Sanjeev Naskar is a resident of Behala. An engineer in the Indian Army, Sanjeev enjoys exploring new places, painting and riding his bike in the country and abroad. Bengal’s TV9 Department of Travel For the biker-adventurers Sanjeev Julie publishes a travelogue every week from May to last Sunday… Today, the second part of those ‘Motorcycle Diaries’.
Second and last chapter of Lepchakha:
As the colors of that beautiful canvas of nature gradually mingled with the deep black, I remembered that our lodgings were not yet settled. So wasting no time, the four of us left the bags in a corner of the ground and went out in search of a perfect place to pitch our tent. Well, we pitched our tent on a green lawn lying in a corner of the home stay. Talked to the home-stay owner and agreed to pay 500 taka per day. We agreed and brought our supplies and quickly set up two tents by the light of the phone torch. There is no dearth of resorts, hotels, hostels or tents in Lepchaka. Resort or hotel rent is approximately two and a half to three thousand taka. You will have to pay 500 taka per day to rent a tent house.
After a whole day of hard work, his eyes were closing in the still cold air as he released his body under the green grass under the open sky. I closed my eyes for a while and when I opened them again I saw a sky full of stars and it was like another world. Stars seem to shine before the eyes. As if you could reach out and touch them. After talking for a long time I finished dinner by nine o’clock. After dinner, as I wandered around, I found groups of tourists busy with bonfires, shouting and dancing in almost every home-stay. This beautiful village and environment has turned into a horror of drunkenness. There is no creativity or desire to learn new things in this world, only screams and horrors of destruction. The surrounding nature-ecosystem, plants and animals are all silently closing their ears and wondering when this will end. Seeing this we decided: let’s go inside our tent and sleep.
We woke up in the morning with the sound of birds. After throwing up the sleeping bag for a while, I remembered seeing the sunrise when I finally saw the light of the sun. The four of us went to a corner of the village and enjoyed the sunrise. In the distance I saw two mountain ranges joining the river Kadadar. The sun rises over that hill and the fog below slowly clears. With the chirping of birds, the daily work of the villagers has begun. The small shops in the neighborhood started working – we also started the morning with tea and biscuits. Then we wandered here and there and took pictures of different kinds of flowers and fruits. Among them, brinjal, radish, cabbage, cauliflower, different types of roses, dahlia and various leafy plants are significant. After talking to the locals, I learned that people here start their day by chanting God’s name in the monastery. I got to know the schooling of the little children here and the daily life of the common people. And I got to know the food habits of the people here, their thoughts and the way they earn. We finished our breakfast with momos, roti etc at a nice shop. Then we started for Rovers Point. The first part of the journey is downhill and then up another hill to the village of Rovers Point. Although not as densely populated as Lepchaka, this village is very clean and beautiful. Almost no roads. People here have built their own roads. Dirt or stone roads. After some time in this state we came back to Leipzig. We wandered around Leipzig like this for a whole day.
Don’t talk about an event in the evening. At dusk a crowd of people who could hardly be called tourists appeared. They didn’t have any such baggage – handkerchiefs, their movements were a little different as they often visited this village, these villagers knew them, each one had a wakitki in his hand. And a group of about 7-8 people. Around 10-11 pm, three to four people dance and sing around the fire, some talk on walkie-talkie in the dark on the road to Lama Basti, signaling by torchlight, often changing the walkie-talkie. frequency. The chattering and rustling sounds seemed to be associated with some of the kidnappings. Anyway, their conversation goes like this till 1-2 am. After all this we slept in our tent.
The next day, we packed our bags and tents and again left for our next destination to visit Mahakal Baba for the Jubilee of Santalabari. In our group of four, we were the first to get lost in the jungle without a guide. Had a rough idea by asking the locals the day before. Many people travel on this road. There will be no problem. But we made a mistake and instead of taking the road leading to the river beyond Lama Basti, we entered straight into the forest. Due to this, there is a problem. I was very scared by some wild smell somewhere in the forest. So decide we should go backwards instead of forwards. Then the lama came to the basti and sat for some time. It should be said here that people lived in Lama Basti. Later the people here settled in the forest of Lepsaka and Jaindi rivers. This decision has been taken as the area is frequently attacked by various types of wild animals. The ruins of their houses can still be seen today. Then, seeing a man near this lama basti, I understood the Mahakal road and went in that direction.
Then we came down from the hill and came to Kaladar river. If you go straight through the river on the right side of the river, you will reach the Mahakal Temple. Mahakal Mandir is far from here. The road consists only of small and large pebbles, and the Thonda river flows of its own accord between the mountains and the forest. Rows of trees, mountains and the open sky around it is a wonderful sight. Nature doesn’t create anything easily, this world is built by thousands of years of labor, you have to work hard to see this nature. If you don’t see her on foot, if you don’t see her up close, you can’t understand her beauty. The river sometimes has red colored water. This means that the color of the algae has turned red due to the presence of iron particles in the water. Sometimes the footprints of small and large animals, sometimes the chirping of birds informs us of our location. Sometimes you have to go over me, says the river. Sometimes the river is so rough that its sound is deafening. Anyway we reached Mahakal Temple by one o’clock. I was so tired and ecstatic that Baba did not visit again. I saw him in this nature, explaining the condition of man… how small and how weak man is.
Then we took an auto from Jayanthi Autostand and came back to Chandalbari house. Stayed at friend’s house in Alipurduar tonight with luggage on bike. The next morning I left for Kolkata from Alipurduar.
