Holiday in India & Bhutan (4): journey to Darjeeling
October 6th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Next day was essentially about transferring from our hotel in Siliguri (where we spent just one night) to our hotel in Darjeeling (where we will spend three nights). Part of the journey was by road when we were transported by a convoy of five cars. Part of the journey was by a very special railway.
But first we visited the Buddhist shrine of Salugara Monastery just outside Siliguri.This is believed to have been built by the Tibetan Lama, Kanu Rinpoche, and it is notable for its ‘super’ stupa of 100 feet (30 metres). Here our local guide took the opportunity to give us a short talk on the recent history of the region and the main features of Buddhism.
We then started our road trip and stopped after about an hour to stand in a rice field where our local guide gave us an explanation of how the British brought tea cultivation to the region and how there are different types and different flavours of tea.
At this stage, the terrain changed dramatically and we rose steeply though a series of no fewer than 27 steep bends on a single-lane road, which necessitated much hooting or horns and squeezing past other vehicles. It was sometimes hair-raising and stomach-churning, but it was always scenic and exciting.
It was a drive of about a further half hour to reach the town of Kurseong which is located at a height of 4,864 feet (1,483 metres). Here we had lunch at “The Cochrane Place”, a former British colonial house full of all sorts of memorabilia.
Kurseong is a major station on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. Completed in 1881, the the rail line was the brainchild of Franklin Prestage, the agent of the East Bengal State Railway and today it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Compared to most of the country’s railways, this one is narrow gauge: just two foot (0.6 metre). Unlike other railway line, this one has a tiny, steam-driven locomotive which is used for some trips, although our particular locomotive was diesel-powered but still small.
Over its full length, the railway climbs from about 330 feet (100 metres) above sea level at New Jalpaiguri to about 6,812 feet (2,076 metres). The train hits its zenith at Ghoom,the highest train station in India at 7,407 feet (2,258 metres) before trundling the last four miles (6 kms) to Darjeeling.
We travelled on a single carriage train – with no toilet – over the stretch from Kurseong to Darjeeling which took us almost three hours.
Since the railway is followed by a single-lane road, right alongside it, and since it runs through many small towns, almost brushing houses and shops in those settlements, the piercing warning hoots are continual. Since it is an effort for the small engine to pull carriages and passengers up this constant incline, the steelwheels continuously shriek on the tracks.
As if this wasn’t atmospheric enough, there was the weather: sometimes it rained, sometimes it tried to shine, and the rest of the time it was overcast with thick mist. The journey invited photographs but movement, weather, vegetation and buildings made it really hard to take good photos. However, I did make a short video.
The most notable feature of Darjeeling is its altitude: 6,811 feet (2,076 metres).
In the early 19th century, during East India Company rule in India, Darjeeling was identified as a potential summer retreat for British officials, soldiers and their families. The narrow mountain ridge was leased from the Kingdom of Sikkim, and eventually annexed to British India.
Experimentation with growing tea on the slopes below Darjeeling was highly successful. Thousands of labourers were recruited chiefly from Nepal to clear the forests, build European-style cottages, and work in the tea plantations.
Today, the city is sandwiched in a corner of India – known as ‘the chicken’s neck’ – with Nepal to the west, Bhutan to the east, China to the north and Bangladesh to the south. It is has a small population of about 120,000 which includes a large community of Tibetans exiled from their homeland following the Chinese occupation.
Having left out hotel in Siliguri at 9.15 am, we reached our hotel in Darjeeling – the splendid Mayfair Hotel – at 6 pm, so it was another long day but a really enjoyable one.
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (4): journey to Shiliguri
October 6th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
There is an early start and then there is an EARLY start. The plan was an alarm at 3 am, bags out at 3.45 am, gather in hotel reception at 4 am, and bus to leave for the railway station at 4.15 am. That was the plan. The phone in my hotel room rang at 4 am. I had forgotten to set my alarm! So, no shaving, no showering, no coffee (!). In 15 minutes flat, I was dressed, packed and down in reception, feeling both confused and embarrassed.
