Poonam Kumar Sharma, a lawyer practising in the Darjeeling district court, used to go out for late-night movies and then trek to Tiger Hill at 3am to catch the sunrise during his younger days.
That was before the Gorkhaland agitation that started in 1986.
Almost four decades later, Sharma once again "got a nightlife in Darjeeling", he said.
He participated in a "plogging event" on Thursday night to spread a message that Darjeeling is safe at night and that citizens care about keeping the hills clean.
Plogging is a combination of jogging and the Swedish "plocka upp", which means pick up, an activity started by Swedish environmental activist Erik Ahlström.
On Thursday, around 50 people, including Sharma, jogged and picked up trash from Chowrasta to Singamari and back to Chowrasta.
The initiative, started by the Vik-Run Foundation, started in the hill town in mid-August.
On Thursday, it began around 7.30pm and took over two hours.
The Darjeeling initiative has caught the attention of Ahlström who told The Telegraph over the phone from Sweden that he might visit Darjeeling for a plogging event.
“You can do it in so many ways,” Ahlström said about Darjeeling’s night initiative. “I am looking at coming to Darjeeling in March.”
Ahlström’s initiative has spread to over 90 countries. A world plogging championship has now been taking place in Italy for the last five years.
“The trash is yours but the planet is mine, is a message that I am telling all,” said Ahlström.
“We want to spread the message that Darjeeling is safe at night and hence we decided to organise a plogging at night event,” said Vikram Rai, the founder of the Vik-Run Foundation.
The plogging events are creating a buzz in Darjeeling. A number of mass cleaning events have been held at Chowrasta and Chowk Bazar in Darjeeling.
Plogging will be held in all 32 wards of Darjeeling, said Vikram.
“On September 14 we will plog in ward 23 and Nehru Road. Similar events are spread throughout the month,” said Vikram.
For Sharma, 62, the plogging at Chowrasta on Thursday night was also a jog down memory lane.
“We used to watch the late night shows at the Rink and Capitol Hall between 9pm to 12pm and then trek to Tiger Hill for sunrise,” recalled Sharma. "Those were the days. On Thursday, when I jogged at night in my hometown, stopping to pick up trash and chatting with other participants, I was reminded of my youth."
After watching the sunrise and paying a visit to Senchel Dham, Sharma and his friends would have a picnic, often impromptu, at Tiger Hill.
Most elders in Darjeeling fondly remember the night outings of movies and Tiger Hill, which came to a halt with the Gorkhaland agitation in the mid-80s.