In search

Today it was a foggy and rainy day outside...such a day when  difficult to get out of bed and face the world.  But the begonias on my window cheered me up and promised me better days. She (the begonias) seemed to say that its okay to bloom on a gloomy day to imagine you are flying when the strong wind ruffles your petals And keep your calm until the turmoil settles...

A porter at Judge Bazar Darjeeling Porter, Coolie, Dai! We call them by different names. Without them, nothing will move...literally. Consumer goods from LPG (cooking gas cylinders), food items to construction materials; anything that needs loading, unloading and transporting-you name it! These Dai's or Coolies as we call them they are the ones who do the backbreaking work of lugging goods from one place to another with their Namlo. (Namlo is a sturdy string/harness used to carry things) They are people who have migrated from Nepal and its common to see both men and women working as porters in Darjeeling. Most of them are poor, often falling below the poverty line and it is only some who have gone on to make a fortune.  Most of them confess that they have vast agricultural lands back at home. Isn't it sad that they who have acres and acres of agricultural land should now live as BPL (Below the Poverty Line) people? Many welfare and social organisations in Darjeeling

It is said that patterns duplicate and replicate in this universe from the micro to the macro level. It is interesting to notice the beautiful patterns and juxtapositions of various plants together. The most interesting things to watch are the symbiotic relationships in nature. There is a lot we can learn from nature, however we have stopped looking at it closely, our connections with nature has completely stopped.  Go out, take a walk, make that connection and feel the change. For once shut down that computer and mobile phone and listen to the birds sing.  This post is part of ‘ Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter ' A Symbiotic Relationship [click on image to enlarge view] Trekking Trail at Lamahatta, Singrimtam Darjeeling [click on image to enlarge view] [Click on image to enlarge view] [Click on image to enlarge view] [Click on image to enlarge view] [Click on image to enlarge view] [Click on image to enlarge view] [Click on image to enlarge view

Soaking the Sun [click on image to enlarge view] Point of View [click on image to enlarge view] Enjoying the warmth of the fire [click on image to enlarge view] Taking a nap in the corner of a busy street [click on image to enlarge view] Graceful yet ferocious. Lazy but faster than the blink of an eye Selfish and diplomatic at the same time Survivors in the true sense of the world Hunters of the concrete jungle CATS!

Google+ Reflecting the first rays of the sun-Morning Click on image to enlarge view Enveloped in Fog - Daytime Click on image to enlarge view The lights are on- Dusk Click on image to enlarge view Darjeeling is this beautiful land that lies on lap of Mount Kanchenjunga. It's the land of the two river goddesses the Teesta and the Rungeet. It's the land of the clouds, mountains, ravines and forests. This is the view from my home, where one can get a partial view of the Kanchenjunga. The land plays hide and seek behind the clouds and seems to change in the blink of an eye. A bright sunny day gets enveloped in fog by noon and ends in rain. People mostly grumble on the finicky nature, but in reality it's the most beautiful and amazing natural phenomenon-the water cycle!  Yesterday I was chatting with my Dad enjoying this view from my verandah. He recalled how the landscape was covered with forests with only a few houses dotting the hills. Even I remem

I am just a shadow, a shadow of your imagination!  I just happened to be passing by... I am just a shadow that emerged under the glare of the light, I just happened to be passing by...

Flying away into the sunset. .. This is evidence of how each year trees are being cut to make space for human settlements. The last of the birds leave their habitat to search for better homes. I remember how we used to play in the jungles. Today very small patches are left of our playground and the homes of the birds and the squirrels. The face of the hill has now been plastered with concrete buildings. There's a small patch of jungle in front of my house that is thriving with birds, squirrels and insects. We throw leftover rice and roti into the jungle which creates a lot of activity within the bushes. It's a magnificent ecosystem! One that lends freshness and beauty to our home, one that doesn't need or depends on us. My wife and I contemplate if this jungle will remain till the next ten years. We have less hope of this jungle surviving. Deep inside my heart I wish to buy this patch of land, so that I can preserve it for my son and for our retirement days! I gue

