Calcutta, Tea and Rhino Tour Report
by Lynn Stewart, November 29th to December 9th 2009
Looking for help in organising her film making trip to India, Daphne chose Escape to India. We first met at one of her film shows in Broughty Ferry, near Dundee. She asked me to organise an Indian holiday for her and to accompany her on a filming expedition to Calcutta. I have always wanted to visit Calcutta and it has been on my list of places to go in India but I have never quite had the opportunity, until now.
We based the tour on the Calcutta, Tea and Rhino itinerary, customising it to Daphne’s specific requirements as she had visited Calcutta the previous year and had “done” the typical tourist sites and wanted something a little different.
Tour DAYS 1 to 3 Arriving in Calcutta
The first three days of the tour were spent in Calcutta. On arrival at the airport we were greeted with news of a strike and the city had effectively shut down. This actually turned out to be a blessing. Whilst it involved a little bit of re-jigging of the original itinerary (an occupational hazard in India where it’s often best to “go with the flow!”) it also meant that the lengthy traffic jams which I had read about did not materialise. First stop was the Scottish Cemetery which is undergoing a programme to clear the tangle of undergrowth and restore the headstones, and filming the work was a major reason for the trip.
Calcutta The Scots Connection
Whilst Daphne filmed, I explored and found it a fascinating place. Many Scots, particularly from Dundee, had followed the jute industry back to its roots, literally (jute is grown locally and in Bangladesh.) Each stone marked a slice of family history. I had read that the ex-patriates celebrated the end of every monsoon season with a party…to celebrate surviving another year in Calcutta. Now history written on a page was unfolding in front of me. We later visited Park Cemetery which is better maintained and is full of obelis
ks and granite mausoleums, each vying to be more ostentatious than its neighbour.
Mother House was an oasis of calm, up a little side alley. We stopped for lunch at Flury’s where I sampled a knickerbocker glory, Indian style! A walk through the streets was a pleasure given the lack of traffic and we had afternoon tea with birthday cake and tiger candle for Daphne as a belated celebration of her “21st again.” The roof top terrace overlooked the Maidan and you could make out tiny figures enjoying countless cricket matches as dusk fell. I was told that the road below was normally congested at this time but from above we could literally count the passing cars. The drive to Tollygunge took half the time, although I am sure I missed large parts of the journey as my eyes began to close!
First Night at the Tollygunge Club
Our first night was spent in the Tollygunge Club which reminded us of byegone days, pleasant ..although the pillows were a little hard! Our following night was spent in the rather eccentric and quirky Fairlawn Hotel, resplendent in shades of green and decorated with plastic fruit, fairy lights and many celebrity photographs, including Felicity Kendal. Truly, seeing is believing. India is full of surprises!
A Walking Tour of Calcutta
Calcutta i
s a remarkably compact city and one of the best things to do in Calcutta is to explore it on foot on a walking tour. Husna-Tara, whose family owns Glenburn Tea Estate, and Devika guided me around Dalhousie Square which is steeped in history. It is definitely worth the effort to rise early and watch the city awake. Start at the Hooghly river and trace the footsteps of the immigrants as they entered the city. Each building has its own story to tell. The current General Post Office is built on the site of the original Fort William and is the location of the infamous “black hole of Calcutta.” Writer’s Building was the hub of colonial India, built for the clerks (“writers”) of the East India Company and remains so to this day. St Andrew’s Kirk has a magnificent steeple topped with a weather vane to ensure it was the highest spire in the city!
A Sunset Cruise of the Hooghly
After lunch we had a relaxing sunset cruise on the Hooghly followed by an evening of culture organised by my friend Ifte. We attended a modern concert in the concert hall with a great fusion of different Indian styles then later we enjoyed a private party of Baul music, the traditional Bengali wandering musicians featured in William Dalrymple’s latest book “Nine Lives.”
The Mullick Ghat
Our final morning required a dawn rise and visit to the famous flower market at Mullick Ghat in the shadow of the Howrah Bridge with Ifte from Calcutta Walks. Although I had visited it on the previous day it was interesting that a different guide offered a new perspective. It is an absolute “must see” on any visit to Calcutta. We visited the wrestlers on Armenian Ghat and watched them do early morning limbering up exercises and practice bouts which were conducted with great enthusiasm and involved liberal am
ounts of body oil and lots of sand!
The flo
wer market was a film maker’s dream. Dazzling colours, noisy vendors, a hive of activity. It is definitely one of the top places to go in Calcutta . If you paused in the wrong place to observe, you were in danger of being bumped by a man carrying garlands of bright orange marigolds around his neck or balancing red roses in a basket on his head. The perfume of jasmine and tuber roses wafted around the stalls. It was like being on a movie set but then you realised this is a slice of Calcuttan life, vibrant and passionate, focused and intense, for me it encapsulates the spirit of the city itself.
Walking through the market made us feel part of daily life. No one gave us a second glance, despite ours being the only white faces around. This isn’t a tourist honey pot so you don’t get the usual hassle that tourists get. These men are working, no time to even notice us and what an absolute pleasure to take photographs in peace when something caught our eye. We walked up on to the Howrah Bridge and again this gave a completely fresh, rather detached perspective on the market. It was a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours.
Fut
ure Hope for Calcutta
We visited a charity called Future Hope which is run by an Englishman to help street kids ( www.futurehope.com ) I had read they taught rugby to the boys, so having contacted the Scottish Rugby Union and been given some balls and other rugby kit, I presented these to the headmaster. That would ensure my suitcase was lighter on the return leg of the trip.
In the afternoon we visited Kumartuli which literally translates as the “area of the potters.” In a maze of alleyways men create Hindu Gods and Goddesses, like Durga/Kali, from straw and clay.
