https://youtube.com/watch?v=mhCaAJ1Da6Y
There’s a proverbial saying - “Bangalir baro mashe tero parban” which translate to “Bengalis celebrate some festival or the other round the year”. Heavily influenced by the English culture, the Calcuttans have long adapted to the celebrations of Christmas and the scenes of a brilliantly lit Park Street is a sight to behold. Schools too have long adapted to Winter breaks. The blessing of working (an otherwise mundane job) in an European MNC is - this old habit of holidaying during the year end break is easy! COVID didn't change the scenario much however we restricted ourselves to our home state this time along with following all necessary precautions.
The initial plan was to trek to Sandakphu but procrastination is human’s biggest enemy! With the departures planned for 25th December, if the planning starts just ten days back, it’s easy to guess about the demise of the plan!
“Now what”, we thought. “Okay, let’s touch four or five places around Darjeeling and just chill”, suggested my friend. I gave in, thinking I absolutely don’t want to sit at home during the festive time. Last few travels being either rides or drives, we thought of backpacking this time around.
Hearing so much about Morgan House in the past, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to stay there while in Kalimpong and experience the spookiness if we’re lucky! “It’s available! Amazing!”, I thought, quickly intimated my friend and booked a cottage in the Morgan House compound for the night of 26th. My friend simultaneously started scouting for places to stay the nights. Little did we understand that all the Bengali fraternity took the year end break seriously and most of the homestay owners said they were sorry that they cant host me and promised stay in the upcoming months. “Sir, baad me aaiye!” was their unanimous responses. My friend came across Humro Homes, a homestay aggregator in the Eastern Himalayan region and our next success came on 16th December, when we secured a couple of nights’ stay at Sunrise Homestay in Chatakpur (28th & 29th Dec). Siliguri was a low hanging fruit, I realised and knocked off a sweet deal at the Sinclairs for the night of 25th.
We were trying hard to get a stay at Sittong as December is the season of Orange blossom. Dialled up a distant relative in Kurseong, who was shocked that I called. Later she realised, I called for “work”! Thankfully, she was courteous enough to find out stay options in Sittong. However, it seemed the week of bad news wasn’t over yet. She called me back in a couple of days apologising that her contacts for Sittong didn’t work. Instead, she offered an option for stay in Kurseong for 30th, which I begrudgingly accepted, realising options failing to work out.
We were now left with another two nights of bookings. It appeared, Tinchuley was in hot demand. Tens of calls were made, attempts were even made to secure nights at Takdah and Lepchajagat but we could see Goddess Tyche turning away from us. I wondered how it would be like to stay amidst a tea garden. My search began, some were not available and for some, I had to curse my pay; Those were well out of reach!
Some more search and I landed on a website called Tea Village Homestay in a place called Tabakoshi. “What a Japanese name!”, I thought. Called up the homestay owner, and much to my relief, he mentioned he could offer us a stay for the 31st night. It was already 22nd Dec now and we had to depart in another three days and still had the booking for a night left.
The next morning, my friend called gleefully saying he got third time lucky! A cancellation happened at Abiraj Homestay in Tinchuley for 27th and he was quick to book it. Finally, we were done with the lousiest of trip plans and now could not wait to start the travel on the Christmas.
Sinclairs, Siliguri: We reached Siliguri on the evening of Christmas. After negotiating through some heavy traffic, we finally reached our hotel around 8. The heritage hotel was all decked up in its Christmas avatar. My friend and I didn’t waste much time, we were hungry and sleepy. We straightaway headed to the restaurant, had some lip-smacking delicacies and called it a night with some Kingfisher Premium!
