HU KP A D
N
A 3 1 6 9 M TANIA BANERJEE S
High on Sandakphu Peak
K A 3 1 6 9 M
L I P O I K H A R
Photo Photo Banerjeeby Sayan
G A
I R 3 1 6 9 M I B A S of Chittrey. A Mani wallin the meadows
The rumble of crackling thunder After all, I had come here to es- est floor. The hollow silence was woke me as I tried to sleep close cape the scorching summer of the filled by my heavy breathing. The 2 8 8 0 M to the summit of Sandakphu. Indian plains. first day of a trek is always the T G Through the thin, translucent ny- Sandakphu, at a height of 3635 toughest, I had heard from expe- U M L I N lon sheet inches from my face I metres, is the highest peak of West rienced trekkers. saw the hazy dance of lights. Like Bengal and the Ilam district of A two-and-a-half-hour back- flaming arrows they came down Nepal. On a clear day, Sandakphu breaking climb later, I emerged from the sky. The intervals be- o ers enthralling views of higher from the forest into a clearing. It tween the thunder were filled by Himalayan peaks like Kanchen- was the village of Chittrey, my haunting silences, like those be- junga, Lhotse, Makalu and even first chai stop. Stones carved with fore a calamity. Rain hammered the mighty Mount Everest. mantras made a mani wall, like hard on the tent as the wind Dew drops on tea leaves were a guardian angel protecting the howled. In the dark night the only sparkling in the morning sun land. While sipping tea I watched barrier between me and the rag- when I started my trek from Jaub- a train of mules loaded with sacks ing nature outside was about to hari the next day. Sandakphu was walk past. Otherwise, the silence collapse. 30 kilometres away. I was about to was disturbed only by the occa- It all started four days earlier gain an enormous amount of alti- sional revving of Land Rovers. The when I disembarked at New Jal- tude on the first day, from 1950 to ancient vehicles had been brought paiguri Railway Station in West 2880 metres. As I began the trek in by the British, when they set Bengal. As my car snaked along through the dense forest, sunrays up the infrastructure for the tea the Himalayan roads, the clouds trickled through the intermit- estates in the area. While the car opened up and drenched the roads tent openings between the pine model had long been upgraded and valleys. I had been thankful. needles, creating a dappled for- elsewhere in the world, here these
44 INSIDE HIMALAYAS Nepal | Tibet | Bhutan