Statue of Unity, Vadodara, Anand

Gandhinagar, capital of Gujarat is one of the planned city of India & one of the greenest. I have been visiting Gandhinagar on account of my sister living here. After Statue of Unity dedicated to nation on 31st Oct 2018 on Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, I was contemplating to visit it for quite some time. In Oct 2019, I planned to visit it along with family. We drove from Gandhinagar straight to SOU, a 225km drive which took 4 hours thanks to good roads mostly. The SOU is located in the basin of Narmada river, a little ahead of Sardar Sarovar dam in district Kevadia surrounded by Shoolpaneshwar wildlife sanctuary. The place is a bit hilly and forest. The place seem completely transformed looking at the construction, roads, parks around. Statue of Unity is tallest statue in the world at 182m. The first view of statue is breathtaking and from close its imposing. Patel was first home minister of India, instrumental in uniting all princely states and British India into a whole we today know as India. Apart from great unifier, he is also called as Iron man who was strong and stood tall among the leaders of his time. It was befitting to have his statue installed in his home state and aptly name as statue of unity. The statue has already become large tourist destination and has broken records of footfalls and revenue collection. The tickets to SOU can be bought at https://www.soutickets.in/. The statue is built adjacent to river on a raised platform on rocks with a gallery depicting his life stories and stories from independence movement. One could visit SOU at the top but those are separate tickets and due to large crowd could be time consuming to wait and go up. We skipped that part. The statue is made of concrete, steel and brass claddings. It took 3 years to build. When we look in to the history and admire structures built hundreds of years back and still standing, this statue would probably also live for 100s of years. 

SOU on a rock along Narmada watching over the valley

Way to SOU

HUGE is an understatement

SOU across the river

View from SOU, Sardar Sarovar dam in distance

SOU up close

Cloud & sunlight play at SOU

Giant feet of SOU

There was sizeable crowd due to weekend and a bit hot in October. Thankfully, arrangements were excellent and galley was air conditioned and water coolers to quench thirst. There are travelators and escalators for the benefits of folks. There is also a modern food court like in malls and was doing brisk business. Once done admiring the statue, one can admire the river and hills on the other side. There is a large SOU sign as well placed across the river. In the evening there is light & sound show which must be good but we did not plan to wait to see it. The place being remote, one would have to travel in the dark after that. 

After finishing up with SOU, we went to viewpoints for Sardar Sarovar dam. Even though it is visible even from SOU but being up close is a different experience. There is a viewpoint which has a small temple and clear view of Sardar Sarovar dam and downstream river and the hills beyond. The clouds come and played their part in enhancing the view of river & SOU. There are stalls selling local fruits, boiled peanuts etc. Everyone coming to SOU must be coming here and has improved the economy of the place.

Sardar Sarovar dam with few gates open

River, hills and play sunlight peering through clouds

Vadodara evoked memories from my trip here back in 2001 when I came here for railfanning trip. We had come by Mumbai Rajdhani and after enjoying narrow gauge, took my first flight ever from Vadodara airport back to Delhi. However, at that time we did not sightsee anything except railways things of our interest. Vadodara is city of Gaekwads, a Maratha family. We first went to Laxmi Vilas palace which is home to Gaekwad family but it was not open for visitors. Disappointed we wen to Sayaji Baug. The Zoo was quite a relaxing place with lot of trees and walkways. They also had electric trolleys to ferry visitors. We got to see leopard doing rounds in his pen. Birds section too was interesting. Next to zoo is Baroda Museum & Picture gallery which has good exhibits. There is also a toy train within the zoo and it has a bit of history. Earlier the toy train was run by a miniature steam engine which is discontinued long back. It featured in one of songs called Chakke pe Chakka of hindi movie Brahmachari which was released in 1969. Now they currently have a shining modern electric train. The timing was odd so we skipped riding it but then doesn't have the same charm.

Inside Zoo

Baroda Museum

Joy train inside Sayaji Baug

From here we went for lunch at Mandap restaurant which is inside Express Hotel towers which is known for its delicious authentic Gujarati thali. The food was excellent and served like royalty. After satiating ourselves, we headed back to Gandhinagar however in between visit Amul factory at Anand. 

