BENGALURU: In September last year, I joined an Irish NGO instead, as a volunteer, to help out the street children of Kolkata. I made friends with some wonderful European volunteers and we decided to take a short vacation to Pelling. The place turned out to be beautiful but what left a mark on me was the night we spent in a tiny, unheard of village nestled in the Khecheopalri hills.
We reached Pelling on a Sunday evening and stayed the night at Hotel Kabur, a warm, cozy place frequented mostly by foreigners. The next morning, after a late and heavy breakfast, we set off on what was undoubtedly the best part of our five day Pelling adventurous trek to the Khechuperi village. Khechuperi is a 1.5 hour drive from Pelling.
One of the owners of our hotel, Deepesh Pradhan had invited us to stay at his house in the village . He drove the seven of us in his jeep, through the narrow, treacherous roads that snaked up and down the side of the mountains where one side was constantly exposed to a sheer drop. One wrong turn of the jeep and you could actually end up tumbling thousands of feet down below!
Once we reached the Khechuperi Lake, we parked our jeep here since the rest of the journey to the village would comprise a 1200-ft hike up the hills covered with dense forests. We followed the narrow, boulder strewn, relatively clearer patch of ground that zigzagged its way up the slope, with cliffs on either side covered in dense vegetation. We trudged up the moss covered slippery boulders and leech infested bushes. Finally, after almost one long hour of trekking, we reached the little known but beautiful village of Khechuperi.
The village is a virgin piece of land, completely removed from the humdrum of the city. Most of the houses there have been built with wood and are surrounded by beautiful gardens . Almost every family has livestock largely comprising of cows, pigs and hens. Some even have small horses! Deepesh’s house, however ,was very different from the rest . It is a beautiful two storeyed structure. Deepesh said it took him two carpenters and four years to build the same! I wonder how in the world did the men carry the heavy piles of bricks and logs of wood up the 1200-ft high hill which we had taken over an hour to climb even without any luggage!
Deepesh lives here with his wife and some village kids whom they have adopted. The ground floor of the building houses a fairly large kitchen which also doubles up as a bedroom for the kids (who slept on thick mattresses laid out on the floor) , a neat little bathroom, a master bedroom and a large unfurnished room with big piles of wood and other odds and ends. The upper storey is meant for the tourists. The first room you step inside in the upper floor is the living cum dining room. It has a cot with cushions at one end and a large dining table with wooden benches to sit on, at the other end. The window above the cot opens out to a spectacular view of the deep green forest and the mountain tops. This first room is a fairly large one. This room opens out to a long corridor cum balcony at its other end.
While one side of the corridor lets you peer down at the front yard of the house, the other side is lined up with four bedrooms. Each of the rooms are large with a queen size bed, cupboards, carpeted floor, a lamp shade on a tabletop kept beside the bed, and windows overlooking the mountains and the forest. All the rooms on the top floor are made entirely of wood .On arrival, we were greeted with steaming hot cups of aromatic tea. Deepesh informed me that this was a special variety native to Sikkim and was very expensive. Post tea and some noodles, we were made to try out what can be best described as Sikkim’s very own version of beer that goes by the name Chhaang. It comes in long steel jars with a lid on top and a straw through it.
After all the drinking , which though tasty, sadly failed to get me high. We gathered downstairs where the family had prepared a bonfire for us in the front yard! The sun had already set, it was pitch dark all around as the electricity was gone and the temperature had started plummeting. We watched and chatted merrily as the wood sputtered and crackled in the fire while the flames feeding on the wood, grew stronger and vigorous. I looked up and I caught my breath! The sky above shimmered with a thousand little sparkling stars. While the others talked and laughed, I quietly soaked in the grandeur of the night spent in a tiny village atop a serene, isolated mountain, not far from the majestic Kanchenjungha!
By 8:30, all of us gathered around the dining table upstairs. Dinner was simple but warm and nourishing. It comprised an assortment of veggies plucked from the backyard garden and some pulses, with a dollop of home-made cheese for added taste. Post dinner, I marched straight off to my room and surrendered myself to the clean white bed and the delightfully soft, furry blanket. The next morning for perhaps the first time in my life, I woke up to the cry of a rooster! Preferring to make the most of my time here exploring the place, I decided to explore the village. I saw baby pigs scampering away afraid of me, cows peacefully munching away on grass, ponies waiting patiently in shades and plenty of hens.
When I came back to the house, breakfast was laid out. We had heavenly-soft, white-as-cloud, perfectly round chappatis served with a bottle of the most delicious ghee (homemade butter) and a lip-smacking egg curry.
We returned with many memories and the trip was one of the most memorable of my life. All I can say is that everyone should sample the wildererness of the Khecheopalri hills.
Ananya Misra is a banker and a writer