My Orchids

My friend Pradip Pal got me addicted to orchids. I had bought a couple of very small dendrobium orchids from Mukherjee Nursery in Shikharpur, when I went there with him in 2021 for the first time. I guess it was in the month of July or August. In the winter of 22-23, that is after about a year and a half, they finally flowered and I really fell in love with orchids. 

Now I wanted to have more orchids. What is there to not love orchids? They are not super difficult to grow and Pradip is there in any case to guide me. All they need is a little patience. Some of the varieties bloom in abundance and stay fresh for weeks on end.  My first big success had some 13 yellow and maroon flowers simultaneously in bloom for more than a month. And I had brought this plant home as a little baby.

The first bloom that hooked me

My first stop in my renewed enthusiasm was Click Orchid, again introduced by Pradip (or Pal Babu, as I call him). This is a very well organised orchid nursery in Siliguri with a very good website. I ordered for three dendrobium seedlings from them. I think this was in January 23. They have been repotted in earthen pots that Monisha and I bought from Behala and they have settled down just fine in this Calcutta weather. The names are written in small paper tags. They are Aridang Green (this is the most robust), Airway Blue and Juree Red.

Click Orchid is a very dependable nursery for orchids. They send the plants very well packed and are reasonably priced. Every packet comes with a starter kit of food and fungicide. They are also generally available for guidance on whatsapp or phone. I went for a repeat trip to Mukherjee in February looking for a pair of phalaenopsis. I ended up buying two phalaenopsis, another dendrobium and a vanda. But these were not seedlings. They were matured plants. The phals in fact had buds and flowered soon. Both the phals turned out to be of the same variety - purple. Mukherjee never told me the precise name. The vanda and the dendrobium are yet to bloom but they are anything but seedlings. I don't regret buying them because they are doing fine. But I wouldn't have bought them if I was buying online and alone.

Mukherjee's Phalaenopsis

So I remained on the lookout for seedlings because I was not satisfied and still didn't get what I was looking for. Orchid sellers generally push the grown up plants because they are more pricey. It is nice to have a few matured plants around the house, to be honest. That way you have some flowers blooming all the time. But I still wanted my seedlings, like the original first lot of dendrobiums were.

The challenge and satisfaction of growing a plant from its baby stage to flowering stage is something indescribable. I got lucky with my search a few weeks ago. 

First I found phalaenopsis seedlings with Click Orchid in early April. I ordered for three of them and they are right now on my bedroom window sill. I have kept them in their original transparent pots. They are on an old newspaper lest water seeps out. Since they are in sphagnum moss I am not watering them every day. They don't need it. In fact too much water might be harmful for them.

They have sent them to me in nice transparent pots, names clearly mentioned through code numbers (for decoding one has to refer to their invoice). The plants are in sphagnum moss. I am sure they can stay here for a year or so. Must check out with them for a clarification on this later.

The Click Orchid Phalaenopsis

Since I had a grown vanda hanging in the balcony I also kept looking for a few seedlings. I found them on a facebook group from a guy called Thampy Ap, who is from Kerala. I ordered for just two because this hobby is getting to be quite expensive for me now and I have to control the urge to spend. The Mukherjee trip cost me Rs 1700. Click Orchid so far is like two thousand rupees or so. Thampy charged Rs 250 for each vanda plus Rs 125 for courier. So I have already spent around Rs 4000 which is a lot of money. 

Thampy also seems to be a nice professional guy. A little non-responsive to messages but he packed quite well and labelled the plants nicely. I might buy a few more from him in future. His number is 7012657727. He is from Pathanamthitta, famous for Sabarimala temple. 

When Thampy advertised he just put a number against the flowers. From that I ordered for 2 and 7. One was blue and the other purple. Now I find the plants are labelled as Yano Blue and Pure Wax Blue. This Yano Blue is much larger with good rooting system. In fact it looks like two plants. They are in small baskets. 

I have kept them hanging off the bathroom's towel rod with galvanised wire. It was quite tricky getting them to stay erect. I also bought two larger baskets from Thampy for Rs 25 each. I intend to transfer the plants into them later. Before that I need to have hangers, which I ordered for from another Keralite called Sadanandan. His number is 9947520667. He is charging Rs 25 for each. I am getting ten of them plus courier of Rs 80.

Pure Wax Blue

Yano Blue

So that's my collection of orchids as of April 23. Two adult dendrobiums (from Mukherjee), three seedling stage dendrobiums (from Click Orchid), two adult phalaenopsis (from Mukherjee), three seedling phalaenopsis (from Click Orchid), two seedling vanda (from Thampy), one matured vanda (from Mukherjee) and one matured twisted dendrobium (from Mukherjee).

Sounds of Kakrajhore

The Spotted Owlet 

The Buru Sadam property where we stayed in Kakrajhore has three Mohul trees just outside its fence. After 5 pm on Sunday, our second day and the only full day of our stay there, I saw an owlet flying from one tree to the other. I went there armed with my camera but soon realised that it was too dark for any photography. I couldn't even properly see the bird.

It started calling in a harsh tone towards me. It was also looking straight at me with a quizzical look and bobbing its head up and down in a comical way. I should have immediately identified the bird because I have both heard and recorded this call before. It was a spotted owlet. But at that time I remained confused. 

When I was convinced that photography was impossible, I quickly went back to my room and brought the recorder and mic. The bird had flown back to the farthest tree but it soon came back to the front one and allowed me to record its call. 

I knew it was an owlet but was confused between jungle and spotted. Funny. I have both the recordings of these birds on Xeno-Canto. And even here in Kakrajhore I ended up recording both. While I could see the Spotted, I couldn't see the Jungle. It was calling from some distant perch in the forest. 

Here are both the recordings.

Kankrajhore 3=5 February 23

Kankrajhore is a small tribal village in the extreme south west corner of West Bengal, now in Jhargram district, bordering Jharkhand. It has about 4/5 places for tourists like us to stay. Resorts, you may call them. Other than that it has nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even a small tea shop. For the three days that we stayed there we didn't see any commercial transaction happening anywhere. 

By our conventional standards it must be very poor. But I do not think the conventional standards or benchmarks for evaluating poverty and wealth should be used to judge the quality of life of the tribals here. The question is are they happy? We didn't stay there long enough to find answers to these deep questions. But the local population didn't seem very unhappy. Or it would have shown. 

Kankrajhore, it must be mentioned, was in the grip of a very violent Maoist movement for decades. Except for security forces no one went there for a couple of generations. Naturally, it is quite detached from the rest of the civilisation which I think has done it some good. Kankrajhore still retains its traditional way of life. It is reflected in everything around and most particularly in its traditional home architecture. You will thankfully not see a single ugly concrete building in Kankrajhore. All the village houses are traditional tribal buildings.

