Lepchakha
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Lepchakha
Where Heaven Came Down to Meet Us
At Buxa Sadar bazaar, the night was cloudy and dark. Nothing much could be seen from the balcony of Rovers’ Inn. So after a little chat all of us went to bed around 12 O clock to wake up before the sun the next morning. The next day was even cloudy and it rained heavily since late night. As we had plan to reach Lepchkha anyhow, we didn’t waste much time at Buxa and prepared ourselves for the 2 km uphill trek in rain. With light breakfast we charged up ourselves and left for Lepchakha by 9 am. Just a 15 minute’s walk took us to the famous Buxa Fort which served as the place of imprisonment for the Indian freedom fighters during the British period. A quick round at the rain drenched fort gave us an indescribable pleasure. The rain washed trees and the bushes here and there gave an impression of a jungle imprisoned inside the lofty walls of the fort.
The walk ahead was bit tough for the first time trekkers, but easy at all goes for the regular hill-toers. Continuous rain left the whole path slippery and the leeches made the walk funnier to us as every now and then we had to check our shoes and trousers for hidden leeches. The beauty of the rain drenched jungle and hill along with beautiful brown leeches captured our minds such way that we just for those moments forgot where we belong to, where we head for and what we be for? It seemed like walking through those narrow hilly paths was the only work that we were born for. The sights of the valley down the hills, the peaks peeping over the lofty trees, the tiny colourful blossoms spread all over the slopes in plenty tailor-made the heaven for us.
On the way we met with a small flow probably existed only in rainy season. The little urchin flow caught us to play with it for some time and needless to mention we couldn’t ignore its call. The cool water refreshed us as soon as we dipped our feet into the flow, the splash of water over our shoulders let us feel heavenly once again
An hour’s walk with more than usual number of halts took us to the landing of heaven, Lepchakha, from where I feel the stairs to heaven ascends. From the lush green meadow just a few steps ahead the entry point of the village we got a picturesque view of the plain of North Bengal embracing numerous small to big rivers which lied like silver ribbons amongst the misty green patches of land or jungles. After having our place of stay negotiated, we all sat on the wooden cot provided at the edge of the meadow for enjoying the lusty beauty of North Bengal. It was cloudy the day long and we dared to walk through the whole path in rain. The goddess of rain probably was bit annoyed with us and tried her heart and soul to scare us even after we reached to the peaceful and safe shelter of Lepchakha and its warm at heart people. By The afternoon, the cloud tried to engulf us and within an hour we were completely detached from the outer world. Visibility came as low as 5 feet only. The environment become all ghostly, we couldn’t see each others’ faces and couldn’t have any idea what others were thinking for everybody of us were silent, not because we ran short of words, but it was the moment’s magic that we forgot to make sound and left ourselves to be engulfed by the mist. But we were quite sure at one point that nobody among us was upset for being in such an environment which comes once in a lifetime and only fools do choose to spare the heavenly enjoyment! We were as if blotting the moments with our ability of feelings. Though the sharp line that differs one afternoon from an evening was all merged by then, we perceived an evening’s arrival by the increasing darkness. The villagers put up the lights at their huts one by one, only we had no urge to be enlightened. The country liquor called CHANG accompanied us since the afternoon and made us feel even better, as the essence of utmost silence and loneliness even being in crowd is enjoyable only when your blood carries poison. Chang isn’t a poison for sure; it’s rather a heavenly drink without which the magical mist wouldn’t have dared to play such tricks to overwhelm us by its presence only!
Lepchakha is a place where silence extends its own magic and loneliness finds its true definition. The clam nature of the village dwellers adds so much to the environment that one can make a hands-on will for spending her/his rest of the life there. Lepchakha is also, probably the only place in North Bengal from where the sky can be seen at its greatest expansion on fogless nights.
The night was, as if, spent in a boat in the ocean of mystic sub consciousness. We were accompanied by the cute leeches even in our sleep, not in dream though. Then another cloudy but rainless morning gave us a second welcome, but alas! we were close to depart from our heaven on earth. We spent the last few moments at the hanging veranda of the wooden cottage we were allowed to stay and left there some heartfelt togetherness before we finally said goodbye to Lepchakha, the haven of quietness and solitude.
