A winding road ribboning through the rain and mist of monsoons delivered us to Okayti tea estate, one of our newest partners from Darjeeling hills. Located in the picturesque Mirik Valley area, the tea estate is spread over 1600 acres...
It was pandemonium at the Indo-Nepal border: long lines of trucks stalled on the Indian side, crowd milling through haywire traffic, groups of angry men yelling, motorists pounding on their horns, determined families dragging their children and luggage, garbage and dust flying all over.
One of the main reasons for my recent trip to India was to attend my father's “barsi” - his first death anniversary ceremony. These rituals officially mark the end of the mourning period for the bereaved family, and invoke Chenrizig, the goddess of compassion, for the liberation of all souls.
Dawn breaks over Sukna, a small village in the foothills of Darjeeling. This is where my mother lives. This is where I was born 40 years ago, when elephants used to trundle down the dirt road in front of our house. Times have changed. Now young men walk the dusty lanes transfixed onto their cell phones just like anywhere else in the world.
In my previous post I mentioned Dussehra, the biggest Hindu festival of India, which happened to be underway as I arrived in the country. Traveling eastwards, where Darjeeling is located, I fortuitously moved into the epicentre of the celebrations - West Bengal, the "home" of Goddess Durga.