We arrived at Howrah Junction in good time to face a fascinating scenario: a huge railway station with thousands of people, literally hundreds asleep on the floors, baggage of every size and description, and announcements of all sorts barring forth.
Compared to my last experience of an intercity train in India (2003), this was a revelation: on the Vande Bharat Express, we were in an air-conditioned carriage with Executive Class seats, Indian and Western style toilets, food and drink (although our guide advised us to stick to the hotel-provided breakfast pack), and even WiFi (if you had an Indian mobile to receive a passcode).
We left Kolkata promptly at 5.55 am, travelled north, and reached New Jalpaiguri (NJP) at 1.35 pm (just 10 minutes late in a journey of seven and a half hours). The views were scenic but repetitive: mostly one green field after another after another, originally rice and then tea. As the journey progressed, we left behind grey sky and the sun came out in a blue and clouded sky.
NJP was like a scene from a Bollywood movie: an undulating sea of colourfully-dressed people jostling for position. Coolies took our suitcases out to the car park, two on each head. We were followed by little children begging, touching us and then their mouths. A set of hired cars took the group members from New Jalpaiguri to the town of Siliguri where we checked into the Lemon Tree Hotel.
We arrived over an hour later than scheduled (3.10 pm) so, after a very early and very basic breakfast, we had a very late, but satisfying, lunch. The rest of the day was free and Jenny and I walked to a local shopping centre where there was a Marks & Spencer and a Starbucks – the reach of global brands.
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (3): Kolkata
October 5th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
It must be admitted that our arrival in Kolkata had been somewhat underwhelming: dazed with jet lag, no sightseeing, and a huge thunderstorm. But the next day was utterly different and totally magical.
We left the hotel at 9 am and were not back until 5.45 am, so a day of almost nine hours, but we saw so much – and, although the weather was very gloomy and very humid, it was dry.
First stop was the Mallick Ghat Flower Market.This is one of the largest flower markets in India and, having started in 1855, one of the oldest. It is located underneath the Howrah Bridge, alongside the railway tracks and next to the Mallick Ghat (a ghat is a series of steps leading down to a body of water, in this case the Hooghly River, and something I saw previously in Varanasi).
It is a large, sprawling, nosy market where every day fresh flowers are constructed into elaborate and decorative structures for weddings and festivals. On our visit, the focus of activity was the forthcoming festival of Durga Puja which is massive in West Bengal. Two things struck me: all the work was done by men with hardly any women in sight and all these flowers must cost a lot of money in a country where most people are very poor
Our next destination was the Railway Museum. I confess that railway locomotives are not my thing – my interest is aircraft – but this is a holiday organised by Great Rail Journeys and the history of the Indian railway system is fundamental to the development of India as a unified nation.
The third visit of the morning was to Mother Teresa’s House & Orphanage. Mother, as she is simply called, was actually born in Albania where she was named Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu.She founded The Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta in 1950 and it is now a famous and worldwide endeavour supporting the poor and marginalised. She died in 1997 and she was made a Catholic saint in 2016. We were able to observe the room where she lived and worked and the tomb where she is buried.
The fourth site of the city tour was the Victoria Memorial. This huge edifice was constructed between 1906 and 1921 in honour of Queen Victoria who was Empress of India from 1876 to 1901. Apparently, it is the largest monument to a monarch anywhere in the world.
It is now a museum and, while it does have statues of Queen Victoria and Clive of India, it celebrates the revolutionaries who campaigned for Indian independence, often using violence and murder in the face of a repressive British regime. We need a museum in Britain which presents a balanced view of the history of the British Empire.
It was time for some lunch. Our bus took us to Park Street in the centre of town which is noted for the number and variety of its eating establishments. We ate at a pleasant place called “Flurry’s”.
The main focus of the afternoon was a walking tour of an area known as the Potters’ Colony. There are over 500 pottery workshops in this quarter, where the potters make statues of various sizes and colours of Hindu gods and goddesses from the clay of the Ganges River, a practice known as Kumortuli.