Visited in August 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thanks for granting me a half day off !
The day (30.09.2010), on which the Ayodhya verdict was to be announced, I was, as usual, at my office and was unaware of the event being all detached from any kind of news sources those days. At 12 noon my colleague came over to my chamber to ask me what time I had decided to leave the office that day. Not quite understanding her question I, waited for a clarification at which she informed me that, after 3 pm the Ayodhya verdict was to be declared and that our boss instructed us to leave the office long before 3 fearing a religious riot might break out as it did 18 years back at the time of demolishing of Babri mosque. The issue was seriously sensitive. As we live in a country where probably the worst of all worst religious riots took place claiming thousands of lives, we dare not to keep trust on our country fellow for keeping peace!
Listening to and understanding what we were supposed to do on that afternoon, I had a peculiar kind of feeling. At one end I was happy that I would have a half day off and could relax or do whatever I wanted back home, but at the other, I was amazed at the thought that the verdict may fuel up another religious riot!, the one in which people of different religions kill each other in the name of saving the existence of a religion! We have witnessed so many times that on crisis, The Hindus save Hinduism, Muslims save Islam, Sikhs save Sikhism, Buddhists save Buddhism, Christians save Christianity, but only God knows who saves Humans and Humanity!
The thought bugged into my brain and I got myself a little more time to think on the issue. I surfed on the net immediately about the latest news on the dispute. It was 12 noon then and I had a little more time even if I decided to leave the office before 3pm. I found from the news that some parts of the country with equal or unequal concentration of Muslim and Hindu population were kept under careful vigilance. Even parts of my city, Kolkata, where the Muslim population is greater were kept under special police attention. Astonished, as I couldn’t quite believe that our generation could really go into such a thing called a Religious Riot on the basis of the verdict and wouldn’t stop others if anything really of that kind came into happening. I couldn’t quite understand whether the recent generations of the Ayodhya victims could indulge themselves into another massacre. I understand their pain, may be not as deep as they do, but at the same time don’t they understand the fruitlessness of what happened that time? Don’t they still suffer from what the people that time thought right in the name of saving the religion and its existence?
I felt like taking a chance. I wanted to stay at the office till 6 pm and then go home after 3 hours of the verdict being announced. I felt like verifying my trust on my fellow countrymen and stand firm till the moment of crisis came. But I couldn’t stick to this thought for too long too. The other thought of having a half day off at work couldn’t be dropped at one go. Given the trust on the national integrity on one hand and a half holiday on the other, a person like me would joyfully accept the shame of distrusting the nation and grasp the opportunity of having a half day off. So I couldn’t keep trust on my country fellow, I feared of a religious riot, drew images of daggered, chopped, burnt carcasses scattered along the city streets, smog and darkness at every nook and corner of the city, either silence or crazy scary screams all over, quivering hearts inside the four walls, terrified eyes through the holes of the windows and a curfew at the end. Then I left the office at 2 pm. While on the way home, I noticed the roads to be a bit deserted.(may be 2 pm in the afternoon, early enough from the back-home rush hours, had its usual appearance and least passers-by). I first tried to think, it might be the natural appearance of the roads, but then I had to look scared, I had to distrust our national integrity, so I figured it out to be the effect of the crisis right ahead.
While on the rickshaw, the last ride to my home, I couldn’t even help alerting a few of my Muslim friends to take care, through sms. And then the fact stroke my mind that if I, being a responsible citizen of this country, chose to accept the half day off not giving any thought to what actually I should have done in this situation, how on earth I blame on my very own country people for causing a religious riot! No fancy that they too had their choice of action. If I can fall for such a trivial thing and keep my social responsibility at bay with this easiness, cant the others do the same?
I may justify my action by telling that it was just a trivial thing and no harm I did to anybody by doing that. No body would be suffering for my action by any means. But doesn’t that also imply that the other persons who demolished the Babri mosque, who fueled up the fire, who killed numerous people in the name of religion had their own kind of excuses? Couldn’t they as well have noble justification to their action as I have?
