When I reached Chhibo, evening was just about to fall.
This small hill village, Chhibo, stands quietly under the shadow of Kalimpong. Leave behind the busy hill town of Kalimpong for a couple of days and come stay in this sweet little village. Here, you will hear the sound of silence itself.
Chhibo is about 5 km from Kalimpong, 72 km from New Jalpaiguri, and 48 km from Darjeeling. Before entering Kalimpong town, the road to Chhibo goes down beside a petrol pump on the right. The altitude is roughly between 4,500 and 5,000 feet. There are two resorts here for staying. From here, Delo, Cactus Garden, and Gouripur House are very close.
Places like Rishop, Lava, Lolegaon, Icchegaon, Sillery Gaon, and Ramdhura can also be visited easily from here.
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From Eagle View Point, the confluence of the Teesta and Rangit rivers flowing nearly 3,000 feet below looks absolutely stunning. The viewpoint itself is carpeted with golden grass. However, to reach this homestay, you need to climb about 70–80 steps uphill after getting down from the car. Once you reach the top, it feels like a land of clouds. From here, Kalimpong town looks like a watercolour painting hanging on a drawing-room wall. And Kanchenjunga feels like that mischievous, flat-nosed girl named Sirin. Whenever I come here, a song keeps echoing in my ears:
“Kanchan jana kanchan ghar, Kanchanjungha kanchan mon…”
The climate is much milder than Darjeeling. The population is around 6,000. There is one health center; two nurses come from Kalimpong hospital for treatment. There is no government doctor, though there is one private doctor in the village. There are two primary schools, one has just three students, and another in Ringtinpong has 17 students. Classes are held only on Sunday mornings, with just two teachers. There are around 800 houses in the village.
There is a mountain stream called Gyankul Jhora, and because of it, landslides are common. Cracks have appeared in many houses, and people spend their nights in fear. The Darjeeling–Kalimpong road under the PWD is in excellent condition, while the stretch under GTS is in very poor shape. We reached Kalimpong in about two hours via Lamahatta, Teesta Bazaar, and Peshok (Lovers’ Meet View Point, an extraordinarily beautiful place where the Rangit merges into the Teesta, visible from almost 3,000 feet above; even the dullest mind would bloom there). From Kalimpong, it took 40 minutes to cover just 5 km.
We parked the car below the homestay and climbed the steps. By the time we reached the lobby, all fatigue vanished. In front lay an endless range of mountains, Kalimpong town in the distance, and behind us the hills sloping down to the Teesta river, 3,000 feet below. Tiered hillsides dotted with gardens and small houses looked magical.
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Kalimpong is famous for orchids, and there are also countless varieties of anthurium flowers. Acres of large cardamom plants, vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, bottle gourd, peas, and the famous betel leaves grow here. Every household has cows, goats, and chickens. The resort garden was full of musanda, anthurium, orchids, petunia, gladiolus, and many unfamiliar flowers.
The resort lobby had garden umbrellas, a thatched shed, and chairs. The stay costs ₹1,200 per night for two people (three can stay), and food costs ₹450 per person per day with bed tea to dinner, with country chicken at night. Fish is hard to get here. The water is excellent. At night, in the moonlight, Chhibo felt incredibly calm, like a serene paradise.
In the morning, I saw the familiar Kanchenjunga again, yet it felt unfamiliar. Every fold of the mountain had a different form, painted with sunlight. This divine beauty is unforgettable.
After breakfast, while deciding where to go, I was with my little friend Rakesh. We went to a viewpoint via a steep, narrow forest road. On one side was dense forest, on the other a sheer drop of nearly 3,000 feet down to the Teesta, an extraordinary sight. We stood on golden grass above the green river below. No houses, no people, just the four of us, silent and spellbound. I don’t know how long we stood there. Finally, Rakesh said, “Babuji, let’s go home, it’s getting late,” and we returned.
Rakesh and his sister Sabitri live here to study; their parents stay in Nepal. They came all the way from Nepal just for education. The resort owner is their maternal uncle. Everyone runs the resort together. Rakesh is in Class V, Sabitri in Class VII, studying in an English-medium school, and helping at the resort in their free time. The family is well-educated and respectable.
Another group was staying with us, three young girls who had just started working. Brave, cheerful girls who called me “Boss Uncle.” Their sweet names were Muskan, Tamanna, and Dalia. In the evenings, they sang songs like Jennifer Lopez’s “Feel the Light” or Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Early in the morning, they even sang Rabindra Sangeet. Imagine three non-Bengali girls singing Tagore so beautifully! What talent! This is what Kolkata gives the world.
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I left Chhibo many days ago, yet even today I long to see them again. The sweet brother and sister who live away from their parents at such a young age, driven purely by the desire to study, not for comfort or luxury.
Some people go to nature in search of new places, new faces, new joys. Some go for the mind, some for the body. I came to see Chhibo but why does my heart keep wanting to return, again and again?
As I was heading towards NJP along Sevoke Road, my phone rang. The Chhibo Inn. “Hello, hello…” no response. Sitting on the train, the phone rang again. The Chhibo Inn. In an innocent child’s voice, just three words came through:
“Babu, come again..."
