Two years
ago, I came across a Bengali crime thriller novel in some magazine. Its
backdrop was in Sikkim (No, I am not talking about Ray’s Gangtok-e Gondogol). I don’t remember the name of the story or of
the author, but what interested me the most, was the subject. It was about Tibetan-Buddhism
and its gods and goddesses and its customs. Since then, Tibet, as well as
Sikkim have been on my ‘must visit places before I die’ list.
Darjeeling
and Sikkim are any quintessential Bong’s favourite hill stations. Every year,
during summer and during the puja vacation you will find a chunk of Bengali
tourists in those places.
Our trip was
for 7 days and I was determined to cover almost eighty percent of Sikkim within
that time. How naive of me. After going through the travel forums, I had
come up with a pretty ambitious itinerary.
Kolkata to
Bagdogra was a one hour flight. It did not cause us much trouble; although the
short journey was quite entertaining as there were a few morons on the plane
who wouldn’t stop taking pictures of them ON the plane. One girl even took
videos of the take off AND of the landing.
Siliguri to
Gangtok was a 5 hours drive and it was an uncomfortable journey as they carried
10 people in one Bolero. We reached at around 7pm and got a hotel at M G Marg.
Temperature was at 15-16 degree and it was chilly even in mid-April.
Next morning
we went out for a stroll on M G Marg. We had our breakfast at Baker’s Café. We had heard so much about this place and I was dying to visit there. I would say it
was one of the best things about Gangtok. Everything about this place was
awesome. The food was great and very well-priced, and lots of varieties to
choose from. Staffs were polite and helpful. This applies for every Sikkimese
person we met there. Polite, soft-spoken and extremely friendly & helpful.
The ambiance at the café was excellent. It had two sides, one facing M G Marg
and the other facing the entire Gangtok city. The interior was made of wood and
very nicely designed. We spotted some really cool posters there. Each day we
spent in Gangtok, we went there every morning and evening to have our coffee or
tea.
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| Baker’s Café |
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| M G Marg |
After
breakfast we hired a cab to roam in and around the city. Our driver’s name was
Mr. Passang. He was a very good-looking Sikkimese probably in his mid thirties.
He was very polite and took us to all the famous tourist places of Gangtok.
Our first
stop was Chorten stupa. According to the Buddhist custom, a stupa contains the holy
remains of some head Lama. The stupa was encircled by many prayer wheels with
prayers written over it. There was a huge prayer hall adjacent to it. The
hall’s floor was made of wood and the entire hall was adorned with colourful
Tibetan wall-hangings. There was a golden throne (somebody later told me that
it was the throne of Holy Karmapa) in the middle. On its left was the shrine of
Lord Buddha and other Tibetan Gods and on the right side seats for the monks.
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| Chorten stupa |
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| Dharma Chakras |
Next we went
to the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology. It was named after Tashi Namgyal, the eleventh
Chogyal (king) of Sikkim. It had a museum which was a tourist attraction. The
museum was phenomenal, especially for Buddhism enthusiastic people like me. In
the middle of the hall there was a giant idol of Lord Manju Shree Nath, the
Buddhist god of knowledge and wisdom. There were century old scrolls and
Thangkas that came from Tibet. Old Tibetan ornaments, accessories used in
Buddhist rituals, idols of various Tibetan gods were also there on display.
Photography was prohibited inside the museum. Later we visited the museum gift
shop and I did lots of shopping from there. The shop had a fantastic collection
of authentic Tibetan stuff and it was also fair priced.
Next, the
cab took us to Rumtek monastery. It is situated at the outskirt of Gangtok city
and it is said to be the largest monastery of Sikkim. Security was pretty tight
there; ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) was guarding the place and they would
ask for ID proof before entering the gumpha.
As usual, photography was not allowed inside the prayer hall. It was
completely silent, dark and cold inside the hall. Walls were designed with
colourful Tibetan paintings of Buddhist gods. At the middle a huge golden idol
of Lord Gautama Buddha sitting in padmasana;
on his left was Lord Manjushree Nath. We had to make a clockwise circle
around the room as told by the monk standing there. I never felt as serene as I
did for the next 15 minutes sitting on the floor of the prayer hall.
We stopped
at a roadside shop for lunch. It was a small but busy shop crowded with
tourists. There was a smiling old Sikkimese man serving hot water. And our
waiter was a young man-boy who started reciting the menu so fast that we had to
ask him to slow down. J It had started raining by then. Hot chicken momo and thukpa
felt like heaven in that cold. After lunch we headed for our hotel.
In the evening
we went out to roam around M G Marg. We sat on a bench and spent some time
watching the evening hustle-bustle of the city. I was mostly watching pretty
Sikkimese girls/women and silently admiring them. Boy are they pretty! And so
beautifully dressed! I spent 6 days in Sikkim and did not see a single woman
who could be called fashion impaired. Anyways, we took early dinner that day
and called it a night. Next morning we would start for Lachen.
Stay tuned for the next part. :)
For more pics, follow me on instagram.
Outfit details:
Top: Wardrobe
Denim: Levi's
Necklace: J crew
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