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Revisiting the Land of God

 

DAY 9

Epilogue as a prologue

The Cohin-Gauhati Express arrived at Chennai Central at 9.35AM,exactly 30 minutes after its scheduled arrival. It was to stop here for 25 minutes--so the printout from the timetable said.

Myself & Bhaskar were the first to disembark & ran towards the outlets of AnanthBhavan,a reputed food joint, to buy our lunches & thus deprive ourselves from the meal (or at least what they try to pass on as meals in the Indian rail these days) they serve in the train.

Having finished buying the lunch packets & sweets, Bhaskar set off towards the train while I stood in the queue to get a cup of milk for my son. After all, there were still 10 minutes to go before the train starts again.

With 5 minutes to go, I came back to Platform no.7 & saw with horror my train has left.

There I stood on the platform, with a cup of milk in my hand, not exactly penniless but wearing only a bathroom slipper & a dress that was being worn for the past few days & our train ticket in my pocket.

Fortunately I had a spare little gadget of communication commonly called a cellphone but the battery indicated 2 little bars which did not exactly raised my confidence.

However I called my wife & told her what had happened ( Bhaskar, meanwhile, knew for certain that I missed the train as he himself had to embark on it running.. but he too had his cellphone left in the train when he got down with me & had no way of warning me ..not that his warning would have done me any good).

That there is a thing called "pulling the chain" escaped all of us & I told them I was taking up measures so that they would not get thrown out from train by the TTE as the tickets were with me.

Met the railways officials next & for the next one hour filled up several forms & then went to Southern Railways HQ control room to conclude the official procedures.

It was 11Am & ensuring that they would not be bothered in the train, I set myself to the next task of bringing myself to Calcutta... not an easy task considering it was December end & all tickets were sold 3 months back.

I went to the chief reservation supervisor & tried for a berth in any train & in any class leaving Madras in the next two days on sympathy ground. But the Lady was unperturbed & advised me to buy a sleeper class ticket & apply for emergency quota ... sleeper class because it offered me the best chance of getting it.. but even she was not very optimistic about it and neither was I very keen on travelling thro' the entire Andhra Pradesh & Orissa in winter with the cloths I had on me.

So I called up my wife in the train & asked her to retrieve my friend Selvaraj's number from my other cellphone kept in my bag.

Called Selvaraj next & told him this "damsel  dumbass in distress" story. He asked me to come to his office . I crossed the road, bought a ticket to Mambalam & got into the local train .

Selvaraj called again before I reached Mambalam & asked me not to stop & proceed to Meenambakkam as there was a direct Indigo flight at 1.35PM to Calcutta & another Kingfisher one via Banglore at 1430 hrs. He said he'd book the ticket if I can make the 1335hrs flight in time & inform me the magic number upon uttering of which the airport people will get me a printout.

So I again got down at Guindy to buy another ticket to Trisulam ( next to meenambakkam as per the direction of Selvaraj and with my luck I was not willing to take a chance to travel without a valid railway ticket).

Got down at Trisulam & as Selvaraj kept giving me direction over phone, I ran towards the airport with my cellphone pressed against my ears ( seen many such scenes in Hollywood movies). Made to Indigo counter in time. Two dumbasses sat there who didn't know how to key in the PCs before them. After much heated discussion they gave me the ticket for Rs.5282/- & asked me to run towards check-in counter & get the boarding pass. Now,WTF is a boarding psss? I already got a ticket, isn't it? Well, later it turned out that the little piece of barcoded paper is the omnipotent stuff that will allow me to get into the flying demon and the ticket is of no use thereafter.

Now, frankly, I hate Airplanes & never been inside any machine that flies. If God wanted us to fly,surely he'd have given us wings. So I was not accustomed with the ways of Airports & I am not ashamed of my ignorance either. So when I found out check-in counter, security people stepped in & after thoroughly observing my dress & appearance, asked for my ID card.

I always believed in God & knew he is specially kind in X-Mas. So when I fished in my pocket I found an ID card. What will you call that except another miracle ? It will probably remain the last miracle unless the communists win the next assembly election in Bengal.( but then the communists do not believe in any single God ..so it had to be a miracle by the blessed demigods of politburo)

So there I stood, before the bewildering eyes of my co passengers, without any luggage or handbags. And then I suddenly remembered that I had not eaten anything since a cup of coffee at Katpadi station early in the morning. So I bought a sandwitch @Rs.50/- & a quick bite forced me to buy another canned pepsi for Rs.70/-(!!!). They sure know how to sell stuff.

So I drank the pepsi & put the half-eaten sandwitch in the wastebasket. There was no sign of any bus or airbus I was not sure what I should do now. Beside the wastebasket stood a few girls with Indigo logo sewn at  strategic position on their dresses. I coughed up enough courage & asked them if flight number 692 had already left. They asked me not to worry & additionally informed me that I was indeed lucky that day as I w'd be travelling with them. Yeah, sure, thank you ladies, that was indeed my lucky day.

Knowing that the airplane has not yet arrived ( yes,for once I had the feeling that I missed it again for the second time that day), I decided to pay a visit to the airport toilet & upon entering the ground floor bathroom, at once I felt at home. Here, at last ,the mask of modern & artificial makeup is absent. The smell & the flooded floor is no different than the urinals of Howrah & Sealdah stations. I breathed a sigh of relief and ammonia.

