About Me

My photo
With more than 50 years of travelling about in India, one can share a good deal of information and experience about out-of-the-way places and roads less travelled. That can make visits all the more exciting and enjoyable.

Saturday 12 November 2016

The "toy" train of Darjeeling

Some of the childhood memories and impressions stay on for ever. One such were the trips to Darjeeling in North Bengal in the 1950s, when the journey was quite difficult - certainly for a ten-year old child. One had then to proceed up to Sakrigali Ghat on the south bank of the Ganga (where it enters West Bengal from Bihar), go over by steamer from there to Manihari Ghat on the north bank of the river, board another (metre-gauge) train that would take one to Siliguri, reaching only early in the morning. But all that strain and hardship were forgotten as soon as one boarded the "toy" train, the narrow-gauge "Darjeeling Himalayan Railways".



Then one entered into a dreamland of sights and sounds: the child of the flat-lands of Calcutta was treated to great forested ridges, the "jhoras" or the leaping waterfalls that sprinkled water over the train coaches, and the chug-chug, chug-chug-chug of the engine as it struggled past the "zig-zags" and the loops, stations with names like Tung, Sonada,  Ghoom, and people jumping on and off the train as if  it was a tram-car, before the "toy train" chugged into the railway station at Darjeeling.
There was much fun, with hot water bottles under the rugs, sitting up in bed watching through the open window the morning sun light up peak after peak of the Kanchenjungha range, pony rides around the Mall, and the mist creeping up over the landscape. The sweet current buns from Glenaries and Plivas, would be a bonus.
.  

The Siberian Cranes at Bharatpur

For most bird-watchers the name Siberian Crane conjures up images of an elegant  snowy-white bird that never fails to fascinate amongst the rare species to watch out for. This opportunity came for me one morning in 1988 at the famous Keola Deo Ghana Sanctuary at Bharatpur. I was then walking down a "bund" near Sapan Mori and the trilling call of the cranes in flight reached my ears. Looking up I saw the cranes flying over, appearing brilliant white in the early morning sun. They circled down and landed quite close to the "bund" where I had taken cover behind an Acacia tree.


So, the dream of most bird-watchers happened, and Bharatpur Sanctuary gave me the Siberian Cranes to remember for all time to come.
The sad thing is that it does not happen nowadays - the cranes are no more to be seen.