The Road to Darjeeling

The world is like a book….

And those who do not travel only read one page.

St Augustine

My band of international friends from Calcutta decided we needed a little R&R from the heat and brutality of the city. So we hopped on the Calcutta Mail train and traveled north over night in bunks while being gently rocked to sleep by the motion of the train. We arrive in the morning to find that filth and dirt have given way to green open fields and cool air at a station near the foothills of the Himalaya’s. There we were met by our jeep driver and driven several hours up into the Himalaya’s through steep winding dirt and potholed roads until we reached 7500ft and there on the sheer slopes of the Himalayan mountains range we found the gem of India…..Darjeeling.

Darjeeling is an old English colonial town that is so charming you could almost believe you are no longer in India. It is sitting at the very north eastern tip of India, a tiny sliver of India surrounded by a stones throw to Tibet in the North, Nepal to the west, Bhutan to the east, Bangladesh to the south. The faces of the people reflect this geographical intimacy. The natives here have almond shaped eyes, rounded cheeks and their smiles come easy.

 The views from my window are 360* of panoramic mountain peaks for miles and miles in every direction. This is the home of Tenzing Norgay who was with Sir Edmond Hillary together the first men to conquer Everest in 1953. It is not hard to imagine why. Mount Everest rising 29,028ft  is the highest mountain in the world and is visible from here. As a boy Tenzing grew up looking at it daily. Today the most famous mountaineering school in the world is found here.

For 100’s of years this land belonged to the Buddhist’s and they eventually allowed the East India Company to lease a part for its strategic military location, which eventually lead to the English settling here.  The English do love their tea and Darjeeling is famous for it. We don’t get far without the Australian or the New Zealander women in our group saying, “Oh, look there is a tea house, how about a cup of tea?” I have never consumed so much tea in my life…. Tea, tea, tea…and biscuits.  

The air is cool and clean here the people are warm, the children are happy and loved, even the dogs are healthy and cared for. No beggar’s live on the street and I am not being stared at as I walk by.  Buddhism is the main religion and there are temples all over the hills and monks walking the streets in their beautiful robes. One monk even had a San Francisco Sweatshirt on…Took a picture with him of course.

 We are greeted at our hotel by this saying at the reception desk.

A Precious Human Life

Every day,

Think as you wake up

Today I am fortunate

To have woken up.

I am alive,

I have a precious human life.

I am not going to waste it.

I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand

my heart to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others. I am not going to get angry or think badly about others as much as I can.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

What a difference from the harshness and cruelty of Calcutta.