The Bus came & crammed 160 of us in its small belly & took us to the waiting airbus .

I got down first as I was the last to enter the bus & climbed a decorated ladder. Another checking of boarding pass & voila, at last I was inside an airplane. The airbus has come a long way since the Wright brothers. The fume-like emissions from allover the plane reminded me of some mystic meditation place . However, first thing first.. I needed to find my seat. So once again I asked another pretty lady as to the direction of my seat.It was 2D & after travelling the whole length from the tail section I found..no, not my seat.. but the row no.2.

Now the second problem had to be solved.. there were 3 seats D,E & F. and which one was what? Anyway, nobody boarded the plane before myself & I chose the window seat though I had a suspicion that D is the aisle seat. The suspicion grew as an elderly lady sat on that aisle seat & asked me if D is the window seat or F is the window seat. I replied without hesitation that I sat as per the direction of the air hostess standing over there. The lady didn't say anything more & took out a novel & started reading.

After some mime acting by those indigo babies ( to show how to fasten belts, take oxygen, wear Death-jackets before the plane plunges into the Bay of Bengal etc etc) that would put even Yogesh Dutta to shame, the plane started to move at a leisurely pace.After a long , slow & a bumpy stroll, during which I thought of Meg Ryan in "French Kiss", it stopped. Then taking a long breath it surged forward & its whole body vibrated. I tried to remember the theories of fractrue mechanics & the probability of disintegration when there was no more vibration & a quietness that reminded me of Remarque's All Quiet ...

The plane was airborne & the scenery from the windows were much like a wikimapia page. Now the pretty ladies started to open their shop & coaxed to sell drinks,chocolates, key rings, Jackets, cosmetics & other stuffs in a moving trolley. However, seeing their expressions I gathered that the business was not good. I , having tested the sandwitch at the airport lounge, became wise. Perhaps I should have bargained for a coffee & chips but was not sure if bargaining was allowed while airborne.

The airbus ran (flew?) faster than the pilot anticipated & landed at DumDum airport 30 minutes before schedule.

Got out fast as I had to catch the 1750 Shantipur local. In between I had to recharge the cellphone as I ran out of talktime while I was connected non-stop with Selvaraj.

This is how the day 9 ended for me. Not a very eventful day but not a routine run of the mill day either. But then  a routine run of the mill trip was not exactly in our mind when we planned the trip . But there were anxious moments ,phonecalls& SMSes with Nair,(yeah, the old SR without whose active involvement  I would not have dared to come in he first place),cancellations & confirmations & then one fine morning we met Ashokan,      DAY-1   the driver who came all the way from Cochin, was waiting at varkala station . Took us to hotel Clafouti .

 

They gave us the rooms in the morning itself &

we went off to the beach. The breakfast at Clafouti's restaurant was superb & so was the Hotel.A 2&1/2 hours sea-bath made everyone hungry

& we had our Thai lunch & came to know of the display of sea fish in front of the restaurant every

afternoon/evening. It was quiet a sight.You choose your fish or squid  & tell them how you’d like the preparation & they’ll cook it for you. Normally the cost of most of the fish or squid is Rs.250/- a portion, Prawns/Lobstars costing a bit more. We had squid fry, Tuna in Kerala style curry & Sword-Fish as a tandoor preparation. The next day was

                                              DAY-2

I got up early to have a big cup of coffee alone in the just opened restaurant by the seaside while others were busy packing.

Whenever I go on a trip I find my co-travellers have a hobby of packing & unpacking. They love to pack,take bath,get freshen up ,have rest, search Bengali food before seeing the place they came to see.

Anyway, Bhaskar & Subhada were not so frantic a packer I had seen before & we were only 1 hour behind schedule . Started towards Alleppey at 9am & reached there at about 11.30 . Had breakfast on the way ( kerala style Paratha/Kurma & Dhosa).

Alleppey Boat Jetty (HouseBoats start from here)

Let me tell you about the houseboats. These boats are like floating hotels(1/2/3 bedroom). It consumes about 20 liters of Diesel/hour, runs a generator for a/c during night, have a well equipped kitchen, ( inside the houseboat)

expert cook, awesome attached toilets with every room. The impressive part is that they don’t discharge any of the toilet water into the lake, instead it is stored in a tank & once ina month or so they discharge the contents in a septic tank somewhere on the mainland.The water for bath is stored in an overhead tank ( they don’t use the lake water even for flushing).

 

As for Journey, there is nothing special to write about. It was a memorable experience  but I’d have preferred  a public ferry to see the land & people rather than wandering aimlessly on the great Vembanad lake most of the time.The Boat halted at Pallathuruthy for night stay.By the way, Lunch & Dinner were excellent on the boat.( lunch on board)

curtsey: oopsie daisy

Last night at my apartment...

A Boy: Do you have a pair of pliers?

Me: Yeah, I think so.

I go to the closet and return with a brown and white striped Henri Bendel shopping bag that serves as my toolbox. After rifling through my collection of flimsy tools with blue plastic handles, I finally produce, with much flair, a pair of pliers. I hand them to A Boy and bat my eyelashes.

Me: Aren't you proud of me that I know what pliers are?

A Boy: Yes. Except... that's a wrench."

Curtsey :A dollop of daisy

"Co-worker: What? You don't have an alternative Twitter account where you spew hatred and vitriol just to get them out of your system?

