In our dimly-lit, slightly musty hotel room on Tuesday morning, Shelly, Danielle and I packed and repacked our bags to leave Gangtok for Darjeeling for a few days to relax and hopefully write a good chunk of our papers. Our final ISP paper is a consolidation of the last month of interviews and a whole lot of background research all wrapped into a tidy 30 page paper and presentation. It’s probably the most work I’ve done in college so far.
That being said, I’ve realized that this program is a lot more academically rigorous than I expected it to be- not that that’s a bad thing- it’s just a little frustrating that so much of my time here has been consumed by sk00l stuffz- readings and papers and memorizing Hindi. All I wanted to do in Sikkim was trek up into the North so see some of the mightiest of the Himalayas- because from where we were staying we could only see them from a distance- clearly- but from a far distance. Although, I think a big part of why I’m having this Himalayan urge is because currently reading a friend’s copy of “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer- a non-fiction about his experiences climbing EVEREST.
It kills me a little bit inside to know this is most likely the last time I’ll be anywhere near this part of the globe for a while- and I’m not going to the mountains! I keep having to remind myself that I’m in college- studying....and it just happens to be in an amazing place that has so many interesting things to offer. All complaining aside, I feel that I’ve taken advantage of a lot of what North East India has to offer. I spent a week living the village-life in the mountains of Sikkim, made some Nepali friends, eaten authentic Nepali food, got pretty well oriented to Sikkim (and mastered the stairs,) and learned some Nepali phrases- Hazoor!- aka “Hello!” or “Yes!” or “Okay!” or ”I understand what you are saying to me!” (P.S.- This will be my future cat’s name.)
We met the other SIT student, Luke and haggled for a shared taxi* to take us to Darjeeling- 80 kilometers away.The four of us....and our backpacks that each were roughly the size of a small dog- crammed into the middle seat section. 3 women sat in the front alongside the driver and 4 more people sat in the trunk. It was a cozy ride for sure.
(*We met a Canadian couple in a cafe in Gangtok who had just come from Darjeeling. After telling them our plans to take a taxi to Darjeeling, the woman said “I am TOO well-off to ride in one of those vomit comets. We take a private car....mwah hah hah hah cackle cackle.” As abrasive as she was, she was totally right. I’ve almost thrown up multiple times while riding in these things.)
After 3 hours of climbing mountain sides-sometimes stalling out or pulling up at 45 degree angles on the sides of ridges to let other jeeps pass- the terrain quickly turned from dense jungle to miles and miles of tea plants. The fields were sprinkled with old women hunched over with baskets the size of their bodies hanging from their backs plucking tea leaves. By this point, we had crossed into West Bengal- one of the main tea growing areas in the world. We passed signs for some of the most famous tea company estates -“Tzao Tea” and “Golden Tips” for example. The coolest!
The higher up we drove, the colder it got. We didn't think (or want to think) that this was possible, but at nearly 1,000 vertical feet higher than Gangtok, we were proven wrong very quickly. Driving into the city of Darjeeling, I found it was a lot different than what I was expecting. After seeing the super-hit Hindi film, Barfi that was filmed in Darjeeling last year- I had this romanticized idea of happy little old men drinking chai on train tracks alongside children playing in the streets wearing cute wool sweaters- all accompanied by accordion music (the movie’s soundtrack.) Darjeeling, while quite charming- was very foggy and glum. The air was heavy with soot and the buildings looked dilapidated. It had a “mining-town” feel to it-definitely a working people’s place.
We got dropped off at our hotel called the “Park Place” on the main road and were told by...wait for it...our advisor’s friend’s fiance that he had reserved a room for us to stay for the next 3 nights. Upon giving our names at the desk, the receptionist said they had no listing for us. We had to haggle with them for a bit- both for a room and to lower their price for it- but managed to secure a room for the four of us for 1500 rupees per night- a pretty solid deal.
After unpacking our things, we set out to explore the city before it got too dark. (It gets dark by 5:30pm nowadays.) We were told by the Canadian couple to go to this bakery called Glenery’s. The woman said they had really good brownies...and Wi-fi. That was all I needed to hear.
We spent a good hour maneuvering around the streets and up sets of stairs- weaving in between taxis and old men and women carrying MASSIVE sacks of who-knows-what on their backs. I saw one man carrying a carton full of at least 20 live fully-grown chickens, another woman carrying 4 giant tubs of vegetable oil, and another carrying a sack full of Northface jackets- which were being sold alongside all the roads along with other “brand name” clothes. Although, the typeface of the “Northface” on these coats looked...different. Interesting.
We finally found the cafe- and were greeted by the oh so sweet smell of PASTRIES- of butter and eggs and sugar and all things beautiful. I just stood there and took it all in until I noticed someone looking at me- so I stopped and acted like I was really interested in the wall-art.
Before we made the choice to stay- the 4 of us did our routine “outlet hunt” for spaces were we could charge our computers to do our work. We found a perfect 4 seated table in the corner with 2 huge windows looking out on the city of Darjeeling below and...TWO outlets! This was paradise. We ordered hot chocolate and cookies and cranked out a good two hours of paper writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment