JHALONG AND BINDU: PLACES TO REST TIRED SOULS

I had shortlisted Jhalong - or, rather, 'Jholung' - and Bindu for our once-in-half-year tour after I read about them from The Saptahik Bartaman, 22 September 2012-issue (25:20). The magazine carried a few articles on the mountainous spots on its 41st page. I did some researching on internet. We were to go to the two places by our good old Mahindra Bolero - D.I.. But would our chauffeur be able to drive up to Bindu? I understood from researching that Bindu, the last point in India before Bhutan starts, is on steep mountains, and it might be dangerous for plain-land-vehicle-drivers to attempt reaching there. Nevertheless, we gathered a team at Haldibari, in the district of Coochbehar (West Bengal, India), which comprised of myself, my mother Ratna Roy, my better-half Sreeparna Roy (Chattopadhyay), one of my maternal uncles and an advocate-politician Sourav Roy, his wife Sumi, and their small son Souriddha. Biswanath Orawn was to chauffeur us to Jhalong and Bindu, a journey for which we had to fill in INR 1000-worth of diesel from a petrol-pump at Paharpur, off Jalpaiguri, supposedly belonging to the Congress politician Debaprasad Roy. On a bright December morning in 2012, we started from Haldibari at around 08:30 a.m. We were in high spirits, and it was soon to get higher!

As far as dry geo-statistical data is concerned, Jhalong - or 'Jholung' - is a hamlet in the Kalimpong subdivision of the northern Bengal district of Darjeeling. Many tourists regard Jahlong as synonymous with Jaldhaka, which is famous for its hydroelectric projects on River Jaldhaka. The hill-station, not frequented by many tourists, is located near the Indo-Bhutan border, at a distance of approximately one hundred kilometres from Siliguri. We did not take the Siliguri-side. We drove from Jalpaiguri, crossed the infamous Teesta Bridge, took a left-had-turn at Domohini, drove through Lataguri Forest, took a right-hand-turn to Murti, crossed Batabari, Khunia More, and advanced on the Chapramari trail, directly on the Himalayas. The road to Jhalong is covered with dense foliage all along, and it is one of thee more beautiful roads I have ever seen. Bindu is approximately 13 kilometres away from Jhalong, the last Indian settlement before Bhutan hills. It took us more than half-an-hour-drive up from Jhalong to reach Bindu. We found that what Wikipedia notes about Bindu, on 17 December 2012 is absolutely true:

"Bindu is the last village on the Indian side bordering Bhutan. It is known for its beautiful landscape with Jaldhaka River, hills and forests, which attracts a lot of tourists. There is a conjunction of three streams at Bindu. The three streams are known as Bindu Khola, Dudh Pokhri, and Jaldhaka that originates from the Kupup Lake, a small glacial lake in Sikkim. The combined streams meet at Bindu to form the Jaldhaka river. There is a dam known as Bindu Dam over the Jaldhaka river which is used for controlling water supply to the Jaldhaka Hydel Project at Jhalong and acts as a bridge for crossing over to Bhutan".

We were mesmerised by Bindu...as were by Jhalong. For us, the tiny hamlet of Bindu seemed to be the endpoint of the world...if it were possible!

There are two roads to Jhalong and Bindu - one is through Chalsa (Chalsa being 57 kilometres away from Jalpaiguri town), and it is mostly accessed by all. We took the 'road less taken'...to remember a part of Frost's lines! We travelled through Murti (8 kilometres east of Chalsa)-Batabari-Khunia. It took us through at least three dense forest ranges before we reached the first mountainous spot. However, please be sure that your vehicle is in tip-top condition before you even dream to take our route! The roads are not that good...I would not use 'dilapidated', for it would be too harsh a word! But if your multi-utility-vehicle (M.U.V.) suffers from a technical sang on the way...you are gone! If the tiger 'burning bright' or the rampaging elephant spares you...for such animals, we have interpreted through our long experience, are too reluctant to be seen for free (some of them offered us glimpses of themselves on our way back)...I am not sure about people! For your information, the area around Chilapata Forest, about 20 kilometres from Alipurduar, is not safe even in broad daylight. And if your team comprises of female members too, it pays in the long run to be extra-cautious. Nevertheless, we travelled safely...our good old Bolero D.I. M.U.V. took us wherever we wanted!

We had a light breakfast at Lataguri, which we reached trouble-free through Domohini for the Teesta Bridge had improved...miraculously! It was around 08:30 a.m., as far as I recall, and heavy meal was a strict no-no! We purchased some provisions, chips, cakes, and all, for self-sustenance on the way. Thereafter, we travelled to Murti, drove through Batabari, past Chapramari, and the road took us towards Jaldhaka. For people with tour plans in the area, I must mention some road distances from the town of Jalpaiguri - Gorumara Wildlife Sanctuary is located 52 kilometres away, Chapramari is between 70 and 72 kilometres, and Jaldhaka is around 23-25 kilometres away from Chapramari. As such, Jaldhaka is located approximately 95 kilometres away from Jalpaiguri town. If "95 kilometres" sounds paltry to ordinary-road-drivers, you may remember that a significant portion of the stretch is mountainous and predicting the timing would be as foolish as expecting an early passage through Malda's Mongolbari area! It is one of the world's worse places for traffic which I have to traverse almost daily!

We could hardly contain ourselves as the surroundings on way to Jaldhaka grew more and more mysterious and beautiful! I began remembering what I had learned from my Visva-Bharati teachers regarding the Romantic Sublime! True...I had never seen anything so sedate, so green, so fresh, so unreachable, and yet so splendid! On our left-hand-side were the Himalayas...gently revealing their curvaceous figures with dense foliage as we plied...and on our right-hand-side were deep crevasses. Huge trees formed natural railings though...but we could well understand that if Mr. Orawn loosened his grip on the steering-wheel, we would never be able to blog back our experiences!

On our way, we found ourselves travelling through a place full of jackfruit trees. It was of particular interest because we never knew that jackfruit trees grew in such high-altitude areas. We were busy capturing the scenes through our Kodak digital and Sony handycam. The place was followed by different rubber-plantations. The Seema Suraksha Bal (that is, the S.S.B.) have their camp in this region. We crossed an iron-bridge where construction work was going on...feeling awful to have had disturbed the Nepali workers so intensely at work. God...they smiled when they saw us apologetic, and I loved their smile...there was such simplicity in the smiles vis-à-vis our cruel and scheming ones! The area was already quite high and we felt our ears getting blocked frequently because of the progressive lack of oxygen. However, it is never fatal for visitors to the area!

The road from Chapramari to Jhalong just winded upwards and upwards! It seemed to be never-ending! The surroundings were fast receding into deep valleys and gorges, and we could not claim a brilliant period of sunshine on a winter-day. Nevertheless, we never lacked in photographic-light, and when we finally reached an observation-point very near the 'Jaldhaka River Barrage and Hydroelectricity-Producing Project', we were surprised to see streaks of sun. We shot some photographs in the area...there was a restaurant nearby, and some small railing-pillars to sit upon. Beneath us...far underneath...the silvery River Jaldhaka was visible. We tried to guess what would happen if someone might slip through the railings - there were fair chances if someone was not cautious - and drop down towards the river, but dangerous thoughts seemed to be unsuitable for the happy moment, and we, instead, tried focusing on enjoying the natural beauty.