Me: Um... That's my normal Twitter account.

Co-worker: Oh yeah. Right."

Bridge in Bengal---- through an opaque glass

For a long time I was thinking of writing on the Expert Bridge players as I saw them.

My knowledge on them is very much limited to what I felt at the table- when I was fortunate or unfortunate enough to sit across them—so , in all probability, these will be a very distorted view.

Also, I don’t often get to be their opponent. Usually they play at a higher table.But elimination rounds at matchpoint events offer scopes & I grab this opportunity to peep into the minds of champions.

I hope this malicious writing will not attract any defamation suit.

So lets start with the Greatest--- Robi Roy

He was a legend even before I was born. I happened to play against him only in 3 occasions. One being the Usha Martin sponsored pairs at the Oberoy Grand. He was playing with-I think- Mr. Tibruwala . All I remember is that he dropped my singleton King of Trump With lightning speed & finishing the deal likewise. At that time I found no explanation for him to refuse the finesse but I heard many such stories about him from players, who are trusted not to be overawed by his reputation.

In the other two instances I played a 8 or 10 board swiss league match against him. We were the youngest players in the field then & he did not make our lives difficult. Excessive Kibs made us nervous but he , sure, was not to be blamed for that!

I heard that Late Subinoy Ghosh of Siliguri was as good/or nearly as good as Roby Roy but this can probably never be confirmed.

The Late Shanti Sen: I have seen him but not seen him at play. So I can’t comment on him. Neither heard much about him.I often played against his brother though. A nice gentleman ( he is sengupta but not sen) & I could not muster enough courage to ask him about that.

Kamal Mukherjee:

One of the greats of Bengal Bridge. He plays the toughest bridge-- the Grandmother’s bridge.No excitement.No Gimmicks. No nothings. He has no enemies but there are thousands of players who think they know better than him. It is said that he likes hands where he can make a simple raise to his partner’s major & go to sleep , thus doing all there is to be done! Perhaps this is why a few years before ( before the Chinese agression to the world bridge) his was the best performance by any Asian player in the world pairs event. Hope in some years those thousands will improve upon his records.

Kamal Roy: A nice gentleman to play against. Like other Kamal, he also does not believe calling directors & asking unnecessary(!) questions to the opponents ( An attitude adopted by many including, notably, Pritish Kushari & Sudhir Ganguly among others)(I know the last line will make me unpleasant to the persons named because the Bridge Law allows one to enquirs about opp’s systems).

Only once I saw him going mad. That was in Pune & he was playing with –probably- Partho Banerjee of Burnpur/Asansol.

Those Two Kamals are a pleasure to play against. All Learners should watch them play if they want to learn Basic/sound old fashioned time tested bridge. Recent success rate of Kamal Roy may not be very high but this has lot to do with the team he gets & he does not play in most of the tournys.

In the opening ceremony of the last Calcutta National, I heard people saying that this particular National is being staged like an act of Hamlet without The Prince of Denmark.

A brief preamble is needed here.

Shantanu Ghosh had suffered a massive cerebral attack a few weeks before & was lucky to escape the extreme consequences.

Before this event, Shantanu Ghosh was Indian Bridge & Indian Bridge was Shantanu Ghosh( or so it appeared or rather made to appear).

He was the Indian Representative to the WBF. His article appeared in the Bridge world & he won with Jaggy Shivdasani the “Challange the Champs” contest-a popular feature of “The Bridge world” ( no mean achievement).

He was the Computer expert.

So perhaps it was correct to term the Calcutta National –“ like an act of Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark”.

But I should know better.

It was an act without CLADIUS-the King of Denmark!

Who wants to spread bad breath about an half crippled person?

Nobody.

But ask secretly & most of the players feel this way. If not most, if not a few, then at least I alone feel the way. & for once, I am not ashamed for feeling the way I feel about him.

I had the misfortune of playing many Pairs event against him & a very few T4 against him. I always blundered. But he was ruthless in exploiting the law.

Is it wrong to take advantage of the law? No. But it was not always so. Sometimes he broke the laws. He, being Santanu Ghosh, got away with it. Directors could not do a damn thing. Hell, they got a living to make. & once you lose Santanu’s favour you are finished.

Once in Bangalore National I saw an appeal arose against Vishu’s team & the organisers found it hard to constitute an appeal committee. Almost every appeal committee member, upon learning that it was an appeal against Shantanu, backed out.Remember Vishu was also very powerful then.

Some of the deals are itched in my mind where he stole from me illegally.

But I must also thank him for donating those Bridge World issues to WBBA.

Perhaps he has made other contibutions to Bengal Bridge, but I am unware of them. Needless to say - as a player he was good. The records speak for him.

But it is the "off the records" incidents that makes a lasting impression to mediocre players like us who places sportsmanship & integrity above winnings.( perhaps all losers feel this way) . But there again, Kamals are a winner too & so is Manas Mukherjee.

Sudhir Ganguly: A player I never understood. Whenever I sat against him, I felt irritated. He makes endless enquiries, calls director, & whenever I ask explanations about his partner’s bids, it turns out to be wrong when the deal is over or his partner spreads the dummy.

This is not just me, he does the same to almost all not so good teams.

But I have a feeling that he does it from insecurity. Perhaps he feels that everyone out there are going to cheat .

He also makes a big fuss about artificial systems.

