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Thursday, 8 October 2015

Memoirs of North Sikkim - Visit to Lachen

Well I am not getting the point from where should I start writing about my first visit to Sikkim. It is tough to sum up the visual feelings in words and that too when there are plenty visionaries which you are still able to remember like watching it alive. So here it is my first post of North Sikkim diaries.

NJP to Gangtok

We were four members & we started our journey from Sealdah railway station, Kolkata. Our trip was all over 5 days trip. I hope my writing may help you to find proper route guidance if you are planning to visit North Sikkim. We got into Teesta Torsha Express [Please don't opt for this train, the service is too bad and it runs late. There are many trains for reaching NJP] and reached New Jalpaiguri at 4:15 am around in next morning. There we started our journey for Gangtok and it took 4:30 hours nearly to reach Gangtok.

whenever the road steps in to Sevoke road, Siliguri I kind of feel like yes here it is, the greens are welcoming us and it is always exciting to see the first mountain view on the way. Same happened this time too. After 4 months I stepped into the same route so yes I was super happy. It was drizzling and we saw the dawn bidding good bye and morning getting in. That feeling was extra ordinary.

On the way we suddenly met Teesta and there it was we followed Teesta river all the way along till the end of our journey and the variations of Teesta were amazing. Sometimes quite, sometimes very fast, very spontaneous and sometimes dangerous to look at. On the way we had taken breakfast, obviously momo with red hot spicy chutney and hot soup. The weather was calming and cooling down and we let our body and mind to float with the climate and to fly over the roads, keeping the interest on our minds to reach Sikkim as fast as possible.

Gangtok to Lachen

We reached the border of Sikkim & West Bengal, Rongpo. It is true that as you enter Sikkim, you can feel a sudden difference of being in it. The bigger mountains, the tree patterns all seem to be different than of North Bengal and yes the falls. In throughout my trip I saw around 200 falls (approx). Unbelievable right ? Check this one. This one was the first noted fall which we visited. This was earlier known as Seven Sisters falls but now it is called as Butterfly fall.

Checkpost

Sottyi ??

Seven Sisters Fall

Sweet

Lunch place

When we reached Lachen (via Chumthang), it was around 5:30 PM in the evening. We got into Hotel and then we had our food. In mountains hot homemade foods taste so delicious and the way the people served us the food was so warm. After having the dinner we went for a night walk. Walking in the mountain at night has different charm. All dark and cold, few crickets sound around and dogs presence will make you feel superb. Over that when you can see the dark mountains are being decorated with tiny lights from far, it feels amazing. As if toyland. Ok let me brief about Lachen. Lachen is situated at around 9022 ft altitude, adored in the lap of the mountains, protected by the high hills. Lachen is a small and neat village to stay. Temperature was 4° and night sky was so so clear. Millions of stars were twinkling and night was hush hush silent.

Reached Lachen

The next morning oops !! I should call it midnight, we got ready by 2:30 am next day and there started for Gurudongmar lake and chopta valley. This day was .. ahh.. will express in next post. Till then check the Lachen pictures and keep your eyes on my blog for the total North Sikkim journey.

P.S Pardon if any typos !!

Lachen village

Clouds n clouds... Fly away.. Let me see Lachen

Final touch .. The temporary Signature

Debo - ♥

I loved that big hotel. At night it was the main thing to look at

And that monastery.. I wish I could walk up to reach there. had no time

Sunday, 20 September 2015

Love yourself ...

What is that one quote or an inspiration that guides you no matter what? #LifeMantra

I should not call it as quote or the determining text to inspire me in the so usual manner. But yes to be honest if it is about mantra to be followed thoroughly, I would really say myself repeatedly "LOVE YOURSELF" ... Yes it may sound selfish, self obsessed and also self centered. But I believe if you are not able to love yourself, it is quite impossible to love others. Judging our needs can help to be empathetic to others needs as well and also understanding our nature increases the possibility to understand others nature. Most importantly, if you love yourself, then you will definitely take out some time for your own self being and no matter what you will do what you love. Playing with your hobbies and wishes must make you happiest and there if you are happy from inside, you will make others happy too.

