Summer in Kolkata, Darjeeling & Gangtok.

Mumbai à Kolkata (by flight) à NJP (by train) à Darjeeling (by shared cab) à Gangtok (by shared cab)

Boarding an Indigo flight to Kolkata, we began our little summer adventure. We had planned to spend ten days exploring what we could of Kolkata, Darjeeling and Gangtok. We could have skipped Kolkata and headed directly to Bagdogra before moving on to Darjeeling, but we found flights to and from Bagdogra to be far more expensive. Wanting to cut costs, we chose to fly to Kolkata and, after spending two days in the city, planned to take the train to New Jalpaiguri. But more about that later.

May 01-03. Kolkata

We arrived at Kolkata close to 8pm on the 1^st of May and it took us a further 45 minutes to drive down to Bhavanipore, a district in South Kolkata, where we had booked ourselves into an almost century old homestay. https://www.airbnb.co.in/rooms/24984786?location=Kolkata&guests=1&adults=1&sl_alternate_dates_exclusion=true&source_impression_id=p3_1557896286_ZcbqK9x0HcO9LlLy&s=fUoT4HxC

The place was spotlessly clean and airy, thanks to the many windows and the balcony that runs all around the house. The room/property is exactly as is featured on Airbnb and just as charming. The private room was hosted by a senior couple who were very warm and friendly. We were welcomed with a smile, a glass of water and a bowl of deliciously sweet rasgullas and gulab jamuns (traditional Bengali sweets). What I liked best about the property was the cool, red terracotta flooring and we spent much time curled up on the floor with a book.

Placing our bags inside our room, we went out in search of some dinner. There are many good options for eating out in and around Bhovanipore, but as we were walking along the dimly lit street we caught a whiff of fresh rotis being baked on a clay oven. Drawn to the fragrance, we stepped into a rather decrepit looking, tiny eatery and ordered whatever it was they had ready for dinner.

And there, in that little place we don’t even know the exact location of, we had our first dinner of fresh rotis, eggplant, potatoes, spicy chicken curry and fried fish….and it was amazing! The portions were generous, the cost very nominal (only Rs.70) and the flavor (esp’ of the chicken) was finger lickin’ good!

 I also went down the street to get a closer look a pooja  that was taking place. The entire street was gaily lit and the shrine was filled with the fragrance of incense and the sound of drums and conch shells.

A lot of sightseeing.

Being an early riser, I also took some leisurely walks around the neighborhood taking in the sights and smells of local life.

An amusing sight I came across was what appeared to be a school bus. It looked less like a bus and more like an ice-cream cart out of which hopped no less than eight little kids all set for a school day. Cute.

Now, when I travel, I often avoid fancy restaurants and prefer to eat at local haunts. This is because I have often found that fancy restaurants are not as faithful to flavor, taste or authenticity as they claim to be.  So, walking around Bhavanipore early in the morning, I found much joy in sipping piping hot tea served in a clay pot (just Rs.10). The fun part was smashing the pot after emptying its contents. That’s what you do here – you drink the tea and then dispose of the cup by smashing it on the street corner.

Walking along, I also stopped at two food stalls doling out bowls of steaming potato curry and hot luchis, a deep fried flat bread that’s typical of Bengali cuisine. The curry wasn’t too spicy and had just the perfect combination of mustard oil and fennel. It was quite a filling meal for just Rs.12. It’s no wonder these food stalls are popular with the labourers and rickshaw-wallas.

These rickshaw-wallas are a unique feature of Kolkata. They ferry people across the city in little carts pulled along using nothing but muscle power. Even in this modern age of cars and mechanized public transport, it’s quite astonishing to see the huge number of rickshaw-wallas standing at street corners and along quiet lanes, waiting patiently for customers. At first, we felt quite cruel to have to sit back like queens while another human being lugged our weight around, but then realized that it is after all their source of livelihood and their only way of making ends meet.

Our rickshaw ride ended at the bustling temple square of Kalighat. As in my last visit, the place was a buzz of activity and noise – pilgrims talking, shopkeepers calling out loudly, hawking their wares, local guides shouting out directions towards the temple and encouraging visitors to patronize any of the many shops and eateries that line the street. Not wanting to stand in the long line to enter the temple, we made our way towards the ghat, where stairs lead down into the river. This little walk took us back into time, past many colourful shops, shrines and houses. 

The ghat itself, however, was quite a disappointment. It was unclean and the water was horribly stagnant. Even as we stood on the topmost step and chatted about the level of pollution visible in the smelly and strangely bubbling, grey water, some pilgrims walked right down to the water’ edge, dipped their hands into the murky water and proceeded to sprinkle themselves with the water. One even went so far as to wash her face with the water.