Phone connectivity is non-existant except for Jio. Perhaps BSNL also works but no one uses it any more. 

But what it has in abundance is natural rustic beauty and simple local tribal folks. It has silence. Something that is very rare in India these days. Kankrajhore is two kilometers away from Amlashole - a village that hit the headlines  a few years ago for hunger deaths. Locals say it was a hyped up incdient. The deaths happened due to consumption of poisoned country liquor.

Coming back to our trip - four of us went there for a very short weekend trip in the first week of February 23. Rituparno Majumdar, Prabir Mukherjee and Suman Das. Ritu is a geologist from Jadavpur University and now the eastern India head of Indian Bureau of Mines. He is quite junior to me. Prabirda is a retired government servant in his mid-sixties. They live in the Dum Dum area. Sumon is a financial adviser who lives in Garia. I got to know two of them - Sumon and Ritu - at the BWS Majua camp. Prabir-da came through Ritu. Two more persons were to go but were last moment drop outs. Sukanta - Ritu's neighbour and Shankha of Asansol (I knew them from the Majua camp). 

As things turned out I had to take my car out and do the driving duty. I gladly took the opportunity. I like to stay in control of my mobility. Sumon being a Garia-ite came to Rashbehari Morh and we proceeded towards Salt Lake Sector V to pick up Ritu from his office. We would pick up Prabirda from the airport area. Our target was to leave the city by 1-1.30 pm. I was a bit nervous about it because I do not like driving in the night. My speed suffers. And Kankrajhore would certainly take at least 6/7 hours. 

Ultimately all worked out fine and we reached our destination - Buru Sadam - before eight, despite the delay in starting off and the Fastag card fiasco where I was told at the toll gate there was no cash in my card (it's a very complicated process to fill cash into the card with 30 vehicles lined up behind you). Our route was like this. Calcutta - Kharagpur - Lodhashuli - Jhargram - Daijuri - Binpur - Shilda - Belpahari - Kankrajhore. The road condition was good. Last year after the Pujas we went to Ajodhya hills by taking a little different route. We chose to go via Kanak Durga mandir which is a left turn just before Jhargram. That route goes through beautiful jungles. This route, straight through Jhargram, is less desolate. 

The last bit from Belpahari to Kankrajhore - a distance of about 22 Km - was through a narrow road. On this road we stopped at a small hamlet called Bali Chuwa for tea. It was totally dark all around and only the shop had a small light but at least 10/15 locals. They gathered around us asking various curiosity questions like where we were coming from and where we would go. All of them were very obviously drunk and were  reeking of country liquor. 

There was a white cock there with one of its legs tied with a thin rope to the pillar. I asked if it was a fighter cock - cock fight with blades tied to their feet is a very popular sport among the tribals. The owner picked it up and said yes it was. There was some silent pride in his yes. Others were all praise for the cock saying it had won many fights. It was a winner. The owner quietly left the place with his cock in his lap as a mother holds her toddler. I was later told by someone else that here people are very protective about their prized possessions like a winner cock and they are also very superstitious. He possibly didn't want any jealous, evil eye to curse his cock and he thought I might cast some spell on the cock. Which is why he probably left.

Here I also met a youngish boy in his early twenties. He had a very nice athletic build and was wearing a jersey. He asked us where we were from. He said, "Oh Calcutta. I had just been there yesterday." I said for what? You went to play in some tournament? He said no I had an interview near EZCC. Now I got a bit curious. I said where did you have the interview? He said TCS. This was a jaw dropping moment for me. You have no idea how incongruous it sounded in that small tea shop in the middle of that darkness - both literally and figuratively. The boy soon disappeared somewhere behind the tea stall. 

I wished him well mentally  and after finihsing the extremely sweet tea we left Bali Chuwa. Our next stop was at Udul Chuwa. Another little hamlet. Here we saw a small sweet meat shop. We stopped to check out what they had. Two ladies were frying fresh goja. We had two each, fresh off the cauldron. It is perhaps the most delicious goja I have ever had. They didn't have rosogolla, as milk is in short supply they said. But someone showed us another shop which apparently seemed locally famous for rosogollas. We went there of course. The rosogolla turned out to be not that great. It tasted more like a soft danadar. 

Udul Chuwa had a small primary health center and these shops. Nothing else. We continued our drive through the pich dark road. A few motorcycles passed us from the other side and perhaps the odd car or two. There was nothing else. 

Buru Sadam is a small property being run by a young man from Jhargram called Kaushik Singha Biswas (8918952236). He studied in Ramkrishna Mission and is very pleasant to talk to. His hotel/resort/homestay is quite new, having started during Durga Puja of '22. It has two cottages with sleeping arrangements for four in each room. There are three permanent canvas tents as well that are slightly cheaper. The system of leaving open space for guests to put up their own tents, as is very common in the west, has still not caught on in India. 

Being new, the property is yet to have its own wooded areas or any major greenery. Kaushik has planted some trees. Hopefully in another few years it will not look so barren as it does now. The land used to be a stone quarry in the past. Bringing up a garden here will not be easy for him though. We advised him to try with local trees like saal and segun. I think he could do with some specialist advice on what to plant and how to take care of them. He is trying with Australian trees that can seriously jeopardise his water table underneath. I hope he can work it out for himself. He is a first generation hotelier and we must encourage such entrepreneurs. 

He seems like a bit of a reluctant entrepreneur. He doesn't have whatsapp or facebook and is generally absent on social media except for an instagram account. I don't really know how good that is for his business in today's world. But he was extremely coopoerative over phone when I called to understand the motor route to his property.

The cottages are built in the traditional local style and are quite tastefully done. They have decent, clean bathrooms with geysers. There is a dining room with spartan arrangements. There is ample space for parking. And it is just ootside the main village. As you come from Belpahari, it comes on your left hand side before the village.

Birding in Kankrajhore 

We had gone to Kankrajhore with the specific objective of birding. We wanted to see a certain owl, to be more precise. The Brown Wood Owl. It's not a very common owl. It's rather rare actually. In fact scores of birders from all over West Bengal and perhaps outside have come to Kankrajhore to see it. The owl can be seen in a particular wooded area there around dusk. When we arrived it was well past dusk but in our enthusiasm we went ahead to check out the place even late in the evening. It's about two kilometers from Buru Sadam, near a Shiva temple inside the forest. There is an eerie feeling when you reach the old temple in the middle of the jungle. The owl was calling from a tree nearby but we couldn't see it. After more than an hour of desperate effort to see the single owl we gave up hope of seeing it came back walking. 

An almost full moon in a clear sky showed us the way. We had to cross a small rivulet of sorts on the way to the temple. The walk in itself was very pleasant and made our appetite strong. We gorged on the very homely and well cooked food with country chicken (as opposed to the broiler chicken we are used to) and daal and some tarkari. All this was served with a lot of homely care.