It was like peering into a myriad of Aladdin’s Caves and, given the time of the year, much of the activity was directed at the festival of Durga Puja with many impressive examples of the multi-armed goddess.
Another experience awaited us: a short journey on the city’s circular railway. This was constructed in 1984 and has 20 or so stops. We travelled the five stops from Bagbazar to Princep Ghat. The trains only stop for a few seconds at each station and our group of 15 had to move fast to be on board in the same carriage. The carriages have no doors or windows and they are very basic and very dark with hawkers and beggars moving from carriage to carriage.
The so-called ‘Black Hole of Calcutta’ might come to mind, but actually it was a fun experience to see how locals get around.
Our final site of the day was the Prinsep Memorial, a Palladian porch constructed in memory of an eminent Anglo-India scholar James Prinsep (1799-1840) who made Kolkata his home.
After such a long day, it had to be an early night because we had a really early start next day . What could possibly go wrong?
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (2): getting there
October 3rd, 2024 by Roger Darlington
We flew to India with Emirates. The flight from London Heathrow to Dubai was in a double-decker Airbus A380 and took six hours. We left over an hour late because of – as the pilot put it – “the situation worldwide” (an oblique reference to the conflict between Israel and Iran). Our second flight from Dubai to Kolkata was in a Boeing 777 and took just under four hours. By this time, our departure was an hour and a half late.
Once at Kolkata, the journey from the airport to the hotel was quite long (an hour and a quarter) but quite fascinating (solid traffic, wild driving, some rickshaws, crumbling buildings, bustling markets, ubiquitous colourful advertisements). So it was noon before we were in our rooms at the Taj Bengal Hotel, long after the hotel breakfast we were promised in our original schedule.
Today was allocated as rest and recuperation from our flights. However, ever intrepid, Jennie and I thought we might go for an afternoon stroll, but we found that the hotel is not near anywhere interesting and there was a crashing thunderstorm with thunder, lighting and heavy rain. Tomorrow the group will tour the city …
Calcutta (as it was then called) – nicknamed the city of joy – was founded in 1690 as a trading post for the British East India Company and later served as the de facto capital of British India until 1911. It was the second largest city in the British Empire, after London. In 1756, it became infamous for the incarceration of British prisoners in ‘the Black Hole of Calcutta’.
Today Kolkata (its official name since 2001) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, 50 miles (80 kms) west of the border with Bangladesh.
Kolkata is the seventh most populous city in India with an estimated city proper population of 4.5 million, while the wider region is the third most populous metropolitan region of India with a population of over 15 million. The city is regarded by many as the cultural capital of India. It is known as a city of rickshaws, sweets and wall posters. India’s five Nobel Prize winners all come from Kolkata.
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Holiday in India & Bhutan (1): introduction
October 2nd, 2024 by Roger Darlington
I am about to go on a holiday to India and Bhutan with the company Great Rail Journeys. This is the first time that I’ve travelled with GRJ and it is a rarity for me to have a tour manager from beginning to end, rather than just when one is in the countries concerned. She is Tracey Richards and impressively she contacted each tour member even before we met at Heathrow Airport.
On this holiday, I’ll be with my travel companion Jenny Madden. I met Jenny last year on a visit to Georgia and Armenia and, earlier this year, we travelled together on a trip to Pakistan. I’ve been to India before (2003), but not to Bhutan, which will be the 90th country that I have visited. Amazingly, Jenny has almost reached 100 countries.
GRJ classifies the mobility rating of the trip as “active adventurer” which means: “You love staying active and like to explore on your holiday. You’re more than capable of handling longer walking tours (more than 90 minutes), standing for extended periods of time, and navigating towns and countryside. Itineraries could include early starts, late-night experiences, and full days.” So, it’s a good thing that Jenny and I are young and fit!
India and Bhutan may be both part of the Indian sub-continent, but could hardly be more different from one another.
