24 hours in Shantiniketan

Literally translating to mean ‘the abode of peace,’ Shantiniketan is not a misnomer at all. Located near Bolpur in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, it is home to Rabindranath Tagore’s Visva-Bharati – now a centrally recognised autonomous university – that grew from a school to a university when Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.

Shantiniketan was owned by the Tagore family and Maharshi Debendranath Tagore – Rabindranath’s father had become the initiator of the Brahmo Samaj in 1863 at this very place. At approximately 200 km from the capital city of Kolkata, Shantiniketan makes for an ideal and easily accessible weekend getaway.