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Regular-article-logo Tuesday, 08 July 2025

Next weekend you can be at ... Rangpo

Going Staying

Metro On Sunday Thanks Reader Chinmoy Chakrabarti For This Contribution. Picture By Author Website: Www.wbfdc.com' Published 01.04.07, 12:00 AM

As we approached the bridge on Rangpo Chu, which separates West Bengal and Sikkim, our driver Bikash made a sharp right turn and started the steep climb towards Mongsong. We were moving away from National Highway 31A and the Teesta.

I was under the impression that the Forest Development Corporation’s bungalow was on the banks of the river. So I asked Bikash if he knew the route properly. He nodded, concentrating on negotiating a hairpin bend.

After approximately a kilometre, we drove into a beautiful forest of sal and segun. It was noon and the sun’s rays filtered through leaves to bathe the road in an almost magical light. I was not going to let go of the photo opportunity. With my wife as the model, I started an impromptu shooting session. After driving on for a couple of kilometres more, we were at Rangpo.

The journey had started at Darjeeling. We took the road that bifurcates at Ghoom and extends to Teestabazar via Peshak. It is a beautiful route — shaded by tall deodars and pines, sometimes descending to the Teesta and winding through small villages and tea gardens.

Along the way is the picturesque hamlet of Lamata. It has a small green meadow over which red, blue and white prayer flags flutter. The meadow stretches to a dense cluster of pine trees.

We crossed the river at Teestabazar and halted at Melli to grab a bite. After a plate of hot momos, we resumed the journey with renewed vigour.

The Forest Development Corporation bungalow, which looks more like a cottage, had me enchanted. It is superbly placed on a slope and the courtyard offers a view of the entire town, lying well below on the right bank of Rangpo Chu. Emerging from the emerald mountains, the river twists and turns to meet Teesta a short distant ahead. One can see the confluence from the first-floor bedroom of the bungalow.

The bungalow has two bedrooms — Munia on the ground floor and Minivet on the first floor with attached bath, a well-appointed drawing room and a dinning room.

The caretaker-cum-cook, Chintamani, and his helper Dhankumar are affable and try their best to please the guests.

The green hills across the river, on the Sikkim side, greeted our eyes as we looked out of the bedroom windows. A large, magnificent male peacock flew in to perch on a tree in the garden, where I sat for hours, mesmerised by nature. There’s not much else — no grand monument, snow-capped peak or shopping mall.

The best you can do is go for a leisurely drive to Mongsong, 14 km away, along a steep, serpentine mountain road. The path snakes through a cinchona plantation and touches tiny Lepcha hamlets made up of toy-like houses with roses growing on the porch. In the evening, you can go down to the town and have hot samosas and rasomalai.

We sat on the balcony and waited for the darkness to descend. A cool breeze drifted in from the river as a lonely night bird’s call for its mate broke the silence. A thousand yards away, across Rangpo Chu, hundreds of lights twinkled on a hill like diamonds in a great crown. I recalled a Tsao poem: “Go far into the void/and there rest in quietness./All things arise and bloom in their time,/Then they return to their roots./Their returning is peace.

Going

Rangpo is 98 km from Siliguri on the way to Gangtok. All buses to Gangtok stop at Rangpo. The Forest Development Corporation’s bungalow is three km from the bus stop on the road to Monsong. Jeeps and cars are readily available. You can also hire a car to Rangpo from New Jalpaiguri

Staying

The West Bengal Forest Development Corporation bungalow. You can stop over for a night on the way to Gangtok or while coming back from there. For reservation, contact: West Bengal Forest Development Corporation, 6A Raja Subodh Mullick Square, Arya Mansion (seventh floor), Calcutta: 700013. Phone: 22370060/61.

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