Mountains In The Mist

The serpent eagle was shielded by the green boughs.But I knew it was there.I had seen it fly into the dense leafy branches of the cedar.

Welcome to the remote village of Kaluk in west Sikkim.Sitting in the lap of the mighty Kanchendzonga Peak,it lies close to Gyalshing,the anciet capital of west Sikkim.Across the hill lies the more famous town of Pelling.As the whitecapped clouds scuppered away in the morning breeze I caught my first glimpse of the third highest Peak in the world – Mt.Kanchedzonga.

My journey began 560 Kms from this Shangri La or lost paradise(in Tibetan),in conditions dramatically different.Hot,humid,sultry Kolkata.Although the summer heat was giving way to milder conditions in the month of October,it still was bloody hot!

  

My quiet night journey ended at NJP station in Siliguri with a much needed air conditioned car waiting.Karma Sherpa,a soft spoken native of Kaluk drove the Innova the 124 Kms from NJP to Kaluk via NH 31A with stops in Tadong and Jorethang.The higher we climbed the more we felt as if we were shedding our urban skin,the noise and pollution of Siliguri but a memory.Tall cedar and oak trees lined the road,unnamed bright red orchids peeping from the front yards of small mudbrick houses.

  

 

Finally our destination.5600 ft. Up from sea level the resort.Small yet comfortable cottages with a small balcony and the first thing I see is a reclining chair!The stress seems to drain out in the pristine air,sharp and one can almost feel the oxygen going into the lungs!The gardens are laid out in terraces,I hear a cow mooing somewhere,I see a pig pen,vegetable gardens,I see swifts flying high up between where i stand and the mountains.

I see butterflies.The size of small birds.Vivid blue,black,red,gold yellow.I have never seen such a variety before.The owner has brought kiwi vines from Arunachal further to the north-east and I see three or four kiwis growing on the trellised vines.The “viewpoint”is a meandering path topped out over a bamboo grove where the valley falls away precipitiously to meet the Rangit river many thousands of feet below.The pine needles have fallen on the ground over years and built into a layer which feels soft and strangely soothing when walking on naked feet.

The varshey rhododendron sanctuary – it of the magnificent mutli shaped orchids of the strangest hues of purple and pink,unimaginable in its diversity.

The singular Tchangey falls,twin slivers of water drifting away as mist even before hitting the ground.To the Pemayansgtse Monastery in Pelling,smelling of incense and a huge prayer wheel.Eating hot momos at a nearby tin shack restaurant.

Rested,refreshed after a three day break we headed back to our old life....and reality!!

Bengali New Year,Circa 1422...Why I Still Have Faith

Why a post on Bengali New Year one may ask?

For one,I was born in Bengal.

Second,I grew up surrounded by all things Bengali

Most importantly,I have seen this amazing culture which in many ways is India,embracing others,influencing but never coercing.Enhancing everyone who touches it.

Across India,the Bengali has been stereotyped as a lazy person who talks more,does less,generally lives in the past and is totally ambitionless.This is so pervasive that some of my Bengali friends themselves believe this.

Yes they do hold onto Rabindranath Tagore,Netaji Subash Chandra Bose but let us not forget these people left a defining impression on the course of Indian history and not an overstatement to say that they not only defined it but changed the direction.Then there is the Bengali Renaissance,a socio culturural reform movement in the early nineteenth century led by Raja RamMohan Roy that questioned the prevailing orthodoxies like 'sati'or bride burning,polygamy and other practises that were corroding the very fabric of Hinduism.

Kadambini Ganguly was the first woman graduate from India.Henry Louis Vivian Derozio,an anglo Indian wrote about the glorious country that India was.

Swami Vivekananda,Sri Aurobindo,and Sri Ramakrishna were the leading philosophers whose vision is still relevant.

The war of Independence began from Barrackpore with Mangal Pandey then Binoy,Badal and Dinesh and Khudiram fanned the flames.

One blog is not enough to talk about character,some of them British,Scottish and Irish who were infuenced by the climes of Bengal to set up instititutions of learning that survive till today.The scientists,industrialists etc

India does not know how to cherish its history.Go to Plassey or Chandannagore and see the lack of care with which monuments are treated.

Yet like a phoenix that rises from the ashes,Bengalis abound.I will always remember a chance meeting with journalist Vir Sanghvi many years ago in Delhi who said,"the best work by bengalis is done outside of Bengal".

The sheer locational advantage of Kolkata and Bengal as a gateway to the natural resources of the East,a deep water port,fertile soil means that it will not take much for an agrarian-industrial economy to thrive.Like a wild creeper that just needs a foothold,a crevicefull of soil,a snatched handful of sunlight.

There were some noises made around 2007 of opening Nathula for Chinese goods to flow through Calcutta Port,of industries in the hinterland that subsided into political chaos.

Politics is and will remain the bete-noire of business unless the will to triumph.If Narendra Modi can make a wasteland like Gujarat prosperous then Bengal is far better equipped.

All those bengali classmates of mine today plying their trade in Delhi,Mumbai,Bangalore,Muscat or California have wistful ideas in some hidden corner of their heart to one day come back and do something.Of monsoon rains,freshwater fish.

Of Rabindranath Tagore's saying,"IF NO ONE WALKS WITH YOU.WALK ALONE".

A Bengal that will claim its rightful place in a modern,digital India.I have faith.