Thali at Mandap restaurant

The factory is open to visit from 2-4 PM only and we timed it perfectly by being there at 2:30pm. Amul needs no introduction. It is one of the largest cooperative movement, business and now a success story which has uplifted lot of farmers around this region and pioneered the white revolution through its operation flood and made India the largest producer of milk. There is a great story of people behind this revolution namely Varghese Kurien, Tribhuvandas Patel and others. I had read the book I too had a dream by Varghese Kurien and was quite familiar with Amul & its story but now got to visit the place as well. More than the book, one should watch iconic movie Manthan by Shyam Benegal, which depicts Amul's initial days. The movie was produced by collect Rs. 2/- from each member of the cooperative. We got our passes from the gate and parked inside. We could see the large towering containers of the factory which stores milk and cream. This plant was dedicated to produce milk powder, butter etc. We were taking around for a round of factory with the representative explaining the operations. It was difficult to imagine so much sophistry, machine and containers required for seemingly simple products like Milk powder, butter, cheese etc. The experience inside the Amul campus was good with staff seem to go out doing their work. The staff may not be highly paid but working in an efficient, positive environment could be fulfilling. Photography was prohibited during the tour so all we can recall from memory. There is a product outlet within premise where one can buy Amul products. 

Amul Factory containers

Inside Amul museum

Amul museum

Amul outlet inside Amul campus

Amul also has a chocolate factory at Mogar but we did not plan to visit it. From here, we left and went back to Gandhinagar. The NE-1 which means National Expressway-1 between Ahmedabad and Vadodara makes the travel so easy.

Derjeeling

We drove from Gangtok to Darjeeling via Rangpo which is at a distance of 100 odd kms. Teesta river is the natural border between Sikkim and West Bengal. Once we crossed Teesta we were in West Bengal. We drove along Teesta till we crossed it again to enter Darjeeling district. On the way lies Peshok which has a Tea Garden and we were glad to see manicured tea gardens on the hill slopes. Then we reached Ghum which a town higher in altitude than Darjeeling. After that there is continuous settlements along the road, shops, houses, hotels and then toy train railway line. The place seemed settled over a long period of time with funsion of old & new and now bursting at seams. 

Welcome to Darjeeling district

Welcome to Darjeeling 

We reached Darjeeling and I was thrilled to see the B-class steam engines of Darjeeling Hill Railway at the station. Our hotel Pink Mountain was up on Gandhi road not very far from The Mall. Both sides of the roads was choc-o-bloc with buildings, congested and crowded on the street. The place seemed overrun by growth. Having been to Shimla for quite some time comparisons emerged in my mind. However, Shimla being state capital is probably more spread out and more population. Darjeeling is smaller but denser hill station.

Darjeeling view from hotel room

Darjeeling has rich history starting in early 1800s due to proximity to Calcutta then capital of British Indian empire. Every summer, the Raj from plains would come to Darjeeling to enjoy its cooler climes. The town has remnants of the British Raj which gives a unique charm to this place. The Darjeeling Hill Railway was opened in 1881 which furthered its tourist potential. British setup a number of schools here like Loreto convent which was started in 1846! Similarly there are other boarding and day schools. The environment probably is suitable for studies. We could notice a huge number of school students on the streets during our stay.

One such school more than 100 years old

After checkin I immediately went to Darjeeling station which had a shortcut from hotel but on a steep alley. After enquiry we figured that Steam hauled tourist train is available for next day evening which I booked right away lest that goes full. I had to fill the Railway reservation form after several years to reserved the seats. The tourist train does up & down upto Ghum with halt at Batasia loop & at Ghum. After that I just strolled around the station trying to bring out nuggets from old era. The station had good upkeep being a UNESCO World heritage site. It has one main platform, a loop line, a turn table. A little beyond the station is parked one carriage and a flat bed wagon which marks the dead end. Across the road is shed for engine maintenance. On request, the staff allowed me to explore the shed and take pictures to my heart's content. After being there, I happened to watch a few movies based in Darjeeling area and found that the station looked almost as it was 50 years back except crowded around.