I don’t know what the other people of my city, my country did on that afternoon; whether they went back home early, shut down their businesses or braved the situation, but certainly know some people like me surely took the advantage of that so called crisis.
We talk big when it comes to bring positive changes to our country life, but little do we think about changing ourselves, while the magic wizard lies in our very own hands.
Reaching home, I switched on the TV and stuck to it until the verdict was announced. Finally by 5 pm it came out. The judges at the Lucknow court played safe by distributing the land in question in equal parts among the three groups of claimants. With the judgment, some were happy, some were unhappy too, but to our greatest relief, no riot broke out. But the issue even after 18 years showed us clearly where we actually stand and consequently, raised the question once again:
Will we ever be able to change ourselves? Will I ever be able to change myself?...if not, what’s in talking big on changing the whole country!!
Listening to and understanding what we were supposed to do on that afternoon, I had a peculiar kind of feeling. At one end I was happy that I would have a half day off and could relax or do whatever I wanted back home, but at the other, I was amazed at the thought that the verdict may fuel up another religious riot!, the one in which people of different religions kill each other in the name of saving the existence of a religion! We have witnessed so many times that on crisis, The Hindus save Hinduism, Muslims save Islam, Sikhs save Sikhism, Buddhists save Buddhism, Christians save Christianity, but only God knows who saves Humans and Humanity!
The thought bugged into my brain and I got myself a little more time to think on the issue. I surfed on the net immediately about the latest news on the dispute. It was 12 noon then and I had a little more time even if I decided to leave the office before 3pm. I found from the news that some parts of the country with equal or unequal concentration of Muslim and Hindu population were kept under careful vigilance. Even parts of my city, Kolkata, where the Muslim population is greater were kept under special police attention. Astonished, as I couldn’t quite believe that our generation could really go into such a thing called a Religious Riot on the basis of the verdict and wouldn’t stop others if anything really of that kind came into happening. I couldn’t quite understand whether the recent generations of the Ayodhya victims could indulge themselves into another massacre. I understand their pain, may be not as deep as they do, but at the same time don’t they understand the fruitlessness of what happened that time? Don’t they still suffer from what the people that time thought right in the name of saving the religion and its existence?
I felt like taking a chance. I wanted to stay at the office till 6 pm and then go home after 3 hours of the verdict being announced. I felt like verifying my trust on my fellow countrymen and stand firm till the moment of crisis came. But I couldn’t stick to this thought for too long too. The other thought of having a half day off at work couldn’t be dropped at one go. Given the trust on the national integrity on one hand and a half holiday on the other, a person like me would joyfully accept the shame of distrusting the nation and grasp the opportunity of having a half day off. So I couldn’t keep trust on my country fellow, I feared of a religious riot, drew images of daggered, chopped, burnt carcasses scattered along the city streets, smog and darkness at every nook and corner of the city, either silence or crazy scary screams all over, quivering hearts inside the four walls, terrified eyes through the holes of the windows and a curfew at the end. Then I left the office at 2 pm. While on the way home, I noticed the roads to be a bit deserted.(may be 2 pm in the afternoon, early enough from the back-home rush hours, had its usual appearance and least passers-by). I first tried to think, it might be the natural appearance of the roads, but then I had to look scared, I had to distrust our national integrity, so I figured it out to be the effect of the crisis right ahead.
While on the rickshaw, the last ride to my home, I couldn’t even help alerting a few of my Muslim friends to take care, through sms. And then the fact stroke my mind that if I, being a responsible citizen of this country, chose to accept the half day off not giving any thought to what actually I should have done in this situation, how on earth I blame on my very own country people for causing a religious riot! No fancy that they too had their choice of action. If I can fall for such a trivial thing and keep my social responsibility at bay with this easiness, cant the others do the same?
I may justify my action by telling that it was just a trivial thing and no harm I did to anybody by doing that. No body would be suffering for my action by any means. But doesn’t that also imply that the other persons who demolished the Babri mosque, who fueled up the fire, who killed numerous people in the name of religion had their own kind of excuses? Couldn’t they as well have noble justification to their action as I have?
