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).
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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. |
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 |
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. |
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