There was a general helper whom Kaushik was calling Khuro (uncle). There was a male cook and a female maid to wash the plates and utensils. They were all very polite in the typical tribal tradition that makes them so loveable.

Incidentally, we were the only guests at the property which made our stay all the more pleasant. 

Next morning after a hearty and simple breakfast we went straight to the temple area. In fact that's the only place for birding in Kankrajhore. We saw a couple of Malabar Pied Hornbills, grey hornbills and a jungle owlet. Many Alexandrine parakeets were flying around. They are all very vocal, as usual. This is the time of the year when they pair up. Of course there were rose ringed parakeets also and other usual suspects like red vented and whiskered bulbuls. 

There is a narrow and winding jungle path that leads upto a river. I think it is the same river that we were crossing from another side while coming to the temple. 

Ajodhya Hills, Purulia

 

October 7 to 9, 2022

We are just back from a short trip to Ajodhya Hills in Purulia. It was supposed to be a 3 night trip. But we had to cut it short and make it in two days. On balance it was a very nice and satisfying trip where nothing really went wrong. We followed the route via Kharagpur to go up and came back via Purulia, Asansol and Bardhaman.

The Route

After Kharagpur first we turned right towards Jhargram from Lodhashuli (be careful not to get on the flyover. It will mean a detour of at least 4/5 Km). This stretch of the road from Lodhashuli to Jhargram was in a bad shape and eminently avoidable. Alternatively one can also turn right from Chirchira. Just before Jhargram one turns left towards the Kanak Durga Mandir of Chilkigarh. We stopped at the temple and had a darshan of the idol. She's made of gold but very small. There was quite a crowd there. The parking fee was an atrocious Rs 50. 

The temple has been restored recently. I have not seen the old temple but I am sure the restoration work didn't take into account what it looked like in the past. What stands there now in the forest is a modern looking, ugly concrete structure. Surely it couldn't have looked like that in the past when it was possibly made.

After this the road surface improved and it followed its winding way through lovely saal forests. Small towns that were until the other day associated with Maoist violence came along. Jamboni, Gidhni, Belpahari, Baspahari, Jhilimili, Banduan. Barabazar and then finally Balarampur. (Please remember to take the right turn in the extremely narrow and congested town of Barabazar). I am calling these towns but these are essentially large villages that have suddenly become prosperous in a very ugly way, as it has happened all over the country in the last 30 years.

Between Balarampur and Baghmundi

From Balarampur the road goes in three directions. To the right is the town of Purulia. To the left is Jamshedpur (possibly via Chandil) and straight is Baghmundi. Despite what Google says one has to go towards Baghmundi and turn right towards Ajodhya just before the town. The roads are well marked with direction boards from Balarampur. This final road has a short stretch of very bad "no road" section. But the rest of the road up the hill is smooth like a billiard table.

On the way comes the lower dam and then upper dam. The winding road moves up and reaches the Hill Top quickly enough. If one has the time, one can see the Loharia Temple (shiva temple) at the base of the hill where the really bad road ends. There is a small dam close to the temple also. Unless you are very religiously inclined there is nothing to see here. The temple structure has nothing ancient about it. Perhaps thoughtlessly restored recently.

The Stay

We chose to stay in a hotel that is partly owned by a school friend of mine - Shantanu Maikap. A few of his friends came together to form an NGO and set up this very basic hotel called Backpackers' Camp in Ajodhya. It is close to the Bharat Sevasram Sangha on the Hill Top. 

Although very strategically located and very easy to find once you reach the Hill Top, the hotel is extremely basic. We stay in this type of hotels on our treks in the difficult regions of Himalaya where there is nothing else available. But to be fair to the owners, they don't call it a hotel. They call it the Backpackers' Camp.

The look and feel of the interior of the room reminded me of the lodge in Jaubari on the Sandakphu trail called Indira Lodge. Monisha had brought along a bed sheet which was spread to make some amends. 

I saw a very funny thing in the room. The switch board is high up on the wall and there is nothing to rest

Ingenuity at its best

the mobile phone on if you were to charge it. So they kept a soap case fixed to the wall where you could rest it. I had anticipated this problem (but not the solution) and brought our own spike buster along. The low plastic table in the room was broken but it held our stuff on top that included an electric kettle, the spike buster and sundry other stuff like water bottle etc.

Food at the hotel was also very basic. Although set up by a few city-bred persons (all work in Indian Railways) the hotel is actually run by a local Adivasi called Mahato. All such hotels are run in collaboration with a local who possibly owns the land. Mahato is one such. He controls the cooking and also offers two tents of his own to tourists. The three cemented rooms in the two cottages are rented out to tourists by my friends. 

I am yet to pay for the room but I think it will cost me Rs 1000 per night. The payment for food was made to Mahato.

Apart from being very basic in terms of facilities (the rooms do not even have a ceiling fan), the property is full of plastic trash everywhere. And no one seemed bothered by it. There is no "shree" as we say in Bengali, in the property. Clearly the owners not only do not make any money, they do not see much hope of earning anything from here.

Yet, somehow we quite enjoyed the stay. Possibly because we did not expect anything better and the people were very nice. The waiters are all local innocent Adivasi boys. 

In case you want to stay in the tents, Mahato charges Rs 900 per head per day that includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. You could also perhaps pitch your own tent. The bathroom for tent tourists is very basic.

Local Sight Seeing

We had reached after a day long journey in the late afternoon and were quite tired. So I went for a short nap with the pedestal facing me directly. In the evening Mahato asked us if we were game for going out on a night safari. I immediately agreed to the idea. He would guide us deep into the forest. These forests do not have any leopard or tiger but have elephants for sure. And elephant is the only animal in the world that can kill you even if you were inside a closed vehicle. 

Although revered by the Hindus as God, the villagers who have to bear the brunt of the marauding elephants do not like them.

Mahato climbed on to the seat next to me to guide. Monisha agreed to take the backseat (which is not something she does very often). Another Bolero with a few tourists from Calcutta and related to one of the owners followed my Duster. Although it was the trayodoshi night with the full moon of Kojagari Purnima being still two days away, the road inside the forest was quite dark, because of the dense tree cover.

We drove for about 20 Kilometers inside the Karma forest. Initially there were a few very small villages but the overall forest cover was quite dense. The drive was very challenging because although the road surface was good it was a continuously winding hilly road, going up and down all the time. When you were climbing an uphill stretch in full force you did not know in which direction the road would turn when you reached the top. This problem of driving was compounded by the fogging on my already dirty windshield. 

But I managed to drive valiantly and successfully and got appreciative remarks from the other local driver of the Bolero (Mahato cannot drive because of a leg injury). He was surprised that a city-bred gentleman could drive so well in these paths :-) They have very little respect for our abilities but once they realise that this person is better at doing something that they think they do very well they become very fond of you. 

