National High-way 31A, on its way from Siliguri to Gangtok, runs parallel to the evergreen River Teesta for much of its course. The glistening white untrammelled sandbanks, the blue-green river interspersed with white water rapids and the deep green hills on the sides, makes for a magical weave. Crossing the bridge at Teesta, the road bifurcates; the National Highway goes on along the river towards Sikkim, while another side road creeps up on the right towards Kalimpong, located 16 km further east. The view from the vehicle and the feeling of the place changes instantly. Well-built huts and houses, half hidden by delicate bamboo leaves and veiled with orchids make their appearance every now and then. After a while the vista opens up and ahead, at the head of a long curve in the mountain, the beginning of a small town can be seen. Along the way, people are going about their lives with work to do, mouths to feed and things to believe in. The houses, more contiguous now, shine with horizontal lines of flowering pots on wooden railings in the verandah.

Flowers and orchids grow very well in this climate and Kalimpong indeed is awash with flower nurseries. Even residential houses load their parapets with planted pots, in search of some extra income, perhaps. The locals not only make their houses look nice, they themselves seem to take a lot of care about their appearance and with quite a success, it would seem. No wonder, another of Kalimpong’s specialities is the presence of countless hair-cutting saloons. After looking at so many barber shops, one is inclined to look up at the heads of the young men passing by. And lo and behold—here is a subtle curl of the front-lock, there a shaved side and that one with steps cut in the hair.

At a height of about 5,500 feet, Kalimpong is a quiet hill town, not quite a resort but rather catering to the needs of the hill people who inhabit this mountain world. It is the centre of a small-scale industry area specialising in the requirements of the Buddhist faith—thangka scrolls, prayer-flags, ceremonial scarves. These products are then supplied all over the Buddhist region of the north-eastern Himalayas, including Sikkim and Bhutan. Somehow, the quilted-carpet tea estate landscape, so common in the western parts of Darjeeling district, rarely makes its appearance in Kalimpong. As a result, more fruits and vegetables are grown, making this area relatively self-sufficient.

In the Lepcha language, according to some experts, Kalimpong could mean ‘the ridge where we play’. Today, at the southern end of this ridge stands the prestigious Zang Dog Palfrio Brang monastery in Ringkingpong. Here, in the 19th century, monks used to come for collecting taxes from the local Lepcha village. Deolo Top, at the other end of the ridge, is the highest point in the area with views of the river Teesta far below, and the Nathu-La and Jelep-La passes in Sikkim. Both the monastery and the hill top resort in Deolo are part of the sight-seeing itinerary recommended by the Tourism Board. A few old colonial buildings on the outskirts of the town have been taken over by the West Bengal Tourism Board which runs upmarket tourist lodges there. The ivy clinging to the dark mossy walls of those buildings, the green lawns in front, and the spooky solitude might look attractive to those so inclined. But the Lepcha Museum can be found only on the map. After a lengthy discussion with his friends, our taxi-driver was finally able to locate the place.

Lepchas are the inhabitants of forested valleys in this region with a distinct culture of their own. Though they have been proselytised for long by their Buddhist neighbours and later Christian missionaries, their sense of unique identity still flickers. In a 400-year old Gompa in Kalimpong, surrounded by bamboo groves and housing antique murals, scriptures in Lepcha script and idols of Buddha, I meet Cosmos Lepcha. Happy at seeing us, he makes a detour and opens the locked door of the small temple whereupon we are taken to the sanctum sanctorum upstairs. Embarrassed at not being able to satisfy our greed for information, he directs us to the museum next door. The curator is inevitably missing. The office is open though and a Lepcha gentleman in the traditional multicoloured round cap could be seen helping Lepcha school kids fill up some kind of scholarship forms. The faded photographs on the wall show Lepcha festivals like Namsoong, celebrating the beginning of the year. A few organisations in Kalimpong and Sikkim are trying to maintain the continuity of their unique cultural traditions and even reinvent their script.

The tourist information bureau in Kalimpong is definitely out of the ordinary.. Gurung, the man-in-charge, goes out of his way to help us in our budget travellers’ necessities—in this case, a nice and affordable room. Over the telephone, he fixed a room for us in Deki Lodge and his assistant comes running after us with a town map to point us in the right direction. The guest registration ledger at Deki Lodge was full of exotic names from faraway countries. The hotel is a converted house with residential quarters of a Tibetan family in part of the first floor. Kamal, who looks after the place and does everything from cooking to cleaning to chatting with his guests, is a charming mix of dignity and efficiency.