Making the Jump, Girl power! Boys don't seem to be too good at it Failing Miserably! It's seldom we see children playing out on the streets. Most of the children stay indoors watching TV or playing video games! It was heartening to see children come out on the streets to play macchakara ( literal translation would be fish bone, but it could mean something else) , a game very few children play or know about these days. First multiple rubber bands have to be woven into a string which takes a lot of time too and is so much fun because it involves group work. Girls always beat us to it. So the game is played on the string made of rubber band and combines heights and styles of jumping.Two of the opposite team members act as posts while the other team jumps on the strings. Some jumps involve dexterity of jumping and holding down the strings by the sole of the feet.I don't exactly know if this game is intrinsic to Darjeeling but I remember girls always beating us bo

Its yet another cold winter in  Darjeeling  with the same festivities and spirit of Christmas. Some daring or off season tourists have arrived in the hope of catching snow or perhaps they are here to take part in the Tea and Tourist Festival of Darjeeling .  Over this one year or so much has changed in Darjeeling, the roads have become wider,  major drains are being cleared as the foot path shops have been removed. The road leading up from Chowk Bazaar till Chowrasta has widened. These places which used to be major attractions for the tourists for shopping have lost some of their their charm.  It's not to deny that the change is welcome but also to acknowledge that many locals in the process have lost their livelihoods at a time when the economy of the hill is recovering and is at it's nascent stages.  This Christmas let's pray that there  is lasting prosperity and peace in the beautiful Darjeeling Hills. Let us hope that people are able to live in peace and har

It's yet another cold winter in Darjeeling, the schools are closing and there is a cold sting  and excitement in the air. The anxiety of the final exam results is relieved by the holidays and games. While the old huddle indoors seeking warmth of quilts and heaters the children are out playing their  favourite outdoor games. The badminton, chungi, mascol (marbles), bicycles are out and it's heartening to see these kids play a few of those games that have been played by generations of children who have grown up in these hills.   For a person who has grown up in this place one cannot but help feel nostalgic about their own childhood and playing these games in winter, a period which is continues to be supremely the best period of the year.  However it's also sad that the numbers of children who come out to play are very less compared to those times when hardly any kid stayed indoors. On a random guess, hardly 10% children come out to play on the streets.  Play stations, Nintend

It's been three years since I have been watching this house from my office window. During the rainy season the moss on the roof grows green and in the winter it goes back to being dull and dead again. It stands tall and elegant holding it's own, long forgotten in the corner of  the Gandhi road. It is of course a beautiful house, surely built during the British era, maybe not a heritage but surely belonging to that time.  The roof and the drain has started breaking down and I can't stop wondering  whoever the owner of this house is and why repairs are never done? It's almost impossible to see this house from the main Gandhi road as it is shrouded and sandwiched between newer houses and buildings. Even I had to go to two different rooms in my office to take these pictures.Yet at the same  time many tourists who have stayed at the Northern side of Hotel Viceroy have seen this building. I cannot guarantee that they have noticed it or even vaguely remember seeing

Somewhere in the corner of my heart I still love you... Somewhere I know that you are still wanting. Someday I know you will rise and shine. I hope I to be alive to see that day. Someday I hope you will stand tall, like the Kanchenjunga that your sight beholds. The stories and legend belies your present state, which saddens the heart more and more. It's amazing to sit down and think sometimes that it's in your narrow curvy lanes that you hold your charm. The folds of the mountains that adorn your beauty. The chitter, chatter and the hourly chime that raises my spirit during dismal times It's not a dearth of good people that holds you down, for you  nestle thousands of good souls in your lap. I hope I live to see the day when all these good souls unite to regain this paradise on earth that's  Darjeeling. --Pasang D Lepcha “A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeli