The Queen of Hills

 I had my first plate of momos at the railway station,8 chicken momos delicately steamed and priced at just 25r.It was a steal. Momos are, as a rule, bland, and the red spicy and tangy sauce is what gives it flavour and makes it absolutely delicious. 

Darjeeling is dotted with many hotels and resorts; we were put up in hotel Anand Palace, a 3 star hotel conveniently close to The Mall. On our first day there itself we discovered Keventers,A restaurant which became our everyday breakfast joint. If you love an English style breakfast, then Keventers is the place to be. A quick glance at the menu revealed egg and bacon, sausages, salami and ham, all very reasonably priced. Deprived of good food since 2 days, we promptly ordered everything. That was the best breakfast I have ever had, the sausages were well fried, golden brown, and juicy from the inside. The salami equally well done. This scrumptious meal was washed down with a mug of steaming hot chocolate which spread a warm glow inside us. Top this off with a stunning view of Kanchenjunga, and Keventers becomes the most popular choice for breakfast for tourists and locals alike.

The best way to see Darjeeling is to stroll about. The heart of Darjeeling is The Mall, also called chowrasta,the main town square which is lined with shops, restaurants, curio delaers and hawkers. Vehicles are prohibited, and very rightly so. You can do a spot of shopping here or just bask in the views of the omnipresent Kanchenjunga. The market road as you approach chowrasta is also a good place to shop, as is The Tibetan Refugee Centre, a little Tibet away from home.

 Taking one of the 4 roads that lead from the mall will bring you to St Andrews church,a most picturesque church perched atop a hill and looking like a vision out of a fairy tale. As it was a Sunday the church was closed, but we requested the care taker to let us take a look inside, and she very sweetly and kindly obliged. Once inside, the church gives you the feeling of being in a time capsule. History comes alive before your eyes as you look at the many templates in the church.

Also worth visiting is the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, established in 1954 and headed for many years by Sherpa Tenzing Norway, it is still considered India’s premier mountaineering establishment. Roosting on a knoll called the Birch Hill Park, it is home to the Mountaineering museum, an ensemble of mountaineering equipment, specimens of flora and fauna, traditional attire of Himalayan tribes, souveniers from mountaineering clubs all over the world and a relief model of the main peaks of the Himalayas. The Everest Museum here has photographic and archival records of all the attempts ever made to scale the highest peak. HMI also organizes rock climbing sessions for adventure sports enthusiasts. Adjoining the HMI is the zoo, which has the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger and The Red Panda amongst its many occupants.

To watch the magnificent sun rise from amidst the Himalayas, head towards Tiger Hill in the wee hours of the morning. You will have to battle your way to the top of the hill with hordes of tourists, but the golden orange vision on the horizon is worth it.

Another famous restaurant in Darjeeling is Glenary’s on Nehru Road. A dazzling crown to the Queen of Hills, this luncheonette dating back to colonial times, reminiscent of a surreal old-world English decorum, is in a class of its own. It is very rich and very original. Even something as ubiquitous as bread is sacrosanct here, on account of its enticing aroma and also on account of the fact that Glenary’s used to provide it for free for the ‘Missionaries Of Charity.’

 The meat pie in the Baker shop is a must try along with the exquisite chocolates and cookies sold by weight. The sitting area is set against a serene, almost heavenly backdrop of Mother Nature in full crowning glory with the fresh mountain air soothing travel weary adventurers and inducing a state of inner calm. Below the eatery is a classic example of a London Pub-‘The Buzz’, with reasonably priced drinks and smiling table assistants. All in all, a great place to hang out in.

 En route to Glenary's is a pretty eatery called Frank Ross Cafe which serves purely delectable pancakes with maple syrup and a luscious cuppa hot coffee.

Momos and thukpa are available in almost every restaurant, but Dekevas stands out amongst them. Darjeeling is renowned for its tea, and one will get bewildered by the varieties of tea available in the tea shops. There is green tea, black tea and even white tea. Not to mention first flush, second flush and so on. I would recommend buying tea outside the tea plantation, where you can actually taste it before making your purchase.

My verdict; Darjeeling is truly the Queen Of Hills, and by the end of my stay there I had made up my mind to permanently settle down there after retirement and spend the remainder of my life in that gorgeous British hill station. If you visit Darjeeling and don’t fall in love with the quaint little town, I’ll eat my socks. 

A Thirst For Travelling And An Insatiable Appetite: I love mycollege for two reasons; first for givin...

A Thirst For Travelling And An Insatiable Appetite:
I love mycollege for two reasons; first for givin...: I love my college for two reasons; first for giving me friends worth keeping for life…and second for arranging ‘educational’ trips ever...

I love my college for two reasons; first for giving me friends worth keeping for life…and second for arranging ‘educational’ trips every year. Now as you have probably correctly guessed, very little education is done on these trips.

Although I love travelling and exploring new places, I am still completing my education and can’t really afford to go on trips by myself. I am more or less at the mercy of my college when it comes to holidays, and jump at any opportunity provided by it.