Hurrying away from the disturbing sight, we decided to visit Nirmal Hriday, a home for the destitute that was started by St. Mother Theresa of Kolkata. 

Here, at Kalighat, is where she began her ministry. Sadly, for us, visiting hours were over and, having nothing more to do around Kalighat, we took a cab towards another important landmark of Kolkata, the Victoria Memorial.

In less than 15 minutes we were standing outside the well-manicured gardens of the Victoria Memorial. Purchasing our tickets we took a leisurely stroll through the gardens leading towards the statue of Queen Victoria, sitting on her throne, looking out at the city sprawled before her. Behind her stands the Victoria Memorial, a large white marble building built somewhere between 1906 and 1921. The Memorial now houses an exhibit of beautiful paintings, sculpture and weapons.

Cutting across the gardens, we headed next towards the Cathedral of St. Paul, but didn’t stop long as there was some renovation work in progress inside the cathedral. By now, it was nearing noon and the sun was beating down on us from above. In a bid to escape the heat, we booked tickets for a show at the Birla Planetarium that stands right beside the Cathedral. For about an hour and a half, we sat captivated by an interesting show about how collisions in space created the planets and life as we know it today.

Post our visit to the Planetarium, we made our way to the far end of Park Street and feasted on Mutton Biriyani and Mutton Chaap at Arsalaan. These dishes came highly recommended by my husband and we relished every flavorful grain of rice accompanied by the delicious mutton gravy.

After a heavy lunch, we decided to take the long walk down Park Street, a street lined with restaurants, stores and offices. We stopped a while at the South Park Street Cemetery that, in the 19 C, was known to be one of the largest Christian cemeteries outside Europe and America. Last used in about 1830, the cemetery is now under the care of the Archaeological Survey of India. Although it is well cared for and has signs asking visitors to maintain the sanctity of the cemetery, I was rather annoyed at finding couples canoodling in the shadowed areas between the gravestones and groups of youth sneaking in alcohol and cigarettes ruining the quiet peacefulness with their loud and boisterous behavior. If you can ignore these, you will find the cemetery to be a good place to send an hour or two. It is very peaceful and calming and we did enjoy walking among the tombs, reading the many epitaphs, most of which were ravaged by time. 

We then walked on towards the Indian Museum which, founded in 1814, is said to be the earliest and largest multi-purpose museum not only in the Indian sub-continent but also in the Asia-pacific region of the world. I must say I was very impressed with the colonial building with its high ceilings and old-world charm. It houses around 14 galleries, each with a vast number of exhibits. In some of the galleries, the exhibits are piled high on every shelf from floor to ceiling. It is an interesting place to visit if one loves history and desires to glean some information. 

A cyclone approaches.

The next morning we awoke to warnings of an approaching cyclone and most establishments were shut as a precaution. Seeing as there wasn’t much to do by way of sightseeing, we stayed indoors all morning and only stepped out for a good lunch at 6 Ballygunge Place after which, we hailed a cab to the Zoological Park only to find it was shut. 

The National Library next door was open for visitors and, after spending a good hour or so admiring the architecture, we made our way indoors where there was on display a very interesting and well-executed exhibit on the important Bengali freedom fighters. The national Library is the largest in India by volume and, before independence, was the official residence of the Governor General of India.

Later that evening, being mindful of the cyclone warnings, we left for Sealdah Station from where we had a train to New Jalpaiguri.

No sooner did we find our designated berths, we settled in for the night and recharged ourselves for the journey ahead.

May 04 – 07. Darjeeling

At NJP, you will find many options for travel. There are private taxis & shared cabs. Shared cabs take a minimum of five passengers and we were lucky to find a trio of travellers headed in the same direction we were going. Sharing a car with hem, we had a fairly comfortable ride towards the hill town of Darjeeling.

For this part of our journey, we were staying at Smriya Guesthouse, right across the Happy Valley Tea Estate. The rooms are fairly small, but clean and comfortable. Like almost everything in Darjeeling, getting to Smriya also involves an uphill climb, but it’s not too bad once you get used to it. 

Leaving our backpacks in the room, we walked into the central market square commonly known as Chowk Bazaar. Here the streets are lined with numerous bakeries, grocery stores, shops selling meat & fish, bags, shoes etc. It makes for quite an exciting and colourful scene. We also followed the local crowds to one of the many street vendors and purchased some egg rolls and an interesting stuffed & fried preparation known as phaley. It was delicious!

The Chowk bazaar is also the place from where one can hire a shared cab (Rs. 20 a seat) or board a bus to any of the surrounding areas.