He took out his drinking water bottle and helped me clean the visor glass when we were standing and enjoying the beauty of the night in the forest.

Shot in front of the hotel but you get the feel

The place where we stopped was absolutely still and pin drop silence prevailed all around. Despite the moon the night was dark. There was a hill right to our left and another to our right which was a little distant off. There were crickets and cicadas calling all around. Mahato said there was no fear of any elephant coming to this particular spot due to the geography of the place. I could not understand this. 

We could see the slope of the hill going down and becoming the plains. The forest was scant in the distance. We also saw small lights in the far off distant horizon. Mahato said it was Muri - the station that comes early in the morning if you were going to Ranchi from Calcutta using the Hatia Express.

We chose to turn around from this point and head towards Marble Lake. Turning the vehicle was not so difficult because there were a few meters of clearing. Otherwise the two sides of the road was covered in dense bushes of perhaps lantana. 

From here we proceeded towards Marble Lake. This is a popular sight seeing point for the tourists but there was absolutely no one here in the night. There is an ugly new building set up by the PHE department with lots of light. But keeping that behind us we proceeded towards the lake. 

The lake was surrounded by dark hills and the water was still. The moon was up in the sky but behind clouds. We soaked in the silence and beauty of the place. This is perhaps a better experience than the Taj bathed in full moon.

After spending some time there we came back to our vehicle and drove back to the hotel. Here is an interactive map of the drive we made that night. The starting point in the map is the place where we went first. The drive ends in the hotel. I recorded it with Garmin. I am not sure if you need Garmin's Connect software to see it.

Emboldened by our night safari experience, the next day, post breakfast, we went out to explore  Ajodhya Hills' typical tourist spots. Mahato helped us create a check list of sights to see. It included Bamni Falls, Turga Falls, Loharia Temple, Lower Dam and Upper Dam. After this we would go to Muruguma Lake, which is a bit far, and come back after lunch at a local eatery.

Except Muruguma Lake the other points are all close to one another and not far from the Hill Top. One by one we ticked them off. The drive was more beautiful than the actual spots. Bamni Falls wasn't so bad but it had lots of noisy tourists. However, the roads were absolutely a dream to drive on. Empty roads with lovely curves and a billiard table top. We saw a big crowd near Turga Falls and gave it a miss but covered the other points. Loharia Temple was a damp squib. It is a Shiva Temple with a recently restored architecture that paid no heed to any traditions. There was a dam next to it. It had a Durga idol floating in the dam, making the place look grotesque.

After this we went off in search of Muruguma Lake. The road wasn't so great but went through beautiful traditional tribal villages with mud huts and without any signs of commercial activity. Unfortunately prosperity will soon destroy the uniqueness of these villages, as it has done to villages elsewhere. Ugly cement houses will come up selling mobile recharge vouchers and noodles in plastic packets. 

We as a society do not see these structures as our part of our heritage that needs preservation. These are seen as poor people's compulsion. I am not saying that poor people should remain poor and stay in mud houses and not use mobile phones. They can make concrete houses while retaining the unique architecture, colour and look and feel of the traditional villages. Bhutan has done this in its cities like Thimphu. All new concrete structures there are built in the traditional Bhutanese architecture.

But go to Leh. It's just another ugly Indian city with scant regard to traditions in its architecture. 

I could perhaps draw a parallel with the use of cycles in our culture. It's seen as a poor man's compulsion. Everyone who rides a bicycle to work dreams of owning a motorcycle sometime in future. 

However, for everyone to think in these lines we have to reach a certain level of sophistication through education, exposure and prosperity. That will take time to happen. But by then this heritage will surely be lost.

We ambled along the bad roads through lush greenery all around. It's just post-monsoon and greenery is all over the place. Who said Purulia was arid? We kept asking people, wherever we saw them, if we were on the right path. After some time it seemed we were perhaps not on the right track. We didn't see a single tourist vehicle or any village or villagers for a long time. After quite some time came another beautiful village where we asked a local girl if this was the way to Muruguma Lake. She seemed to get the shock of her life and said with a lot of incredulity in her voice, "no, no. This is not the route. Go back and follow the road in that direction", she pointed in the direction from where we came. 

I turned around and was totally determined to go back to the hotel. But Monisha turned Google for its opinion and it showed us a particular narrow but concrete road that slipped into a dense bush of lantana on both the sides. It showed Muruguma was 7 Kms from here. I kept driving down the snaking road at a relatively high speed. I was a little scared because the road is really narrow and if this was the wrong road and if we had to turn around it would be difficult. There was not a soul in sight. Suddenly I had to brake hard because there was a tourist vehicle in front that had stopped. It had another vehicle in front which had also stopped. I have no idea why they had stopped but we felt reassured that perhaps for a change we were on the right track. 

We drove the last seven kilometers to the lake with a relaxed mind. About two kilometers before the lake there is a view point from where the lake looks quite nice. There is a steep descent here with some sharp switchbacks. It's not easy negotiating those bends on the way up. They are just as good or bad as any Himalayan road. 

Muruguma lake looks very pretty with its emerald water and the quietness of the place. We went for lunch at a restaurant where we had informed well in advance about our food requirement. Upon arrival we realised they started the cooking process after we showed up. 

After waiting for 45 minutes and fuming all the time for this sort of lie (they gave us the impression that food would be ready) we dumped them and came back. 

The return journey seemed short and we had lunch at a street side dhaba on the Hill Top. 

We had planned to stay for another whole day but had to cut it short due to a medical emergency in Katwa (Monisha's original home). We came back through Purulia, Asansol and Bardhaman and halted for the night at Katwa. 

The character of Mahato is quite something and worth studying. He walks with a limp and said it was from a bullet injury he sustained many years ago when he was part of a gang. His awareness about things is remarkable. We were discussing adivasi culture and how their language is being destroyed by Bengali and Hindi and he said, "a race that has lost its language has nothing else left for itself". This is a remarkable observation. 

I hope to go back to Ajodhya and certainly cultivate him more. Till then .................

Some of the important numbers for future reference - 

Shantanu Maikap (my friend and 1/5th owner of the place) - 9002080098

Arnab (the main leader among the five friends and a very amiable gentleman) - 7044835402/ 9123067823/ 7890581231 

His wife Gouri Bhattacharya (Arnab's phone is often out of reach) - 9123067823

Mahato (runs the place and extremely resourceful for taxi, stay, local sights to see including night safari etc) - 9434316978/ 8145410838

Puri By Car

I just applied for leave to go to Puri. We start on 12th July, Tuesday and come back on 16th July, Saturday. We plan to spend a night in Konarak this time. I love the Konarak temple for its architecture and beauty but have never stayed there. This time I want to. As an added bonus the scaffolding around the main temple is now gone and one gets good clear view of the temple. I have been seeing the scaffolding for ages. Literally it has been there for I guess more than 25 years. God only knows what repair work takes so long. 

