Simply Sikkim!
Adoring Wonders of Nature in Eastern India
The Lepcha people, the original inhabitants of Sikkim, call Sikkim, Nye-mae-el, meaning ‘Paradise’. Our historical Indian literature relates to Sikkim as Indrakil, the garden of warlord Indra. According to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan survey, it is among the cleanest of Indian cities. All this persuaded me into visiting the place once before I die.
What do you think is so beautiful about this place? Let’s take a sneak peek into admiration.
Sikkim is one of the north-eastern states of India. And one of the beauties of going northeast is that their landscape and topography are not trifled with. I went there when I was quite young. Yes, the memories are foggy but their nostalgia takes over me whenever I see the mountains shine in the bright sunlight. And till date, in my opinion, Sikkim is truly the abode of gods.
Talking about famous places in Sikkim, the major tourist attraction is the MG Marg, (Mahatma Gandhi Road) which is quite unusual to be called a road because instead of rocks, its 1 km stretch is made up of textured tiles. This location is a must-visit because, without it, a trip to Sikkim is incomplete. It is more like a long stretch of open mall or boulevard square where locals and tourists take leisure stroll or relax on one of the many benches, laid along the middle as well as both sides of the road to soak the ambiance around.
One fine morning, we got up early to have a walk in the fresh climate of MG Marg. And witnessed one lovely thing about Sikkim. You won’t find any kind of litter scattered around at any point of any day.
Traveling is so much pleasurable in these kinds of cities where there are many places to rove around. But you can’t visit every place around, unless it’s really special, no? Nathula pass surely has to be the one to be included in the list. It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive to the pass from MG Marg that divides Indian and Chinese borders. We could see heavy trucks from Chinese borders coming into Indian borders for trade via the mountain top.
The ambiance was great there. I always liked a temperately hot day, with a cool breeze wafting around. Highlands are the last stop for me then though.
On our way back, we saw this colossal lake called ‘Tsongmo Lake’, which lighted up the mood in the overcast conditions that changed in the way. Climate never remains the same throughout a particular day in Sikkim. It keeps on changing like a stupid chameleon.
So here we come down to the last piece in the puzzle, but certainly not the least. This memory climaxes my Sikkim visit to a great degree. But to be honest, I didn’t want to go there in the first place, I mean who could get up at two in the morning after being fatigued the whole previous day?
I eventually was made to get up at two in the morning. My head ached like hell and I yawned all the way to the destination called ‘Tiger Hill’. I didn’t get enough time to google it, so I asked the chauffeur to tell me what is so imperative about this place. But it seemed that everyone’s motto that morning was to trouble me and that made my headache even more. Twistingly, he answered, ‘Sab tourist log yahi aate hain pehle, acha lgega aapko’ (Translated from Nepalese). I was like fuck this shit, I need a coffee.
You don’t get a coffee in the morning on tiger hill, I came to know later. I savored tea in the name of coffee. It was quite wintry out there. I could barely see the people courtesy the fog, and the ones standing close to me wore thick woolen clothes and still covering themselves with a thick shawl, so cold it was there at that time. Standing at what seemed like a cliff, I watched towards the sky in front, just as other sightseers. Suddenly, I heard from a distance, ’kitne baje ugega?’. I took some flashes to understand the setting and my first guess was spot on. We were witnessing a sunrise.
The very first rays would blaze past my ears. How ecstatic is that!!
The moment finally came. I saw a ‘hot red balloon-like sun’ emerge from beneath the clouds and it felt like I am witnessing the birth of a baby, so euphoric I was.
I took out my iPad and recorded the cut time-lapses of the red sun turning into a fully brazen yellow one. Amidst the plethora of clouds, I could see aside certain mountains, who just like me, were witnessing the sunrise that day.
The peak of the mountain kept changing colors with the rising sun. I was seeing both splendors of nature in a single panoramic view. It was a mesmerizing experience. This marked the perfect ending to my trip.
Yes, We returned home that very morning via air. We were all quite wary as we reached home but I wanted to see the clicks and videos that I made there. Scrolling sidewise, I came across the time-lapse videos of the rising sun. I began watching it when unexpectedly I heard someone saying in the video, ’Wo dekh Kanchenjunga kya mast lag raha hai’.
Have I missed an important thing there at the cliff, I asked myself. WOW! I missed seeing the third largest peak in the world, I thought. But after speed-reading the video, again and again, I came to know that the mountain I saw, with changing colors of the peak, was ‘The Kanchenjunga’.
I still remember, goosebumps ran all over my body and I could barely close my eyes in elation at that moment on that day. I saw the most immaculate thing in my life, without even knowing about it. But I bet if I knew about it before, it would have never filled my exhilaration to travel to Sikkim again. I just hope I get a chance to put a sequel to this, only if my readers suggest me so.
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