I don’t know what the other people of my city, my country did on that afternoon; whether they went back home early, shut down their businesses or braved the situation, but certainly know some people like me surely took the advantage of that so called crisis.
We talk big when it comes to bring positive changes to our country life, but little do we think about changing ourselves, while the magic wizard lies in our very own hands.
Reaching home, I switched on the TV and stuck to it until the verdict was announced. Finally by 5 pm it came out. The judges at the Lucknow court played safe by distributing the land in question in equal parts among the three groups of claimants. With the judgment, some were happy, some were unhappy too, but to our greatest relief, no riot broke out. But the issue even after 18 years showed us clearly where we actually stand and consequently, raised the question once again:
Will we ever be able to change ourselves? Will I ever be able to change myself?...if not, what’s in talking big on changing the whole country!!
Survival Strategy for the daily bus passengers of Kolkata!!
Are you a daily bus passenger? Are you a lady? Is your height below 5’2”? Then you are surely in the danger zone. In a city like Kolkata with its overpopulation, you at any instance would find fewer buses on the roads than needed by the passengers. And this being a rule of our traffic system , it is of no mention that the Kolkatans have admitted themselves to their fate and forgot the luxury of enjoying a seat in a bus, the most affordable transport of the commoners!!
Myself belonging to the commoners, is too a daily bus passenger and by fate, has to take bus to my work place and back home daily. Experiencing and observing the daily suffering of the bus passengers, especially the ladies, due to numerous limitations, I thought of listing up a few strategies for making our journey, well, a bit better in our commoners’ way. Well I can’t say let’s stop journey by bus at one go. We do have to take the rides, board on those unfootable platforms, hang from those bars over the heads balancing ourselves against the inconsiderable cycles of speeding and braking through the miserably surfaced roads of the city. And we have no escape!!
So standing in this situation, and inside a filthy crowded bus, what we can do is to make some calculations and understand the science of inertia to make our journey a little comfortable out of all discomfort provided by our most respected traffic department.
So, let’s understand the science of inertia first. The science of inertia says that in a moving bus our feet catch the speed faster than the other parts of our bodies as the feet are in direct contact with the platform right over the wheels. And for that reason, we lean backward as the bus speeds up and lean forward when it stops. At those moments all the standing passengers inside, lose their balance, fall on each other, have their wrist or ankles twisted, ladies rebuke the gentlemen for not keeping their balance even being physically stronger than the ladies, gentlemen get irritated at ladies for ladies not being enough considerate in a crowded bus……ohhhhhh!!! What a hilarious situation!! But we are well habituated with these situations and are ready to compromise with this daily chaos. But how long? Won’t we ever find a way out? Yeah we will. And here it is:
1. Ladies catch hold of the bar overhead with your left hands and never ever use you right hands for this if you are standing on the allowed space for the ladies on the left side of the buses. This makes you stand in the bus with your face in the direction of the movement of the bus and saves you from falling on the floor or getting your wrist twisted on abrupt use of brakes for slowing down.
2. Gentlemen, please use your right hands always for holding the bar if you are standing on the right and use left hands as the ladies, if you choose to stand on the left side of the bus. The reason is same as the point no 1.
3. Of course, the stronger you hold the bar, the better you stand on.
Now let’s make some calculations. From my observation over the ten years of regular bus journey, I found that the bar of the buses available in Kolkata is placed at around 6 feet from the floor. I also found that a height of 5’3” for ladies and 5’5” for the gentlemen are the most suitable ones to stand on an overcrowded bus and well on your own feet. The shorter ones don’t get to catch the bar and the taller ones don’t get enough space to keep their hands comfortably which ultimately adds to the poor balancing of their bodies. You must admit from your experience that you are most comfortable and well balanced when your hand is fully stretched to hold the bar only. If it’s shorter, you lose your balance and if it’s longer, it does not add anything to your balance. So what could we do?
1. Ladies increase your heights up to 5’3” by adjusting the height of the heels of your shoes. Taller ladies must stand a row behind so that the extra length of their hands is adjusted by the distance of the bar from them.