But, somehow I don’t feel bad vive against him. Just plain irritation. If he stops the nagging probing about opponent’s system, one can ask him regarding the play or defense of a particular hand & learn a great deal of bridge from him.

If you ask him a question,he answers honestly.

Only he has to make his presence comfortable to the opponents. The “Holier than Thou” aura that he wears( knowingly or unknowingly) has to be discarded so that lesser players can sum up enough courage to ask him questions.

Is Mr. Ganguly listening?

Pritish kushari. When I started playing tournament bridge, Amal Das alias Pintuda told me to kibitz a young pair–known as Manas-Kushari.

As a true follower I have been following what my mentor(!)advised till date. I didn’t ever had any reason to regret but for the fact that this formidable duo don’t play together anymore.

Nevertheless I watch them seperately.

Kushari is articulate & suave . He plays elaborate system. he never gives up in a hopeless situation. He’ll spend all his energies even for a trick. He is the theoretician whom I can always ask when I am in a bidding problem or to haul up my system. & he answers.

But it is not for his capability as a player that overwhelms me.

He has produced some good players & a champion named Sumit Mukherjee.

He has established a new Gharana- the Moti Jheel gharana.

Unlike the old Bhawanipore Gharana, this is a scientific & complex gharana & it works.

But at the table he has a habit of intimidating the opponents , a habit that , I suspect, has different reason from Sudhir Ganguly’s.

In the old days, he also took advantages from the law- as the law is interpreted by the Director –& the Director’s interpretations –perhaps- at those days- were influenced by player’s reputations. But that was long past.

Debasish Roy: Another rare Gentleman of the old culture.

He was the favorite partner of Shantanu Ghosh but the company did not have any effect on his outlook of how this game should be played.

A fine player & even beginners feel at ease at his table. He partnered with Kushari successfully for a long time after Shantanu had that terrible attack.

One can watch him playing at the same skill level ( eating a few Marie biscuits) for a long stretch of time( a great quality).

He has impaccable manners & ethics & an enviable capacity to keep away from any controversy.

When Bipradas, the great gambler of Srirampore, got released from custody, he went to ( ?) for shelter. No prize for guessing right.

Yes, he is the man whose name comes to the mind when help is required.

He also plays Bridge.

He plays naturally. Cards love him. They are tuned to him. If everyone else played the system he plays, nobody would have remembered Robi Roy’s name as the greatest.

The days are changed. Special sophisticated systems can make a poor player strong. So the difference between Manas Mukherjee & the rest of the good players are not as wide as they should have been. A pity.

But I’ll remember him for years to come as ( hiring terminology from the movie “Matrix”) THE ONE.

I didn’t forget to mention the names of the players I omitted. Only that I lost patience & my typing speed is very poor. maybe in the course of few months I’ll mentions players like Joy Narayan Roy ( who reminds me of K.P. Chatterjee in his haydays),Sumit ( whom I mentioned briefly), Kaustav Nandy, S.sarkar( Kacchu), Pranab Bardhan( Choton- who is playing excellent these days),Badal das & others.

Hustling Kaushik.

For a loooooong time I was thinking of spending a few quiet days in the Dooars alone.. well, not exactly alone, but with the company of one or two who would not disturb every now & then with sundry requests/orders/problems.

A view of Mangpoo from the Bungalow of the Director of Sinkona Plantation

(Now Abandonned)

After searching a lot I finally zeroed on Kaushik.


He, being an internee, can manage his own expenses, can treat my broken neck in case I fell from the hill, can...... well, in short he is the ideal company.

So I cajoled him to accompany me. I lured him with 3 star free accommodation at Mangpoo. I also asked him to take a couple of his friends if he liked.


He took the bait & asked Bishan & his friend subhodeep to come. I knew they won't come. So it was not a surprise when I learned that the the other two could not make it. So Pinu was included.
Kaushik, I believe, would have been glad if I had cancelled the trip after his friends declined. But being Kaushik, he could not spell it out & I gave him no such option either.


PWD Rest House (Courtsey Dilipda)

I hope, after the trip is over, he is not repenting.

I chose the Darjeeling Mail not because it charges 30 rupees more as superfast surcharge but it solves the problem of dinner in the train. It gave us ample time to have our meal before the train left.


& , like our previous journey with Kaushik, this time also he went outside the station premises 5 minutes before the departure ( I guess the excitement of a train journey demands a cigarette from him to ease his tension -- & I also guess that his absence demands cigarette for me too, to relieve the tension caused by his absence-- but as I am inside the train & with GRPs around I can not take the chance).



The train left in time . We made our beds & discovered that Kaushik had not brought any blanket for the train.( He kept his bag small--- a habit his alter ego Vivek( parikshit) exercises-- but we are no छोड़दी (chhordi).

(morning preparation before leaving Mangpoo)

If someone does not bring essential cloths, it is his problem-not ours.

The train was only about an hour late. Dilipda was waiting at NJP with our passes for Mangpoo & Lataguri.


(Powerless drawing room @ mangpoo )


Pinu wanted to use toilet at waiting room. So I had my morning tea with Dilipda & started bargaining for a transport to Mangpoo. Kaushik was also in the waiting room & taking bath( You will see that he takes bath quite a few times in a day & all at inconvenient hours.)

So after an hour P & K were ready & by that time We arranged a nice car for Rs.650/-.

