This is a long due post, has only been delayed owing to some
stupid distraction during past few months. This is actually a part of my West
Sikkim travelogue. But I reckoned this place deserved to be mentioned in a
separate post. I mentioned in my travelogue how my most venerable colleague had
helped me to plan the entire West Sikkim trip. He was the one who had told me
about this bakery as well. He is one of the very few people that I cherish to
be there in my life. It is aptly said that nothing is sexier than a real,
intellectually motivating conversation between two like-minded people.
One day when we were discussing about the Pelling itinerary,
my D Dada suddenly mentioned, ‘Years ago, when we visited Pelling, we discovered
a small bakery there, in the middle of the road. I don’t remember its name, but
it was somewhere on the way to Pemayangtse monastery from Pelling.’ He also told
me that it was situated amidst the most picturesque backdrop; a solitary bakery
by the side of the road, away from the hustle bustle of the town. No wonder his
words got imprinted on my mind and ‘mission to find the solitary bakery’ got
incorporated in my itinerary in no time.
Dear reader, if you have read my travelogue, you already
know that our Pemayangtse trip was an adventurous one. We were walking through
the deserted Geyzing-Pelling road towards Pemayangtse, and there it was - my hitherto
anonymous, lone bakery by the side of the road. Only I now knew that it’s
called Lotus bakery. If you have ever been to Pelling, you will be aware that
the Geyzing-Pelling road is canopied by dense forest on both sides. Lotus bakery
looks like a lone, little hut in the midst of the woods. We had decided to have
our evening tea at the bakery on our way back to Pelling and when we came back
we were already exhausted. The idea of having tea sounded like a brilliant one
by then; we badly needed to rest our legs.
Lotus bakery looked nothing like our CCD or Barista (both I considered
to be disgrace upon humanity). It was not even nearly half as fancy as the
Baker’s CafĂ©. Lotus bakery consisted of a single, one-story hut whose front
portion served as the sitting area and the back portion as the bakery itself. There
was a counter in the middle that also worked as a partition between the two
sections, where one could place their order. A single lady seemed to be the
sole manager of the place. She also had her cutest little daughter with her who
very interested in striking up a conversation with us. A few most ordinary
looking tables and chairs were neatly arranged across the cafeteria. We occupied
one table after placing our order at the counter. No fancy decoration, no
music, no annoying, pretentious waiter with fake accent; just a simple, tidy
place that radiated the humility and the serenity Sikkim is most famous for. I must
mention here, we were the only tourist customers in the hut.
The food arrived shortly. We had ordered apple cinnamon
roll, Danish bread, chocolate croissant along with tea as per everyone’s own
choice. I had cardamom tea. I am no expert at food, but I think I ate the best
apple cinnamon roll of my life at Lotus bakery. Each of the items seemed to
have come freshly baked from oven. I don't take milk or sugar in my tea, but
the hot, sweet cardamom tea tasted like heaven in that chilly afternoon. We reckoned they served the famous Temi tea of Sikkim here.
We again came back the next day for breakfast before
starting for our day trip to Yuksom valley. This time too we were the only
tourist customers there. The locals seemed to be more interested in take-away.
This time I had a better chance to look around the place in
the daylight. The wicker walls of the hut were decorated with myriad pictures
and posters. Among them, I noticed posters of a school were mostly highlighted.
I was intrigued. I kept looking around and then found this poster just above
the counter.
I bought the brochure before leaving and soon discovered the
interesting story behind this most amazing place. Lotus bakery is an initiative
by hill tribal school named Denjong Padma Choling Academy. This academy was
founded under Muyal Liang Trust, a trust founded by Yapo Sonam Yongda in 1980. ‘Yapo’
means the ‘learned one’. Yapo S Yongda was an exceptionally talented man
himself for which he earned that title. He was educated at the great Pemayangtse
monastery and finished his study much earlier than the normal duration. He was
trained at the IMA, Dehradun and appointed as the Aide de Camp of the Chogyal
of Sikkim. His majesty was interested in establishing an academy that would provide
both spiritual and materialistic teachings and appointed Yapo in charge of it. Hence
DPCA was born. DPCA provides education to underprivileged, orphan children of
Sikkim from nursery to class X, free of all cost. They also provide a mandatory
education in the Nyingmapa school of Vajrayana Buddhism. (For those who don't
know, Vajrayana Buddhism or the Tibetan Buddhism is divided among four different
schools. Nyingma, Gelug, Sakya and Kagyu. Nyingmapa is the oldest school of
all, having founded by Guru Padmasambhava himself during 8th
century.) The school also gives professional training to its students so that
they attain self-reliance via several cottage industries of Sikkim. The school is
also proud to have an Alumni Association comprising of doctors, engineers,
professors, IAS officers etc. DPCA has an objective to work as a congregation
between modern education and monastic teachings & values.
DPCA aspires to be upgraded to a Degree level college
someday. But financial hindrance is their biggest concern. MLT receives very
little help from govt. of India. They used to get generous foreign help
earlier, but that has reduced substantially over the years. The school has its
own cooperative society and part of that venture is our little Lotus Bakery
which has been running successfully for past years. The entire income from the
bakery goes to provide free education to underprivileged kids of the DPCA.
DPCA earned a National Award for ‘outstanding work in the
field of child welfare’ in 1989.
If you wish to help MLT to support underprivileged,
destitute children of the Himalayas, you can contact them in the below address.
Muyal Liang
Trust
Denzong Padma
Choling Academy
Drakchung Dzong,
Yongda Hill
P.O.
Pelling-737113, West Sikkim
Phone: +91 94745
32034/ 97330 18062
Email: muyalling@hotmail.com/ gmail.com
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