Land of the thunderbolt

THE conventional image is passe', dated. It's come a long way from the dark days of the Gorkhaland agitation. We met Mathew T.K. (or was it B.K. or E.K?) from Alleppey, in an STD booth below our historic old Windamere Hotel. "I've come on a holiday," he said, "and I am enjoying here; simply enjoying!"

It is a long way from the canal-threaded town of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race to the Place of the Thunderbolt, but we agreed with Mathew. It is easy to enjoy Dorjee-ling, the Thunderbolt Place; or, as the Brits renamed it, Darjeeling.

To start with, Darjeeling has all the chaotic friendliness of a Himalayan village, a bustee, growing into a capital. The first, shanty-town impression is relieved by the profusion of blooms burgeoning in front of the huts, the brightly smiling faces of the people sitting on their doorsteps, the zest of little boys pushing skate-boards along the rails of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway which winds through town, and the vitality of jeep taxis haring down the steep roads with cheerful frenzy.

We tumbled out of bed at three in the morning and boarded one of these jouncing jalopies, roared in a convoy winking its tail lights in the mist as it tore up to legendary Tiger Hill. In the pre-dawn glow, the viewing terraces teemed with tourists, girls in jeans sold hot coffee, young men in windcheaters peddled picture-postcards of Kanchengunja just in case the banks of mist decided to linger on. They did, on and on and on, and then, like a massive beast, the crowd exhaled a vast, collective, sigh. For 21 heart-stopping seconds this holy mountain appeared above the clouds, the white face of divinity shining in the heavens.

We returned, and, after a substantial English breakfast - everything is both genteel and fortifying in the Windamere - we boarded the, affectionately called, "Toy Train" and chuffed and puffed on a joy ride behind a 108-year-old, coal-fired engine. It had been saved by the redoubtable Subash Ghisingh and has now been recognised as part of World Heritage.

The little train still has a man sprinkling traction-enhancing sand on its tracks as it ascends its steeper gradients like the famed Batasia Loop. Today, the Loop has been beautifully landscaped into a garden flaming with flowers centered around an obelisk rising in front of a statue of Gorkha soldier. Encircling the garden are trees planted in memory of other Gorkhas who died in uniform on the far battlefields of India. Appropriately, the Loop is manned by ex-servicemen.

The "joy ride" turns around at Ghum. We left the train to visit the Yiga Choling Monastery. Here, an idol of the future Buddha, Lord Maitreya, has been installed. Reputedly established by a Mongolian lama, Sharap Gyatsho, in 1850, the image has strikingly blue eyes and radiates compassion. There are many lamaistic monasteries in and around Darjeeling and, on the way back from Ghum, we stopped on the road and climbed down a flight of steps to the Samten Choling Monastery dedicated to the Sakyamuni Buddha who had been born in Lumbini. Interestingly, the tall stupa rising near it has been built to commemorate the foreign Buddhist scholar Lama Anagarika Govinda.

Though the monasteries of Darjeeling, with their bright facades and fluttering prayer banners, are resplendent, there is an equally eye-catching, flag-festooned, temple of Mahakal on Observatory Hill. He is the embodiment of the power of Lord Shiva. There is also a Buddhist shrine just below this revered temple.

We have often wondered why the lion has been chosen as the vehicle of the Shakti of Lord Shiva. In the Himalayas, a snow leopard would have seemed more appropriate. Perhaps the endangered feline was too rare to serve as a mount of this popular goddess. We walked down a mossy path, through a damp forest, to visit the Snow Leopard Breeding programme. These are magnificent animals with their dark rosettes standing out against their pale cream fur. One of them was pregnant and had a touch of morning sickness, so, clearly, a happy event was due.

In the trees, nearby, other endangered animals relaxed. A pair of Himalayan Red Pandas draped their russet bodies indolently over the branches of trees, almost hidden in the dense foliage.

We also visited two other interesting institutions nearby, the Zoo, specialising in Himalayan animals like bears, and wild goats with vertical pupils in their eyes; and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI). We should really have budgeted at least half a day for each, but, sadly we could not. The HMI has a fascinating museum devoted to the mountains and the men who "conquered" them: though "climbed" is really a better word. When an ant clambers up a human leg, surely the human has not been conquered?

Out of Darjeeling then, we drove past disciplined, sponge-green, hillsides covered in tea and dotted with the beetle-bright specks of tea pluckers. Tea and tourism are Darjeeling's major industries and there are two unusual, landscaped, tourist facilities developed, fairly recently, by the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC). The so-called Rock Garden is not one in the conventional sense. It is a multi-level picnic ground terraced around a natural waterfall. Its attraction is it in being a sort of road-side facility but with a little too much concrete. Further away, however, is the delightfully natural, rather Japan- easy ... to coin a term ... Ganga Maya Park. Named after an innocent victim of police firing during the Gorkhaland agitation, it meanders down the course of a chortling mountain stream, past gazebos, clumps of flowering shrubs and trees, over humped backed bridges under which koi-carp coruscate, and into a circular lake with paddle boats and a waterfall.

Clearly, Darjeeling, the old Raj-era hillstation, has been reborn and is being nurtured with tender, loving, care.

HUGH and COLLEEN GANTZER

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Quick facts

Getting there:

Air: Bagdogra Airport - 90 km.

Rail: Siliguri - 80 km; New Jalpaiguri (NJG) - 88 km. Darjeeling Railway Station served by the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway - First class from NJG - First class Rs. 202; Second - Rs. 22 Tourist Train ride - Darjeeling to Ghum and back, Rs. 200.

Road: Buses and taxis from the rail heads and taxis from the airport.

Altitude: 2,134 m.

Season: March to mid-June and September to December.

Clothes: Summer - light woollens; winter - heavy woollens.

Accommodation: Windamere Hotel - Heritage, Observatory Hill, Tel: 54041, Fax: 54043. Single - $80; Double - $110 Current conversion of dollar tariff - all meals.

Hotel New Elgin, 18, H.D. Lama Road, Tel: 54114, Fax: 54267. Double Rs. 3,100 to Rs. 3,500, inclusive of all meals.

Darjeeling Tourist Lodge, West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC), Bhanu Sarani, Tel: 54411. Double - Rs. 1,600 to Rs. 2,400, inclusive of breakfast and dinner.

Maple Tourist Lodge, DGHC Tourist Department, Kutchery Road, Tel: 52813. Double Rs. 913 to Rs. 1,092, inclusive of breakfast and dinner.

Hotel Choice, 18, Chowrasta Road, Tel: 54325. Double Rs. 500 to Rs. 650 inclusive of all meals.

Coach tours of DGHC: (a) Tiger Hill including Samten Choling Monastery and Batasia Loop and War Memorial - 4 a.m. to 7-30 a.m. - Rs. 50 per head.

(b) Tour of seven places - Rs. 50 per head.

(c) Tour of Rock Garden and Ganga Maya Park - Rs. 100 per head.

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