Kharagpur: Brief history from wikipedia

Kharagpur (KGP) pronunciation (help·info) (Bengali: খড়্গপুর) is a town in India. It is located in the Midnapore West district of the state of West Bengal. Features that distinguish it from the multitude of other small towns spanning India are its railway platform, purportedly the longest railway platform(1.072 km or 3,517 feet) in the world. It is the most important station of the South Eastern Railway, originating from Howrah Station,
Kharagpur was chosen as the location of the first campus of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
Kharagpur also has one of the biggest Railway workshops in India which includes all the workshops for A-Z of Railways.

Kharagpur's History

Historically, Kharagpur was a part of Hijli Kingdom. Historians claim that as early as 16th century, Kharagpur used to be a small village surrounded by thick forests.
It is said that the name of Kharagpur derived from the name of old Shiva temple called ‘Khargeswar’ located at the outskirts of Kharagpur. It is also said that the Temple was established by King Kharag Singh Pal and was named after him. The place of Kharagpur has mythological importance too. As depicted in Mahabharata, this area was ruled by the Demon King Hiramba. Pancha Pandavas spent a part of their repatriation years here. Bhim had fallen in love with Hirimba, sister of Hiramba. This annoyed Hiramba who clashed with Bhim. Hiramba was killed by Bhim at the same place where Khargeswar Temple is located.
The first Railway establishment at Kharagpur started with the commissioning of rail link between Cuttack – Balasore - Kharagpur and from Sini to Kolaghat via Kharagpur. Kharagpur as a junction station got established in Railway map in December 1898.
On 16th September 1931, freedom fighters in Hijli Jail were rejoicing the killing of Sessions Judge Mr Garley, who had passed death penalty to famous Freedom fighter Shri Dinesh Gupta. The Jail authorities could not bear with this and killed the freedom fighters in their cell. Today the infamous Hijli Jail is located inside the IIT campus area. Now the name of Kharagpur is synonymous with IIT. The railway establishment bears testimony of its (IIT Kharagpur’s) development in the initial years. Not to forget that The Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi also served his term in the Hijli Jail along with Khudiram Bose, one of the eminent Freedom fighter of Bengal.

Kharagpur: My Own town in West Bengal, India

Houses

Our first home after Birth, in Subhaspally Kharagpur. This is a very small two room rented house where the roofs are made up of tiles. My father was an ordinary railway worker at that time and my mother has to face lot of problems in that lower middle class background.
Our Grand mother and Mother in our Subhaspally’s house, with grand father’s photo.
Going back to our family history, my Grand Father was a famous actor and a gymnastic couch in BNR field in his initial career. Grand parents came from Bangladesh (Dhaka) at the time of independence, in 1947 and established him here in Kharagpur. He got Railway Compounder job in Rly Hospital and later transferred to Nagpur. My Father born in Kharagpur and brought up in Nagpur, but came back to Subhaspally, Kharagpur after sudden death of my Grand Father.

My Mother is also from Bangladesh (Dhaka), came here at the time of 1972 riot. That was neither a good experience for her. They all became suddenly poor and started struggling under different circumstances. My Maternal uncles also stay in Subhaspally.
Both my father and mother is Jadav Gope in cast, and from business families. Gradually there continuous endeavors has given a good shape to our families.


This is the BNR (Bengal Nagpur Railway) Play Ground in Subhaspally. We have started playing Full arm Cricket in this ground, however we used to plat short cricket in our house.
I really enjoyed playing football here. We used to have Path Chakra every Sunday to discuss the spiritual lessons of Vivekananda with the basic objective of man making.

Later we have joined Vivekananda Juba Mahamandal in BNR field. We used to play Football regularly, and that was our golden time. We groom ourselves during this period and as a student we had progressed lot, because of some ideal figure in Mahamandal, like Goutamda and Benida and not to mention Swami Vivekananda himself.

The picture has been modified like the Indian Flag as this Ground has lot more memories of my motherland. In true senses this is the place where still I get the smell of my own soil.

Our own house in Subhaspally.Initially was a small one, gradually developed into 2 two storied buildings. One for our uncle and other one for ours. Below is a local club established at the time of Independence.
In Subhaspally we have spent our childhood and then went to Babuline Rly Quarter, stayed there long 13 years, all major events happened there only. Finally came to the same place.

