A recent visit to Balakhana at Maheshgunj estate in Nadia Dist was a great short holiday for me. I had contacted the present owner Ranodhir Palchoudhuri over email and phone (www.balakhana.com) and decided to visit after the booking opened post monsoon. The train journey was short of 96 kms covering a wee bit more than 2 hours and hopped on to the hired car for a journey of 12 kms from the station to Balakhana. Bumpy roads nevertheless excited to visit a well known property, I was looking forward to my brief holiday there. The Indigo House as it was known in the 18th century was purchased by Nafarchandra Palchoudhuri in 1875 and the Palchoudhuri’s are wealthy business people having businesses in tea estates and other dry spices. Ranodhir and his wife Kalpana lives in Calcutta close to where I live and visits their property when guests are booked. Kalpana looks into the food section and their main domestic helper is Dharma (quite an interesting name I must say), I was welcomed with breakfast and checked into my room. Strolled through the garden, happily clicking for flowers and butterflies and later some birds. Except the weather which was way too humid, my stay was very pleasant as the couple is very hospitable. Ranodhir shared the history of the estate and how they acquired the property from an Italian guy and how popular the house and the area was due to indigo cultivation (my first time to see an indigo tree), shared the myths and truths about the plant. There are 4 rooms for the guests and my room cost 3000/- plus 1000/- for AC. Room charges covers breakfast, morning tea and evening snacks and tea. Food quality was okay and there were lot of varieties. Lunch and Dinner are 500/- per meals and Dinner to be finished by 9pm strictly. The property is ‘no smoking’ thankfully. The property is on 12000/- sq mtr. An interesting trip it was