Darjeeling
Darjeeling: When you reach this place, you will hear such sounds, the sound of the train and you never know that the train starts moving with you. The sound of the train and from somewhere far away you can see the highest peak of India. And if you smell the aroma of tea on the way, then you should understand that you are at the most beautiful place of West Bengal, that is “Darjeeling”. Situated at an altitude of 6,700 feet, Darjeeling is located in the beautiful region of the Eastern Himalayas. The most special thing about this place is that even after being at such a height, you get to see the train system here. And this is why India’s highest railway station is here.
India’s highest railway station.
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway:
You will not find any other railway station at such a height in India. Even after being at such a height, the toy train runs on a steam engine and not on any diesel engine. The sound of the train is India’s highest railway line, the Himalayan Railway of Darjeeling, where you will get to see the oldest steam engines running here and there on the road. Some of these engines are even 100 years old and the track on which they run is so small that you find it difficult to understand how such a big train runs on a 2 feet track and because of its small track it is known as a “toy train”. This is a toy that not only attracts children but adults also want to sit and enjoy the train journey because it is so beautiful.
Darjeeling A historical city where many languages are spoken:
When you are in Darjeeling you feel like you are in a historical place. Because they have preserved a lot of historical things, buildings for a long time. When I explored this nearby area of Darjeeling and talked to some people, I came to know that the most spoken language here is Nepali. I thought people would speak Bengali here but it is the opposite, most of the people here speak Nepali, you can see people speaking only 3 to 4 languages in Darjeeling, like Nepali, Bengali Hindi, you can find different languages in different parts of India. Whether it is North India or South India and so on while travelling,
language:
I realized, only one language is not enough, you should know at least 2 to 3 languages and that too while sitting at home or even when you are travelling, it is so easy to learn any language because of “Duolingo” it is the world’s popular and free language learning app. You can download it for free from any app store. And as easy as playing a game you can easily learn any of the more than 40 languages, one such example is Hindi to English or English to French language. So which language would you like to learn? Languages can be different Train
Talk With LocoPaylet:
Before starting your journey steam is being prepared in the engine so you put coal in this pit and then steam is generated do you put water next? Yes, here is a water tank of 5000 liters. Water boils which generates steam here it shows the amount of steam generated. If it is below then the engine will not work.
Now the pressure shows 150, is it right to run the engine? Yes, absolutely the train blows horn! The steam engine might be years old but this train has new Vista Dome coaches. You can see natural beauty from every side of these coaches In this journey, the toy train is moving from Darjeeling to Ghum station.
Ghum station is about 1000 feet higher than Darjeeling so to reduce the slope of these two stations a loop is made between both. Sometimes it passes behind a house or sometimes through the market.
Talk to locals:
You can see the traffic on the side of the road and the train is moving along the track. And the toy train is passing through the market with a gap of few inches or sometimes less than a gap of few inches. Bhai, the train passes through your shop every day at such a small distance? Don’t you worry about it? No.
History:
These shops on the side of the track are 100 years old or even more. And this railway route is even older than these shops. People say that despite the train passing so close to the shops for so many years, no such accident has ever happened. That is why this train journey is so interesting. But if you think that there is nothing older or more famous than this toy train in Darjeeling, then you are absolutely wrong. Actually there is one thing because of which there is this toy train in Darjeeling. And that thing is older than this 100-year-old train. And that is Darjeeling’s “tea”. During the British India period, the British started producing tea in Darjeeling and due to the pleasant climate and altitude of Darjeeling, the tea produced here is of such good quality. And became famous all over the world. They started exporting tea all over the world. And for the export of tea, they started “Darjeeling Himalayan Railway”. Currently, 70 lakh kilos are produced in Darjeeling in a year. Which is only 1% of India’s total tea production. But Darjeeling tea is famous for quality more than quantity. That is why Darjeeling tea is exported the most.
The Magic of Darjeeling:
There is a forest. Such tall trees, and it is dark here. And fog is coming, I think these are clouds. Clouds are coming down from above. Fog is coming through the trees, wow. What a beautiful view! Wow. Amazing. The fog keeps coming and fills the forest and I know that I have to go down and if the fog keeps getting thicker then I might not be able to recognize the way but this view is so beautiful to see. So beautiful! There are very few places that make you feel alive. So much silence that you can even hear the sound of your own breathing. This forest of the Lepcha world is one such place. Darjeeling is not just a city but a world in itself.
Where there is the shine of newness, and also the importance of old things. Which place there is chirping and frolic, and also silence,
where the weather changes within a radius of a few kilometers. So many colors, so many languages, that is why Darjeeling is not just a city but a world in itself.
Explore in video: Explore Darjeeling
Explore More Tourist Place:
Meghalaya, Himachal, Tibbat, Manali, Darjeeling, jammu & kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Hampi.