Our very own Babuline. My Sister in front of our small quarter. We stayed very long time there and all our higher education has done from here. This place is very near to the kgp Rly station and we really enjoyed the life of Rly colony here by mixing with different people. We can never forget Babuline’s life. Below is our study room, the extension of Babuline quarter.
This is my Fathers saving of whole life. Big House in Bombay Road in Kharagpur.10 tenants stay there. Initially this was his effort to build a Nursing Home.
My Father in Front of my Car in the garden in Bombay Road’s house. I bought this SANTRO ZING XL on the very day the picture was taken (06.11.2005) from Hilla Hundai, in kgp.
Schools
Our first school in Subhaspally, Sukanta Bidyapith. We enjoyed schooling here as this can be called kinder garden kind of thing at that age.
The Primary School.
Later we joined the S.E.Rly Primary School, Kharagpur. This was a true learning school of its kind and we have gone through some practical lessons from our teachers. Some of them I can still remember, Gita, Sefali, Gouri, Nibedita Didimoni.. This is the period we have has the basic lessons in everything, starting from Maths to Football.

This is the girls’ school from where my sisters have done their educations.

The Railway Higher Secondary School in Kharagpur. Our very own and most enjoyable time span in our student life. We have studied prolonged 7 years in this school starting from class V to Class XII. The above picture is the Class VII VIII IX X classes. This is really a memorable part in everyone’s life, where we come to know the big World and its diversity of knowledge. Get to know lot more, the bigger horizon, beyond the imagination, opens our eyes to the bigger world.
We came across some of the legendary teacher. Halder sir, Bhoumik Sir, Monoranjan Sir, Bose sir, Goswami sir and some more whom I can never forget.
Below pics of Hifher Secondary Part and the upper one is Class V & VI of Rly High School


Nature

Kharagpur is not only buildings and Railway structures. It has some beautiful natural views, which is an integral part of our surroundings. The Coconut trees and small Ponds are the often found in my own town. In fact it is full of greeneries.


Religious Places
This is a cosmopolitan town full of Mosque, Temples and Churches. Above is the Jumma Masjid and below the Goal Bajar Temple & Ram Mandir. People are bit religious in this town.
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The Great Old Durga Madir which holds the Spiritual base of the town. Durga Puja is celebrated here with due grandeur and solemnity. Below is the Church made by British.

All kinds of religious people stay together in harmony; however I have seen communal riots at the time of Babari Masjid demolition, one of my bad memories of my town. I was just in between two religious fanatics’ teams and ran away from there to make myself safe.

Like other towns in Bengal, Durga Puja is one of the favorite festivals in Kharagpur and the Pandels are made every year to celebrate the festivals, and images of Goddess Durga and her children are kept inside.


Gaudiya Math at Subhaspally.
Railway City
Below is the South Institute, the backbone of Railway Colony once upon a time. My father was in charge of this for some time.
The famous DRM office in Kharagpur.

My father and Brother in RPF training camp in Kharagpur. This is really a nice place where RPF (Railway Police Force) are trained. Kharagpur is the biggest Railway Town in Asia (Including Station, Rly Workshop and colony). Below is the picture of a small part of the big Railway workshop in Kharagpur. My uncle works here. My Father also has worked. He is a chief health inspector in kgp and worked in all locations of this town.


LNS East Health Inspector office in kgp. My Father has worked in this office for quite a long time and enjoyed the royal Rly work culture. More than 100 workers work under him.
This is the Railway stadium (SERSA) in Kharagpur. We have played lot of cricket and football here. In School days, we used to do march past in the stadium.


The Railway Stadium in Kharagpur, one of the main junction stations in South Eastern Railways. The longest Railway Platform of the World is also is a part of it.

Some faces
. This is a town full of all kinds of diversity in people and their culture. A Natural Sannasyi Fakir (Monk) in the above pic and below some child labors in local market.
Some more child worker in Goal Bajar Market. Like other towns in India, Kharagpur also has huge amount of child workers. The exploitation and extortion is the common feature of Indian society as shown in the picture below, the agonizing face of a trolly puller in the scorching heat of summer. Most of the people are below poverty level in this town. Around 7 lakhs (0.7 million) people stay here. The political colors. At the time of election, the town gets all the colors and flags are waved everywhere be it a small or a big street. Politics is one of the most interesting topics to be discussed in the gossips of local clubs.

Famous for:
Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur. One of the best educational institutions in World & Top Engineering College in India. I have done 2 months of summer training from here in department of computer science of engineering. Kharagpur is famous for it.
The Longest Platform in the World in Kharagpur Railway Station. One of the Platform is 1088 miter long where 3 trains at the same time.