The Big Blank

Bhutan se Gangtok tak

The wingies got placed and we finally got off for some holiday making. Even before we finalised to go to Bhutan half the campus knew we were going there. So had to go there only. I brilliantly booked the special weekly train starting from Bangalore and reaching Kolkata on 3rd day to go to nearby New Jalpaiguri. As expected(not by me) the train was late and we had some real good early dinner at the station. After a few hours of waiting at the station we even decided to show our long faces back on campus but thankfully the train arrived just before we were ready to giveup.

Indians need a permit to go to Bhutan and we were just in time to reach the border town in office hours. But then we realised it was a saturday and we won't get a permit. I was the chief architect of this trip and the wingies were impressed by the gloden touch. Though I would just say that I always like the uncertainities of life. It keeps everybody interested. There is nothing interesting in going on a reserved ticket to a reserved hotel to hop on a reserved taxi to few recommended destinations. I mean come on ....let there be some adventure. Lets enjoy the joys of uncertainity. After all we are managers who always deal with the "gray area."

So now it was either a wait till Monday which was not possible or some other destination. We decided to go to Gangtok and Darjeeling. The weather in the mountains at this time of the year is really wet. But we were lucky enough to reach there in a spell of better weather.

The way to Nathula pass was blocked because of a day's heavy snowfall. We just went to Changu lake and the snow was absolutely amazing. This was the first time I had been in heavy snow. A light snowfall happened when we were there. I had been to Changu and Nathula in October too. And that time is the recommended time to go there, Nathula was freezing then too. But this Changu trip was great. We rolled around in the snow, went down to the freezing lake water and had some nasty snow fight. Though the casualties were minimum, one down with cold, a few doubting about frost bites and one hobbling due to a (mis?)directed snowball on the delicate parts of human anatomy.


From there we went to Darjeeling. The taxi driver took us through a not so often used route. His village being on the way and what a scenic route it was. The tea gardens and the mountain sides were beautifoooool !!! The clouds and the fog was amazing.

The drive from Darjeeling down to the plains was mostly in dense fog. Visibility was not more than 5 meters ahead. But the daredevil driver would not let the speed needle go below 40kmph. A few were barely able to sit on their seat edges and me in the back side was half the time hanging on the support handles to avoid bumping or going down on the floor. The driver was sometimes too interested in the village beauties and needed reminders about the bends on the roads. The drive down was quick, adventurous and dangerous. We were having bets on our speed once we reach the plains. The driver grossly disappointed us there. He barely corssed 95kmph in the Sumo. We got back to Jalpaiguri well in time for the train, which was on time for a change.

One of the more memorable trips I would say :)

posted by Pankaj Jain @ 10:58 PM