Kalimpong: The next morning started early. After having a sumptuous breakfast, we headed towards Darjeeling more, settled a deal for Kalimpong and hopped onto a taxi. Soon, the busy streets of Siliguri were replaced by green tea gardens, the breeze started to cool; it was perfect time to roll down the windows. Soon, my eternal love, Teesta started to accompany the drive through the winding roads. Countless are the number of vehicles which plunged to death like fireflies in the love of Teesta! She’s that hot girlfriend your mom warned you about! We made a brief stop to catch a glimpse of our favourite flags - the one with messages of calm and peace, “Om Mani Padme Hum” with the coral green Teesta meeting the blue sky in the backdrop. What a spectacle! In no time, we reached the Morgan House. Spread across acres, the Victorian era building has heritage tied to each of its bricks. All you can do looking at it is be spellbound while you go back in time. After satiating our afternoon hunger, we went on a brief walk aimlessly. It was about 4.40 pm when we returned, we were casually strolling in the garden when my friend called out my name excitedly, “Arinnn!” “What bro?”, I responded inattentively. “Cant you see?!” Oh my god! This is the sight people die for. Her Highness, the Kanchenjunga was smiling at us playfully while the setting sun kissed her forehead and cheeks and everywhere! She was all red in love and embarrassment while the Sleeping Buddha watched on! The love story went on for the next twenty minutes as I happily filmed along. You cant miss that! Rest of the evening was uneventful and (un)fortunately, we didn’t experience anything eerie except for the Morgan House gleaming in the light of the Waxing Crescent. We diligently noted the time for sunrise for chances were, the sky would withdraw its curtains for us to watch the love story again. I have never been so disciplined in my life, let alone, when I was a student. The next day, and for the days to follow, I could wake up everyday at 5.50 am just to catch a glimpse of the majestic Kanchenjunga along with the Sleeping Buddha in its dawn hues. Again, the Goddess didn’t disappoint me the next morning (and mornings to come)
Tinchuley: Bidding adieu to Kalimpong, we headed towards Tinchuley. The morning was bright, sunny and chilly. The 90s bollywood songs made the journey even better while our driver Rajkumar chipped in with small stories from the hills. We crossed the small hamlets of Bara Mangwa and Chhota Mangwa, drove through an amazing pine forest and after a while could see the gleaming Kanchenjunga range in broad daylight to our right. We enquired with Abiraj and he told us about the Gumbaldara viewpoint which offers a great view of the ranges along with the Peshok tea garden. We started to stroll towards the viewpoint, accompanied by a dog - a quite common sight in the mountains. This viewpoint offers a full view of the Peshok tea garden and its winding roads, we realised and thought of coming back in the evening to catch the sunset. We were quite hungry by now and wanted to have the quintessential combination of Maggi and Chai. And thus, we meet the cutest and youngest businesswoman of the world (or at least Tinchuley), Isha Tamang. She is 13, a crowd-puller and a good one at it. When she asks, “aap maggi khaoge? Aur saath me chai bhi!”, your heart melts and you just cant refuse. We returned in the evening for sunset, gazed at the mighty Kanchenjunga as the sun prepared to call it a day, joked around with Isha and went back to our homestay. The night was clear and cold and Shailendra came to our rescue with some bonfire. We woke up religiously before the sunrise again next morning, walked to the viewpoint and waited resiliently as the sun unveiled the fog and the cloud with all its power from the Sleeping Buddha. “2 out of 2 mornings”, I rejoiced.
