Reflections

Book review :  Sonam B Wangyal: Darjeeling Stories: Sahibs, Natives and Oddballs . In the general knowledge books which were very popular in our schooldays, Darjeeling was always referred to as the “Queen of the Hills”. This was a matter of parochial pride for us; later, of course, we discovered that the same soubriquet was applied to Simla and Ooty and god only knows what other places. Be that as it may, Darjeeling was and still is a lovely place to visit. The principal attraction now and always has been the view of the Kanchenjunga massif which, if you are lucky, provides a view that is only rivaled by the view of the Macchapuchare and Annapurna range from Pokhara. The Darjeeling hills were part of Sikkim in the eighteenth century. At the end of the eighteenth century the all-conquering Gurkhas who united the country of Nepal also took over the part of the hills West of the Teesta, more specifically the land between the Mechi river which is today the border between...

I forgot to mention that we had, before returning to our hotel, hired a car to take us around the attractions that dot the countryside around Jhargram. The plan was that we would visit Kankrajhore and its environs today and then go towards Hatiburu the next day. We did think of taking a bus, but then realized that it would be impossible to visit most of the places we wanted to see by public transport. Mr Binod Ghose was punctual to the minute and we set off at 8 AM in his old fashioned Maruti Van, The car was a   trifle worse for the wear. However, what it lacked in comfort, the driver made up with his obliging behavior and obvious desire to entertain and inform us. The big advantage of the seating arrangements in this car is that if there are two of you you can sit opposite each other talking face to face and lolling down like a couple of decadent Roman emperors going for a ride.   We had a very good two days with him. If you wish to hire his car; bear in mind that t...

The Black Panther as it rests before making its way back to Chandrakona We awoke early the next day and at 5.45 AM we were abroad the bus from Chandrakona Road to Jhargram. This was to take a circuitous route, but what did we care?   Our bus was called the Black Panther and I was glad to see that the tradition of naming buses is alive and well in rural Bengal. I remember when I was posted in The Bamangola health center in Malda way back in the late ’80s, we had two buses named after two, (I presume) pretty ladies and nobody ever talked about the 9 AM bus but always said: “ I am going to Malda on the Jayashree.“ My wife informs me that when she traveled to Kalimpong where her Dad was posted, from Siliguri in 1979, there were two buses, one of which was the prettily named Red Rose. The Black Panther lived up to its name, tearing down the not so wide highways at an impressive pitch and not bothering overmuch when the road was not of the best. Fortunately, we were in the fro...

Garbeta Bus Stand  Garbeta is an old town. Originally the headquarters of the Bagdi rajas, there was a large fort here of which nothing remains. I read in the District Gazetteer of 1911 that there were even then several large ruined gates which do not exist today, at least no one could tell us about them. But the principal attraction now is the Grand Canyon of West Bengal as the Gangani badlands have been christened. It is not really a canyon, the cliffs are only on one side of the River Silai and the other bank opposite is a fertile plain. This is the edge of the laterite plateau which has been eroded in geologically recent times giving rise to a cliff, and many other interesting geographic features including several gullies, runs, pinnacles and others. The soil here is unsuitable for vegetation which is why the erosion has been even more than it may have been otherwise. But regardless of what the geographers may say, It has now become a fairly well-known tourist site ...