Raimatang & Lepchaka

The person who caused me to  take up pen keyboard is Karna Bahadur Chhetri of  Buxa... but , well, lets start from the beginning.

Son's summer vacation was preponed  by the wish of G  Mamata Banerjee ( & she did the right thing, didn't she?) & I tried desperately  to prepone our journey ticket. But Mr. Tribedi must have left some virus in the IRCTC server before he left, so getting a Tatkal ticket was beyond my capability. So the mid-noon Teesta Torsha  in that record breaking hot , was our chariot of fire. 

However , Coochbehar was cool & Vivek-Debashree , or should I say Drs. Bhattacharya or is it Dr.Bhattacharyas or perhaps Drs. Bhattacharyas, (অশ্বিনী কুমারদ্বয়  এর মত ভটচাজ ডাক্তারদ্বয়  )came rushing to the station with a battered Ambassador & Afjal the driver whose pastime is manipulating milometer.

Gunghatia River.. the other side the car is heading to , is Raimatang.. this place is inaccessible  in monsoon when the river is full.  This is the one &  only entrance to Raimatang

Raimatang was not far, a 3 hour journey took us there( that 3 hour included breakfast time at Alipurduar.. Parota  made of cornflower!! (ভুট্টার আটা ) was not that bad as one may incline to think. Pushparaj was informed beforehand to arrange for our lunch & everything was smooth thereafter. Climate was on the hotter side (there  is no electricity at Raimatang either & will not be any ever), still it was not that unbearable.

Evening was great . So was our hare (খরগোশ ) sighting. But the beauty of Raimatang lies in the early morning excursion to the interior of forest where the cacophony of birds of innumerable species, including peacock, will keep one mesmerised.

Pushparaj arranged a car for us to Santalbari @Rs.700/- & he himself came with us. The incharge of Forest Office at Santalabari was one Mr. Sarkar. He gave us a letter so that we can stay at the Dormitory at Buxa Fort (  we didn't know about the dormitory's existence till we saw a board at Santalabari).

Santalbari-- Motorable upto this point.. Trekking beyond this point.

We hired Nakul Chhettri,the porter who will charge Rs.200/- upto the dormitory & Rs.300/- if we are to go upto Lepchaka.

Took us exactly 2 hours to reach the Fort area, 1 km from Buxa Sadar Bazar where Kalpana Thapa/Indra Bahadur Thapa runs their lodge Rovers inn.

Sadar Bazar (Buxa). The The building on centre-left is Rovers inn.

It will be absolute stupidity if one decides to stay at Sadarbazar when a kilometer up he can stay at Fort area.  But many tourists do not know about that & most come back the same day after seeing the Fort.

The Dormitory is a marvelous colonial bungalow. But it's in-charge, Karna Bahadur, whom I have mentioned in the beginning, had gone to Alipurduar , but was scheduled to come back by 3pm ( that's when the transport from Alipore to Santalbari arrives ). Meanwhile we discovered the Forest Rest House  behind the dormitory & it was locked too. On enquiry we learned that it was also managed by Karna Bahadur. 

Dormitory at Buxa Fort

we had our lunch at Dawa Dukpa's shop ( next to that beautiful post office) while Nakul waited at the dormitory with our luggage. Next he had his lunch & went to Karna Bahadur's house to send message of our arrival. 

Evening fell in. No sign of Karna Bahadur. At 7pm we got panicked & upon enquiry found  him -a lean , mean looking person sitting at Dawa's shop. Never thought that a hill person can be so bad tempered. He savoured our helplessness at such a remote place at such an ungodly hour fully knowing we had nowhere to go. Perhaps he gets a commission from the only private lodge opposite Dawa's shop ( the lodge charge is Rs. 700/- while the dormitory charge is Rs. 75/- per head). However , after much persuation he says that he is not in charge of the Dormitory & one Gopal Dukpa will come & open it for us.

It was evident that the local people were afraid of him & when he left the shop, Dawa called up Gopal's son  who opened the dorm. for us.

Raimatang FRH... Forest people at Alipurduar will find 107 excuses to refuse you.

Leo FRH at Rajabhatkhawa: WBFDC has taken over from dept.
 of Forest. you can resonably expect to book it online within a
couple of year or so.No more begging from DOF even though they
are not giving it free but  they seem to pretend as if
আমাদের  উর্দ্ধতন  চোদ্দপুরুষ  উদ্ধার  করে দিচ্ছে

Government of West Bengal is at last doing a good thing taking the FRHs from the forest dept & handing it over to WBFDCs . The FRHs are lying empty at least 300 days a year &  they are not allotted to general public even though the provision is there. I myself tried to book many FRHs several times  & every time I was informed that some officials are scheduled to come there when  every body knew that  no Govt. servant, on duty, will go to that godforsaken place ( in terms of conveyance). & they remained empty while I  spent days beside them in some local people's home-stay of some sort.  

Had Chicken meal at Dawa's place & sat in the splendid sprawling lawn of the dorm till midnight.

Torrential rain came tumbling down the sky around midnight & we feared that the dorm would be washed away eventually. But the British house survived.

Gopal Dukpa came in the morning. He is a nice, informative & helpful man. He lives at Khataline , midway to Lepchaka. He asked one of his son to act as our porter. We tried to give some tips  but he would take none. I do not know how he survives working under Karna Bahadur the butcher.

The doctors left for Coochbehar after breakfast & we left for Lepchaka. 

The one hour trek  was wonderful even though we can give only a half of our attention to the nature. The other half was busy spotting & evading from the Leeches ( How ironic ! I love freeleeches at my private trackers but hate them here).

Pentso Dukpa: he managed 4 rooms( Extreme right)

Tsring Pentso's mother ( sister of Pentso Dukpa) cooks for guests of all 3 homestays

Reached Lepchaka at about 10 in the morning . How is Lepchaka? well, just see for yourself.. The flat ground belong to a man who  made it flat using the cheap Nepalese labour of the orange gardens  & given it to three of his children.
  

Bathroom is not attached (detached?) for this house .We stayed in one of the 4 rooms of this house.

Debidas Bhattacharya & his wife was the only tourist whom we met there.

Kitchen: only egg & potato. But  delicious

 Have you ever bathed in rainwater? well, they store rainwater at Lepchaka & use it for bath & washing & toilet. Bathroom was clean, water at pleasant temperature & there are ropes to hang washed clothes. 

Tossed the idea of going to Oncholoom   next morning & when next morning arrived, we discarded the idea in favour of returning Buxa Fort & spending the night at the Dormitory again.

But at Fort, we decided to leave for Santalbari. Gopla's son was with us carrying our bags. Reached Santalbari at about 11 AM & lucky to get an Autorickshaw for Rajabhatkhawa. 

If you have not dined at Maman's Hotel opp. Rajabhatkhawa Railway station, You will not believe if I tell you the quality & price. Since you are not going to believe anyway, I am not telling you & so ending my blog here.

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