We just spent the evening walking in the Bazaar, for it is in the local markets that one can get the real feel of any place. What I liked most was that there were hardly any tourists in sight. All around us were locals returning from work, hurrying home from school and going about their daily business.

We walk around town.

The next day, being a Sunday, we walked down to the nearby Immaculate Conception Church located on the grounds of Loreto Convent. 

This is the very same convent that Mt.Theresa had joined before she had a calling to establish her own congregation. On realizing that there was no English service that morning, we walked on towards Bishop’s House and stopped for breakfast at a place that I call the Blue Window. 

That’s because everything was painted blue and it had this one, cute little window that offered a delightful view of life outside. My friend and I shared a steaming hot bowl of Thukpa (a hearty broth of noodles, vegetables and meat) and sweet, milky tea. Then, rather than walk through town and take a cab, we decided to walk further uphill and explore as much as we could on foot. It is a tiring but enjoyable walk uphill. All along the way we passed such pretty houses with an explosion of flowers outside the windows and by the side of the road. 

Continuing our walk, we found our way to the Shrubbery Nightingale Park, a beautiful garden that offer great views on a clear, sunny day.

After spending some time in this pretty park, we walked on towards the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park. Here is where, all of a sudden, you’ll find tourists flocking at the many souvenir shops and food stalls. I realized that not many tourists prefer to walk, choosing instead to hire a cab that, in all probability, takes them to the popular landmarks.

The entry ticket for the Zoo includes entry to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and the Bengal Natural History Museum. We only explored the zoo before heading off in search of another popular landmark, the Darjeeling Rangeet Valley Ropeway. This 45 minute ride offers panoramic views of the tea gardens and closes at 4pm. We were at the ticket booth with more than an hour to spare, but, on account of the huge crowd already waiting in line, we were not issued tickets. Forced to forgo the Ropeway experience, we made our way back downhill. Along the way, I stopped for lunch at a small eatery that served up delicious rice, dal, vegetable and a preparation of meat. My friend tried to figure out what meat it was that was served on my plate, but I was too hungry to care. It was delicious and that was all that mattered.

The rest of the evening was spent sitting in the Happy Valley Tea Garden. It was so peaceful and serene that we decided that we simply had to return the next evening.

Ghoom

The next morning, we set out for the neighboring town of Ghoom that’s around 8kms away. From Chowk bazaar, we got into a shared cab and stepped out at the Ghoom Monastery. Before entering the monastery, however, we stopped for breakfast at another of the many little eating houses by the street. There isn’t a menu available. You just have to sit at any of the few tables and ask for sabzi-roti. That’s a good meal to order, unless you want to order thukpa or a plateful of momos. The latter two dishes and egg (known as dim) are available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

After draining our chai-cups, we walked on towards the Ghoom Monastery where one of the young monks was kind enough to show us around the monastery and answer any questions that we might have. 

Stepping out, we were quite thrilled to see the famous Darjeeling Himalayan Toy-train go chugging by. It’s quite a sight to see the train slowly wind its way along the street. Following the tracks, we walked on towards Batasia Loop where there’s a little garden than houses the War Memorial. 

It is here that the toy train makes a 360^o turn on its way to and from Darjeeling.

Standing by the way, we succeeded in hailing a cab back towards Darjeeling and got off at the really pretty and historic Darjeeling Railway Station that looks like it has popped out of a Noddy book. We first considered taking the toy-train to Ghoom & back, but it seemed a little pointless seeing that we’d just returned from Ghoom. The next option was taking the train to Kursong early the next morning. We could easily move on to Gangtok from there, or so we thought.

Unfortunately, later that evening, we realized that Kursong and Gangtok lie in two separate directions. Hurrying back to the station we made an unsuccessful attempt to cancel our tickets. By the time we got to the station, the counters were already closed for the day and would open only a few minutes before our scheduled departure the next morning.

We did, however, learn something about the people of Darjeeling. They are extremely polite, helpful and generous. The Station Master not only called for the Booking Clerk but also did the best he could to assist us. Not only that, every time we made a call to the Railway official of Darjeeling, he answered and, if that wasn’t enough, he actually called us back when he said he would.

This is one thing I have found to be true on all my travels around India – people are good. I have always found people to be helpful, friendly and good-hearted. They are more than willing to share a meal, a story or directions to wherever I might want to go.

Back in our room at Darjeeling, we packed our bags and then headed out for a meal at a food-stall called …. where we had a great, big serving of Pork-rice. As always, yummy!

The next morning, we booked seats in a shared cab to Gangtok. The journey was pleasant and as we drove along the River Teesta, the view is simply beautiful. With just one short stop for breakfast, we finally reached Gangtok in about four hours.

