The Start

Tonu was dressed in a vibrant Tee and cargo pants. The high-powered
spectacles that she usually wears, was not there and smudged maskara
over her eyes, highlighted and complimented her simple yet ethnic beauty
to the best! Our teenaged hearts were throbbing with excitement with
touches of some hidden fear and anxiety.

It was around 7:30 PM as we reached Sealdah Station to board Darjeeling

mail from platform 14. As usual, the leader of the pack, Tonu was more
busy with the logistics and boarding, gushing up and down the platform,
while I remained seated on a station bench, sipping a cup of black coffee,
looking at her without letting her know that she is being watched!
Tonu suddenly came to me and said, “Joy’da, our tickets haven't been
confirmed and got stuck at WL 1 / 2. What to do?”

I pretended to be naive and without even looking at her told, “What can we
do when the destiny wants us not to…. Let’s go back to where we
belong…!”
I could see, from the peripheral vision without even directly looking at her,
that her face had reddened, and her ear lobes were radiating heat, that I
could feel from about 2 feet between us.
She spoke in a tone which sounded firm and composed, without any hint
anger or of whatever that’s going on within her……., that’s one of her
specialities!
She said,” Joy’da, please do not hesitate to go back if you want to, I am not
going back till I find out a way!”
The firm yet very softly spoken words, brought a slight twitch on my lips to
laugh, while I refrained from letting it show.
I dropped the near empty coffee cup in the dustbin and told, “Tonu, it
seems the destiny wants us to change it at our will”, “Let’s find the TTE….”
We boarded the train, with general tickets and into the third-class
unreserved compartment. Every inch of it was filled up and somehow like
particles of sand, we vibrated and tried to adjust ourselves and our
rucksacks, in the ocean of unknown co-passengers and their belongings.
The plethora of all sorts of noises, from agitated shouts and shrieks to
settle down, from cries of young and old to give them some space to
breathe, from beggars seeking alms……….. it was obvious that the next 12
hours of our journey to New Jalpaiguri, will be filled with thrill that only
herding animals like cows and goats, can enjoy!!!

Fortunately, a sympathetic fellow passenger, by looks in his mid-50’s and

attire, a gentleman who seemed to be used to such situations, signalled me
to come towards him, just beside the vestibule. I hopped like a rabbit, with
my heavy sack on my back, while Tonu’s dangled on my arms, to reach the
point where he was seated. Tonu followed me like a rat follows the
bagpiper!
Upon reaching there, without any further ado, he pointed towards his huge
metallic trunk, and gestured us to sit on it. At last, we found some space to
rest our aching backs. We were relieved.
In some time, out of exhaustion and our backs now resting upon the cabin
wall, we slipped into a nap. The rest of the journey was quite smooth, with
only turns of reaching the washroom once or twice, stepping upon people’s
hands, legs and even heads, only to find a filthy, yellow-stained chamber,
which smelled like rotten eggs and crude ammonia, which tried every
possible way to kill me by bringing out my intestines from my mouth. Rest
was of the journey, we just dozed it off!
The Bliss

The train was right on time, even a bit early, thank God! We de-boarded it
as fast as we could and upon breathing the fresh morning air, we looked at
each other and smiled as if we crossed an ordeal and escaped the
concentration nazi camps, just managing out of it somehow and still alive!
The chitter-chatter, the platform announcements, the misty sunshine, the
cool breeze, magically made us forget the night within a few seconds. We
slowly strolled our way out of the station.

As we ramped up the exit, I suddenly noticed that Tonu’s sack (which we

bought just a few days ago, before the tour) dangled from her back in a
manner that seemed as if heavier than her, and she was struggling. Upon
extending a hand to help, again a stern reply, “I can manage my things
myself, please do not worry….”. I smiled and kept walking by her side.
It was about 8 in the morning when we boarded a shared taxi from the
Sikkim transport stand. While we ate our breakfast (butter toast and
omelettes), I stealthily, swapped some of her items from her bag into mine,
as mine was a bigger rucksack and had enough empty space.

The trekker gypsy was filled up and for a bit of comfort, we had booked
three seats in the middle tier, an extra seat. As soon as we settled, Tonu
was at the window seat, and I sat beside her. The jeep started with a jolt,
and we started our never-to-forget tour of the mountains!
A Nepali tune was playing on the car audio, which I would say
complimented the situation perfectly. Tonu suddenly looked towards me
and said: “Joy’da, I saw you opened my bag and passed on a few things
into yours. It was not needed as I was able to handle it!”
I was silent for a moment. Knowing not what to say as if a criminal has
been caught red-handed, I said:
“Did you bring all the clothes that you had in your cupboard to this tour? Are
you planning to settle down here or what…?”
We laughed aloud!!

