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A Misty Ride to a nearby Darjeeling village

By on February 15, 2012 in darjeeling, Darjeeling Photos, travel and tour

Though the chill which we experienced during the month of January is not there anymore, its February 15 today and Darjeeling is still misty! In between we had some great sunny days, but the fog managed to blanket Darjeeling once again. My bike too goes into a hibernating state as the Darjeeling Tea bushes go, once the chill starts – thats what it had been doing – today I let it spread its wings a bit. Went on a short ride to a small village town which falls inbetween Nepal and India border – Maneybhanjang. This is the place from where the famous Sandhakphu trek starts!

darjeeling-travel-bike-ride-3

Its great to ride on a huge highway, but its not at all boring riding on the slopes of the Himalayan mountains! May not be a speedy ride, but a ride amidst undulating tea gardens, hills and nature. Such was a ride today, close to nature which had clad itself with the drop laden clouds, though visibility becomes misty, its always best to ride slow and enjoy the weather!

darjeeling-travel-bike-ride-1 darjeeling-travel-bike-ride-2_0 darjeeling-travel-bike-ride-4 darjeeling-travel-bike-ride-5 darjeeling-travel-bike-ride-6 Hope you like the photos!

- Benoy

 

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Rainy, chilly Darjeeling: More intake of Darjeeling Tea

By on September 18, 2011 in Autumn Flush, Darjeeling Festivals, darjeeling tea, Personal Ramblings

When it’s spring in the Himalayas…
When the sun-spun rain falls gently on the mountains…
When magical mists like divine dragons rise from forests…
That is when the mystique of Darjeeling Tea is created.

The chillier it grows, Darjeeling people need more of the woolies! With the passing of “Nag Panchami“, a Hindu festival, where nag or a snake is worshipped, Darjeeling grows chillier by the day – The details of Nag Panchami can be got by clicking the wikipedia link above. It is a common belief here in Darjeeling and with the rest of the Nepalese community that with the passing of Nag Panchami festival which occurs during peak moonsoon time, also starts the chilly days, and till date, I have found that to be true – Darjeeling gets chillier by the day!

darjeeling-tea-rain

Darjeeling Tea growing and processing normally gets dormant with the passing of Autumn Flush which is near! Tea bushes in Darjeeling can withstand certain harsh temperatures, but not the winter months of Darjeeling when it is normally near the zero degree mark. The cold temperature inhibits growth of tea bushes because tea needs sun for proper growth – and during these winter days, sun is probably unseen due to intense foggy weather. There will be zero production, but the need for tea would be tremendous. Its always a good idea to stock up those Darjeeling Tea tins and get yourselves warm when in need.

For a few days now, Darjeeling has been receiving a lot of continuous rain which is at the same time causing the temperature to drop – creating a chilly Darjeeling atmosphere. I have probably ransacked my cupboards  for all my woolies and will probably wash it and keep it ready, just in case. But Darjeeling is known to have sun during the months of October-November: months when the Autumnal Darjeeling Teas will be processed – Hope we have good weather for the tea bushes to sprout newer forms of autumnal life.

Just a side note: notice the vehicle going up on that climbing road depicted on the picture above – an example of the steepness of the roads in Darjeeling :)

In the meantime, drinking a pot of lovely Second Flush Darjeeling Tea!

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Darjeeling Always Lucky!

By on March 25, 2009 in First Flush, Personal Ramblings

If its Darjeeling Tea, I have always noticed that the media hypes it sky rocketing and plasters on the walls of local as well as International dailies.

Darjeeling as a place has always earned a reputation of being what the locals call “Lakshin” meaning place which is lucky and blessed by the Gods. There are two reasons for it – it’s a small place with an economy that is not overwhelming and still people can be seen clad in the most expensive and fashionable attires as compared to the rest of other Indian places with a similar economic background. I wonder how people manage to maintain this when their earnings are not up to the mark – God knows! Secondly, it is considered blessed by the Gods themselves with Mount Kanchendzonga smiling right on the face and this has provoked us all, local residents, to become and believe in something ‘supernatural’. Anways, what I meant to say is that whatever hardships Darjeeling faces, gets solved in no time. There is some political turmoil at the moment, and hopefully this will have a better path towards Darjeeling’s glory.

Now talking of ‘Lakshin’, take ‘First Flush Darjeeling Tea weather drama’ for instance – news roared with similar quotes as “Darjeeling tea hit by severe drought” and blah, blah – definitely this was a great concern for Darjeeling. Supply of drinking water to Darjeeling town was seriously cut down due to the reservoirs being on dry spell and the most important industry, namely, Darjeeling Tea was on the verge of turning into a total disaster due to rainless sky everyday for the past five months. But guess the Hindu ‘Rain God – Lord Indra’ just couldn’t bear the pain and blessed Darjeeling with the much needed rain.

Darjeeling still needs more rain for water supply to its citizens as well as for the famed First Flush tea and mystically everyday is turning out with light showers which is adequate enough to bear the new shoots and solve the drinking water problem.

Darjeeling Tea Lovers – nothing to fear now – we are having excellent First Flush 2009. Yes, the quantity will be low due to cut-short period in growth and production.

I pray that Darjeeling attains normalcy and every Darjeeling related issue gets solved soon.

First FLush Darjeeling Tea 2009
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Darjeeling blessed with the much needed Rain

By on March 20, 2009 in First Flush, Personal Ramblings

The grim attire which every tea garden in Darjeeling had worn was relieved today with some amount of rainfall. Apart from the tea industry’s worried look, each home in Darjeeling was suffering from acute water crisis.

All the homes in Darjeeling get its water supply from the reservoirs situated in Senchel, 10 km away from Darjeeling. Two reservoirs namely the North and South were almost empty and the natural resources or springs which fed it had begun to dry up due to insufficient rainfall. The South reservoir had almost dried up and the North only had about 8.7 feet of water when the actual figure of about 12 feet is necessary for adequate supply.

The Darjeeling Municipality was supplying water every 15-20 days to sustain the adverse situation. It had slowly compelled the residents to buy water brought from far away natural spring resources by tankers.

Darjeeling seemed clad in dust and the prevailing dry condition resembled the polluted Indian plains. I had chapped skin and had to use moisturizers to keep it going smooth :)

Hope today’s rain will solve the problem for a while, but we need more rain.

Darjeeling got the rain – what about Darjeeling tea production now?
Definitely, the production quantity of Darjeeling will be low when we take in consideration of the time period of each tea season. If the rain had occurred during the winter season then there would be more time and hence more production of teas before the “banji” period entered. Now there is less time for bulk tea production, but this does not mean low quality.

According to Mr. S. Roy (Manager, Arya Tea Estate) and Mr. Sagar Rawat (Manager, Goomtee Tea Estate) – The production condition is at its peak with perfect soil and atmospheric temperatures, humidity, sunlight etc. and the only needed ingredient needed was water (rain). Now since all the needed things are in place, they are of the view that they will have top quality First Flush teas, though the production is going to be low.

It rained today – all the tea gardens which received the holy sprinkle are going to do “full flushing” from Monday or Tuesday.

In short – Now the garden spirits are high though, Darjeeling Tea production will be low, but quality wise it will be high – After all Darjeeling Tea is not quantity but quality.

First FLush Darjeeling Tea 2009
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