Barasat: Falling in love with the place again and again!

People who stay in South Kolkata or Central Kolkata always make fun of my native place ‘Barasat’ by addressing it as a ‘gram’. Sometimes, this behaviour makes me feel peeved. I wonder ‘What the hell is wrong with these people? Did they ever visit Barasat or do they have any idea about this neighbourhood, which is a lovely place to reside in?’

As per the Wikipedia — Barasat is a city in West Bengal and is located in North 24 Parganas district of the state. So people should browse through Wikipedia before making any such comment. Why do I even bother? — “kuchh to log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehana…”

Born and brought up in Barasat, I have seen the place getting developed over time. Rather I would say that I grew up with the city. Starting from a stadium, well-renowned schools to shopping malls, Barasat has everything. The only drawbacks are — Still lacks in required medical support, little far away from the IT Hub and most importantly the traffic congestion.

About Barasat:

Easy Commuting -

Barasat is a well-connected city with public buses and AC buses, letting you travel to different parts of the state with ease. Local trains are also available to offer you on schedule train rides to destinations like Dumdum, Sealdah, Barshirhat, Bonga, Hasnabad and Thakurnagar. Local trains are lifesavers for commuters because it lets you reach Dumdum in 25 mins and from Dumdum you can catch a metro to reach your destination in less time without facing any traffic. Also, van, rickshaw, auto, toto and taxi services are always available. Netaji Subhas Chandra Airport is just 25 mins away from Barasat, so there is no need to leave home too early for your flight.

Religious Place -

Famous for Kali Puja, Barasat has some religious places like Shibananda Dham, Sankar Math-O-Mission and Sree Sree Yogashram. There are a few churches in this city. One of them is the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, which is located at Rathtala. This place also has several mosques like Barasat Masjid. If you visit Barasat during Diwali, you should not miss out some famous puja pandals of Barasat - K.N.C Regiment, Pioneer Athletic Club, Boromaa Kali Mondir, Satadal Sangha and Nabapally Association Club.

Enjoyment — Refreshment & Shopping -

Shopaholics can hop into shopping malls like SunCity Mall and Star Mall that house branded outlets like Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop, Reliance Trends, Max, Rene, Big Bazaar, Biba, Adidas, U.S. Polo, Arrow and Spencer. Fab India is also present, just opposite to Star Mall with its amazing collections of outfits. If you are fond of traditional attire, Sree Guru Bastralay, Indian Silk House, Sriniketan and Rene are highly recommended. You will never be disappointed with their exotic collections. Oh! How can I forget the name of Choice Fashion? — Especially known for kids’ clothing.

Family or friends can spend their leisure time in the food court at Suncity Mall or CCD at City Mall. Besides, Pizza Hut, KFC and McDonald’s allow you to make your every weekend pleasurable. Restaurants like Bhojohari Manna at City Mall and Mouchaks will make your dining out with family a delightful. Oh, I forgot to include Wow Momo — Yup, it’s food is yummilicious.

Barasat is also known for movie theatres like Aarti Movie Hall, Jaya Movie Hall and INOX. Situated in the heart of Colony More, Sree Leathers offers you an amazing collection of shoes, belts and bags. Not only wide options are available but also reasonably priced. Outlets like Bata and Khadims can be found at every corner of Barasat. Salons — Habibs and Habibs Espresso both are present in this city. Apart from these, you can visit Bhowmik Store and Roop Mahal Store for cosmetics and beauty products.

Assets -

When it comes to gold, which is considered to be an asset for every home, options are plentiful –Senco Gold & Diamonds, P.C. Chandra Jewellers and M.P. Jewellers. If you want to avoid branded shops, check out Bakshi Jewellers and Singha Jewellers.

Confectionery -

Sweets & Pastries: Jyoti Sweets, Mouchaks, Anondomoi, Ashesh Sweets and Adiram are some of the well-renowned tuck shops in Barasat that believe in delivering the customers with best quality sweets in terms of quality and variations. Misti Doi is always my favourite. If you love paneer or cheese cottage, try out Jyoti’s paneer — soft and fresh. For pastries, you have options like Mio-Amore, Sugar N Spice and Kathleen.

Lying at a distance of 20–30 minutes, there are some renowned Educational centres like Julien Day School, St. Claret, Central Modern School, Aditya Birla, St. Judes, Auxilium Convent School, Kalikrishna Girls’ High School, Barasat Girls High School, Barasat Government School, Priyanath High School, Barasat Indira Gandhi Memorial High, Barasat Government College, Barasat College, BCDA College of Pharmacy & Technology, West Bengal State University, Adamas University and Brainware University. Few of them are used as centres for competitive exams.

Medical Aid -

Barasat has certain medical centres like Renuka Eye Institute, Suraksha, NH Narayana, Eco Hospital and Smile & Profile Dental Treatment Centre Pvt Ltd, Bengal Homeo Hall, Millennium Diagnostic Center and Barasat Cancer Research & Welfare Centre. There might be other medical centres too, but I am not aware of them.

Still, I would say that Barasat lacks in providing people with proper medical support. There is hardly any well-trained physicians or medical clinics available. To get the best medical help, people have to travel to Park Street, Alipore, Elgin Road or Ultodanga, which is the worst part of Barasat.

Miss Those Days -

After shifting to Hyderabad, I miss this place a lot. I miss travelling the local trains especially the Ladies Special (Barasat-Sealdah) scheduled at 9.35 am. Some of the days, Trisha and I would catch this train for office. There was a hawker, who used to travel in that same compartment with his wide range of accessories. We became so addicted to those collections that we ended up buying some kind of accessories every week. I still remember that day, when the hawker said to me– “aree Didi eto ki bhabchen?? Salary toh peyegechen…niyei nin eita…” — Aree Sister, your salary has already been credited, so what are you thinking about? Buy it…”

In the weekend, I used to go Big Bazaar and Dadaji Store to buy food items like bhujia, soan papri, maggi, pasta, cake, biscuit and sometimes, oats. Or I would buy kinder-joy chocolate for my niece. Else, I would check out the accessory collections available in the stalls under the Barasat flyover. In case, I didn’t find anything to pick, I would walk straight into Bhowmik Store to buy a darker shade nail polish.

Winding-up -

Well, this is all about my native place-Barasat. Whatever I have written in this article is based on my personal experiences. In case, I have missed any of your preferences, don’t be hurt. Some people hate this place because of the traffic congestion and lack of proper medical support. I hope, Barasat gets medically developed soon so that residents don’t have to spend hours travelling 20km to 30kms to get medical assistance.

PS: Barasat is a developed city! Stop calling it a ‘gram’.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Btw the pictures are not taken by me. Those are collected from Google>Images. (As I am not a good photographer) 😛😛