Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

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That is some really steep farmland. Very pretty scenery as well.

 

The slopes where these tea plantations are positioned are tremendously steep.

 

Grueling just to reach some of them, let alone harvest them. The road itself was extremely steep - but tourist traffic back and forth to the Rock Garden ensures it is well maintained.

 

But as I was soon to learn, this was the local equivalent of an autobahn compared to other roads!

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Tomorrow we will depart Darjeeling for a quiet mountain valley whose slopes are festooned with impassable jungle, and which also conceals the torturous twists and turns of the road.

 

This view from a bare mountainside in the neighboring state of Sikkim dramatically shows how such roads cling to the topography (not my photo).

 

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We make good our escape from Darjeeling early morning of 28th November. We are heading for Sitong, a tiny village in a secluded valley inhabited by the Lepcha people. We must travel by off road vehicle.

 

 

 

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In retrospect the one true regret I have is an unreasonable one. I would have liked to stop the vehicle periodically to photograph the dense forest, precipitous mountain road - and especially the stunning shrines I saw along the way. One of these had two huge brilliant yellow leopards rampant guarding the vividly painted walls of a shrine that overlooked a perilous drop. I didn't dare even interrupt our driver's concentration, let alone stop to get out. The narrow road had a sheer drop on one side, with barely passing room for any vehicle that came upon us from the opposite direction.With dense jungle and hazardous hairpin turns, the risk was clear and present. I hoped at a Google search might unearth images of what I had seen. But there is nothing resembling the leopard shrine, or the others I saw. The only photos I have are these, taken while the vehicle bumped along.

 

 

 

 

 

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The verdant jungle is very dense. It forms part of the Eastern Himalayan Broadleaf Forest that extends along the range's steep southern flanks from West to East all along its length. It is one of the most diverse habitats on earth.

 

 

 

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The valley in which Sitong is situated is like a great bowl, surrounded by steep sided hills in a thousand shades of green.

 

 

 

 

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Only one narrow road threads its way through the valley and up the sides, twisting and turning as it goes. Tiny village houses bedecked with flowering plants line the roadside every hundred metres or so. There are no shops in the valley, no market, no municipal buildings of any kind.

 

The local people are invariably warm in their general demeanour. We stayed at a local guest house which had only just opened.

 

 

 

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To my complete amazement, the proprietor tells me that I am the first foreigner ever to visit the valley.

 

 

 

 

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The next three days were spent exploring the valley and the ridges above. It may be difficulty to convey a true feeling of this place from my photographs, but it is by far the most beautiful place I have ever seen with my own eyes. And it is certainly the most silent.

 

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O daughter of the mountain, who makes the whole earth happy, who makes the whole universe rejoice, praised by Nandin

 

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Dwelling on the peak of the great Vindhya mountain, glittering widely, praised by those desirous of victory

 

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O Goddess, wife of the blue necked Siva, One who has many families, One who has achieved so much,

 

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Be victorious, be victorious, O destroyer of the demon Mahisa, with beautiful braids of hair, daughter of the mountain Himalaya

 

 

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Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight an asura (an inhuman force/demon) named Mahishasura. He had unleashed a reign of terror on earth, heaven and the nether worlds, and he could not be defeated by any man or god, anywhere. The gods went to Brahma, who had given Mahishasura the power not to be defeated by a man. Devi emerged from 'a sea of light', saying she was the form of the supreme Brahman who had created all the gods. Now she had come to fight the demon to save the gods. They did not create her; it was her lila that she emerged from their combined energy. The gods were blessed with her compassion.

 

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It is said that upon initially encountering Durga, Mahishasura underestimated her, thinking: "How can a woman kill me, Mahishasur—the one who has defeated the trinity of gods?".