor of kolkata Jatindra Mohan Sengupta was kept 1930 April & 1930, 22 Oct - 1933, 5th June

• Alipore jail canteen- This place was dedicated to making meals and serving them to the prisoners.

• Nehru cell - It is situated Opposite to the canteen the first president of India was kept here as he went against the laws of the British government. Nehru was kept here for almost 80 days

• Alipore jail Storehouse - All the things needed for the prisoners from food to everything were kept here it was a large room to store things for daily jail use. Now here you can find some books dedicated to freedom fighters. You can read this book sitting here. Besides, there is a place where the prisoners were forced to work with hand-woven goods and many more.

• Cell no 1 & 2:- These are comparatively big building the cells are divided by walls and almost 50 prisoners were kept here at a time. These cells were too small and unhealthy to live without much air flowing through the rooms. 

• Cell no 4:- This cell is almost 100 years old, and this cell is kept as it is without any renovation. This cell is kept untouched in order to preserve history. 

• Alipore jail hospital:-This hospital has also several hidden histories behind the red bricks. The hospital was established almost around 1900. It is heard that famous freedom fighters like Nehru and Netaji were treated here. Many prisoners from other states were also sent here for treatment, this hospital has now been turned into an exhibition. Here you can find many galleries dedicated to several people like Netaji, Aurobindo Gosh and many other freedom fighters.

• Cell no 5 - It is an awesome gallery representing Bengal culture and many others things. 

• Alipore jail watch tower:-the watch towers were built in such a way so that the warden in the watch towers can keep an eye on every cell for security purposes. Just below the watch tower, there is a room for European prisoners dedicated to prayers

• Alipore reading room:- This room was dedicated to give education to the prisoners and to acquire higher degree. 

This is the same Alipore jail where freedom fighters were kept silent behind the dense forests and the heartbreaking cries of prisoners were buried down. The Alipore jail museum kolkata was built from red brick and painted red, It almost covers an area of 80 acres. The Alipore Jail Museum, Kolkata is quite big. It will take almost an hour or two to take a complete tour of it so please take time in hand to get a complete tour of the Alipore Jail Museum & if you feel hungry you will get a coffee house for refreshments, you will almost get everything here at reasonable prices.

Kolkatas first multi-tier underpass .

The first-ever multi-tier underpass of your own city Kolkata is ready to start its operation. The underpass is built in Newtown near Biswa Bangla gate & it is also Kolkata's first underground car tunnel. 

Kolkata's first underpass is 7 meters wide and approximately 320 meters long and it has 2 sections hence called multi tier. The upper tier of the underpass is for cars and 2 wheelers & the second tier is just 8m below the first level and is for pedestrians. 

The main object behind the underpass is to reduce the traffic of new town, rajarhat & airport area. This will bring traffic from the Salt Lake and Karunamayee side straight towards the Nazrul tirtha and Unitech side and vice-versa. 

This is the phase-I of the Integrated Project Newtown-Airport Underpass to make a swift movement of traffic in the Airport, Salt lake, Rajarhat and Newtown areas. Keeping Airport way in mind will be beneficial for people to divide the traffic.

Gangasagar- A charming tourism destination around Kolkata

Gangasagar is one of the growing tourist places on the outskirts of Kolkata. In the upcoming year (2023) gangasagar mela will start on 8th january and will continue till 15th january. Basically, gangasagar mela starts approx 3 days before Sankranti and the devotion takes it peak at makar Sankranti. 

Gangasagar Mela is known among the spiritual masses as Gangasagar Snan or Gangasagar Yatra. Gangasagar Mela is celebrated on the basis of Sankranti, so this bathing festival is usually celebrated between 14 and 15 January every year, irrespective of the date.

Gangasagar, as the name suggests, is the point when the holy river Ganga meets the bay of Bengal and many devoties worship this famous Sangam as a sacred place. If you go by history you will see this place where Kapila Muni helped King Bhagirath liberate the souls of his ancestors. 

The history hidden behind the Ganga Sagar mela:-

130 km away from the city of joy (Kolkata) lies a temple of Kapil muni. Once the great king Sagar conducted Ashwamedha Yagya as wanted to get victory over the whole world, but the king of heaven lord Indra was jealous of him so he stole the sacrificial horse and tied it to Patal Lok in front of Kapil muni ashram. 

After then when king Sagar's son discovered the horse & asscued Kapil muni of being a thief, Kapil muni couldn't tolerate this and turned his son into ashes. 

Bhagirath, the grandson of King Sagar meditated for years and requested River Ganges to flow down over the ashes of his ancestors. Holy Ganges accepted this request and came down cascading from the heavens and washed over the ashes of King Sagar’s boys’ ashes. The souls of the boys got salvation. Today, millions of people reach Sagar Islands and take a holy dip in the confluence of the sea and River Ganges to attain salvation and get freedom from old sins. Devotees offer their prayers on Makar Sankranti and since then, Ganga Sagar Mela has started. 

If you are not interested in visiting the Ganga Sagar mela because of the rush and that is why you want to avoid it, it still has many things to offer you. Here is a list of our suggestions/recommendations.

If you are looking for a ONE-DAY TRIP from KOLKATA then these are the places for you:-

• The Sagar Beach
• The Sagar Light House(Gives you a complete vicinity of the beach itself)
• Bakkhali(famous for its beach, Bakkhali is a crescent-shaped beach tower located in one of the most scenic deltaic islands of south Bengal)
• Bharat Seva Ashram(A small but famous ashram rum by the non-profitable trust in Ganga Sagar)
• Sajnekhali(It is the gateway to Sunderban, the land falls under Gosaba area and the watch tower is pretty famous because it gives a complete view of the mangroves and thus the name gateway to Sunderbans)
• Omkarnath Temple(This temple is dedicated to lord omkar, amidst the lush greenery behind that place has a peaceful environment)
• Kapil Muni Temple(the temple is dedicated to Kapil muni, if you want to know more please  read the history behind the Ganga Sagar mela above )