Diary of North Bengal 10/ Our very own Darjeeling

We just had a nice and heavy breakfast sitting at the roof of Keventer’s. It was a necessary thing to do since we were about to take a long walk in the Mall.

Yesterday, we reached Darjeeling. It would have a crime, had we not visited Darjeeling, despite having in North Bengal for the last fifteen days. 

‘DiPuDa’ is the favourite among the Bengali tourist. Di means Digha, Pu means Puri and Da means Darjeeling. We, the Bengali tourists in general, can’t wait to go to Darjeeling whenever we get an opportunity. But I’m in Darjeeling after twenty long years.  

Four months earlier, while checking at the Hotel availability in Darjeeling, realized that all the hotels near Mall are booked. No accommodation was available in the Tourist Lodge as well. After checking various Hotel-booking websites, we found a homestay near Dali Monestry suitable for us. Though the homestay is a little far from the Mall, the USP of the homestay is its view of the Kanchenjungha.

Yesterday, just after checking in the homestay, we visited the Mall once, but since it was late evening, we couldn’t enjoy to the fullest. That’s why we were in no mood to miss the opportunity now. 

Well, it goes without saying that the heart of Darjeeling is its Mall. Nepali poet Bhanu bhakt is guarding the Mall. The tourists are feeding pigeons and they are quite gladly accepting the foods. A section of people is sitting in the benches and chatting with their friends. Apart from that, the little ones are enjoying the horse ride.

Keeping the Observatory hill aside, we took the walk through the Mall. People can climb the steps up to the Mahakal Temple. On a clear day, the Kanchenjungha shines brightly here and people can spend hours after hours just sitting in the benches and observing the snowcapped peaks. But today, the Kanchenjungha is in no mood to shine. Sky is totally cloudy now. We walked beside the Rajbhavan and returned to the main area of the Mall. We did some shopping as well. 

Two days have passed in Darjeeling. Today is the third day, and our final day in the queen of hills. A surprise was in the waiting for us. The Kanchenjungha was shining brightly. Sky was absolutely cloudless. Though we witnessed Kanchenjungha in Jhandi, Darjeeling has a special space in our heart for the Kanchenjungha. After having our breakfast, we started our sightseeing tour. 

Darjeeling two main sites of attraction are Padmaja Naidu Zoological Park and The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. Both the places can be visited in one ticket.

Padmaja Naidu Zoological Park or the Darjeeling Zoo is the largest among the high altitude Zoos in India. Himalayan Mounaineeing Institute (HMI) is situated in the compound of the Zoo. The road is marked in such a way that we can enter HMI seeing one side of the Zoo, and come back seeing the other side. 

Lets talk about the Zoo. The Zoo was set up on Birch Hill in 1958 for the purpose of research and preserving the Himalayan wild animals. Red Panda is a special attraction here. But it is so shy, that we had to spent a lot of time to capture a photo of it. 

But the Bear has no such problem. He gladly made some poses for us. Keeping the Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard on one side, we entered the premises of HMI. 

HMI is famous of one and only Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing is in its Soul, Tenzing is in its Wind, Tensing is in its Trees. The ascent of the Everest in 1953, by Tenzing and Hillary sparked a keen interest in the region towards mountaineering. To encourage mountaineering as a sport in India, the HMI was set up next year itself. In 1954, HMI was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Tenzing was the first director in HMI. Tourists are not allowed inside the training center. There is a museum here, which is almost a heaven for the trekking lovers and those who love and respect Tenzing and Hillary. 

All the curiosity regarding Everest will be answered here. Tourists need to keep patience and spend more time to see everything. After the death of Tenzing in 1986, he was cremated here.

From HMI and Darjeeling Zoo, we set out for our next destination. Mountaineeing training was growing on in the Tenzing Rock. Keeping it on our left had side, we progressed through the Lower Court Road and reached the Happy Valley Tea Estate. Situated on the slope of a mountain, it’s a massive tea garden, but sadly I was very disappointed as I felt that the tea garden is slowly losing its charm. 

A new destination in Darjeeling washed away all the disappointments which I had after visiting Happy Valley. It is the Japanese Peace Pagoda, situated on the Jalapahar region. It was inaugurated in 1992. The four avatars of Buddha, including the Maitreya avatar is being depicted here. Since the peace pagoda is situated at a much higher altitude than Darjeeling, it was much cooler. Suddenly the weather became cloudy and chill increased. 

This cloud proved to be a hindrance for us to see the Sunrise from Tiger Hill, the next day. We arrived at the Tiger Hill at 3:30am. A GTA supervised permanent view point was under construction that time. When we arrived, there was not much tourists, hence we made some space for us and sat down. As the dawn came closer, the tourists started thronging in the Tiger Hill. From 4:30am, the sky started changing its colours. On a crystal clear day, the colour changing show looks magnificient. But we were not so lucky, as there were thick clouds in the horizon. Apart from Kanchenjungha, Everest can also be seen from here. But we were disappointed to have not seen the peaks. Riding on the disappointment, we left Tiger Hill.   

The Local car rental services here provide the package of seeing Tiger Hill and Batasia Loop together. So, from Tiger Hill, we came down to Batasia Loop. The Loop is a spiral railway created to reduce the gradient of ascent of the toy train from Darjeeling towards Ghum. The ‘Gorkha War Memorial’ is situated. It was built to pay homage to the Gorkha soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in various wars. Kanchenjungha is the special attraction here, but like I said earlier, it was too much cloudy.

I’m a bit sad today. Since last three days, we were here in Darjeeling. In the last three days, we visited many places in the Queen of Hills, but there were some places which we will visit in the future. One thing is for sure, we will not take another twenty years to come back to Darjeeling. With a heavy heart, we started our jouney towards NJP. 

Read More:  Diary of North Bengal 9/ In Jhandi’s courtyard

How to reach?

Avail any North Bengal bound train from Sealdah and Howrah, and reach New Jalpaiguri (NJP). Darjeeling is situated at a distance of 71 kms from NJP. You can take car from NJP station. Regular buses are also available from Tenzing Norgay Bus Stand of Siliguri. You can avail Toy Train as well, but it is too costly.

Where to stay?

There are loads of hotels for every budget in Darjeeling. Many hotels and homestays are there beside the Hill Cart Road from Ghum to Darjeeling. These hotels provide magnificent view of Kanchenjungha. West Bengal Tourism run Darjeeling Tourist Lodge is situated a little above the Mall. To book the tourist lodge, you can log in to the website of West Bengal Tourism, www.wbtdcl.com.