In Puri we will be staying at the office guest house operated by Joy Dasgupta. I have already booked it informally. As a day trip we plan to go to Satapada one day. Apart from that Sargadwar is the all time favourite hang out for Bengalis. Our guest house is a bit off the main city. So for the local travel we use the auto. I have always done that. 

July 19, 2022

The Puri trip (a total of 1200 km round trip) went off pretty well and we are back. We went on a Tuesday and came back Saturday. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we stayed in Puri with a day trip to Satapada. Friday we went to Konark and came back to Calcutta on Saturday. Both the trips took us exactly nine hours of non-stop driving. We did not need to stop anywhere for lunch or breakfast.

There is nothing much to write about a family trip to Puri really. Any average Bengali has been there umpteen number of times. But this was my first self drive since the new 4-lane road from Bhubaneswar opened to the public a few years ago. Finding the exit was not a problem at all. The point is quite well marked. But entering the town was a bit of a challenge as we were not allowed to enter through the normal entry points by the local traffic police. They said there is a terrible jam in the town (this was just a week after the Ratha Jatra) and we were directed towards the marine drive. This is a new 4-laned road that ends in the sea ahead of the Swargadwar. So we turned left from the beach and soon discovered the well known Swargadwar. From there our guest house is a matter of two kilometers or so. 

Joy Dasgupta, the guy who maintains our guest house, had to send a boy to show us the entry lane to the guest house. I waited on the main road. I forgot the local landmark of Ramkrishna Math which is inside this lane. I couldn't locate the exact lane. There are a few parallel ones. My vehicle did not look like is small enough to enter through the gate of the guest house. So I kept it parked on the lane outside the GH, which was fine.

The Exide Guest House

I quite like this old building of ours. It does not belong to Exide but to a Bengali family in Calcutta - their name can be seen on the tablet on the sea facing outer wall - but I think Joy has taken it on lease or rent from them and has rented it out to us or something like that. It is right on the beach and located on Chakra Tirtha Road which is a little off the main Swargadwar area. Earlier we had a straight view and access to the sea from the house. Now it seems there is a small plot of land in front of it towards the beach which is walled off. So our straight access to the beach is kind of blocked but the view is fine. Indeed there are a few ugly plastic roofed shacks that have come up in the recent past on the beach which spoil the view. If and when another building comes up on that plot of vacant land, the guest house will possibly lose its charm. But given the current situation of the tourism industry I doubt it will happen any time soon.

The building, on a high plinth and with a court yard inside with the main kitchen and servants' quarter away from the main house reminds me of our house in Deoghar. It has a few other similarities to our Deoghar house that I cannot pin point. It has wooden beams in the ceiling holding the roof. The Deoghar house a different kind of ceiling. But the high ceiling, the abundance of natural light and wind gives it a similar look and feel.

I think the forlorn look of the house, standing alone adds to its appeal to me. This is what was unique about our Deoghar house. Also, I guess the state of mind - being on a holiday - is similar and both the houses would always be exclusively for us only. It's not a hotel that you share with hundreds of strangers.

I regret that I will not be able to go and stay here any more as I retire in September this year. It will remain as a happy memory. I once stayed here with my in-laws and Mampu and them had a whale of a time together. 

In the GH Monisha and I took one of the large rooms with AC on the left hand side, while Mampu took the other one on the right hand side. There are two more smaller rooms without AC. And of course there is this large sitting area overlooking the sea and a dining space. It's nice if you come with a few friends.

Cooking is in the hands of the resident cook Raju who brings in the ration and cooks as per your order. He cooked a delicious daab chingri - prawn in tender coconut and a wonderful caramel pudding. Bebu loved both these dishes no end. 

Chung Wah in Puri

On the second day we went to lunch at the relatively recently opened Chinese joint called Chung Wah. It's a delightfully authentic Chinese owned place. The decor is also very authentic including the Chinese owners at the counter. Apparently they are from Cuttack and have recently opened this outlet in Puri. Given the kind of Bengali tourists who come to Puri, I am sure this Chung Wah will do quite well. 

In my excitement to discover the new place (originally recommended by Monisha's colleague Navojit) I forgot to ask the owners if they have any connection with the Chung Wah of Calcutta, which is a heritage Chinese restaurant of Calcutta. I wonder what the name means in Cantonese. 

I cannot remember what we ate there. I think there was a soup which was ordinary and there were noodles which wasn't so bad. There also was a chilli chicken which wasn't so great. They were more meat balls, rather than flat pieces and they were certainly not hot. I think the total bill came to less than Rs 2000, which isn't so expensive by Indian standards but not cheap either. 

Mampu, who claims to not like Chinese didn't mind the food. I think what she means is she doesn't like the Chinese Chinese food but is fine with the Indian Chinese food. I wonder where she tasted Chinese Chinese food to have an opinion on it.

We loved the decor and the fact that there is such a restaurant in Puri, which is largely known only for its chhana pora and goja.

The restaurant is very prominently located on VIP Road which is very close to Chakra Tirtha Road (illiterate locals may not recognise this name, ask them for CT Road). Although No Parking is written very prominently on the footpath outside the restaurant, their guard directed us to park right under the traffic sign and assured us that nothing would happen. Mine was not the only vehicle parked there. It's a wide road with a central median that divides it into two. 

In the evening we went for GH food and gave Wild Grass a miss. Otherwise, this is yet another plush restaurant that has come up in Puri and was highly recommended by Navojit.

Satapada on Self-drive

Next day in the morning we went to Satapada, which is the eastern sea facing side of the lake Chilika. I had always wanted to see Satapada because I have seen Chilika from the Barkul or Balugaon side several times in the past but never from the other end where it meets with the Bay of Bengal.

Here is a link to our round trip driving route as recorded on Calimoto . It was a 113 Km trip.

We call Chilika a lake but it is actually an estuarine lagoon. One of the largest of its kind. It is also now on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites and of course a Ramasar site too. In winter it hosts millions of migratory birds including the elegant flamingoes. But exploring Chilika from Satapada was not so big on my agenda. I just wanted to see the place and understand what is there.

As an average tourist I was quite disappointed by what I saw in Satapada at the end of the drive. It was a damp squib, as they say. On the Google map the place looks so wild with sea on one side, the lake on the other and barely any land in between. But on the ground it looks very different and very ordinary. It could be much better kept and beautified in a wild way (not the typical Indian definition of beautification). As of now, there is no wide open view of the lake or of the sea. Careful planning could add this view for an average tourist.

There is an OTDC guest house and a big CDA office with a museum there. If you ask the locals for directions they will try to stop you a few kilometers before the ferry ghat saying there is nothing there, which is a blatant lie. It's a scam that I will explain later.