Geographically, India is huge (the seventh largest nation in the world) and Bhutan is small (about half the size of Scotland or twice the size of Wales). In population terms, India is the most populous country on the planet (1.4 billion), while Bhutan has a tiny fraction of this many citizens (a little over 700,000). Religiously, India is predominately Hindu with a large Muslim minority (about 20%), while Bhutan is overwhelmingly Buddhist with some 20% Hindu.
Politically, India is a (flawed) democracy, while Bhutan is an enlightened monarchy. India has always been a country open to visitors, but Bhutan was closed to visitors until 2018.
India is currently 4½ hours ahead of British time and Bhutan is 5 hours ahead. The currency in India is the rupee and the currency in Bhutan is the ngultrum. Indian currency can be used in Bhutan, but Bhutanese currency cannot be used in India. Currently a British pound is worth about 110 rupees or 110 ngultrum.
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How much do you know about Lebanon?
October 1st, 2024 by Roger Darlington
In my review of a 2010 book about Lebanon entitled “Beware Of Small States”, I wrote:
“Lebanon has so often been the subject of intervention by other states, whether the rule of the Ottoman Empire until the end of the First World War, France in the mandate period from 1918-1943, the presence since 1948 of Palestinian refugees and until 1982 the PLO, the support for different militias by various states during the horrendously bitter civil war of 1975-1990, the presence of UNIFIL peacekeeping troops since 1978, the invasions by Israel in 1982-1985 and again in 2006, the support of Iran for the militia Hezbollah since 1985, and the constant interference, sometime occupation, and repeated political assassinations by neighbouring Syria.”
I visited Lebanon in 2011 and, in my account of the trip, I wrote:
“Lebanon was carved out of the Ottoman Empire and granted independence by the French in 1943. It is a tiny state: geographically around the size of Wales in the UK or Connecticut in the USA, with much of it mountainous. And it has a small population: only around 4 million (although there is a much larger Lebanese diaspora around the world). But religiously, it is one of the most complicated nations on earth.
Lebanon’s population is estimated to be almost 60% Muslim (Shia, Sunni, Druze, Isma’ilite, Alawite, or Nusayri) and almost 40% Christian (Syriac Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Syriac Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, Copt, or Protestant). Over the past 60 years, there has been a steady decline in the number of Christians as compared to Muslims, due to higher emigration rates among Christians and a higher birth rate among the Muslim population.”
Since the attack on Israel by Gaza-based Hamas on 7 October 2023, there has been growing tension between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah which this week has led to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) launching a ground invasion of its northern neighbour. The Middle East is now in a crisis of horrendous proportions.
Of course, the origin of the problem is the creation of Israel in 1948 and I support the right of Israel to exist. For a brief account of how this came about and how the crisis could in theory be resolved, see this book review.
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A review of the new film “The Outrun”
September 29th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Think you have problems? Well, 30 year old Scottish Rona is coping with a traumatic childhood, a bipolar father, an evangelical mother, the break-up of a relationship, a serious addiction to alcohol and acute depression, plus the wildness, windiness and loneliness of an island in Orkney.
This could, so easily, have been a misery movie, but it is saved by fine acting, wonderful scenery and the ultimate redemption in the narrative. It is, however, a rocky road with constant jumps in time and space in a jagged and erratic storyline. Special mention should be made of the idiosyncratic sound which contributes so much to the atmosphere of each scene.
The film is adapted and lightly fictionalised by German director Nora Fingscheldt and Amy Lipton from the later’s 2016 recovery memoir of the same name. In the central role – she is rarely off the screen – Saoirse Ronan is simply wonderful and, following her four Academy Award nominations, this could well be the performance that bags her that Oscar at last. She puts everything into this harrowing tale and she and her husband Jack Lowden were co-producers.
Incidentally, the titular outrun is an outlying coastal piece of farmland, not suitable for cultivation. In a sense, the film itself is an outrun, something that many would want to avoid but some will find bracing and even invigorating.