Reaching Sevok we had our breakfast -- परोटा . Kaushik had a समोसा too. But the samosa caused a mini diahorrea later.


Reached Mangpoo & as we entered our room we were shivering. I told them that we'd put 2 room heaters on in the night else we'd die from freezing.

(Ramprasad cooks well)

& then we heard the good news. The 1st floor of the bunglow had been without electrical power for the past 15 days or so. The entire switchboard was blown off.

So we merrily had our lunch. Made a trip to the Sinkona Director's pictursque Bunglow. Then a trip to the Rabindra Bhavan(Maitriyee Devi's house), but it was closed. Took pics. of Oranges hanging from the tree, bought a dozen of orange, walked & searched in vain in the dark for non existent oil-cakes(तेलेभाजा).

Came back to Bunglow about 6 or 7 pm. Had our Dinner ( Kaushik wouldn't have chicken again, so we already ordered egg for dinner.) Then went to bed.

I knew about carbon mono-oxide, so switched the kerosene lamp off. But Pinu & Kaushik thought it was unnecessary as we will be emitting carbon di-oxide in our sleep & if Di-oxide can not harm us, Mono oxide ,surely, would not harm too.

I was fortunate enough to see them alive the next morning.( how ignorant I was!)

Day-2

The Share Jeep was to come to our place at about 7.30. We were ready before that. रोटी - सब्जी
was our breakfast. It was a dificult decision not to stay here for another day( Dilipda, once again, arranged for that provision--(I will not insult him by thanking him again) & leave for Rangpo, where,we knew from the internet, rooms were already booked.

Anyway, we decided to move on & take our chances- the lure of WBFDC bunglow & Chandraman Bhujil's chicken curry was too much to resist. We got into the only bus that ply between Mangpoo & Siliguri. It was to leave by 8.30 & left at 8.45. Got down at Rambi Bazar & from there took another bus to Rangpo. It took about two hours to Rangpo.

At rangpo Jeep stand we were enquiring about a hotel to stay for that day ( we thought that we might stay at Ravangla but the fare form Rangpo to Ravangla turned out to be Rs.1200/-,quite beyond our budget) when a known figure emerged. He was Chering- son in law of Chandraman who knew me. He took us to the forest bunglow. Chandraman was delighted to see me as he thought it was I who booked the rooms.


But when I told him that it was not so & suggested that he allow us to stay at servant's quarter for that night, his heart broke. But we insisted & he made the quarter thoroughly cleaned

(Chandravan with Pinu)

(The Servant's Quarters)

But he made up for the servant's quarter with his preparation of Lunch. The legal guests had not yet arrived & we used up the time with our cameras.

After meal we went to walk instructing Chering to come next morning to take us to Algarah.

(Lunch at Rangpo)

When we came back, the guests were there- a big family of 9 including children. But as the dusk fell, they shut themseles off inside the house lest some Cheetah/leopard came out.

So we were practically alone there & tried our hand at night photography.

Chandravan served Dinner around nine or ten & after that we went to bed.

Kaushik got up twice-- Norflox was slow to act ( hospital supplies are usually slow acting!)

I went out at five in the morning( even the possibility royal bengal tiger would not force me to use the toilet attached with this quarter).

This is the most beautiful bunglow Kaushik & Pinu have never stayed.

Rangpo at night as seen from

DAY-3

------------------------

K-P were still asleep when I had my first cup of tea. Phoned chering to bring 2 packs of cigerette when he comes up to take us to Mungsong-Jalasa sinkona bunglow. ( I forgot to mention that this Jalasa bunglow came up in our discussion with Chering last night when I asked him to suggest a place to stay for today--we didn't want to reach Rishop today)

Chering, a nice boy, came up around 8.30 . Can you imagine that he brought a copy of Anandabazar for us! ( & can u imagine that I forgot to pay him for that newspaper & cigerette !---though I later phoned him from Lataguri & promised to pay when I next visit that place).

After रोटी- सब्जी again, we started for Mungsong.

A local guy, who got into our car in the midway & was heading for Mungsong, tried his level best to get us the Bunglow or at least the private cottage run by the head clerk. But he was informed that all were booked.

But we decided to go there nevertheless as it was on our way to Peyong ( 17th mile). 17th mile aka Peyong was on the Kalimpong-Lava road & 2 Kms before Algarah. Chering was to drop us at jalasa bunglow & go back to rangpo to take those Leopard frightened family to the safety of Siliguri.

( But we had secreatly decided to take Chering upto Peyong- else we would have to trek 7-8 kms.)

When we reached Jalasa bunglow( about a kilometer from the sinkona office wher booking is done), the sheer beauty of that place made us dumbstruck.

The caretakers were corrupted & would love to let us stay but they feared the Garden Manager who has taken over an week ago & is ill tempered. But the main problem is that the new manager is a diabetes patient & walks up to the bunglow twice a day. The earlier manager Mr. Pal was good & it was during his tenure the head clerk converted his quarters into two private cottages. Now everything has come to a standstill . Neither the present manager will let travellers stay at the bunglow officially nor the clerk had the courage to lend his private cottage.

It took us a long time to try all the avenues . In the meantime it was already past eleven & Chering was getting restless as he was to reach Rangpo by this time. But he was a good boy & took us upto Peyong(17th mile). He was in a hurry & I gave him Rs.400/-.