2. Gentlemen, please feel free to try on heeled shoes if you are below the average height and adjust your heights up to the comfortable range. Taller men should stand one or two rows behind according to the length of their hands.
Now, at this point some of my fellow passengers can raise their eyebrows and ask me the following question: if the taller people always stand rows behind they fall on zero possibility zone for getting a seat on the way when some seats are empty, because the people standing in front rows would definitely occupy the seats, at once, some seated persons leave them.
Ok I agree, always. But let’s give it a deeper thought.
Tell me why we want a seat in a bus?
Ummm….may I list up the reasons for you?..Well, I may want a seat in a bus surely for
1. Comfort,
2. To enjoy an on-journey nap,
3. To have a look at the class notes, if I am a student,
4. To play with sms with our beloved ones
5. To spare my hands and legs from the merciless pain and most importantly (may be…not for all…..still I doubt).. for enjoying the pain of the standing people and think big of myself being privileged and lastly
6. To enjoy the fight of the standing people from a position as comfortable as a gallery seat.
Ok, now tell me why the standing people almost fight with each other to occupy a single seat?
Who doesn’t know? Just to relieve themselves from the merciless suffering of a over-stuffed suffocating bus and of course for the reasons listed above.
So can we say from the above observations that we may not want a seat if we are allowed to stand comfortably and peacefully inside the bus? If so, let me ask you readers, wont we show a little generosity by leaving the seat in front of me for the taller person who left me the space in the first row for our mutual journey of comfort and peace? Who doesn’t know that a peaceful mind can give birth to a more generous world to live in?
So up to this you, my fellow passengers, would definitely agree with me, wont you? But still I feel one point short in our way to ultimate comfort. Till now I have mainly discussed about utilising the vertical space we get in a bus in better way. Isn’t it? But we still have the most important space to manage and that is the horizontal space. We must fit ourselves in that rectangular space of a bus without much pushing each other, right? That can be even easier if we maintain an average slim built of our bodies. A slim figure helps us to move quickly inside a bus making passage through the queues of standing people and also takes less space giving a few more people an opportunity to take the same bus to reach to their destinations in time.
So, people with huge mass, please try your heart and soul to reduce in volume. Won’t you ever think of your fellow passengers? How on earth you occupy space for two people and pay for one only? If you some day try to think over the discomfort you yourselves have when standing in a crowded bus, you would definitely come to a finding that if you are horizontally stretched much, your vertical position is automatically challenged and you find no escape from the sufferings.
So, all of you, my dear fellow passengers, are requested to be wise, act wise for a better world…..errr…for a better bus journey!!, and a greater smile to your colleagues at the offices and families at homes.
Myself belonging to the commoners, is too a daily bus passenger and by fate, has to take bus to my work place and back home daily. Experiencing and observing the daily suffering of the bus passengers, especially the ladies, due to numerous limitations, I thought of listing up a few strategies for making our journey, well, a bit better in our commoners’ way. Well I can’t say let’s stop journey by bus at one go. We do have to take the rides, board on those unfootable platforms, hang from those bars over the heads balancing ourselves against the inconsiderable cycles of speeding and braking through the miserably surfaced roads of the city. And we have no escape!!
So standing in this situation, and inside a filthy crowded bus, what we can do is to make some calculations and understand the science of inertia to make our journey a little comfortable out of all discomfort provided by our most respected traffic department.
So, let’s understand the science of inertia first. The science of inertia says that in a moving bus our feet catch the speed faster than the other parts of our bodies as the feet are in direct contact with the platform right over the wheels. And for that reason, we lean backward as the bus speeds up and lean forward when it stops. At those moments all the standing passengers inside, lose their balance, fall on each other, have their wrist or ankles twisted, ladies rebuke the gentlemen for not keeping their balance even being physically stronger than the ladies, gentlemen get irritated at ladies for ladies not being enough considerate in a crowded bus……ohhhhhh!!! What a hilarious situation!! But we are well habituated with these situations and are ready to compromise with this daily chaos. But how long? Won’t we ever find a way out? Yeah we will. And here it is:
1. Ladies catch hold of the bar overhead with your left hands and never ever use you right hands for this if you are standing on the allowed space for the ladies on the left side of the buses. This makes you stand in the bus with your face in the direction of the movement of the bus and saves you from falling on the floor or getting your wrist twisted on abrupt use of brakes for slowing down.