Station from inside

DHR Route map

DHR Loco shed

Darjeeling station

Loco resting at shed

Locos inside shed

Another view of the shed

Other side of Darjeeling station

Information on Joyride

After lunch and rest we decided to go to Happy Valley which is a little further from main Darjeeling on Lebong Cart Road. It is the the only tea estates within Darjeeling town. We came onto road and caught a taxi which took us down all the way to the factory of the tea estate. We had called their office who run guided tour. Even though were a little late than 4PM last tour but still they welcomed us and took us on a tour of the factory. The woman on duty explained the entire processing contrasting between earlier using wooden tools and hand power versus now mechanised. It was fascinating to look at the insides of the factory and imagine workers working there. After that we tasted different teas - Black, Green and Speciality. After tea tasting and buying some tea from them which was bit expensive considering that most of their produce is exported and not available for sale except this place. After that they let us go into their tea garden. It was getting a little foggy, cloudy and dark but still we went berserk and tried to capture as much as we can in our eyes, lungs and in camera. We soon had to leave to make sure we come back to Darjeeling on time.

Happy Valley factory

Gorgeous tea plants on slope

Hues of green

Happy Valley tea estate

Now the problem was climbing all the way to the main road and then catching a taxi. Thankfully, we reached the top just when it started raining. We caught a taxi which dropped us at the Taxi stand. We waited for rain to abate but while doing so had momos and tea at a makeshift stall. While it was still drizzling, we went up via internal road and entered Mall market which is a covered market of makeshift stalls selling warm clothes and other trinkets. We came to Mall road when rain abated but dense fog took over. The Darjeeling Mall or Chowrasta is a small open place on the top of hill with shops on two sides and seating steps on one and a statue. But in the fog and rainy atmosphere we could hardly make out much and on top of that there was paving work going on with material all strewn around. A set of shops on one side were straight from British era, wooden building with triangular facade painted with white on green bold painted names. We entered the Oxford Book and Stationery Co. which has Books on Darjeeling, Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal and The Himalayas put on as a notice. I bought a book on Sikkim by Andrew Duff, a book on history of TEA and Journey to Lhasa apart from a newsletter on Gorkhaland. Darjeeling is in news sometimes due to violent protests. Due to large percentage of Gorkha population which has settled here over a long time, they are struggling to form an independent state of Gorkhaland. The struggle was started by Subhash Ghising in 1980's. Later some autonomy was granted to this region to pacify them including the right to proudly write Gorkhaland on the shops to show their preference. We walked back to our hotel after taking drinking a hot coffee at Cafe Coffee Day. Our room was on third floor with a decent view of Darjeeling town. We spent our late evening watching the lights of Darjeeling town.

Oxford book shop

Shops around Mall market

Alleys lined with food stalls

Next day we woke up really early like 4AM to go to Tiger Hill which is famous for sunrise view of Kanchenjunga range. This ritual is standard for any tourist who visits Darjeeling which was quite visible considering the crowd on the way and at the venue. We reached a little before sunrise and perched ourselves on a vantage point. At around 5AM the show started with light orange glow on the hazy horizon  and then it started. The initial ways fell on the top of mountain and slowly lit the entire range. There were clouds and haze on the horizon due to which it wasn't the best view but still it was an OK experience. There were telescopes for rent and tea/coffee to sale by locals. After the sun came well above it was time to head back but we had to spend around 30 minutes in traffic jam. Thankfully, the traffic here was disciplined. We then came to Ghum monastery where all the crowd from Tiger hill descended. There was a instant market of woollens which came up outside monastery which we were told gets over by 8AM when all the tourists depart from here. We were back in hotel by 8AM.

Orange hues of Sunrise

Kanchenjunga from Tiger Hill

View of valley below

Kanchenjunga from Tiger Hill

We started our day tour. First we went to Peace Pagoda which is a buddhist stupa with Japanese origin. The place was quite serene but full of tourists. In the adjacent building there was a prayer going on in we got a chance to participate on it. There mere mats placed which we just had to occupy play the instrument to the rhythm. One could stop and yield to someone else. Love the easy going nature of Buddhist monasteries who don't get disturbed by tourists.

Peace Pagoda

Reclining Buddha

While coming into Darjeeling town, I finally got a chance to witness the passing of toy train hauled by steam engine. It was music to ears hearing the puffing of engine with synchronised exhaust. We then went to Darjeeling Rangeet Valley ropeway. Our driver warned us that it could take time but we were determined yet skeptical whether we will spend too much time waiting. With lot of patience and watching nervously of any priority or mischievous folks getting into the way, we finally got our chance after an hour and half.  The gondolas coming up were empty and only 6 in operation at a time which was slow process. However, the gondolas like other ropeway which we encountered in Namchi had sliding window and one could see naked eye view not through the glass, also the cool breeze.