This year, we had two trips organized. The first of these was to Darjeeling, Sikkim and Kolkata, from 25^th November to 6^th December. First I had to get down to convincing my dad, there had been and earthquake in Sikkim just a month before and my dad insisted that it was unsafe to go just a month later. Let me add here that whenever I’m going somewhere or returning from somewhere, an incident of some sort is bound to happen in that exact location. Why this happens is really beyond me. Anyway, after about a week of coaxing and convincing, my dad finally agreed to let me go. I was ecstatic.

On 25^th November I joined my excited and chattering group of friends at LTT (Lokmanyatilak Terminus) In Kurla. We were to board the Guwahati express at 8am,which would get us to New Jalpaiguri, a small but pretty station in the city of Siliguri, on the morning of the 27^th. From there it was a four to five hour journey to Darjeeling. That’s right,more than 48 hours in the train. For the next 2 days and 2 nights,the chugging snake was our home. We played train games, listened to music on our small portable speakers, and generally annoyed each other when we ran out of things to do. Now we were a group of more than 130 people, professors included,and we were all scattered throughout the train in different bogies. To walk across these many bogies and reach a group of friends sitting in the ones further down was a task nothing short of mission impossible. During the day it was achievable, all we had to do was sway our way across stinking lavatories, coffee and tea vendors, fruits and bhel sellers, lock and chain sellers, various types of beggars and eunuchs. This had to be done when our phones needed charging as well, since our non AC bogies did not have charging points, and we had to walk all the way across almost 10 bogies to the AC compartment for it.

But once the night dawned upon us, our train became more like a refuge for people in the Kargil war. Passengers with non reserved tickets got on board and slept anywhere and everywhere they desired. There was not a single empty spot on the floor of the train where there wasn’t a man or child sleeping bundled up. We had ventured out of our reserved berths to meet some friends in the other bogies, and immediately realized our error. Not only was it next to impossible to walk without stepping on somebody’s face, but when we finally returned to our bogies, clutching each other for support, we found them to be occupied by strangers who did not have reserved seats. After much talking and explaining, they shifted to some other berths so that our college group could sit together. The same drill had to repeat at night, since we wanted to sleep in the same compartment but had scattered berths. After lots of switching around and exchanging, which led to a lot of confusion, we were still short of 2 berths. Nobody wanted to sleep alone in the next bogie. We compensated by sharing a berth between 2 people. I had to share a berth with a friend who loved to hug and sleep. She used me as her sleeping pillow, and within ten minutes she had one arm and one leg around me, happily choking me to death. When I finally pried her limbs off me, she turned over with a contended sigh and pushed me off the berth with a single push of her backside. Luckily we were sharing the bottom berth. I picked myself off the floor of the train and got back into bed like a soldier returning to the battlefield, and resolutely made place for myself on the berth. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep that night.I have a large appetite and high metabolism. As a result I feel hungry every one hour, or two hours at the most. But when I’m travelling by trains in India, I eat as less as possible, simply to avoid using the dirty and unhygienic lavatories. Plus it’s not easy to digest food when you’re swaying continuously. Combine this with the plethora of stenches that reach your nose in a 2 day long train journey, and your left with zero appetite. Most of us survived on junk food which would not want to make us unload in the filthy toilets.

So when we finally arrived at Siliguri, tired and woebegone, it is safe to say that I had lost at least 2kgs.  Known as the Gateway of North East India, Siliguri is a city blessed with a bounty of flora and fauna, located in the narrow strip of land linking mainland India to its north-eastern states. When we arrived at New Jalpaiguri 2 days later at 10:00 hours in the morning, there was a light fog upon us and the Himalayas were vaguely visible in the distance. As we crossed the overhead footbridge with our luggage in tow, we could clearly spot the famous snow capped Kanchenjunga peak. This caused a tiny ripple of excitement in our weary group.

There are two ways of reaching Darjeeling, by road and by the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, popularly known as the toy train. The train departs at 9am, which is why we had to rent buses to reach Darjeeling. After a quick breakfast in a restaurant in Siliguri, we departed towards the hill station which is 6710ft high. The drive is exhilarating. The landscape is spectacular, with lush green valleys and breathtaking views of the Himalayan peaks and the majestic Kanchenjunga. We could not get enough of it. Although if you are going to this hill station, I would recommend taking the toy train which takes one through an even more scenic route. Refreshed by breakfast and rejuvenated by the stunning beauty around me, I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of the 4 hour long drive.

 We stopped for lunch on the way, and a few times so that people could relieve their bladders, and we reached Darjeeling at around 2 in the afternoon.

Darjeeling is known as the Queen of Hills not without good reason. As I stood at the railway station, where we had stopped yet again to pee, I stared open mouthed at the stunning view surrounding me. Words cannot possibly describe the beauty that is Darjeeling. I felt like I was on top of the world, with my head amongst the clouds. Around me were never ending valleys and right in front of me were the snow clad Himalyas, Mt. Kanchenjunga proudly standing out amongst them. I have added some images here, and you can see for yourself what I mean.