The 10 day Durga Puja is usually held in September or October and climaxes with the clay effigies being submerged in the Hooghly. Now it was December so the alleys were quite quiet. I could only imagine the noise and buzz when the potters were working flat out to create their masterpieces.
In the evening we boarded the overnight train which would take us north and we awoke to a completely different landscape, much fresher and cooler air and lots of very different faces.
Tour
DAYS 4-6 Darjeeling & Yoga Choeling Monstery
Instead of taking one of the famous Indian railway journeys on the Toy Train to Darjeeling which would have taken most of the day we hired a car which took half the time. It allowed us to explore the hill station by foot and have chai and cake in Glenary’s, the famous Darjeeling tea shop. It was becoming apparent this was turning into an eating tour around North East India!
Sta
ying at the Windamere
We stayed in the Windamere Hotel which was an absolute delight. A taste of Raj hospitality. We were served afternoon tea, complete with cucumber sandwiches and fruit scones and jam. Dinner at night was in a candle lit dining room and as much rice pudding as we could ladle on to our plates for dessert! We left just enough for the party of Japanese tourists who were sitting beside us. In the bedrooms there was a fire lit at night for warmth and even a hot water bottle was placed in my bed for ultimate pampering.
On day 5 we had another early morning call and “bed tea” delivered with home baked biscuits to prepare us for the drive to Tiger Hill to join the crowds. Sunrise was a muted affair because it was unseasonally misty, usually October to December are good months to visit Darjeeling for a glimpse of the mighty Kanchendzonga, the world’s third highest mountain. Whilst everyone focussed on the sun, our guide nudged me and we turned behind to see a hint of pink mountain peeping above the clouds. A British tourist tapped my arm and helpfully pointed out I was looking in the wrong direction for the sunrise. I smiled and thanked her and said I had just spotted the mountain. She was too late, the mountain had melted back into the mist.
Yoga Choeling Monastery
Yoga Choeling Monastery on the way back to Darjeeling is a beautiful Buddhist monastery in a lovely tranquil setting and was completely tourist-free. Shafts of sunlight came through the windows illuminating the coloured frescoes within the shrine. We were allowed to photograph and film inside , for a donation, which was a nice surprise since I had been unable to photograph inside the temple when I visited Dharamsala in search of the Dalai Lama in April 2009. ( He was in America, so the lesson to learn is always check if he’s at home and never drop in uninvited!)
After porridge for breakfast back at the Windamere we boarded the Toy Train for a 2 hour “fun” trip which lived up to its billing. We passed within inches of stalls selling vegetables and food on the train’s ascent to Ghoom, literally on the road through Darjeeling. Cars had to stop as we chugged past billowing clouds of black soot which found its way into the carriages through the open windows!
Our half hour stop proved a little more eventful than we had envisaged. We actually missed the train on its return journey to Darjeeling, having become absorbed watching a man de- scaling fish! (Another quirky Indian story.) Ever resourceful, I approached the Japanese tour leader and asked if her fleet of cars had some space and we were transported back to our hotel in high spirits! Thank goodness we hadn’t finished all the rice pudding the previous night!
The Glenburn Tea Estate
We transferred to Glenburn Tea Estate in the afternoon and spent two nights being pampered and looked after by our hostess Neena and her very efficient staff. It was like being transported back to a house party in the tea planter’s bungalow during the 1920s. It was a unique experience and in the evening we all sat around one big table and ate delicious food, chatting with fellow guests from all around the world. Day time was spent walking or looking around the tea factory. Unfortunately for Daphne’s filming, the unusual season had meant they had finished the picking a little earlier than normal so from a filming point of view there was not much to do in the factory but she could still film the tea pickers pruning the bushes on the slopes.
Glenburn was definitely a place to relax, enjoy the peace and occasionally glimpse Kanchendzonga from the terrace. It is worth taking a few days to unwind and is a perfect contrast to the buzz of Calcutta.
Tour DAYS 7-9 Assam, Kaziranga National Park & the Elusive Tiger
A little reluctantly we departed Glenburn and flew to Assam, staying for 3 nights in the lovely Diphlu River Lodge at Kaziranga National Park. We enjoyed dawn elephant rides and close, but safe, encounters with one-horned rhino and wild elephants.
I have visited many wildlife parks in India in my pursuit of tigers but I would say that this is one of the most peaceful safari experiences. Meandering through the elephant grass on the back of an elephant, shrouded in mist was quite a surreal experience. It is a very open park with plenty of tall grass. The wardens burn off the grass in controlled areas to ensure good regrowth and this makes observing wildlife easier.
Tigers are not often spotted, but on our last jeep safari we heard an alarm call and a passing jeep confirmed they had just seen a tiger. My heart started racing and as we travelled along the track flanked on both sides by tall clumps of grass, our guide shouted “tiger!!” Unfortunately neither Daphne nor I saw the male which had jumped into the middle of the road and then exited in one leap. We stopped the car and could hear nothing. All I could see was the grass swaying……THAT got my pulse racing!
Kaziranga remains the only wildlife park in India I have visited without seeing a tiger. Our naturalist’s spot doesn’t count! The only solution is clear, a return visit to Calcutta and onward travel to North East India on my next Indian holiday, sometime in the future….after all I didn’t get to see the impressive museum inside the Victoria Memorial either, another “must see” place of interest in Calcutta.
Daphne returned to Calcutta for an extra 3 days with her son and to do some more walking. I flew home via Delhi which is abuzz with Commonwealth Games fever. Calcutta seems serene in comparison!
For more help and advice arranging your independent tour of India contact Escape to India here.
See here for more ideas for tours to India
LYNN STEWART December 2009
