Darjeeling – The Queen of hills – I somehow had an attraction towards this destination ever since I read the lesson “Darjeeling” in my English class in Standard Ten in 2001. I still remember the description of the town, the tea estates, the Tiger hill, the Ghoom monastery, Kanchenjunga view, the mall market very well explained in the lesson. Parthiban, my best friend used to rephrase every single word from the summary. In fact we also used examples from this lesson to study “Degrees of comparison” during our grammar classes. I took this essay as one of the choices and wrote the same during my board exams too. While we read the lesson, I was fascinated by the description and picturised the same. Ever since then, this remained my dream destination.
2007 – Guna and I were engaged and started talking for hours over the phone. Once he was talking about North Eastern India and Darjeeling. I mentioned that it was my dream destination and he promised to take me here soon after our wedding. Years flew and every year we explored some destinations in South India but never planned this one. As usual he wouldn’t take leave for more than three days and this destination seemed impossible. 2017 – 10 years after his promise, I decided to plan this vacation to North Eastern India including Darjeeling and finally we are here. This birthday is special as I’m at my much awaited destination.
The route from Gangtok to Darjeeling was fairly better than the roads we had explored last few days.The driver mentioned that it would take about three hours to Darjeeling from Gangtok. As we were moving half the way, heavy downpour started. We stopped for lunch and tasted the Bengal fish curry rice and Alu bhujia. The melancholy of the sky seemed to have settled and she stopped sobbing. River Teesta was making swift moves, so did the clouds. We approached the mountain towards Darjeeling and could see the rich blue sky with bright clouds. The weather was warmer and the leaves seemed to dance.
Darjeeling – 5 kms, said the sign board. I was excited but it did not last long. A number of cars were queuing while we were nearing the Himalayan toy train. Appeared like the queue at the ATMs during demonetisation. At first, I was looking around and clicking pictures of the toy train. I was enthusiastically explaining what I read about Darjeeling in my class ten to Harshu. She was surprised that I still remember it. Time flew and it was one hour already and we hadn’t moved an inch. While we enquired, the driver mentioned this was normal on weekends especially in summer. For the first time I experienced the regular traffic of Bangalore elsewhere. Finally after two and a half hours, we completed the remaining 5 km journey.
We could see about thousand heads in every street. Darjeeling was not as clean as Gangtok. I was very disappointed. We then checked in to our hotel and refreshed. Later we wanted to stroll by the mall market. I got introduced to the word “Mall” through this lesson in class ten. I remember reading it as number of smaller shops mainly Tibetan shops that sold winter wear, hand knitted sweaters and souvenirs. It was only later during my college I saw huge malls in the cities. As we entered the mall market, I could see nothing but only heads moving. I was cautiously holding my little one and moving. Hundreds of varieties of shawls, scarfs and sweaters were seen. However I didn’t have any interest and moved on.
We then entered the arena near the mall market and this was crowded too. Guna sarcastically asked “How is your dream destination?” I smiled and moved on. We then moved to check for Darjeeling tea experience. We saw a fine cafe which was called “Sunset Lounge” and walked in. This was the first best tea experience. We were explained on the different variants of Darjeeling tea. We decided to try the Exotic range and ordered the same. Me, not being a great tea fan enjoyed this for the first time. The view from the lounge was great and facing the mountains. The disappointment slowly started diminishing. After a long walk, we had dinner and moved to our hotel. It was my birthday eve and my daughter was excited than me. She was curious to know why aren’t we ordering cake or making a party like for her birthday. I smiled.
We went to bed by 9 pm as we had to wake up at 2 the next day. We were asked to board the cab by 3 am to move to the Tiger hill where one can see the Mighty golden king rising and the Queen Kanchenjunga glowing on his rays. I got ready and woke up my little darling and she kissed me “Happy Birthday Amma”. We then got ready and boarded the cab. Tiger hill – I remember the description of the curvy roads explained in class ten. I could see the same in reality now. The long chain of vehicles seemed funny to me again. Over five hundred heads moving around and a few were even running so as not to miss the sunrise. “How can one see the sun rise on such a foggy day!” I laughed. We reached the hill top and saw many couples clicking pictures, some waiting ready with their cameras on video mode and so on. We waited and waited and he seemed to play with colours. He showed different shades of pink and orange and the fog blindfolded him. This hide and seek continued for an hour and we got down. The King never came to his courtyard nor did the Queen glitter 😉. But it was a nice place to view the mountains and the city.
We then moved to the Ghoom monastery. People seemed to be bored of temples. Hence this was less crowded. I was happy to enter a Buddhist temple on my birthday. My birthdays generally started with a visit to my favourite Lord Subramanya or Sai baba temple but this time was quite different. I stood in front of Buddha and mentioned that my method of worship maybe different but the thoughts and prayers were the same. An old monk waved hands at me and pointed towards a spindle. He asked me to hold the ropes attached and move the spindle. This seemed very different. This was a prayer wheel which is considered sacred. It is believed that these prayer wheels accumulate wisdom and merit and purify negativities. I felt good to have gotten a chance to perform a religious rite on my birthday.
We then visited the Zoo and museum. I don’t remember reading about this and could not recollect any school memories associated with this place. My little one was excited and showed her photography skills seeing the red panda, parrots, fox and leopards. The flora and fauna in Darjeeling seemed to impress her. I was mesmerised by the colourful flowers. They seemed to smile at me. We then visited the Bhatasia loop which is a spiral route for the Himalayan toy train. It also holds the memorial of Gorkha soldiers of the Indian army who sacrificed their lives after independence. We dressed Harshu in traditional Darjeeling outfits and clicked some pictures.
The next attraction was a Japanese Buddhist temple and Peace Pagoda that were located within the same premises. I entered the temple and stood speechless before him. I did not move for few minutes. It was a prayer time and many devotees were seated and playing gongs. An old monk offered me a seat and asked me to play the gong too. I couldn’t believe as I did not belong to this religion. I sat down and played the gong along with many others. I had no special prayers but only thanked for his blessings. The peace pagoda is designed to invite people from all race and creed to pray for worldly peace, I heard. It was indeed calm and peaceful place to be. Flowers of all shades of pink, yellow, red and orange added more serenity to the peace pagoda.
We then visited a tea estate. The green leaves added freshness to our minds. “Aren’t they growing selflessly to satisfy our needs?” I thought. I was interested to see the processing of tea but this estate didn’t have an attached industry. We moved to the Happy valley where one could see the processing of tea leaves. The tour guide explained the process in detail. She also explained about the green tea, white tea and black tea. Until then, I didn’t know that all these varieties of tea came from the same plants. It was interesting to know the difference between Darjeeling and Assam tea as well. The green glowing leaves are dried, processed, crushed to give us the tea of our choice. We appreciate the aroma of finest teas. “No pain no gain” isn’t it? Had the tea not undergone such pain, it wouldn’t be the most successful one! How true is it in our lives! Nothing comes for free. Every success has a heavy price attached! Happy valley made me happier.
Our day was almost done and we went back to our hotel. Although I was disappointed at first, the tea with the Queen was truly a lovely experience. I walked around the streets and mall market once more to remember my class ten. With the finest experience and blessings from this town, my dream destination has been covered. A day well spent with memories of school, English classes, and meeting the Queen of the hills. This would be an everlasting green birthday!
With green memories of the Eastern Himalayas, here I pack my bag back home. Mother Nature has opened different dimensions towards life and rejuvenated me. Looking forward for an exciting start of the week and my routine with energy and fun!
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