My intention was to go and see the ferry ghat from where a ferry service runs every day to take you to the other side of the lake (I think Nuapada). The idea is to come cycling here in winter (perhaps from Bhubaneswar which is about 100 Km), take the vessel and cross over to the other side and ride off towards Rambha or Barkul etc. I suppose if one spends the night at the OTDC guest house there, one can catch the first ferry to reach the other side by 9ish latest and then go to Barkul.

As I found it, there is a motorised country boat service also running parallel to the more robust ferry service. I did not ask for its frequency. When I went there it had just docked and several motorcycles were being unloaded. The ferry, I suppose, is used only by larger vehicles like cars, jeeps and trucks etc. It makes four trips either way during the day. In fact we saw a Bolero come with passengers and wait patiently for the ferry to go across.

We had a simple lunch at the Yatri Nivas which took about half an hour to come. The Nivas looks rather spartan but the rates are not. Hotel tariff is really high in India.

Now let me explain the scam. 

There is a point on the highway - a bifurcation of sorts - before the final destination where the locals conspire to mislead you. They tell you not to go to the ferry ghat where there is nothing. Someone told us the nearest OTDC guest house is in Barkul etc.

The government run tourist service for boats etc are near the ferry ghat.

About ten kilometers before you reach the place, motorcycle borne touts - essentially unemployed local young boys - accost you, trying to ride side by side, almost crashing into the vehicle in the process. They thrust their visiting cards into your hands from their running bikes and urge you to hire their boat for a pleasure ride in the lake to see dolphins. Touristy outsiders who go to Satapada all go there for dolphins. These are wild Irrawaddy dolphins that are found here and make for quite a tourist draw. In winter of course there are migratory birds galore.

The actual Satapada is where the highway ends. Not anywhere else, no matter who tells you what. 

Puri Temple

On the last evening of our Puri stay, that is, the same day that we went to Satapada, the two of us decided to go to the temple. My main intention was to gorge on the chhena pora and rosogollas. Mampu being totally godless chose to stay back at the GH. We hired an auto upto Swargadwar for Rs 100 and walked the rest of the way to the temple which is a kilometer and a half. 

Here is a Strava link to the walk recorded on the way back. 

But before temple we had 100 gm each of Chhena Pora and a ledikeni near the Swargadwar. I have no idea what they did to my sugar level. Monisha spent a considerable amount of time inside Bayanika, the Orissa government state handloom outlet. She bought a few bed covers and a geen gamchha (Indian towel). The later item was on my insistence. The towel or gamchha looks very very classy but if you are used to a Turkish towel after bath, you cannot use them. They are just no match when it comes to mopping up water from the body. But I loved them for their traditional values. They can be used for special occasions for sure.

The lane from Swargadwar to Puri temple is littered with shops selling traditional sweets like goja, rosogollas, ledikenis etc and I loved walking up and down this road. I think this lane alone stocks more sweets than we have in the entire city of Calcutta. Unless you see it you cannot believe it. It's a narrow lane and I am sure for hundreds of years pilgrims including Shree Chaitanya, have used it to go to the temple after a dip in the sea. We did it too, without the dip though.

We had an unusually nice view of the idol inside the temple. Our strategy to go in the evening after 8:30 pm paid off. However, we could not go in together. Monisha stood outside with all my belongings like shoes, mobile phone, leather wallet etc. Once I came back she went in and I did the same job of taking care of her stuff. We both had an excellent view, though from a distance because entry inside the sanctum sanctorum is now discontinued. We also got to see the three chariots kept outside the temple, their finery yet to be taken off after the Ratha Yatra which got concluded only a week or so before.

We came back walking to the Swargadwar once again and took an auto back to the GH. I had intended to walk it off but it started raining. However, it would've been a long walk for sure.

 

Konark At Night

I love the Konark Sun Temple. I have been there a few times before but every time was a day trip. We would go from Puri, see the temple and then come back. That is what most people do. This time we had decided to stay there overnight to give it more time. As a bonus we got to see the temple in the evening light. Artificial light but looks very classy. The son et lumiere was also another bonus. 

There is nothing special to write about the Konark trip because everything went off smoothly. But mention must be made of the Marine Drive along the Chandrabhaga Beach. It's beautiful and reminded me of Australia. The day being cloudy, it added to the beauty of the sea. The total distance from our GH was 37 Km and here is the Calimoto link to the route.

We stopped a little before the official Marine Drive view point. It was the right thing to do. Because the official place now has a number of ugly plastic-roofed shacks selling Lays and Limca etc. Everywhere you go in India this ugliness is visible existing side by side with beautiful nature. It is tolerated in the name of poverty and unemployment. I find it disgusting. I guess everyone does. Political will to change the situation is not there because they think this will get them those votes.

The Sun Temple Son et Lumiere starts at 7:30 pm or so. Seats are limited. So if it is peak tourist season go a little in advance. The show was very nice. Each individual ticket holder is given a headset and the commentary is available in various languages (including I think Bengali). The use of light on the temple was very nice. But the story could have included more about the temple architecture and construction details or unique features of the temple. But the focus was entirely on the story which is a mixture of mythology and history. How much of that is true and how much is political agenda driven is open to question.

I guess average tourists would be bored by more technical details or at least that is what the creative team thought. We tend to assume that the mass is totally stupid and like to see soap opera only. It might not be so all the time.

If you don't want to see the show but just want to see the temple in static yellow light, for that view is also splendid, you can go there in the evening but must come out of the complex before the show starts. 

The OTDC guest house in Konark looks very pretty. But the facilities inside are not up to the mark. We will remember the millions of flies and a very poorly lit dining hall with very average food and the electrical power points that mostly do not work. The open parking space is huge. The waiters are very nice and well behaved.

The Vehicle 

My vehicle performed flawlessly during the up and down trip. While going it was almost a non-stop nine hour ride, except for a couple of comfort breaks and while coming back it was more or less the same. Apart from these, there was the day-trip to Satapada and Konark. There were absolutely no hiccups anywhere on the way. The vehicle is now showing more than 56K on the odo. But in terms of health it is perhaps in its prime. The tyres are just about 6K old. Perfect. I plan to do a Sela Pass and Khardungla before selling it next year. Otherwise it does not justify the new tyre purchase.

 

Darjeeling Hills Again

If you want to cut the crap and just want to know how we went watch this video

Monday, April 11, 2022

A few days ago I saw a post on social media, I think on the RCB forum in facebook, that one side of the Dalkhola bypass has been opened for small vehicles. To those interested in the road to North Bengal, particularly the self-drive enthusiasts like me this is a huge piece of news.

Dalkhola, those who know, used to be a nightmare to cross while going to Siliguri from Calcutta. At one point of time people from the city even used to take the Dumka Bhagalpur Purnea route, which is a massive detour, to avoid the hell hole of Dalkhola. After the Dumka Bhagalpur stretch became an even bigger nightmare going via Botobari became the norm. 