May 07-10. Gangtok

Gangtok is beautiful. The most popular place here is MG Road which is a completely pedestrian area. The cobbled streets is flanked on either side by department stores, souvenir shops and numerous restaurants, cafes and hotels. It probably gets super crowded and noisy in the peak season, but we were lucky to have missed the maddening crowds again. 

Almost all buildings along MG Road are painted in shades of green or pale yellow. There are plenty of benches for people to sit and also some pretty cafes like The Little Café and Coffee House.

The day we arrived was spent walking along MG Road and Laal Market. Do note: there are many shopping areas in the vicinity and each of them have their own weekly off – shops along MG Road are shut on Tuesdays while Laal Market is shut on Thursdays. MG is where you can spend an entire day shopping for branded goods, dining in restaurants or simply watching life go by. For souvenirs and woolen wear, head down to Laal Market.

We had a late lunch at a restaurant called Doma. The food was good, but I was shocked to see the waiter serving beer to three very young Buddhist monks, one of whom was clearly not any older than 11 years.

We were staying at Gohills Backpacker’s Hostel which was on MG Road. The location was perfect and the stay was fairly comfortable.

After some basic enquiries at the tourism office, we booked the services of a tour operator as we planned to spend the next day exploring what Gangtok had to offer. There are various packages available and getting a pre-booked cab is the cheapest and best way to get around Gangtok.

We tour Gangtok

We woke up early the next morning and went in search of breakfast and decided to try Hotel Tashi Delek Like almost all restaurants along MG Road, the exterior might be fairly small and simple, but once you step in, it’s a different world altogether. The restaurant was just setting up for the day and we had to wait a while before getting our order of puri-sabzi. But the meal was worth the wait and, to our surprise, we were treated to large cups of steaming, hot chai completely on the house. 

By 10am our cab had arrived and we set of on our tour. It was quite an enjoyable experience as the driver not only gives you information, but also gives you ample of time to explore the places that you stop at. We had chosen the 10-stop Tour package which included

a.       The Enchy Monastery

b.      Tashi View Point

c.       Bakthank Waterfalls

d.      Flower garden

e.       Ganesh Tok

f.       Ropeway

g.      Tibetology Museum

h.      Chorten Stupa

i.        Banjhakri Waterfalls

j.        Ranka Monastery

Of all these places, what I liked the most were the Botanical Garden & Flower Show, the Gangtok Ropeway (a short, but interesting ride providing great views of Gangtok), the Chorten Stupa and, best of all, the Ranka Monastery.

A word of advice, if you wish to buy Tibetan/Buddhist singing bowls or prayer flags, it’s best you do so at any of the Monastery shops. Prices are much, much cheaper here.

We wanted to do a day trip to Tsomgo (Changu) Lake which is something that you must do, sadly for us, we didn’t have the accepted identification needed for a permit.

Permits are arranged for by the tour operator or your hotel and it must be applied for the day before you plan to set out. You need a photo ID (Passport/Aadhar Card is good) and at least 3 passport sized photographs.

Having a whole day to spare, we headed back to the Museum of Tibetology. It’s not a large museum but it does house some interesting and ancient artefacts that are worth looking at and reading about. On our way back to MG Road, we decide to walk…which was quite a tedious thing to do. Gangtok isn’t as cool or as cloudy as Darjeeling, and the way from the Museum to MG is all uphill. By the time we go to out hostel, we were absolutely exhausted.  

Here's a glimpse of the many pretty flowers we saw at the Botanical Gardens -

Time to head home

Gangtok à Siliguri (by bus) à NJP Station (by ToTo) à Kolkata (by train) à Mumbai (by flight)

Soon, it was time to bring our vacation to a close and head back home. On being advised that a bus to Siliguri is much more cost effective, we headed to the bus-stand and booked two tickets to Siliguri. The journey was long (5 hours) and would have been comfortable if only there was more leg room. My suggestion, book the deluxe or AC bus. Should be more spacious and comfortable.

From Siliguri we took a ToTo (autorickshaw) to NJP from where we had a train to Kolkata. Another word of advice, if you have a long wait at NJP, do know that there is no seating available on any of the platforms. Most people just spread out a sheet on the floor and sit there until departure. What you could do is go online to the IRCTC site and pre-book any of the private waiting rooms (AC/non AC) that are available at a nominal fee. It is comfortable. Has clean beds and a private washroom.

Not much about the journey home to Mumbai. Quite uneventful and filled with the longing of getting back home to my own room and my own bed. The vacation was enjoyable, as always, and although I’m already looking forward to the next adventure, there is really no place like home.

Pics by Misha.