Chatakpur: Aseem agreed us to take to Chatakpur, our next destination for the next couple of nights. We were a little worried that a kid is going to drive us through the treacherous, steep roads leading to Chatakpur but he assured us that he is 26 and not below 18. Navigating the roads of Takdah, almost touching Jorebunglow, we bought the passes and entered the Senchal wildlife sanctuary, which is the official route to Chatakpur. The road started to narrow and the sky to be veiled by the clouds. Not good signs, I thought as this would mean the Sleeping Buddha disappointing its spectators. Chatakpur was already experiencing sub zero in the mercury and a cloudy weather meant the frost on the road was melting slower. At one point, Aseem struggled to climb up the steep, and the rear tyres of the Tata Sumo were skidding, causing a burnout. He took multiple attempts but the slush was making it worse. Finally, he asked me and my friend to sit at the back, he said he will take a run-up sort of and try the climb. My friend and I looked at each other and took the leap of faith. And this time it worked! We thanked Aseem, checked into the homestay and had a full course homely meal, courtesy Angchu bhaiya and Susheela didi. Their simplicity and warmth touched us already. What followed was us venturing out on a trail to the Kalipokhri lake, nested somewhere amidst the dense forest. Leaving the village quickly which by the way is home to just 97 villagers, we embarked on the trail. Ignoring the notice board of the forest department which mentioned of taking a guide inside the forest we walked on with the right mix of adrenaline rush and anticipation of spotting some wild animal. Naive! We gathered from Angchu bhaiya that leopard spotting is common in the village with occasional appearance of bears. The evening was spent in just appreciating the best time of the day - sunsets. And what more can you ask for than the golden rays of the setting sun kissing the snow capped peak of the Kanchenjunga. The bedazzling beauty seemed to be nearer than ever! With each hour, the mercury kept on dipping but what was outside was more alluring - a sky full of a billion stars and the majestic Kanchenjunga lit by the Waxing Gibbous! “Who cares if it’s freezing cold outside!”, I thought and went ahead with my camera and the tripod to frame the beauty forever, eternally. What absolutely helped though were few millilitres of Jim Beam. The next morning was no exception, we woke up on time like obedient disciples of the Goddess to offer our morning prayers. This morning was little unusual as the Goddess had other plans for us. We were used to experiencing glittering sunsets by now but this time it was the moon setting beyond the enormous mountains range. The sky at that moment was something which words cant capture. It has to be seen! While in the east, it was a riot of orange, red and all the colours in that spectrum; the western sky was all purplish with tinges of yellow. Little joys in life! The rest of the day was spent lazily, playing with Mingmar, the kid of the home. The cold evening was accompanied with some Jim Beam again and photographing the full moon and the stars. Susheela didi got so fond of us that she even allowed us inside her homemade monastery and offer prayers.
Kurseong: Nothing to write home about, Kurseong was merely a stopover to us, especially because of the magnanimous beauty of the places we have already been to till now. The winding Dow Hill road was an absolute pleasure to drive and the stroll from top of the hill to the main town through the alleys of Kurseong was quite a daunting task. The evening was spent to meet my relative, as a courtesy and to appreciate the favour, also because I could reach out to her for my future adventures in the region!
Tabakoshi: Jeetan, our host in Kurseong came to the balcony and pointing to a distant village to the opposite, he said, “aap logon ko wahan jana hai exactly”. We engaged in a light banter with him and asked if he could arrange for a zipline or a ropeway for us instead. Bidding adieu to Jeetan, we joined Bijoy, who had agreed to take us to Tabakoshi. Bijoy had a lot of stories to tell, spoke fluent english and used to work in Wipro before moving to his hometown in Ghoom. In some more time, we crossed Lepchajagat and Sukhiapokhri and the serpentine roads of Tabakoshi started amidst vast tea gardens. Tabakoshi didn’t have the grandeur of the Kanchenjunga to boast about but what it had was flocks of migratory birds, lush green tea gardens and the river Rang Bhang gently flowing by in perfect symphony. We decided to spend the evening by the river, and I also got to drink water from a river - something I wanted to do for so long. My friend, who is usually fearful of water thought it was cool and followed suite. The New Years Eve was spent in a bonfire chitchatting with fellow travellers.
The void of the trip ending was already engulfing us and the thought of going back to mundane work life (work without life, rather) started to eat up our minds. The next morning was different, there was no sunrise to catch, no Kanchenjunga to ogle at or no frost to walk on; the destination was New Jalpaiguri railway station. The memories of a beautiful week spent in the Himalayas were already blurring in the rear view mirrors! All that remains are tens and hundreds of digital memories.
