Darjeeling, my daughter in law and the beautiful Kanchenjunga mountain

A family photograph in the living room Ranjit's mother's home, a photo of the shrine room and then, the view from the balcony of the boarding house of Darjeeling, the Toy Train chugging up to Batasia Loop and Ghoom all this and more lent a special poignancy to this trip. The wonderful clouds and the mist curling round the hills, and then, as I left to return to Delhi, the clouds parted for a few minutes and there was my beloved Kanchenjunga serenely towering over the clouds. Third highest mountain in the world she rules the eastern Himalaya by mystery and magic.

Darjeeling - the Hill Stations West Bengal

Ranjit and I flew to Bagdogra Airport from Delhi. From there we took a Mahindra four wheel drive up the mountain to Darjeeling. The monsoon was still bucketing down and we slithered and slipped our way up the back road to the Queen of Hill Stations. We stopped just past Batasia Loop and climbed up to Ranjit and Sonia's apartment. She is a small delicate, lovely girl who makes Ranjit look tall! I tower over her and felt very conscious of being a St Bernard amongst Toy Poodles! So here my little family is Ranjit and Sonia and the next day we were to meet the rest of my new family. Darjeeling was cool after the heat of Delhi and I slept well under the plush blanket on my bed. Ranjit's fears that I would be unable to cope with an Indian toilet were proved groundless - as I had told him countless times they would be. Strange how far removed others views of oneself are from those which we hold ourselves :-)