2. Gentlemen, please use your right hands always for holding the bar if you are standing on the right and use left hands as the ladies, if you choose to stand on the left side of the bus. The reason is same as the point no 1.
3. Of course, the stronger you hold the bar, the better you stand on.
Now let’s make some calculations. From my observation over the ten years of regular bus journey, I found that the bar of the buses available in Kolkata is placed at around 6 feet from the floor. I also found that a height of 5’3” for ladies and 5’5” for the gentlemen are the most suitable ones to stand on an overcrowded bus and well on your own feet. The shorter ones don’t get to catch the bar and the taller ones don’t get enough space to keep their hands comfortably which ultimately adds to the poor balancing of their bodies. You must admit from your experience that you are most comfortable and well balanced when your hand is fully stretched to hold the bar only. If it’s shorter, you lose your balance and if it’s longer, it does not add anything to your balance. So what could we do?
1. Ladies increase your heights up to 5’3” by adjusting the height of the heels of your shoes. Taller ladies must stand a row behind so that the extra length of their hands is adjusted by the distance of the bar from them.
2. Gentlemen, please feel free to try on heeled shoes if you are below the average height and adjust your heights up to the comfortable range. Taller men should stand one or two rows behind according to the length of their hands.
Now, at this point some of my fellow passengers can raise their eyebrows and ask me the following question: if the taller people always stand rows behind they fall on zero possibility zone for getting a seat on the way when some seats are empty, because the people standing in front rows would definitely occupy the seats, at once, some seated persons leave them.
Ok I agree, always. But let’s give it a deeper thought.
Tell me why we want a seat in a bus?
Ummm….may I list up the reasons for you?..Well, I may want a seat in a bus surely for
1. Comfort,
2. To enjoy an on-journey nap,
3. To have a look at the class notes, if I am a student,
4. To play with sms with our beloved ones
5. To spare my hands and legs from the merciless pain and most importantly (may be…not for all…..still I doubt).. for enjoying the pain of the standing people and think big of myself being privileged and lastly
6. To enjoy the fight of the standing people from a position as comfortable as a gallery seat.
Ok, now tell me why the standing people almost fight with each other to occupy a single seat?
Who doesn’t know? Just to relieve themselves from the merciless suffering of a over-stuffed suffocating bus and of course for the reasons listed above.
So can we say from the above observations that we may not want a seat if we are allowed to stand comfortably and peacefully inside the bus? If so, let me ask you readers, wont we show a little generosity by leaving the seat in front of me for the taller person who left me the space in the first row for our mutual journey of comfort and peace? Who doesn’t know that a peaceful mind can give birth to a more generous world to live in?
So up to this you, my fellow passengers, would definitely agree with me, wont you? But still I feel one point short in our way to ultimate comfort. Till now I have mainly discussed about utilising the vertical space we get in a bus in better way. Isn’t it? But we still have the most important space to manage and that is the horizontal space. We must fit ourselves in that rectangular space of a bus without much pushing each other, right? That can be even easier if we maintain an average slim built of our bodies. A slim figure helps us to move quickly inside a bus making passage through the queues of standing people and also takes less space giving a few more people an opportunity to take the same bus to reach to their destinations in time.
So, people with huge mass, please try your heart and soul to reduce in volume. Won’t you ever think of your fellow passengers? How on earth you occupy space for two people and pay for one only? If you some day try to think over the discomfort you yourselves have when standing in a crowded bus, you would definitely come to a finding that if you are horizontally stretched much, your vertical position is automatically challenged and you find no escape from the sufferings.
So, all of you, my dear fellow passengers, are requested to be wise, act wise for a better world…..errr…for a better bus journey!!, and a greater smile to your colleagues at the offices and families at homes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)