Bhutan Diaries - I

The Plan

It has become a ritual for the people at XLRI to visit places immediately after the sixth-term exams get over. The rationale is that this time before joining the job is the only time which is absolutely free with nothing to do, nothing to worry about and to relish. There is a major possibility that the passing out students would busy themselves in their coveted jobs and would not find time to visit places with friends in next couple of decades, or at least as freely as they will before joining. As far as money is concerned, the fathers can always be coaxed into giving this “one-final contribution” before the kids start getting hefty pay packages. The parents also relent. What more can be asked: time, money and friends!The world at our feet.

The twelve of us set out for the trip to Goa and Rajasthan. It was incredible trip and while that trip was going on the plans for a Bhutan-trip was formulatedthough the seeds for Bhutan were sown way back when two of the seniors visited the country on their Royal Enfield.

It was planned that we will leave immediately after the convocation from Jamshedpur. There were five of us who planned to visit the dragon nation.

Way to reach

From Jamshedpur, one has to reach Jaigaon via Kolkata and New Jalpaiguri (NJP). There was quite a bit of drama that happened, and had it not because of incessant delays of the Indian Railways; we would have never been able to catch the train between Jamshedpur and Kolkata: the first step to our 9-day trip.

The Drama

We were confused between two trains: one that reaches Kolkata at 6.30 pm and another which reaches there at 9.30 pm. Our connecting train from Kolkata to NJP was at 10.50 pm. So we decided that we will pick the train that reaches Kolkata at 6.30 pm. Now for that to happen, we had to be ready by 1.30 pm for the train leaves Jamshedpur by 2 pm. We all were ready except that one of our friends underestimated the luggage that he had and packed it till well after 1.30! Two of us went to get the tickets cancelled which we booked for the 2 pm train and get the reservation for the 5.30 pm train. Our tickets for the 2 pm train were not confirmed till then but when we went to get them cancelled, we found that they were confirmed. Our friend’s luggage was also packed, so we decided to take a shot at the 2 pm train itself. Amidst much hustle-bustle, we left our campus around 1.55 pm only to reach the station after 2.30 pm. Lucky, as we are, the train arrived after 3 pm.

The drama didn’t end here. In fact, way more dramatic thing happened. One of the five guys called up his girl-friend. What happened next is left on your own imagination. The dude got his ticket cancelled from Kolkata to NJP without informing us. While we were travelling towards the Bong nation, he broke the news that he was leaving for his GF’s place and that he was ditching us for her. Looking at the enormity of his dilemma, we swore within our minds only and wished him good-luck! So finally, the four of us left for NJP in the train.

New Jalpaiguri

Around 9 am we reached NJP. None of us wanted to get up yet we relented, some early and some late. As we unboarded the train, couple of travel agents approached us for a Sikkim trip. We told them that we first needed a hotel to freshen up. One of them got us and we went to a hotel. When we reached that hotel, we couldn’t help but laugh at its entrance. It was a small opening next to a garage. It looked anything but a hotel. Things were slightly better after entering the room.

Negotiations for the whole trip couldn’t be materialized with them. He even tried to coax us into a Sikkim trip which we rejected. Finally we took a cab to Jaigaon from there. We decided to take some package or individual cabs at Bhutan itself.

Jaigaon-PhuentSholling

The travel to Jaigaon was uneventful. We ate, slept, read, talked and reached Jaigaon in 4-5 hours.Our cab-driver dropped us just outside the India-Bhutan border, which happens to be a huge gate kind of structure with army men standing with their guns on either side of it. We took a taxi, which was Bhutanese. It took us 5 minutes and 75 bucks to reach the other side of the border, PhuentSholling! I felt cheated especially because I had heard that Bhutan was right at the top of the happiness index and so Bhutanese were not rogues. I had the first contradictory taste there.

To get an immigration certificate, we needed Xerox copies of our passports and 4 photographs. The shop that we were getting Xeroxes at happened to be owned by a travel agent. He lured us firstinto taking his suggested hotel, and later on his tour package. We were too lazy to inquire.

The Hotel

The hotel room was nice. It was wooden, possibly to save from the chilled winters. It had two rooms, separated by a sliding door, a TV, an AC (which was not working), nice beds, a lavish bathroom and lot of blankets. We spent most of our time in the hotel only watching some inconsequential match. We went downstairs to eat when the hotel owner, an Indian asked us if India would win the cup. “Of course!” we replied, in unison. He smiled on our emotional patriotism. He wanted to discuss more but we were more interested in food served on the table. So the discussion ended after sometime.

We retired to our rooms after the dinner. We found out that there was nothing to be done in the whole Bhutan after 9 pm for everyone leaves for their homes. This was an indication of happy people living in the country we were about to travel into.

Comments

Shivam said…
This brought back some of the finer details long forgotten. Remember the dinner that we got packed from the "other side"?
July 27, 2020 at 1:33 PM
pooju said…
Yes I know... Some forgotten minute details. Yosha who delayed the packing? Was it shravan?😝
July 27, 2020 at 2:07 PM
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