What Now — Darjeeling Day 3
While the mosquitoes by the banks of the polluted Cooum were calling it a night, while people along the east coast of the USA were packing up at work and calling it a day, while people along the west coast of the USA were opening their packed lunches and while insomniac teenagers were closing their fridges after a midnight snack to go to sleep, we were getting up.
One of the primary attractions of Darjeeling that everyone who has been there wouldn’t stop yapping about is Tiger Hill. At 2573 meters, Tiger Hill is the summit of Ghum, which serves as a viewpoint where one can witness the sun rising over Kanchenjunga and many other eastern peaks of the Himalayas. When I did some research online, there were some amazing pictures that almost seemed like surreal paintings. Since this was a major tourist attraction, people flood early in the morning to the site. So we had to get up as early as 3AM for a 6:30AM sunrise.
As the lone Innova drove down an empty road, I couldn’t help but imagine ourselves being in an Amazing Race scenario — leaving the hotel at an odd time of the day to an empty road with no signs of life. We were a good 15 minutes into the drive towards the aforementioned spot when Paravu decided to have a profound discovery that he forgot the passes to go all the way to the top. If only he could’ve been more convincing about that discovery. Well, if I am wishing for things, I might as well wish for him to have remembered the passes.
At a particular point, we were stopped by a group of police officers, asking for the passes to go further. A huge back-and-forth ensued with little success. And that’s when a group of coyotes circled in on the fresh meat, offering to take us up at an “extra” rate. Well, Paravu said he would take care of the difference. One of the coyotes went to a nearby street to get his vehicle out. What came out from that narrow street (narrow for Darjeeling standards) was something that threw me back to the 90s. I remember seeing Fred Flintstone drive one of those.
But honestly, it was really a throwback to the 90s. Out came a Maruti Omni. I have absolutely nothing against Omni, mind you— it is a fine vehicle with a high utilitarian value. But this one seemed like it had previously been serviced in the 90s (hence the throwback), which was evident by the way it struggled, cluttered, panted, whined and almost started praying along with me to make its way up the steep hill. I don’t mean to be ungrateful — I was glad that the driver did provide us with a way to get to the top. It is just that I wasn’t prepared to be brought so close to becoming carsick or watching a car fall sick on an uphill slant.
It was around 4:30AM by the time we reached the viewing spot and we had almost lost the advantage of being up so early. We squeezed our way in to stand in the second row from the front railings and it felt like a small victory. What now?
We had to wait for a couple of hours for the amazingly brilliant view. And it was surprising how I got 4G up there. I barely get 2G in my room back home. But as always, nothing comes without a twist — it was -1°C — no one should want to take their hand out in the biting cold to check out random “candid” pictures on Instagram.
45 kilograms of luggage and I only brought a fall jacket, a beanie and running shoes. Whilst my dad was shivering in a winter jacket, I was feeling my heart rate slow down. Time seemed to have frozen along with my toes. There were a few vendors selling tea but the rush meant that we couldn’t move an inch for anything — tourists are ironically always on the edge about enjoying to the fullest. By around 5:15, I was happy that there was a delay and that we were standing behind someone when the wind got stronger in our direction.
As the sky started brightening up, we were welcomed to a grey sky. We continued to stand there as the clouds moved further, gradually covering the horizon. Like expecting the Tamil Nadu state government to clear the Cooum, we waited patiently for the clouds to miraculously disappear, giving way to the rising sun. A good half hour later, we had to walk away with nothing to show for the 2 hour wait. Well, not exactly nothing —
We went downhill on the same Omni, but the hill was steep enough to take all the pressure off the poor engine. We were asked to pay 80 rupees each for the “downward pass”, which Paravu claimed to have paid. We were freezing too much to argue.
We weren’t going straight back to the hotel. We were headed to a Japanese Temple and Peace Pagoda. The flooring was wooden and that made things worse for us as we struggled to walk on such a chilly day. My parents gave up. My brother and I almost did as well but the will of the tourist kept us going.
The minute we entered the hotel room, I decided to turn the hot water on in the bathtub and watched it fill up. We folded our pants up and just sat on the edge of the bathtub with our legs soaking in the hot water — a method I stumbled upon during my first snow in Philadelphia.
After settling down and warming ourselves up in front of the tiny space heater, we had to hurry for breakfast again. And not to sound repetitive, but this time I found assorted sweets from last dinner’s dessert section on the appetizer section. The only difference this time was that I decided to help clear those sweets for them.
The grey clouds broke out to showers by the time we were done with breakfast. We were headed to the cable car/ropeway. Paravu stopped the car by a really steep and long flight of steps and asked us to take that route up to the ropeway station, stating that his car can’t make it through the narrow road to the top.
We panted our way up the long flight of steep, slippery and uneven steps made from strategically cut rocks — a couple of steps on all fours. We had to stop midway to catch breath. When the ordeal finally ended, we were welcomed to a road filled with small shops selling momos, Maggi and masala puri. But what stood between us and all these cute stores was a line of white SUVs. Not small vehicles, not bikes but full-sized SUVs down the supposedly “narrow” road. After a short wait, we hopped on to a cablecar on the ropeway along with a couple. It was quite an experience for us — enjoying the view from the top with my mom and dad getting official calls non-stop and a man who wouldn’t stop flirting with his girl. And she was clearly smitten by him, given how his lousy jokes made her laugh louder than the laugh tracks on sitcoms. After a point, I think they realized that I thought that they were annoying. That’s what makes the human society great. Not a word spoken between us but we had a mutual understanding.
After spending an hour soaking in the beautiful view from above the hills with the graceful and elegant lovebirds, we headed back down the steep steps again — but only after being ridiculed again by the irony of ten SUVs at the top.
We headed to Tenzing and Gombu Rocks, where volunteers from the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute(HMI) teach you the basics of rock climbing. But we were simply left to stare at two wet rocks on either sides of the road and not a soul in the vicinity. It was like watching one of those “feel good” movies that have absolutely no impact on you. People say it’s great but you never got too close to it to appreciate it. What now?
What should have taken us until 4PM to complete, was done by 1PM. The previous day, we had planned on the toy train journey by disregarding a spot or two, but we assumed we wouldn’t have time for it. Moreover, Paravu made it absolutely clear that he’ll have to be paid overtime if it takes anything more than 4:30PM. Now that we did have the time, we thought we could catch that train. But now, he insisted that his duties were done for the day and refused to go any further. Technically, he ought to give up pay for 3 hours, given how even a second past 4:30PM was to be considered overtime. But we found ourselves walking out in protest on a road near the Market street. What now?
We spent an hour in Biswa Bangla — a state government run chain of handcraft showrooms. They had a wide range of articles — from clothes to wooden souvenirs to the famous Darjeeling tea. They even had handmade rag dolls. So naturally, we spent so much time there. The sky got gloomier during the period we were inside the shop. And the moment we were out, the clouds broke out and it started pouring down again. But luckily, the sweet staff back at the hotel saw this coming and equipped us with umbrellas before we left in the morning. What now?
We headed to an old Oxford bookstore with an excellent antique look. They had an amazing range of books beautifully stacked in order of genre. Clearly, we spent quite some time there too.
By the time we went back to the hotel and went to the restaurant for lunch (apparently there was another a la carte restaurant in the hotel but no one told us about that!), it was around 3:30PM. And by the time we were done, they started setting up for dinner service.
(P.S. The pictures from the ropeway ride will forever be etched in my mind with the sound of that man who was sitting with us, interviewing his woman about her experience being on such picturesque locations with him. Oh how cute!)
