The one hour air travel from Kolkata to Bagdogra was smooth despite pilot Vasant Kumar's gentle suggestion of the flight being somewhat bumpy. Co-pilot, Captain Sahay's surname gave a strong possibility of the continuation of Bihari connections in most of my holiday trips.

The trip to Darjeeling alongwith visits to Gangtok, Kalimpong and Mirik was a promise I had made to my wife during our engagement nearly 20 years back.Just last year we had fulfilled my wife's promise to take me to Kodaikanal which too was made during our engagement days. It so happened that at the time of my engagement I was a resident of the grimy and sweaty Kolkata (still Calcutta in those days) which unfortunately was also pot-holed and chaotic thanks to the Metro Rail constuction project which had left Rajiv Gandhi's "dying city" in complete disarray. My wife lived in Bangalore -then still the "airconditioned city", the "garden city", "pensioner's paradise" etc which had been well spruced up for the SAARC summit. It was natural for me to talk of Darjeeling when she would brag about Bangalore or the hill stations of the south such as " Kodaikanal". "Ooty" etc.

Welcome to the queen of hills - Darjeeling - where viewing the breathtaking snow-capped Kanchenjungha peaks is a lifetime experience. Where lies one of world's highest railway stations and a maze of rails with the steepest gradients and some incredibly zig-zagged loops. Ghoom railway station at 7405 feet, now a UN world heritage site, ranks amongst the the highest, though the recently constructed railway station at Tanggula Pass in China near Tibet is way ahead at a height of more than 15000 feet. Batasia loop on the route is a kind of engineering feat with its rails running on a hilltop that overlooks the town of Darjeeling. Or, where you cannot stop eating the freshest momos ( the dumplings with its fillings that melts in the mouth) and sipping the famous Darjeeling tea at a roadside tea shop with its sylvan and serene expanse of chai bagans or the verdure fir and pines trees.

The Deccan airlines (now merged with Kingfisher) impressed me once again.Its friendly crew, the in-flight service and most importantly its consistent on-time departures did not leave any room at all for criticism.
Bagdogra airport, within 10 kms from the town of Siliguri, is small but one of the cleanest and well-maintained airports in India. Efforts are on to turn it into an international airport in the near future. As discussed, the Bihari encounters started too soon on the trip. The tip soliciting attendent in the loo was a Sitamarhi buddy whose smile and service were both disarming and embarrassing at the same time. He seemed happy at his destiny having left Bihar nearly 30 years ago. If space permits I will talk about the Bihari migration which is now a hot topic in the aftermath of Bihari bashing that has recently started in Maharashtra.

The 30 something Nepali Dhruv Raj, who was to be our driver and guide for the entire trip and who looked a bit like John Abraham, was waiting for us and presently we were in the hills after travelling a few kilometers of plain land in the Siliguri district of West Bengal.The three hours journey including a break for snacks and tea at Kurseong was thrilling but scary at times, the roads appearing to have been maintained quite notoriously and constantly giving a feeling that a slight miscalculation of the steering or the brakes could mean the end of it all. My wife correctly pointed out that on such journeys, one tends to pray all avataras of God that one has heard of. As if to make the matter worse, the manager at the restaurant counter asks me "Kya aaplog upar ja rahe hain". I promptly corrected him "Haan haan humlog Darjeeling jaa rahe hain".

Darjeeling was now only 40 kms away. Having polished off some momos and paneer pakoras with chai, we resumed our journey in the Chevrolet Tavera now heading towards our much-awaited prized destination. The reminiscenes of my frequent visits to Darjeeling in mid eighties came flashing. In those days, I used to visit a number of tourist places across India selling passenger rope way projects also known as cable-cars. The familiar skyline started appearing on the horizon amidst the fog and a drizzle.