The fascinating mountains of Himalayas always attract the attention of people all over the world. The range of Himalayas is spread from Kashmir to Assam. The glaciers, the ice-peaks are the subject of curiosity to me. I chose Sikkim and Darjeeling to have the glimpses of Himalayan Mountains.My actual tour to this region starts from Bagdogra where the airport is situated. When the taxi enters from foothills to mountains, it is different world altogether. My taxi traveled through the spiral and narrow roads of the mountains. The first halt was a Buddhist temple. As we go up through the hills, the beauty of the nature also goes up. After completing a journey of four hours, we could have glimpses of Darjeeling town. A beautiful town settled on the hills. The lighting of the town gives beautiful view of the town from the outskirts. At last, we reached the town in the evening, where you feel cold air piercing the body. In the month of March, one will have feeling of severe winter in Darjeeling. We closed ourselves in the hotel room immediately. A heater in the room is very essential requirement.
Next day’s plan was to wake up at 4:30 a.m. and go to tiger hill to view the sunrise. As per our plan, we woke up early in the morning. A Gorkha driver with his taxi was already waiting for us. A man having sharp and piercing eyes, he was very expert in driving. Driving through ups & downs of the hills requires a very very special skill. Our driver always had a smile on his face and his continuous talk was giving us full entertainment.
But severe cold breeze coming from the icy mountains of Himalayas was unbearable. There were already fifty tourist taxis waiting at the tiger hill for viewing sunrise. The severe cold was unbearable & it was so foggy that it was difficult to see the next mountain, leave alone the sunrise and Kanchenjunga. Not getting a chance to view the sunrise, we were disappointed. But anyhow we saw various Buddhist monasteries, Batasia loop, mountaineering institute and tea gardens. These all places were worth seeing. A folk dance in the Gangamaya Park gave us idea about dancing culture prevailing in Darjeeling. It appears that rhythm in dance & sweet music is inherited by the common folk.
Because of the fog, we could not have the darshan of the mighty Kanchenjunga Mountain. Our driver hinted that you have to pray to god for a clear sky. In the night, we were praying for a clear sky. Next morning I woke up early in morning and sat in front of the hotel room & kept searching for the peak of the Kanchenjunga. I saw some white lining appearing in the horizon. I thought it may be Kanchenjunga. Gradually the view became clearer and there was a view of the Kanchenjunga, the beautiful mountains in front of our eyes. After watching this beautiful white range, I thanked god that I accomplished the mission of my visit to Darjeeling. What a beautiful view it was! I was feeling as if I had seen paradise on earth. It was difficult to take away the eyes from these mountains. This view was visible for 1 or 2 hours, but when the sun came up & the fog rose, all the mountains disappeared. In short, the darshan of Kanchenjunga was available for 1or 2 hours only. We had seen Mirik Lake and Nepal border too. We were feeling pretty excited on seeing our soldiers guarding our border, throughout in worst weather conditions
Then the next task was to go to Gangtok- Sikkim. We were going through Nepal-Sikkim border on the road. The view from the taxi was beautiful- the tea garden, the hills and the pine trees, all were satisfying our eyes.
On the way, we saw the Teesta River. It was appearing as though it was piercing through the mountains. We enjoyed rafting, which was another thrilling experience. At last we reached Gangtok. It was noticed that the same gorkha culture is there, but only difference was sparse population & neat and clean roads. Here , we chose a hotel, from where we could get a view of the Kanchenjunga fro m the hotel room. One novel thing we noticed was that there was a main road, namely M.G.Road. Here vehicles are not allowed. The tourists and the local people do the marketing there by simply walking.
For one whole day, we had done local sightseeing, which included Buddhist monasteries, flower show and local viewpoints on the hills. For some time, it rained and it again became clear. Our hotel people informed us that the weather in Sikkim is unpredictable.For the next day, we had planned for the ultimate place of our tour i. e. the Tsongo Lake, Baba mandir & china border. We started early in the morning. Our taxi was climbing the hills and the road was very narrow. If your vehicle loses balance, nobody can save you.The cold was very severe. We were at the height of 13,000feet above the sea level. We had covered every part of our body. We saw sparse patches of ice surrounding us. Gradually, we began to see ice everywhere. We were going more upwards when our taxi reached 6 kms before the lake a heavy snowfall started. It was a lifetime’s experience. All the tourists were enjoying, shouting and taking photo snaps. There was a joy on every face as they have feeling of winning a war. Due to heavy snowfall, we were prohibited from going further for Tsongo Lake and Baba mandir. It was difficult to go further because our vehicles were skidding and it was very difficult to drive too. But we had enjoyed the snowfall. It was told that only lucky tourist get a chance to experience that kind of snowfall.
The land of Himalayas is really peaceful. It seems the cold breeze brings peace to the Buddhist monasteries who spread culture of peace & tranquility in the society. We can say that the icy Himalayas give inspiration to spread Buddhist culture of peace.There are few places left in India, the birth place of Buddha where Buddhist culture is found. After seeing these monasteries I thought that Buddha is smiling in this part of India. I really will carry the memories of the Himalayas-the king of all mountain ranges-in my mind throughout my life. The culture of the people Gorkhas, Lepchas, Bhutanese is really special & praiseworthy.