Jalasa Bunglow

We waited in the sun drenched highway for half an hour when we realised that ther won't be any Kalimpong-Algarah jeep for a long time to come.So we started walking stopped a Maruti car on our way. The car agreed to drop us at Algarah. The driver, knowing our final destination said that Algarah-Lava share jeep will be available only after 2pm . So we asked him to drop us to Lava for Rs.300.00.

The driver agreed & we bought two packs Britannia Good day Cakes & Biscuits for Rs 65/- as our lunch at Algarah. Also had tea & a जिलाबी each.

Reached some 4 Kms before lava at about 2pm. This is the place frm where a steep shortcut road goes up to Rishop & another nice road goes down to Loley-Gaon(Kaffer) about 25 Kms away.

The shortcut to Rishop was too much for a citygoer like me. It took a neverending one hour to Rishop. Had to take 4 or 5 breaks. Our luggages made it harder. However none of us died.

Shortcut to Rishop

The joy of reaching Rishop did not come from the nature's splendour but it came from the fact that we survived the 1 hour journey . The realisation that we won't have to climb up again that day produced overwhelming sense of contentment. I realised the feeling that goes in the mind of a climber who had just reached the summit---- no more bloody climbing, only downhill from now. Sense of achievement & victory comes long after he stops panting.

So, there we were, at Rishop. It was not very difficult to find hotel Sunakhari.It is the oldest hotel there & at the best spot.

Pinu came here before. He knew the hoteliers but the reverse was not true.

However, we got the room @ 400/- a day.Had Maggy Noodles & tea & then set out to explore Rishop.But before that P-K got fresh( they have the nice habit of getting fresh every now & then). Fortunately the shortcut journey worked in tandem with Norflox & Kaushik did not feel the urge to use the loo.

Our room at Sunakhari

Exploring Rishop is easy.Every house is a hotel & all hotels are interconnected by means of shortcut unofficial or official roads.

We even went to Neora Valley resort ,where I stayed last year with Debuda. Called Debuda from there over phone.Came back to Sunakhariat about seven. There were two other families there who'd leave for Loleygaon the next day & we'd be alone then. The season was practically over for the hoteliers & in most probabality we were their last visitor before the next season in starting from March end.

The SunaKhari Hotel

We had Chicken Curry( or so they said) & roti. Kaushik had Cauliflower & Omlette, Animal protein hinders norfloxacin's efficacy. ( oh! egg is actually a vegeterian item- ask any Iyenger Brahmin).

What about cold ? well, I was shivering. Temperature may not be below 3-4 degrees but it was very chilly.

Already the cold has taken out our desire to trek to टिफिन॒द्दॉड़ा next morning (it is the highest point & takes about an hour's steep climb with a guide-- the hotelier's son agreed to take us there at 4.30 am).

In fact, not only did we cancell the trek, we even seriously thought of cancelling the whole trip & come back to calcutta if railway tickets were available.

We even instructed over phone to my wife to find out train ticket availability. When we knew no tickets were available, we decided to carry on but cancelled the trek next day nevertheless.

Rishop was starting to feel very boaring for me & Kaushik.

Took a bottle a warm water & went to sleep with our stockings on. I put on 2 blankets & a quilt,so did Pinu & Kaushik between us had shared all the six from us.

Hours later, I felt that I have taken the shared portion from Kaushik but felt no compunction for it.

End of day 3 or Night 3.

Day-4

Getting Fresh as a Fresh Lime-Juice
(all the dirts that he slept with last night had been washed away with)




So , after all the fresh maniacs were ready, we started for Lava--mainly to confirm the Bus/share Jeep departure time. No breakfast. The cakes of Algarah were still there.
Had them on the way to Lava.
Early Morning Kanchenzongha as seen from our room at Sunakhari

The road to Lava was not as steep as the way we came by, but we had to take 3 or 4 breaks for 5/10 minutes each. When we started to hear the motors/ loudspeakers from Lava after about an hour, we saw another way going upwards. Upon enquiry we discovered that it was a route to Tiffin-Danra. Those from Lave willing to go there uses this route. we also discovered that it also takes about an hour to reach there.
We had enough time to spare & enough stamina left to give it a go.

So, we were off to tiffin-Danra.

Way to Tiffindanra

Reached there in an hour. Stayed there for about 30 minutes. & in a way we saved Rs. 150/- as Guide charge.

Came back to Lava.








At Tiffindanra

Tried our luck at WBFDC for a nice lunch. But they served lunch only to those who stay there. So we asked if a room is available. We knew quite well that the rooms can not be booked on the spot. But the Managers are always crooked. & he showed us a beatiful room (Red Panda) for only Rs.500.00.

We seriously thought of shifting there as it would save us the problem of getting up early the next day & getting the 7o'clock bus would be easier.

But shifting there would also mean to go up to Rishop again to get our luggages & as it was already past twelve, we would've to pay for that day too.
So, with much reluctance we abandoned the idea of shifting over to Lava.

Found a very nice joint for lunch. @ Rs.45/- per egg meal, with unlimited Dal, aloo-posto & papad, it is really cheap at a hill station like Lava.

We saw the only Jeep that plys between Lava & Samsing.
The Syndicate won't take advance booking for tomorrow. They said that there was always a slim possibility that the jeep might not return the next day.

But we had already made up our mind & decided to catch that 12.30 jeep to Samsing the next day.

Came back to Rishop before dusk. Had tea at Neora Valley Resort. & as the sky darkened, came back to our hotel at about 7 pm.

Omlette & veg.curry for dinner.

we were the only boarder that day.

Spend an hour at the kitchen. & arranged for a porter to carry our luggages to Lava next morning. The porter was only 71 years old. He had converted his two room house just below our hotel as another hotel (Oh-Calcutta). He, the 71 year old young man would carry all the luggages of the 3 old persons named Saswata,Kaushik & Pinu.

& after dinner we called it a day.

Day-5

The porter dully arrived in time. He took all our luggages & started. Shared the leftovers( biscuits & cakes) with him as breakfast on the way. Half of the way was uphill & the rest downhill but they were evenly distributed. We took rest 3/4 times on the way. We were careful not to waste our energy talking but the man with all our luggages & an additional load of 71 years was greeting whoever happened to be see on the way.

However reached Lava by 10.30 & immediately ordered for lunch ( omlette curry this time).

The Geep came back from Samsing in time & we were given our tickets.

The driver was a jolly fellow & beside driving he acted as short distance postman. he happened to know everybody on the way & people were waiting on the way to send messages/ letters/money thro' him.

It took a long time to reach Malbazar & from there another one hour to reach Chalsa ( don't ask how it takes one hour to cover 7 kms-- everyting is possible with our driver in charge).

From Chalsa we caught a bus that goes upto Mainaguri. Our destination, Lataguri, is almost midway. I could remember the PWD resthouse & the bus dropped us there.

We entered the Bungalow & a new story unfolded. I'll try to put words to this story as much as I can but it takes a Nillohit or Kalkut to do justice to the materials available there.

We entered thro' the gate. No one was there to be seen. The moment we came near the house, a man appeared from nowhere. We took him for the caretaker & tried to convince him that since we had a genuine booking for the 6th , ther was no problem if he let us occupy the place on 5th itself. We also hinted that we'd pay unofficially for the courtsey extended.

The man, later we learned his name was Bona Munda & he was the Chowkidar, then called the caretaker.

The caretaker, a young guy named Devraj Mahato, came . He was dead drunk. He saw our booking paper. We had no idea whether he could make any head or tail out of that slip of paper in his drunken condition but nevertheless he took us upstairs to the rooms.

Rooms were ransacked. We learned that the party that occupied the rooms had left after lunch.The dining room between the two rooms was full of leftovers.Seeing the big utensils on the dining table & the amount of chickenbones in it one wonders about the no. of persons that stayed there. The party must have been a big pain in the neck of the caretaker. Devraj must have sighed a great relief when they left today & celebrated their departure with alchohol---so I surmised. He knew there was no booking for today & so he didn't waste time in cleaning the rooms & dining rooms----so also I surmised.

But as the story will unfold you'll see that I am a very bad guesser of human character.

Meanwhile, our rooms were made up. Nice large carpeted rooms. They even had big sized UPS--yes uninterrupted powe supplies( not just simple inverters).Kaushik or Pinu( I forgot who it was) went inside the bathroom for a late bath.

I took the other room & thought of using the toilet.

I opened the attached toiet door.

Long ago, I stayed for a few months at Durgapur HCL guest house ( a DPL querters-DN56- if I am not mistaken). It had a refrigerator. We used to keep milk in it for making tea. Once during weekend when we all left for our homes switching the refrigerator off, we forgot to remove the milk. When we came back on monday & opened the fridge door, the odour that came out made two of us jump off the window & break their neck. The other two got senseless & somehow escaped gallows.

The old memory revived when I opened the tolet door. It took a few millisecond to close the door & shout for the caretaker.

Devraj came back with a guy-- supposedly the sweeper-- . But the sweeper had a cell phone & talking over it. He opened the toilet door & was as fast as myself in closing it. He declared that he needed acids & many such complicated chemicals to clean it & that the chemicals were there in the other toilet.

But Kaushik was inside the other toilet. So he left stating that he'd come after a few minutes.

Asked Devraj to arrange for tea. But he said it'll take time as he'd have to bring it from outside.

Devraj left with his wife witha a thermoflask in his hand.

He didn't return in an hour. Neither did the sweeper with a cell phone.

So we decided that devraj will not come back today. Not that we were worried about the dinner.Devraj informed us long back that the previous occupant had left him without any fuel to cook ( he was running short of logs to cook that day but next day onwards he'll cook for us & for today he phoned a nearby resort to cook for us).

So waiting in vain for either Devraj or the sweeper for more tahn an hour, we too came out of the bungalow in search of Tea. The tea stall was a mnute's walk. When we wete havin tea there, Devraj appeared. It seemed he kept the flask there .By his silent gesture, the stall owner charged us Rs.3/- a cup.

We were very dissatisfied with Devraj & threatened him if te toilets wete not cleaned today itself.

He feigned ignorance & cursed the sweeper with a cell phone. Then we learned that he was not the sweeper- but sweeper's son. Anyway, Devraj brought the sweeper himself this time & the toilet was somewhat cleaned( Pinu would not allow him to clean the other toilet).

It was already half past eight & we had no idea whether our dinner will be brought here by Devraj or we'd have to go to the resort. & there was nobody to ask. When we got down to find somebody, the mysterious Chowkidar,Bona Munda appeared from nowhere & told us that it is better for us to go to the resort ( Aryanya Resort). he showed us the direction-10 minute's walk towards Neora More.