Ropeway

Gondola

 The ropeway descends into Rangeet Valley passing over tea gardens. It is a 20 minutes ride getting down at what else, a tea garden. During the ride one can view the expansive of tea garden from above like inspection. It truly felt like that when one could see workers working in the field. The valley looked like a carpet of green on undulating mountains. No words to describe the experience just that it gets over pretty soon.

Village down below

gondola coming up

Tea leaves plucked from plant

Carpet of green

Window with a view

Tea garden workers

We hired a local guide for 100 Rs who told a little about place, explained a little about tea plucking and told us to whom does the tea garden belongs. We could just see miles and miles of tea. Some tea was being plucked as well. The lives of people in tea garden is quite different. We are told that they are given some day's effort, ration and place to build their house. The tea gardens have been backdrop of many Bollywood movies which depict them as hardworking people. but alcoholism, violence and backwardness remains a problem with these people. After sometime we rode back to the top trying to take in as much as we can. 

On getting out we quickly had our lunch again momos and were happy to do this ropeway stint. From here, we went to Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park & Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. Being an avid trekker who has ventured into Himalayas, I was interested to visit HMI. This is the institute setup for mountaineering which had Tenzing Norgay as the director for some time. It was fascinating to go through all the exhibits and exploits of HMI. Having done Annapurna Base Camp last year trekking above 4000 mtrs battling the cold and hearing stories of mountain climbs, was looking at the stuff curiously. Family visited the park which was very good with leopard, sloth bears and a Royal Bengal tiger who was perturbed at the moment walking the entire length of his enclosure and roaring to gather a crowd. The Darjeeling Zoo is well-maintained similar to Gangtok with animals in enclosures, neat & clean surroundings and decent crowd. 

Himalayan Mountaineering Institute

Sloth bears at Zoo

Tenzing statue at HMI

Zoo & HMI

From here we went to Shrubbery park which was a manicured garden with benches, fountains and all. Our guide told that sometimes there are evening shows are kept here and in adjacent bungalow stays the chief minister Mamta Banerjee whenever she visits Darjeeling.

Shrubbery Park

Shrubbery park

After this it was time for our Joy ride on Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (DHR). We reached well before time. This Joy ride is a 2 hour ride from Darjeeling to Ghum and back with a photo-op at Batasia loop. DHR is well-known to most Indians due to it being part of many movie settings. The songs like Mere Sapnon ki Rani (Film: Aradhana) were shot around this train. DHR is one of its kind of railway in the world and duly accorded UNESCO World Heritage award which has ensured its continuity. The railway was opened in 1881 to cater to growing town frequented by Britishers and Indian elites. One would travel by road from Calcutta to Jalpaiguri and from there get on this train to reach Darjeeling which was like an annual pilgrimage to escape summer heat. DHR is a 2ft gauge, the narrowest gauge in the world to make sharp turns around hills possible. Special engines called B class locomotives were made for this line which look like a little toy. The rolling stock or coaches are equally diminutive to earn the moniker of Toy train. DHR is diminutive than Kalka-Shimla line which is 2ft6in gauge which makes the train there bigger. The journey from Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling takes almost 7 hours 15 mins which could be snail's pace for our fast paced life. One can cover this in 3 hours by road. Due to this, there is only one service both ways which goes all the way. There are shorter services upto intermediate stations Kurseong which also has headquarters on DHR.

DHR has been innovative who realized that tourists wish to enojoy the train but not all the way, so they devised this Joyride upto Ghum. The distance is just 8 kms. Ghum is a little higher than Darjeeling which makes is highest train station in India, even higher than Shimla. Our train was on platform for 4PM departure. The steam engine was attached and the staff was busy oiling the engine and its parts. These engines are difficult to maintain due to their age and require frequent maintenance. I got busy enjoying the engine, taking in the aroma of coal smoke mixed with steam. The engine requires a water stop in between as the tanks are small. A small cache of coal was on footplate and one could make out the fire burning in the belly through small boiler opening. I have experienced larger steam run engines in Rewari steam shed which is home to all preserved steam engine and quite fascinated by them.

