Placid Pelling – West Sikkim – Day One

Placid Pelling(West Sikkim)

At an altitude of 7200 Ft, Pelling was where our odyssey of Sikkim began. The hamlet was immensely popular for its view of the Khanchendzonga range of mountains. The pictures and travelogues promised us a breathtaking view of the mighty mountains at very close quarters.

After a tiring day of travel, we were looking forward to the glimpse of the mountains, next morning from the balcony! But the weather gods decided to play games with us.

All that we saw next morning was White Vacuum in all directions. The guessing game started and all of us started guessing which direction the mountains would be visible.

The morning was a disappointment for me (coz I was really looking forward to viewing the gigantic mountain).

Apparently Pelling is as close as u can get to the Khanchendzonga without leaving the material comforts of good accommodation.

Driving on narrow hanging bridges, through small gurgling streams, we got the first taste of Sikkim’s enchanting beauty. Our first stop was at the Rock Garden which is a small garden by the side of a very picturesque stream .The photographers got into action. Some of the poses/antics exhibited by JK, Sid were worth an audience. It was more like they were trying to ape different species of reptiles/insects!

We then headed towards Khanchendzonga Waterfalls and then towards this lake called Khecheopalri(Kanji Pinji lake in Kiran’s words) .This is supposedly a sacred lake and myths have it that the birds do not permit even a single leaf to float on the lake surface.

The lake is really calm and the surroundings are an epitome of calm and serenity! I had started having my mood swing (not so much a frequent visitor lately) by then and Chinki hibernation set in for a while! In the meantime, Sid’s latest obsession had set in – “SimplyMarry.Com”. For some reason the whole bunch of people (Sid, JK, and Kiran etc etc) started taking snaps of me with the purpose of publishing it in on SimplyMarry.com. They were trying to achieve the impossible – Help me get hooked on ;-)))!

We had a nice lunch back in Pelling after driving through a stream – Am not kidding when I say that Durga (our hunky driver) drove the Max through the stream. No points for guessing that this is a very convenient way of cleaning vehicles in Pelling ;-)

Post-Lunch we drove through the hills to this awfully long bridge called Singshore Bridge.This hanging bridge looks very nice from the road and the photography bonanza began! The theme of photography this time was – “Pictures through Holes”.Dont ask me what that was! The name says it all!

The last stop for the day was Pemayangtse Monastery, supposedly one of the oldest and most important monasteries in Sikkim .Its located on a small hillock and completely surrounded by Prayer Flags which look heavenly when fluttering in the breeze.Inspite of restrictions on photography , we could find tourists violating the law and taking pictures. I wonder when we ll learn to respect and obey rules atleast in a religious abode like monasteries and temples.

We also encountered a traffic hazard where our Max and a Truck (oposite direction) had a separation of few centimetres . The guys pushed the Max away from the Truck and got it going. One had to witness this scene to believe what was being done to move the vehicles :-) !

We had some nice momos in a small bar in the evening and savored the early sunset in Eastern India. The last thing in the day before sleeping was an extremely profound discussion on the architecture of buildings in Pelling. It took me a while to figure out that the discussion was about our very own Pelling abode. I have no qualms in admitting that the topic and the discussion was too profound for my liking. The Gyaani (He prefers to consider himself that - JK) had to intervene and put a logical end to the thesis and like he always does, he confused everyone so much, that people decided they had enough of architecture!

Thus ended Day One – A nice breath of Sikkim, Some Momos and some Architectural Discussions which was apparently Common Sense J but no KhanchendzongaL.

Some useful links for Pelling

http://www.sikkiminfo.net/pelling.htm

http://www.east-himalaya.com/sikkim/pelling.htm

The Start of the Odyssey – Sikkim

The planning started in December and we spent sleepless nights booking tickets, accommodation etc etc. And finally the day dawned, when we had to embark on our much awaited Sikkim Trip. Our Air Deccan flight was at 5:45 in the morning. Lemme introduce my co-travellers. There z Dhanya popularly known as DCM , a veteran traveler, the ever organized , process-oriented Sid ,veteran No.2 , Kiran, one of the Managers of D, JK aka Entertainment Unlimited ,Sandhya the other manager of D and Sandhya’s better half, Manoj.

The Herculean task ahead of us was to get to the airport by 4 atleast, with all our luggage (packed).Given Air Deccan ‘s reputation for overbooking , PARANOA was the word of the day !After all the initial hustle bustle we boarded the flight to Kolkatta !The flight was on time and uneventful except for the Coffee Making Process . We land in the hot and humid Kolkatta and start the hunt for restaurants! Found a horrendously expensive snack joint but had to make do with this place! The loooooooooooong wait for the Baghdogra flight seemed endless! Finally it was 2 PM and time to board the flight! Again the flight was normal and boring .Air Deccan earned more brownie points for no schedule variance.

We finally got to meet Mr. Mukhiya our tour guide/travel agent! The Mahindra Max seemed very comfortable and spacious and the driver – Durga was ahem ahem ;-)!
We drove to Pelling –our first destination in Sikkim .It was quite a long drive but the journey got scenic by the minute!

Some facts about Sikkim – Sikkim has four districts –West Sikkim, East Sikkim, South Sikkim and North Sikkim- Elementary wasn’t it ;-)?Pelling happens to be in West Sikkim .The highlight of Pelling being its vicinity to Mount Kanchenjunga – BTW The peak is spelt as KhanChenDzonga.Apparently the mountain peaks are very clearly visible from ay part of Pelling.

We finally reached our hotel and retired for the night after 2 flights and a road journey. Incidentally the Hindi spoken in this part of Sikkim is influenced by Bengali .So it takes a while (especially for people from South) to understand what the people speak.
Lots more on the Odysseys of Sikkim will follow

Bangalore - Haven for Rowdyism?

"Gandhigiri:" - This was one of the latest additions to the Indian Vocabulary in the recent times. "Entertainmet with a message" was a highlight of the movie "MunnaBhai- Part2".

Does Gandhigiri really work these days ?How many people here actually take this message seriously? - This is highly debatable !But one thing that seems to be working big time in Bangalore these days is "Goondagiri" .

There have been tons of articles and debates on how Bangalore, which was once a safe paradise,has evolved into a haven for criminals. And this is being proved time and again. Getting mugged on the streets ,robbery (of all sorts) etc etc has become a feature of life.

Just yesterday when I was having coffee in Indiranagar , there was some sudden activity outside the cafe .....Me ,being a normal curious homosapien, peeped outside. A couple of guys were beating up another one . This is quite common these days especially when it comes to accidents etc etc. But this went on for a loooooooong time. The story goes that the vicitm was just a normal being like us but with a little more social responsibility . The guys who were beating him up were local rowdies !!!Reason - These local goons were eve-teasing one of the girls in the cafe and this poor soul questioned them about it. And wat he got was a sound thrashing .....To top it all, the girl was trying to shield this poor guy from the a......------------This incident left me completely disturbed. One puny looking guy tries to question the basic flaw in the system,gets beaten up and the only protection he gets is from a victimised girl. Lets not forget that there were a group of spectators and onlookers including one cop !!!!!!!

And we know that this is a common occurence these days.And these goons get away (which I know has been happening for a long time) with anything and everything. But the scary part of the whole situation is how this kind of a behaviour is catching up on the entire youth community. There is no legal or social binding which discourages the spread of such unruly behaviour.

MIGHT IS RIGHT seems to be the "Order of the Day"