For the last 8/10 years I avoided taking any of these detour routes and chose not to go by road to North Bengal till I got confirmed report that the main NH 34 has become completely 4-laned, particularly Dalkhola. 

But when I learnt that the Dalkhola bypass has been opened I immediately wanted to go for a drive to NB. Monisha agreed readily and we are set to start on Wednesday, April 13th. Hopefully on Wednesday we will reach Siliguri. Thursday we go to Rongtong and Friday and Saturday we spend in Lamahatta. Sunday we come back, hopefully in a day. Leaves have been applied for and sanctioned too. 

Those who do not know, Dalkhola is a very small town on the road to Siliguri before Kishanganj/Islampur. And its only claim to fame is the jam that it creates on the way to Siliguri. 

There is a level crossing here. The railway line being extremely busy, the gate stays closed for most of the time leading to serpentine queues of trucks running into several miles now. The road through the town itself is very narrow, leading to nightmarish conditions when you try to cross this place. People detour 50/60 Kms to avoid this bottleneck. 

The bypass construction has been mired in various problems for several years now. Hopefully things are changing now. At least half of it is done.

In preparation for the journey on Wednesday, today I filled diesel in the vehicle near our office. The warning sign had come on. A little over 46 litre at Rs 4598. Come to think of it !!! A few years ago this would be less than Rs 3,000. I also added a bottle of LiquiMoly additive that was lying idle in the boot for a long time (a few years perhaps).

I will have to get the tyres pumped up too from the Deshapriya Park fuel station by today or tomorrow. I keep 34 psi in them. The tyres are as good as new. Must remember to put the tyre pressure gauge in the glove compartment before leaving home. Now that I have the air pump in the car, I do not carry the puncture repair kit any more. 

The Route 

I have been to North Bengal on self drive twice before. But those were eons ago. Lots of things have changed in this time. In fact I have consciously avoided driving to North Bengal in the last few years because of the chaos I hear it is now. On my first trip I had taken the usual NH 34 via Barasat, Ranaghat, Krishnanagar etc and came back via Moregram and Panagarh. Both were very smooth drives except for the rains on the way back. I cannot remember what I did for my second trip, which was to Bhutan. I have been hearing horror stories ever since and stayed away from this route. 

Now even the name of that highway has changed. I think it is NH 12 now. And four-laning of the road is on in full swing there. In certain sections work is complete, in certain other sections work is incomplete and the state of those stretches is nightmarish. 

After lot of back and forth research about the route and decisions about which route to take I have zeroed in on the following route. Take Nivedita Setu to go to Dankuni. Take Delhi Road to Mogra. Take the new flyover to take the Kalna Katwa Road to Nabadwip and then cross the Gouranga Setu to go to Krishnanagar and then follow the main highway to Siliguri. 

Baharampur is still a bottleneck because the by pass is not complete yet. There is a suggested shortcut to reach the bridge over Bhagirathi via Haridasmati, rather than go through the main city. Let me see how I feel on Wednesday when I reach there. 

I found a facebook group called Motorists of Murshidabad. They seem very enthusiastic and helpful. They asked me to take the short cut. The group admin even shared his personal number and the route detail.  

We hope to reach as far as Siliguri on day one. If there is enough day light when we reach, we might go as far as Rongtong. Otherwise we will stay on in Siliguri and proceed towards Rongtong the next morning. In case we cannot make it to Siliguri on day one, on the second day we go to Rongtong.

Keeping my fingers crossed and hope I can reach Siliguri on day one itself, as we always have in the past. 

This is indeed a very convoluted route to go to Krishnanagar, I agree. But regulars suggest this route only, for good road surface all through. Apparently, Barasat to Krishnanagar is a hell hole now due to ongoing four-laning work. So is Kalyani Expressway. On the other hand Delhi Road and the Assam Road to Katwa are in much better shape. In fact Mogra has a brand new bridge now. So let me see how this route is. If I find them to be good going to Katwa will become much easier. Part of this route used to be our regular route to Katwa in the late 90s. We used to take Kalyani Expressway and would go via Jeerut and Kalna etc until it became undrivable sometime in 2006 or so. 

Monday, April 18, 2022

So I am back after a refreshing trip to the hills. We came back last night in a straight single drive from Lamahatta to Calcutta that took me about 14 and a half hours. We started at 5 am and reached at 7.20 or so in the evening. While going we went as far as Raiganj on day one and next day to Lamahatta. We did not stay in Rongtong, as planned. 

This was a video we made while driving down Hill Cart Road between Sonada and Tung

The Road Condition

We took the route as described before. Calcutta to Magra to Nabadwip to Krishnanagar to Siliguri and onwards. We came back via the same route. 

Calcutta to Magra now is a breeze via old Delhi Road due to the fact that it has become a 4 laned road with a wide boulevard in the middle. After Mogra one goes to Nabadwip via Tribeni, Kalna etc. The road surface is brilliant but there are bumps and barricades to kill speed. The road through Kalna even has a traffic light and a median divider !!!

Nabadwip has a level crossing to cross which was a pain on both sides, that is, while going as well as while coming back. Krishnanagar is about 15 Km on the other side of Nabadwip. This road is in good condition. So, while going except for the Nabadwip level crossing it was a very smooth drive.

The 4-lane highway - erstwhile NH 34 and now NH 12 - starts a little outside Krishnanagar. This little bit of the highway that is still under construction is a real pain. In monsoon it will be a hell hole even though it is just a kilometer or so. 

After the point where Krishnanagar 4-lane starts it is more or less 4-lane right up to Siliguri. At least that is the general impression. But there are many buts. There are many short stretches where the 4-lane is incomplete. Either there is no 4-lane or only half the road is complete. These stretches can be real pain if the truck traffic is heavy. 

There are two towns where the by-passes are still not ready. One is Baharampur, the other is Raigunge. You have to enter these towns and negotiate the local traffic as well as truck traffic. We chose a short cut through Baharampur and avoided about 12 kilometers of the highway through the town. One has to leave the highway near a place called Sargachhi and proceed towards Haridasmati. After that follow the river bank for a few kilometers and take the highway. 

In Raigunge there is no such scope. You have to go through the town. But this bypass might be finished soon as it does not involve any major bridge. The Baharampur bypass will take time as it involves making a bridge over the river Bhagirathi. 

While passing slowly through Raigunge I decided to take a chance at the government tourist lodge in front of Kulik Bird Sanctuary. We have stayed here before. They had plenty of rooms available and we took one of the rear rooms facing the garden because the road facing rooms would be noisy due to the busy highway. Food at this lodge is simple. The AC and geyser both work flawlessly here. Monisha even used their kitchen fridge to store her cold drinks. 