Now some quotes which I like very much are posted below. Most of them are of Audrey Hepburn and her words are like a charm.

This post was written for #Indispire.

Posted By Debarati Datta Read about me here blogging since 2011 Copyright © Debarati Datta Privacy Policy

Monday, 7 September 2015

L . E . T . T . E . R . S

Letters - the term itself defines the meaning ... Letters - filled up with handwritten alphabets (Letters). Such a beautiful way of expressing or may be smoothest way of talking while being mute right ? But it speaks millions, millions for that particular moment and for years years and years. Letters are magical as if it holds the smell of that person who wrote it or kind of visual illusion which comes straight to your mind, an illusion of the person who wrote it. Especially the handwriting - that is priceless. You even can feel it while caressing the pen strokes over each and every letters, words or sentences. Sometimes letters express many of the emotions which can not be uttered verbally. Another excitement is to open the envelope and exploring the words. The anxiety throws the highest peak of adrenaline rush.

Whatsapp, Facebook messenger, or any other chat applications which we use now a days for fast and easy communication can never replace the essence of letters anytime. Being a technical worker I believe in this. Technology might have helped us to speak instant worldwide but the only thing which is terribly missed in these messaging services is WAIT.. Obviously this was the biggest drawback of handwritten letters for which telegrams came up and then so on and so on ... but that WAIT is something which excites me much and if it is a REPLY then nothing else matters.

Sadly but truly writing letters with our own handwriting has gone so far. No one has that time to write for someone with pen and paper when easiest things are available easily. Since childhood I have been writing letters to my closest people. People who I love, I care most. In school it was kind of a silly game but yes when I think of it now, I feel really good. The game was like - One needed to write a letter consisting poem or any verse written for only another friend and other friend would do the same. Only after coming back to home we would read them and on the next day the replies. I remember myself writing small poems for my friends. And even for asking sorry to my mother or any of my family members, what I could think of fast was writing a letter with an envelop that would open with a Big SMILEY.. Reading old letters have some miracles in them, it refreshes the old essence, that particular timeframe which reappears for a time being. That is million worthy.

I am penning down few movies here which touched me because of this LETTER facts.

1. The Notebook

“In time, the hurt began to fade and it was easier to just let it go. At least I thought it was. But in every boy I met in the next few years, I found myself looking for you, and when the feelings got too strong, I'd write you another letter. But I never sent them for fear of what I might find. By then, you'd gone on with your life and I didn't want to think about you loving someone else. I wanted to remember us like we were that summer. I didn't ever want to lose that.”

― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

2. Message in a bottle

"My Darling Catherine,

Where are you? And why, I wonder as I sit alone in a darkened house, have we been forced apart?

I don’t know the answer to these questions, no matter how hard I try to understand. The reason is plain, but my mind forces me to dismiss it and I am torn by anxiety in all my waking hours. I am lost without you. I am soulless, a drifter without a home, a solitary bird in a flight to nowhere. I am all these things, and I am nothing at all. This, my darling, is my life without you. I long for you to show me how to live again.

I try to remember the way we once were, on the breezy deck of Happenstance. Do you recall how we worked on her together? We became a part of the ocean as we rebuilt her, for we both knew it was the ocean that brought us together. It was times like those that I understood the meaning of true happiness. At night, we sailed on blackened water and I watched as the moonlight reflected your beauty. I would watch you with awe and know in my heart that we’d be together forever. Is it always that way, I wonder, when two people are in love? I don’t know, but if my life since you were taken from me is any indication, then I think I know the answers. From now on, I know I will be alone.

I think of you, I dream of you, I conjure you up when I need you most. This is all I can do, but to me it isn’t enough. It will never be enough, this I know, yet what else is there for me to do? If you were here, you would tell me, but I have been cheated of even that. You always knew the proper words to ease the pain I felt. You always knew how to make me feel good inside.

