I’ve seen and experienced so much this year! I brought 2019 in in beautiful Pench, shivering in the cold and rejoicing in the sight of a jackal and a leopard amongst so many other wonderful wild animals. Later the same month, we travelled to Sikkim and Kolkata, a city I love. I also wrote a […]
Catching Up – Writing
It’s that time again, when I’ve postponed blogging for so long that I don’t know where to begin. I keep saying that I intend to do monthly roundups and that never happens. I’m now planning to do a series of posts, catching up with what’s gone by, though. In terms of writing, I’m working on […]
West Sikkim
Pelling, in West Sikkim, won my heart. We stayed at a place called Ifseen Villa, about a kilometre and a half away from the one-street town of Pelling. And I loved the place. Outside our balcony were lemon trees, and in the distance, the magnificent Khangchendzonga* range. On each of the three mornings we spent […]
Yumthang Valley
I remember the first time I watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I watched the old movie, of course, where Mr and Mrs Beaver were people in beaver costumes, and the section where the children ride on Aslan was old-fashioned animation, to put it mildly. Yet, I loved it so much that I still remember much of it word […]
The Road to Yumthang
It was a bright, cold day. Bundled up in thermals, sweaters, mufflers, gloves and coats, we set off for Yumthang, famously known as the Valley of Flowers. In spring, a carpet of flowers rolls over the valley, and in winter, a blanket of snow. As we shivered with cold and excitement, we hoped we would […]
North Sikkim
“Should we really go?”“Is it safe?”“Just yesterday, people got stuck in Lachung and had to be rescued!”“And vehicles have not even been allowed to go towards Yumthang.”“Maybe we should just cancel our Lachung-Yumthang plan and stay in Gangtok.” On the 10 January, NDTV reported that over 150 tourists were stuck in the Lachung Valley and […]
Holiday Pictures
Two pictures I could not resist sharing …
Goodbye, Gangtok …
We woke up at 4:30 this morning. This far east, it is not as early as it sounds to my Western Ghat friends. The sun rose soon after, and we stood at the window and watched the clouds. We saw the Khangchendzonga. She played with us, hiding in the clouds and peeking out again. We […]
Beautiful Gangtok – Day Two
When I was a child, my parents and I went to Darjeeling. We did a very touristy thing – went on a ‘Fun Ten’ tour of ten points in Darjeeling that visitors must see. This included a ride in a cable car and a visit to the zoo that housed a red panda. When we […]
Gangtok!
Rain, clouds, mist. The spectacular, fascinating Teesta river. Hot momos on the way. Welcome to Gangtok. While we were in New Jalpaiguri, I was more than a little nervous. The driver we had was aggressive and noisy, and seemed to think the road belonged to him. Would we get to Gangtok safely? The moment we […]