The route from Calcutta to Kulik as recorded with the app Calimoto.

We proceeded towards Siliguri the next morning after breakfast. 

The next big bottleneck used to be Dalkhola, as I have explained before. Apparently the Dalkhola bypass is now ready. It indeed is ready, or at least one side of it, to the extent that the bypass lets you cross the major jam area of the level crossing. However, at least 2/3 kilometers of the road from the place where the bypass ends to the T-junction and beyond is in terrible condition. 

The unfinished parts are not much when compared to the full distance. However, I am mentioning those parts because small cars with low ground clearance will find it difficult not to scrape their bottoms.

Those who are used to the GQ will find this road quite unfinished. The real finished part is the Malda bypass. It is complete in all respects. I think l paid some Rs 1000 in toll tax, possibly in six places. 

Before Bagdogra the road is a little incomplete where I took a wrong diversion and ended up being in Fasidewa. This turned out to be a bypass for Bagdogra and is actually a much shorter route to Siliguri. The road condition was excellent though it's a narrow road but without any traffic. 

Siliguri to Jorebungla to Lamahatta

I took the Hill Cart Road to go to Kurseong and onwards to Jorebungla and then turned right on Peshak Road to reach Lamahatta. Commercial drivers take the Rohini route to go to Kurseong. It's a 12 Km saving as I measured while coming down, when I took the Rohini road just out of curiosity. I quite love the heritage Hill Cart Road. They have concretised the Pagla Jhora Section now and hopefully the small spring is not a problem any more, even in monsoon.  

There is another route to go to Lamahatta from Siliguri. You drive towards Sevak and onwards to Teesta Bazaar/Peshak from where you turn towards Lamahatta. We did not choose this because Darjeeling hills to me is all about the old Hill Cart Road. I love it.

On the way up, we stopped a little outside Rongtong to have momos from a street side shop. It was a very pretty little shop in the forest with no one around. The Rongtong station area was quite crowded with tourists carrying huge birding lenses and cameras. That's why we did not stop there but pushed forward. 

After Rongtong, we stopped near Kurseong Tourist Lodge for tea. This is a heritage sort of stopover when you are going to Darjeeling. However, to our utter disappointment we found it full with tourists and were shown a waiting area where there were a few families already waiting ahead of us, which meant it might take us a long time to find a table. We beat a hasty retreat and went to the taxi stand instead where there is a tea and snacks shop called Zimba. We had two quick teas and pushed off. 

I must say - the quality of tea in the general street side shops used to be superb in Darjeeling. Nowadays it is no longer so. They sell very ordinary tea in these stalls. A few years ago they would sell authentic Darjeeling with full aroma. That culture, like all good things, is sadly gone.

Before Sonada but after Tung there was a massive traffic jam with vehicles stuck on both flanks of the road. In the mountains, as indeed anywhere else, you cannot do anything much about a jam. You just wait it out. That's exactly what we did. But I must say, the police constables are everywhere when there is a jam and they do their best to clear it up. It's not that everyone is on their own and there is a free for all. It's a very disciplined jam in the hills. 

The Sonada station looked in a terrible state of disrepair. The Gorkha agitators had once set this heritage station on fire. God only knows what level of illiteracy makes one destroy such heritage of one's own in the name of political agitation. I can understand even a political killing (though I do not support it). But I cannot understand such senseless destruction. Because it serves no purpose. The Sonada station did not harm anyone. The government also does not seem too keen to restore it. I think another station is also burnt out - either Mahanadi or Chunabhatti. I am not too sure.

From Jorebungla to Lamahatta is a 14 kilometer mostly downhill ride through the lovely Tukdah forest. We had gone as far as 3 Mile during our cycling trip in 2019 from where we turned right towards Mungpoo. Now, we went straight ahead and reached Lamahatta after 6 Mile, just before Lopchu.

The Return Journey    

We took exactly the same route to come down to Calcutta on Sunday, except that we chose to come down via Rohini just to check out the road. It's a boring new road sans the heritage value of Hill Cart Road. Of course Hill Cart Road is much narrower. Rohini also has very sharp switchbacks that a new driver should be careful about. 

On this route I love to drive with the train line next to me or playing hide and seek with me. Also, I love the little stations like Sukna, Rongtong, Tin Dhariya etc that you miss on the Rohini Road.

While I took two days to go up, I came down in a day, driving almost non-stop to reach home after 14 and a half hours. 

The Trip

This was our first road trip in a very long time. Since our daughter was born about 19 years ago, this was also the first time we were travelling without her. So naturally we were missing her. Although she just sleeps on the rear seat during the drive or is seen absorbed in her phone, we missed her presence. 

Lamahatta has nothing except an "Eco Park". We did not enter the park as it seemed nothing more than a manicured garden built in the middle of a dense pine forest. It was teeming with tourists, mostly Darjeeling tourists who came on a "sight seeing" trip here to tick Lamahatta off their list.

Instead we walked ahead towards Lamahatta Residency and found a wide forest trail on the right hand side. We walked for a kilometer or so along this path. It's a quiet trail where we saw only a Chestnut Crowned Laughingthrush but heard lot of other unidentifiable birds. 

I also walked up and down the concrete steps behind the tourist lodge where we saw a lot of birds. A grey headed canary flycatcher took up a lot of my time and attention. They have lots of crossbills here that often come to the watering hole that they have set up behind the property. There is also a hide of sorts where they store logs and one can photograph the cross bills from there. 

In terms of bird photography it was nothing much but the place certainly has lots of birds. I loved the quiet of the place and the general tourist-lessness of the area. The Eco Park attracts lots of low grade tourists. Their vehicles have nowhere to park. So they park along the side of the road often creating massive traffic jams. However, once again the traffic policing along the road was excellent.

We were guests of Lamahatta Resort. But we did not have any room for ourselves there on the first night. So we were put up in the small hotel next door for the night while our vehicle stayed parked in the larger Resort. The hotel next door is called Kanchenjungha View. Its rooms were relatively small and they did not have any generator. Food was home cooked and ordinary. 

The standard menu of these homestays is rice, daal and chicken curry, which can be boring after a day. They charge on a per head per day basis inclusive of food. I think it is exorbitant pricing but this has become the norm it seems. 

The Lamahatta Residency looked and felt like a better hotel. Next time, if at all there is a next time, we will stay here. Because we were very disappointed by the kind of music that was played by the Resort on our first night there.

They played DJ and karaoke music for some guests - youngsters, presumably from Calcutta - who decided to have a bonfire coupled with uncouth loud music. The next day we decided to move out but then the hotel management promised that there won't be any more DJ music which is why we cancelled the plan. 

On Sunday we started from the hotel at 5 am in the morning and in an almost non-stop drive reached home in Calcutta at around 7:30, bringing to an end a delightful short trip.