Is it possible that you know how I feel without you? When I dream, I like to think you do. Before we came together, I moved through life without meaning, without reason. I know that somehow, every step I took since the moment I could walk was a step toward finding you. We were destined to be together.

But now, alone in my house, I have come to realize that destiny can hurt a person as much as it can bless him, and I find myself wondering why—out of all the people in all the world I could ever have loved—I had to fall in love with someone who was taken away from me.

Garrett " ― Nicholas Sparks, Message in a bottle

3. Letters to Juilet

“Dear Claire, "What" and "If" are two words as non-threatening as words can be. But put them together side-by-side and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life: What if? What if? What if? I don't know how your story ended but if what you felt then was true love, then it's never too late. If it was true then, why wouldn't it be true now? You need only the courage to follow your heart. I don't know what a love like Juliet's feels like: love to leave loved ones for, love to cross oceans for, but I'd like to believe if I ever were to feel it, that I'd have the courage to seize it. And Claire, if you didn't, I hope one day that you will. All my love, Juliet”

― Lise Friedman, Letters to Juliet

4. The longest ride

“I wish I had the talent to paint the way I feel about you, for my words always feel inadequate. I imagine using red for your passion and pale blue for your kindness; forest green to reflect the depth of your empathy and bright yellow for your unflagging optimism. And still I wonder: can even an artist’s palette capture the full range of what you mean to me?”

― Nicholas Sparks, The Longest Ride

And it would be insufficient if I start writing about Rabindranath Tagore or Saratchandra Chattopadhay's novels and the shades of letters in them...to be continued in other Letter series.

Sunday, 6 September 2015

Movies ... September, 2015

26th September, 2015

19th September, 2015

6th September, 2015

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

Because Veterans are never old

Years after we retired

years after we have been neglected

years after we have been forgotten

We have stood up,

No don't look at our outer shell

Neither the wrinkled skin nor the grey hair

Don't even think we are old

Because Veterans are never old

Our bloods are strong enough

to protest for the right

We fought and we will fight

till We die We will do hunger strike

We died in war before several times

We are ready to die again for million times

We are united, we are One

Are you listening INDIA ??

P.S This one was to pay respect for all the Military Veterans who have been on strike (recently on hunger strike) at Delhi's Jantar Mantar for more than 70 days only to ask for their right i.e One Rank One Pension. I have been following ex-servicemenwelfare.blogspot.in regularly for the updated news (obviously for the sake of my father). But today it just crossed all limits. Read the link here : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/OROP-fast-unto-death-2nd-army-veteran-rushed-to-hospital/articleshow/48669685.cms . Is our ministry waiting for them to sacrifice their lives again for their right ? It seems it is their time to fight against their own country. Can our Honorable ministers imagine what will happen next if Military forces quit their duty for one single moment ?? Raise up .. Raise up India ...

Willing to hear the news in this week..

Google

Wednesday, 19 August 2015

It is everywhere ....

When it rained on that day, the sky changed its color.. darker actually, the wind was mad and had a very different flavor. It behaved crazy.The leaves, the stems and the trees were moving along very fast as if there was a deep thirst of Freedom, Freedom to move freely, in some unbounded manner. As if they were trying to break the sphere they hail from actually. More of this, it felt like Lord Shiva's cosmic dance (Samhara Tandav). That strength, that power, a bit of destructive nature. On other hands, while looking at the flowers who were getting drenched thoroughly with the nature's shower, were the softer part. As if they were filled up with joy of spiritual bliss, joy of celebrating the Destruction just like Goddess Parvati's Lasya. It is incredible to find the mythological explanations in everywhere and specially it is very true that Dance is everywhere. Each and every objects that are moving in a particular harmony, rhythm can be imagined as Dance and if anyone can feel it, just know that you have got Rhythm in you. You have got beats and sense of realizing it through your veins and blood.

Credit goes to the artist

I found this video too beautiful to feel the meaning of Spiritual side of Dance. Dance is itself the feeling of non visuals, feeling of eternal power, the strength ...