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A review of “The Talented Mr Ripley” by Patricia Highsmith
September 27th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Crime fiction is a massively popular genre, but I generally avoid it. I made an exception for this 1955 psychological thriller because it has become such a well-established classic: it won a number of awards, it resulted in four sequels, and it has been the subject of many radio, television and film adaptations. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It is an unusual crime novel in that the point of view is that of the criminal himself and, somewhat implausibly and certainly audaciously, he manages to deceive just about everybody.
Twenty-five year old American Thomas Ripley, a loner with seemingly no morals and dubious sexuality, is above all a fantasist and the chief object of his fantasies is a fellow American, now resident in Italy, one Dickie Greenleaf.
Ripley is prepared to take incredible risks to fulfil his infatuation: “It was as if he were really inviting trouble , and couldn’t control himself.” We learn that: “His stories were good because he imagined them intensely , so intensely that he came to believe them.”
Highsmith clearly chose the name of her protagonist quite deliberately. Ripley’s Believe It Ot Not! was a newspaper panel that highlighted strange and unusual events and this novel is imbued with strange and unusual occurrences, the credibility of which is mooted over by a range of supporting characters.
The author plays with the emotions of the reader: we admire Ripley’s ingenuity, we share his fear, but do we want him to be caught or not?
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Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World?
September 25th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
This is the title of a new eight-part series which has just completed broadcasting on the BBC and is now available of the BBC’s iPlayer. An impressive array of senior figures speak with knowledge, candour and regret, making this one of the very best documentaries on global politics that I’ve ever seen.
It looks at a succession of international crises, where mass casualties were involved, and considers what happened when the international community – most notably the USA – did or did not intervene: Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Darfur, Libya and Syria.
Huge humanitarian, military and political issues are involved and there are never any simple options or answers. Intervention can have consequences which make matters worse (think of the invasion of Iraq). Non-intervention can lead to mass slaughter (think of the genocide in Rwanda). Even when there is a measure of success, there are massive complications (think of Kosovo). All decisions involve major uncertainties and unanticipated consequences.
I believe in principle that there are times when we should support liberal intervention by other nations in a nation state’s internal affairs. Such occasions are where mass loss of life is threatened or happening and, in those limited circumstances, the United States, ideally acting with UN authorisation and with allied support, is best equipped to make such intersessions. But clear objectives, skilled execution and a plan for ‘the day after’ are all vitally necessary.
There will never be a wholly successful action, but it is honourable to do all that one practically can to make a global crisis a bit better and to save some lives.
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What do you know about dementia?
September 20th, 2024 by Roger Darlington
Here, in the UK, nearly a million people are currently living with dementia. This figure is predicted to increase to around 1.4 million by 2040. Worldwide, some 55 million are living with dementia. That figure is predicted to rise to around 150 million by 2030.
More women than men are affected by dementia. There are reports that the risks for dementia affect Black and Asian populations more than white people.
There is no cure for dementia.
The main factors determining the incidence of dementia are genetics and age, but the Lancet Commission on Dementia produced a model of 14 potentially modifiable risks over the life span and suggested that up to 45% of dementia cases could be prevented if these risks factors could be eliminated.
These 14 risk factors are: (early-life) less education; ( mid-life) hearing loss, depression, high cholesterol, physical inactivity, traumatic brain injury, smoking, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and excessive alcohol; (later-life) social isolation, air pollution and visual loss.
For six and a half years, I have been a volunteer participant in a research project called CHARIOT PRO – an abbreviation for Cognitive Health in Ageing Register: Investigational, Observational, and Trial studies in dementia research: Prospective Readiness cOhort Study. The study is based at Imperial College in London and led by the world-renowned Professor Lefkos Midd
First, I was a member of a study looking at the possible connection between dementia and a protein in the brain called beta amyloid. Then, I was a participant in a study looking at the possible role in dementia of a different protein in the brain called tau. I have just volunteered for a three-year longitudinal study.
Today we had a seminar at Imperial College to hear about the latest thinking on dementia and the current plans for the CHARIOT PRO study.
If you would like to be involved, go here.
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