Hospitality and all that’s inclusive of it holistically that a Tourist destination symbolizes conjures up different romances when one mentions Darjeeling. Darjeeling was known as the Queen of Hill Stations an upmarket must-visit for the affluent globetrotter in yesteryears. Veer Sanghvi in his recently aired, Matter of Taste succinctly sums it all up Darjeeling is an ailing dowager- king out a sordid existence on an oft-repeated tale of her glorious past.
I vividly recall as an undergraduate in an alien land, many thousands of miles away from my beloved Darjeeling hills, how a chance conversation I overheard in a social night at the British Council, awakened me to the impact that the land of my birth evoked, a brand that cut across class, colour or religion. A young man of my age, an undergraduate from the same college (recognisable by the college scarf being sported) was chatting up a pretty lass, as I sipped my draft beer sitting behind them.
The girl asked where the lad was from. Without hesitation, Darjeeling was his prompt reply. My ears pricked up, as the lad proceeded to highlight the glorious vistas of the Himalayas. The girl was listening in rapt attention to the wonders of Darjeeling that were being revealed to her. I realized that he was actually pitching a line which he had lifted from a travelogue. He was describing the then famous Hotel of the Oberoi’s, The Mount Everest that looked up to the awesome view of the Khangchendzonga, the Mountain of five hidden treasures to charm the girl. I chuckled to myself, as the lad went on his seduction spree, keeping the girl captivated by the magical vistas of our eternal snow-covered peaks.
I knew the girl and after a fascinating fifteen minutes voyage of my homeland, I made my presence felt by clearing my throat. They turned around and the girl leaped up in glee with, ” Yusuf, here’s another of your fellow Darjeeling dweller – Rajah Banerjee. Rajah’s family have been proprietors of many tea gardens there for over a hundred years, I am sure you will have lots to share”.
Yusuf, blanched, as he looked at me with fear writ large in his countenance. He’d realized I had overheard his wondrous dispensation on the wonders of this corner of the Himalayas. He knew instantly that I had heard everything, he was mortified that I was about to drop the hammer on his head, by asking him a homily truth unwritten from the brochure he had been quoting verbatim. The game was up for him or so he thought.
Looking at him squarely in the eye, I countered, ” You must be Alam’s brother, who was at Mt. Hermon with me. He was a terrific fast bowler and the scourge of all our opponents. He was one of the kingpins for Mt Hermon to win the prestigious Edinburgh Shield, as he skittled out all the other school batters. Your genetic resemblance is strong. Love to catch up with you at the college.”
Relieved he relaxed, clutched my hand, and whispered to me in Bengali how thankful he was for this bale out. We became friends subsequently at the college campus and learned that he was actually from East Pakistan (Bangladesh now). Yusuf and Patricia did wed in time and live blissfully in the United States where they run a successful IT company.
Mount Everest had been closed for over thirty years till it was recently acquired for a realty housing project by a local builder. The majesty of this heritage hotel and more importantly the town of Darjeeling, where the up-market global tourists gathered to admire the magic of the mystic Khangchendzonga, to unearth her hidden treasures is lost forever. Darjeeling has turned into a low-budget destination for folk from the sub-continent eager to get a few days respite from the sweltering heat of the sub-continental plains.
These posh shopping arcades are no more, its dotted with fast food stalls, cheap eateries, where Glenary’s the heritage restaurant being the sole exception. Owned by the third generation Ajay Edwards fights the good fight against the tidal wave of five-star hotels that have mushroomed against the backdrop of political peace. Testimony to his love of the region and her heritage by maintaining the grandeur of his restaurant’s Italian heritage ceiling gleaming in mint condition. Ajay, is a lone beacon constantly innovating to weave a harmonious fusion between the past glory and the futuristic needs against humongous odds.
It’s painful for me to visit this town, which held so many wonders in my earlier years. Nostalgically, I think of the Darjeeling that had inspired Yusuf, to romanticise Darjeeling, a land he had only read about to woo his future bride in a dance hall, thousands of miles away from his native land. Would there be another eavesdropper, who would never spill the beans to forge a lifelong friendship, because he happened to be a part of Darjeeling? That’s the million-dollar question I would like all tourists to Dorjey Ling to seek, to discover the five hidden treasures of the holy mountain of Khangchendzonga to usher in an era of peace, prosperity, and radiance that the rest of the sub-continent could emulate.
Where there’s peace there’s culture, Where there’s a culture there’s peace ………. Nicholas Roerich an eternal lover of Darjeeling
Rajah Banerjee the fourth-generation owner post his exit from Makaibari now mentors artisanal Small Tea Growers of the district to take the Darjeeling of Champagne to new heights by creating self-respecting Grassroots Entrepreneurs (GRE’s)
Rajah Banerjee narrated his experience to Me