As soon as we crossed the Mahananda bridge, the hustle bustle of the city
was gone. The weather was crisp and cool. I saw Tonu, dozing off. Yes, the
night’s journey had taken a toll on her.
After about a journey of 4-1/2 hours or so, with intermittent breaks to attend
nature’s calls and tea-cigarette breaks, we reached Maneybhanjan at
around 1:30 in the afternoon.’
A beautiful small market-town and gateway to North Sikkim, Manebhanjan
was a place where I had been to 10 times if not more. A small cosy
restaurant, run by a local couple, named Gumpha’s, was at the other side
of the market. We both entered and found it totally empty, we being the only
customers.
Tsering, the owner of Gomphu’s, rushed from inside the shop, upon seeing
me and greeted. We knew each other since many years. The ambience
inside was like a small but very cosy, neat and clean, psychedelic café and
it was Denver that was being played on the audio. I looked towards Tonu
and found her reflection back towards me in appreciation. She liked the
place for sure!
I made up my mind to call it a day here. As we had no pre-defined plans,
initially I planned to stay at Okhrey, another 2 hours journey from here, but
decided against it, to relieve us from the excruciating stress that we had
experienced in the train journey last night. While we chomped on some
lamb chops and hot steaming momos along with a pitcher of home-made
Rhododendron wine, I told Tonu about the plan. She as usual had no
complaints!
Tsering, upon hearing that we looked for a cheap but fairly standard
homestay, offered us to stay at his residence, just a walk of 10mins from
the restaurant, over a hillock. We agreed even without having a look at it,
as a gesture of courtesy. I knew, it won’t be bad.
Tonu however, seemed to be bit sceptical, understandably though as she
hasn’t travelled in such unplanned manner and that too with a reasonably
‘lesser known’ Guy like me, before! I could feel for her.

After a sumptuous brunch devouring belly-filled and heart-melt cuisines, we

headed with Tsering, to our night’s destination. Upon reaching his place,
just atop a small hillock, the wooden two-storeyed building, looked like an
architecture that was naturally there and perfectly blended with all that was
around. The greenery was dense.
Tsering, hurriedly shifted our belongings to the room. The room had a
balcony, that opened the entire town of Maneybhanjan in-front of us, amidst
lush greenery and faint skyline of unknown Himalayan ranges.
The cosy wooden room had a king-sized cushioned bed and all the basic
things that one might need. There was a cot, which directly faced the
balcony, and I could be the happiest person to be able to avail this for
night’s sleep.
Tonu meanwhile, freshened up with a hot-shower, and I could see her
clicking photos and video-calling her near-and-dear ones. Yes, she looked
overwhelmed!
On the contrary, I laid lazily on the cot, having just only discarded my
shoes, and silently appreciating the beauty that was in front of me. Tonu,
like a mountain bird, was chirping over the phone and hopping from one
end to the other of the vast balcony, and also on the patches of green, just
downstairs.
I dozed off in peace.

It was Tonu, who woke me up. I heard her saying, “Vodrolok to besh
ajob…Kolkatar veer-vaar e kotha bolai bondho kre na, ar ekhane eto
sundor ekta jagay esey mosh er moto ghumocche….. !”
(A strangest of gentleman lying dead here at a place so beautiful, while
keeps on blabbering when in Kolkata…!)

I wiped my face laughing. Lit a cigarette, and slyly asked, “What do you
want me to say…?”
Instantly she replied, "Bhooter golpo….”!!
I laughed hard… so hard, that tears of laughter rolled down my cheek….!

The night had fallen.

Down the hill, the town looked as if a cluster of thousands of fireflies,
settled for the night. The sky was so over-crowded with stars that even one
more of it would not have the place to fit in! The wind had a chill, and
suddenly I remembered I was still in my tees without even a pullover. Tonu
managed to pull out all that she could and looked as if a small eskimo or
his pet penguin, in her warm red flint hoodie. I laughed all by myself and
pulled out my down-jacket to roll it over.

Tsering came, with a pot of hot coffee and a dish full of steaming French
potato fries. The aroma of the grilled fries and the coffee complimented the
atmosphere to the minutest perfection. Yes, the evening was un-earthly!
We three chatted for quite long and ultimately had our early dinner of
roti-chicken-curry and bid farewell to Tsering, as he went to his room. It was
about 10:30 in the night.
I wanted to keep Tonu awake because of a special reason, which she
never could know.
I kept on cooking up stories of Ghosts, witches, and every possible
super-natural thing, that I could think of. She was hooked up to the stories
as if a kid, hearing them for the first time… the Lights were off, as
load-shedding is quite common in these areas, and it was the candles that
illuminated the entire room into a magical aura. Tonu was gleaming and
teeming with a fairy-like-presence !
Suddenly, there was a ‘plop’ and something squishy and wet was on my
face. As I raised my had to find what it is, Tonu laughed hysterically. It was
a fire-moth, that had hit my face and laid there squished and dead…yuck!
She took out a paper napkin from her bag and cleaned the stuff. She took
turns to take more of the napkin, dip it in water from the glass, and wipe the
place on my mouth where it smashed. The tingly, cold water, was
pin-pricking my skin, and I kept on saying… “it’s okay Tonu…….Never
mind….leave it…..
Leave it… its cold…. I will manage….” However, there was no affect on
her.. and she went on doing it…….”

A bit annoyed, I sat up, removing her hands off my face. The lights seemed
too bright suddenly, as if the sun was out.

It took me quite a while to understand, I was dreaming.

Kalu was wagging his tail fervently. The plop of wet squishy thing was
nothing but Kalua’s love-filled kisses, that is a usual thing every daybreak!
Indeed, it was a dream that should never have ended!

JC
13/9/23