Your visit to Santiniketan, Birbhum, can now give you a very unique experience. Visit Jiraan, a rural retreat with a difference: a cluster of clay cottages in the arms of generous green, overlooking a huge pond – it is a retreat attached to a working farm. With the sky teasing your spirits to fly like a kite and the red-earth below your feet tugging at you to explore the land around you even as the verdant green all around beckons you to give flight to your imagination, Jiraan is the place where you regain your self and renew your energies.
The ambience is rural and rustic but the basic creature comforts satisfy urban needs. The architecture: a fusion of rustic mud-huts and a more modern, brick framework, it is eco-friendly and uses to a large extent, renewable resources like bamboo. The cuisine – a refined version of home-style cooking – promises to satiate varied palates even as it comforts body and soul.
There are ample opportunities to avail of transport facilities and go sightseeing. Some of the interesting sights around are: the hearth of Tagore’s creativity – Viswabharati University and Kala-Bhavan in Santiniketan; Kankalitala temple which is also a pitha-sthan(religious site); the Dokra village where Dokra craftspeople can be seen at work in their home-ground; lovely picnic-spots beside the rivers Ajoy or even a day-trip to Massanjore (80 kms away); the terracotta temple of Gad-jangal, set deep in the forests and an enchanting drive away. Local attractions like Baul-singing or Adivasi dances can be organized for groups on request.