Hangout places in Kolkata and outskirts you didn't know about

We bengalies love to travel, mostly during the Puja holidays, We travel so much that we have to find new places to travel, sometimes we go to same places more than once. I remember going to Kashmir and rarely missing Kolkata because everybody around me were talking in Bengali, the only reminder that I was out of Kolkata was the herd of pretty sheeps, and of course the sceneries. But how many of us has been to the hangout places in Kolkata or at the outskirts? I mean we take a day to visit the botanical gardens during our trip but how many of us has went to Alipur Horticulture? Yes there's a Horticulture in Kolkata and it is an amazing place to hangout. Here are a few places where you should plan a weekend trip or just an evening visit before making the next travel plan.

Alipore Horticulture.

I've been there on a winter afternoon while the flower show was going on. Truly speaking I've seen nothing like that in my entire life and I'm going to take my mum when the next flower show starts.

Chintamoni Kar Bird Sanctury

Trust me, you wouldn't want to miss this place. A small tip: Don't make much noise when you are hanging out amidst the woods, you will make the birds fly away. ;)

Santiniketan

I don't think I have to say much about this place. :)

Bakkhali

I have heard a lot about this place but haven't been that lucky to spend a weekend over there. But someday a blog post about this place will be up. I promise.

Princep Ghat

You'll be stupid if you stay at Kolkata and never been this place. 

Well these are just a few spots to hangout in and around Kolkata. But we are not done yet... We'll keep travelling and discovering and editing this post... Till then, decide which place among the above would you like to start with. :)

Piyali Island

If you love travelling but hate  tourist crowd this might just be the idead place for you to visit on a weekend.  Away from all the city hustles and tourist crowd you'll find the tranquility of nature along with a touch of the Sundarban.

There is only one privately run lodge in Piyali Island which has nice arragnment for night staying and is filled with gardens and birds.

The Other Half of the Society.

While going to work or just hanging out with friends we often ignore some fellow human beings who sits at the sidewalk begging for some food or just sleeping on a torn piece of clothes or maybe nothing.  We make our way through the sidewalk and proceed to our destination,  sometimes irritated if we are running late.  But have we ever taken the trouble of going through their minds,  feeling what they might be possibly feeling? Well I did... n I'll tell you what I've felt... The lady who was sitting at the sidewalk with her crying baby in lap the other day when I was coming back from a dinner with my sister, yes I went through her mind,,, she was hungry as hell, having nothing to eat in the last few days,  she was desperate to feed her baby.  And that old lady I come across everyday while coming back from office,  have I seen her shivering during the winter?  There are thousands of them out there...thousands of hungry, cold, homeless people for whom we give a damn... why do we care if they are starving death or shivering through the night?  I'll tell you why should we care... cause we are human beings and we SHOULD CARE about the other half of the society. ..
In a city like Kolkata we often have to think twice before dropping some coins in front of them... and we all know why... we all are aware of the begger association, and the well known fact about using cocaine to put young kids to sleep and using them to get our sympathy. ..
 So are we going to overlook all of them and let them die even if they aren't part of any of these?  We can't. ..
The other day when I saw that woman while coming back from dinner with my sister, we were carrying the excess food with us which my sister intended to give to an old lady who sits in front of her place, I tried to convince my sister that this woman looks much more needy, and that many of the students from her university help the old lady. The fact that there are other people to think about the old lady made it easy to make our mind , we had food for only one people,  and we gave the food to the woman with the baby,  and you should have seen the gratitude in her eyes... but what about the other days?  It's not possible  for me to visit that place everyday. . Does that mean she has to starve the other nights?  Why can't the other people who dine at that restaurant pack the excess food and give it to her instead of wasting it? Or why does the old people have to shiver through the night? I can only give my spare winter clothes to one old lady,what about the others?
Can't you give away ur spare clothes,  the ones that you don't wear anymore to some of the other half of the society while, or may be taking only the amount you can eat to your plate and pack the excess food for them the next time you dine out,  can't you do this little for them?