Kashmir was done and dusted in papa’s long Himalay must-visit list. Darjeeling was a obvious choice due to it’s fame as a hill station. We had not yet caught the trekking bug, so while there was a list of places around Darjeeling to visit – no trekking, stay in D for a month. Two routes were known for Bombay-Darjeeling. One was direct but 3 train changes, and the second was from Calcutta, and involved crossing the Ganga via a ferry. We chose the three trains one, reached Siliguri, got into the narrow gage train and reached Darjeeling late evening on the 3rd day. All travel around was in Jeeps. We did Sandakphu and Gangtok, Kalimpong in Sikkim – still an independent Kingdom in 1957!

I have been to Darjeeling 4 times. Next was our 1959 trip from Calcutta – ferry crossing and all – followed by a one week quick trip flying to and from Calcutta – a first flight for mummy, foibaa (pappa’s elder sister) and Lata, first cousin born to another foi. Finally the fourth was with Anju and Dhananjay’s family in 1985. Talk about those trips in the corresponding write-ups.