Leaving the station

Coal smoke

Footplate

At 4PM the train started pulling in put myself on my window seat thankfully near the door trying to capture the curving train and engine. The train alongside the road mostly. The train passes so close to shops that one can literally pick stuff up from shop. It seems both train staff and shops or houses and people around know the protocol to make way for train whenever is comes and there doesn't seem to any anxiety. Slowly we trudged our way to Batasia loop where train takes a full round to ascend/descend the gradient. The round has been a park and now hosts Gorkha memorial in memory of Gorkha warriors and now a manicure park. The park also has some great view of Kanchenjunga range when sky is clear. The park, train and Kanchenjunga range beyond is the quintessential Darjeeling photograph and popular. We got down here and I tried to as much pic as possible. 

On the way to Ghum

Curving train

Water stop

Shrounded in steam

At Batasia loop

Gorkha memorial

After this we arrived at Ghum where 20 minutes are given to explore the station and a small DHR museum upstairs. The museum had good exhibits. I explored the station along with son trying to take in as much as of the atmosphere. The engine reversed and attached in the front for reverse journey. The sun was now setting putting great orange light for photography. The return journey was also great and we arrived back at 6PM. One item from the bucket list struck off. However, I resolved to come back once again hopefully this time to take the train all the way from Jalpaiguri and also visiting DHR headquarters at Kurseong. With heavy heart I said goodbye to DHR and we came back to hotel.

At Ghum station

DHR Museum

Ghum station

Engine resting at Ghum station

Next day was our tour to Mirik which is a nearby town around 45km away. We drove via Ghum towards Nepal border. We stopped at border crossing over to Nepal to visit Pashupatinagar. The arrangement is quite casual. There were a small office with Immigrations folks who just saw our Aadhar card, noted them down and let us through. Our driver had given a chit we had to show to taxi at the other end which would take us inside a distance of a km only. We didn't have to pay anything to the taxi as the arrangement is settled later. The town was ordinary with a temple. Surprisingly, there were many shops selling elaborate high-end cosmetics which we came to know were cheaper than India. We just visited a temple, strolled through the market, didn't buy anything and were back in half an hour. 

Pashupati Nagar, Nepal

The scenery all around was great but due to a bit cloudy, it wasn't clear till far. In between, the undulating hills with tea plantations were spectacular. We stopped at Golpahar (round hill) viewpoint to venture into Gopaldhara tea estate which belonged to Goodricke group. The round hills with uniform tea plants and line of tall trees was a sight to behold. We tried to take in as much as we can venturing into the shrubs. The tea stall at the viewpoint sells freshly brewed tea which was great for this setting. There are homestay available here for tourists to stay in salubrious climes. The tea gardens, estates, lifestyle of people too have been backdrop of some hindi movies in the 70's including Barsaat ki Ek Raat. 

Gopaldhara tea estate

Gopaldhara tea estate

Goodricke tea comes from here

how gorgeous can it get?

manicured tea garden

From here we went straight to Sumendu Lake at Mirik. The lake was serene and big. There is walkway along the lake with tall trees to provide shade. There is a bridge in between which crosses the lake. There were horserides available which we had. One could do a picnic at the sidelines. We just hung around for some time. There were no decent hotels around the lake but found one home eatery which had decent food.

Bridge over Mirik lake

overlooking at Mirik town

Around Mirik lake

After that it was ride back to Darjeeling. It was wet and rainy when we reached back. This was our last day of Darjeeling and the trip, so I decided not to waste evening sitting at hotel. I ventured out to buy Tea to be carry back and gift. Darjeeling is famous for its Black tea and there are vendors like Golden Tips and Nathmulls. There are different varieties depending on when the tea is plucked in the season. There is "first flush" which means the first pick of the season and so on. I just picked up some intermediate flushes from Golden Tips and Nathmull. Even though is stopped raining but there was thick mist and fog in the air which would have made things eerie but thanks to lights, it was enjoyable. The makeshift stalls were out selling momos, chowmein and other stuff. Had sumptuous food and packed some for the folks back. Darjeeling became my one of the favorite towns and I resolved to come back again.

Walkways around Mall road

Shrouded in Fog

The evening was spent reminiscing the entire trip and looking forward to travel back home. Next morning it was drive back to Bagdogra airport. The drive took us via more tea garden views. There were tea gardens around Bagdogra and would need a leisurely exploration. We reached Bagdogra airport which was packed with passengers. We went back the same way via Delhi to Pune.