The Orange Orchards of Chota Mangwa

 I think joy can be found in many things at many places - only that you need to stretch your legs (or turn on the ignition). Joy, for me, initially, was very much restricted to the hills. Somehow, the tall deodars and oaks, erect like sentinels; mists obscuring the trunks; serpentine hairpins, loops of Glenarys and Keventers had an overwhelming effect. And any hill lesser than the Himalayas didn’t serve the purpose! 
But later found joy in Palli gram of the Bengal plains, especially the days spent during winter - the cry of a jackal shattering the silence of the night, blooming lotus floating in the ponds, mud huts and  mustard fields. The joy of the sea beach where after a bath in the warm sea water, delving onto a plate of steamed rice-prawn curry and murgir kosha. And in the silence of the forests, in the gurgling of the streams.It took sometime to realise that it was the greater joy of travelling that seemed to dominate and every time I exited the city, my increasing age puts a pause to its growth.
But today sitting in the balcony, feeling the now still, warm air,that reminds that summer  is raging with all its might, the mind suddenly wandered to the hills of North Bengal. Those hills hold a charm for me that’s hard to define. And symbiosis can be the closest analogy. Be it , the tyres that seem to bite into an extra grip when they chew onto Kona Expressway or when the orange hued dawn breaks the dark skies on NH2 or the first sight of tea gardens and pine apple fields of Islampur that indicate that the long driving day is almost over and the hills are in sight or the little villages perched on the hill slopes that glitter on a fog free night. 
This Himalayan pull, a figment of imagination, affects everyone who has been to those hills….took us  to two different places: Chota Mangwa & The Samabeyong Tea Gardens at Lava. Done in end January and mid-February, back in 2017,  I am herewith posting the twin travels as part of the same travelogue. I had lost most of the photos of the later, but you will find from the limited  in the collages that Samabeyong was a heavenly experience.
It was during the Durga Puja break of 2016, when we had visited Darjeeling, that we came of know about the twin villages of Bara Mangwa and Chota Mangwa. The charm of these little places of the North Bengal hills is, you spend your time doing absolutely nothing. By stating “nothing” I don’t mean you will end up sleeping like a log or whiling away the hours in an idle state. What I mean is, sipping the morning tea, while watching the sun light shimmering on the snow peaks of Kanchenjunga, going on a walk along the terraced cultivation fields, talking to the local grocery store owner, listening to the birds, photographing the flowers and the neat wooden houses that dot the hill slopes.
So, it was with these in mind that we visited Chota Mangwa in January, 2017. It was 5 day holiday and we spent the first day reaching Siliguri from Calcutta. We stayed at Marina’s Motel in Bagdogra where the sizzlers are a routine dinner for us. 

It was on the second day that we left Marinas after a late breakfast, and took the Sevoke Road. Beginning to think of those days also make us remember that our son was small and we used to spend most of our time preparing him for the trip. And it was around noon that crossed Sevoke bridge and on asking locals the way, they pointed us to a very narrow and steep road that climbed past the shops and houses and often blocked by Mahindra Pickup trucks.
Till that date, whereas I had taken my motorcycle to North Sikkim and later Tonglu, the steepest road that I had driven my car on was the Peshok Road. And I don’t feel ashamed to admit that the road gave me goosebumps – will the car make it at all? But when I took the road, the car did climb with aplomb – the turns were steep and the stretches to accelerate were short and this caused me to reverse some distance to climb a few of those switchbacks. And in no time, we were in Bara Mangwa.
I don’t know the condition now, but in 2017, no metal road existed from Bara Mangwa to Chota Mangwa. All that was there was a muddy track and to reach Chota Mangwa we had to hire a 4X4 jeep while keeping our car safe in the Bara Mangwa Farm House. The short journey was a bone jarring one and we reached our stay, the Darjeeling Blossom Eco Tourism Complex.
After a hot bath, we had a homely lunch of Rice, Dal and Egg curry and then set out on a walk in the resort. We discovered that the resort was located on a ridge that overlooked the Teesta River – a drop of more than 5000 ft. The river, from that altitude, resembled a thread but then it turned foggy soon after. The clean blue skies of November and December usually tend to turn cloudy and rainy in January. And with the fog and cloud, came the chill. I spent the remaining daylight hours photographing the multitude plants and flowers and sitting on a bench, overlooking the Teesta river as the clouds swam in and out and the cold blew hard on the unobstructed Chota Mangwa ridge. We spent the evening confined to our rooms as the grip of the cold grew throughout the night.
The next morning, we woke up late. Of course we had planned to see the sunrise on the Kanchenjunga range but oversleeping meant that not only we missed the sunrise but the entire mountain range was shrouded by a thick canopy of clouds. But at Chota Mangwa, it was mildly sunny.
We had a breakfast of pooris and subji and tea. The small oranges on the breakfast table was the indicator of the one added attraction of Chota Mangwa – Orange gardens! The lack of our vehicle meant that mobility was limited. So, gazing at the valley below in search of the meandering Teesta and looking up, above the green mountains looking for Kanchenjunga, we spent the initial better half of the morning, drinking cups and cups of tea. Our son enjoyed walking along the pebble strewn pathways that crisscrossed the resort and we simply relaxed.
A little later, we went for a walk in the village. Photographing the orange trees and the multitude huts. Eventhough November and December forms the best time for orange harvesting, still there were several trees loaded with the fruit. A villager plucked a few oranges and handed it to our son. Our walk took us down and down, until we reached Nirmal’s farm at Bara Mangwa. Incidentally, this was the place from where we had taken the 4X4 to go upto Chota Mangwa. At Nirmal’s Farm we purchased some jam and marmalades.
Walking a little further, seeing our son along with us a villager invited us to his house. They were celebrating a Tibetan festival and offered us a drink and snacks. The walk down had made us tired and even more so for my son. So, we had to call the hotel’s Jeep for a lift back to the resort.
It was already late in the afternoon when we had our lunch and this time we went on a walk to the other side – which was the way up. On the way we passed some bamboo forests and then in a clearing could see the village church. Now, it wasn’t sunny anymore, for the clouds had started to descend and the cold started to make its presence felt. We walked further till the village road merged with the main highway. This highway rose all the way from Teesta river bed, passing through Bara Mangwa then onto Chota Mangwa and finally through Tinchuley, Takdah merged with the Peshok Road. At the crossing, we had some tea and biscuits at the local shop and before darkness fell, we returned to our rooms.
That was the final night of our stay. And after 2 days of rest and peace we resumed our journey back to Calcutta over 2 days – halting at Malda for the night.
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