The restaurant at the resort was well decorated. Dinner costed us around Rs.250/-. But we were glad that next day onwards Devraj would cook.

Came back to our Bungalow. The moment we netered the gate,the Chowkidar appeared from nowhere. It was all very thrilling- a touch of mystery-- like those ghost stories.

We went to bed. But phone calls kept coming for Kaushik . It seemed there was a shortfall of manpower-I mean Internpower in his surgery unit & he was tryin frantically to arrange substitutes.

within 10.30, I was asleep.

The penultimate day

When I woke up it was a new day. Everything looked beautiful & smelled beautiful till I entered the toilet.
After a brief encounter with the alien smell I came out & saw the doors of the other rooms still closed. Sound of snoring told me all I needed to know.
So, I went downstairs where the ubiquitious
Chowkider took me to manager's room. He was either sleeping or watching television in that wee hours or sleeping with the TV on.
He came out & smelled like a country brewery . He assured me of making our meals today & when I asked about the local fish ( we were bored of chicken) he told me the genus & species of all available fishes that are found in the local rivulets.

I believed him as much one should believe a dead drunk. So I offered to buy the fish myself & he gladly agreed & instructed the chowkider to accompany me to the Lataguri market.
Though, in normal circumstances, I don't buy the rations myself as it robs the caretakers of their profits- but I felt no compunction in this particular case. The caretaker is getting more & more disgusting with the time.

Sunday market at Lataguri seemed to be special. There were four or five fish vendors & all except one were selling fishes from Andhra Pradesh. The fifth one had चारा पोना।


Bona Munda, the chowkidar suggested that sometimes fresh local fishes are found at Kranti More. It took 10 bucks to go there by van only to find out that on sundays the local market is off ( all to the Lataguri market on sundays).

So we returned & I decided to get local chicken( Desi Murgi). Bought a kilo of that @ Rs.110/- which will ultimately yield about 650-700 gms, enough for three of us ( to hell with the chowkidar, caretaker & their families -- I am not supposed to treat them with Desi Murgi).

After that Chowkider suggested to buy Oil to cook it. When I asked about the other ingradients, he said that it is better that I buy them now.
I felt suspicious. Is he going to deprive the caretaker from the commission? But he said that the prevailing system of the Bunglow is that the guests buy the raw food & the caretaker cooks them & charges for cooking only.

So I bought rice, flour, spices, potato, onion, sugar, salt & all that is required except LPG.

It was well past 11 am & when I returned with the provisions ( worth about 350/-), kaushik & pinu started getting worried. I bought egg & flour & ordered the chowkider to make us Roti- sabji for breakfast.
In 10 minutes he returned to inform that the caretaker is crying & he is not likely to make breakfast.

By this time I took a firm decision that if the caretaker does not cook for us & I am to waste 350 rupees worth of provisions, I'll not pay him a penny for the 1st day of my unauthorised stay here.

So I asked the chowkider to make us 3 omlettes & decided to give it a last try with the drunken caretaker.
Surprisingly, the caretaker didn't make any trouble. He again assured me of making the lunch himself.

So he did.

He cooked everything I bought & served us with the whole lot. Since we didn't ask him to make ant fry or curry to go with दाल, he didn't make any! But the chicken was plenty & delicious. So there was no problem.

In between we walked thro' the forest along Mal- Changrabandha abandoned meter guage line.
Took lot of photos there. ( one is just below)


After a nice post lunch nap, we spend the rest of the day at the bunglow.

Dinner went without any hitch. Though the caretaker was nowhere to be seen ( he was always sleeping with the TV on).
Both the chowkider's & the caretaker's wife together cooked & the chowkider served.

After dinner when we were going for a stroll, chowkider appeared even though we were careful enough not to make any noise-- same when we came back.
When we found that water was not coming out from the aqua-guard & decided to call the chowkider, to our utter surprise we found him at the pump room putting the pump on.
He seemed to know what we need all the times & when we were going out or coming in!
I wonder if he could read minds & that too from a distance!
I don't know we I got asleep thinking about his supernatural abilities.

The last day

As usual I got up first. No point in knocking the other room as there will be no tea. So I let them sleep for a while & went to market. There were the unsold fishes of yesterday but fresh vegetables. I bought "lau-shak, posto,alu,dal,ata,& disi-dim". Came back & asked the chowkidar to make Roti-alu sabji for us. Also Instructed him how to prepare "lau-shak bhate with posto-bata".

Went out for Tea & from there set out to explore the other side of the Jungle thro' which the rail track went.

Came back around 12, packed our luggages & had our lunch.

A new group was scheduled to arrive & we thought we could take their vehicle to get us to Malbazar. But the driver turned out to be a hard nut & we came to Mal by bus.

In the meantime Dilipda informed me that he'd wait at siliguri station with our dinner. I didn't want to deprive him of the "punya" heis likely to gather by feeding an honest Bhattacharjee brahmin. But poor as he is, he said he got "desi- murgi" & was worried whether we could manage with it!

Well, even though he could not get us "broilar chicken", still, we had to manage with"desi".

We didn't find him at Siliguri. But he was at NJP waiting with 3 packets for each of us.

It had only 2 sweets & begunbhaja apart from that desi-murgi & ruti. Not good! But we forgave him for such paltry dinner. U see, we are not very choosy.