Jalpaiguri – Last Day in North Bengal
After a luscious dinner at Manas Da’s aunt’s place in Jalpaiguri we woke up fresh and happy. The name “Jalpaiguri” most probably comes from the Bhutanese term je-le-pe-go-ri, meaning a place where warm clothes are traded, suggesting a trading centre. Another suggestion is that it is from the word “Jalpai” meaning olive, and “Guri” meaning a place. The city once had many olive trees. The name is also associated with Jalpesh, the presiding deity (Shiva) of the entire region.
The district situated in the northern part of West Bengal has international borders with Bhutan and Bagladesh in the North and South respectively and borders with Assam and Darjeeling hills in the East, West and Northwest. The entire topography is crisscrossed with rivulets, rivers and hills.
As the time to return to Kolkata is nearing, something inside is calling aloud not to go. A call from the jungle. Just like every bad thing, indeed, every good thing comes to an end as well. Just like our group’s tour of North Bengal & Bhutan.
Devi Choudhurani Kali Bari, Jalpaiguri
After breakfast before leaving for the railway station we went for a walk around. We arrived at Debi Choudhurani Kali Bari. Collective local memory has it that Debi Choudhurani was a valiant leader of the peasants’ rebellion in the 18th century. She would come ashore at Jalpaiguri from her boat ‘bajra’ on which she roamed the Teesta and Karla rivers, pray to Kali here and rest. Afterwards enter Baikunthapur Forest. There she would meet the peasants she helped and also Bhabani Pathak. He was leader of the sannyasi and fakir rebellion. People believe she robbed the British and their representatives who mercilessly taxed landlords and peasants, to give to the poor.
In the temple, I stared, startled, into the eyes of a tall, glittering, black image which looked as if time had not touched it. For that one moment, an unfamiliar past heaved around me. I could clearly imagine an armed woman stepping off her boat on to a river bank now five kilometers distant. Enter amid a lowering forest that must have overrun the area now being pierced by the national highway. And bending in obeisance at the feet of the image before me. History and geography, indistinguishable from myth and memory, soaked in fear, courage, misery, wickedness and worship charged the surroundings.
It was time to get back to our rat hole, Kolkata. Back to the 9 to 5 way of life. With every passing moment there was a feeling of detachment, detachment from roots, detachment from nature. With an optimism in heart to be a part of another adventure, likewise, we left for Jalpaiguri railway station, our final journey of this trip to Kolkata. We went back to Manas Da’s aunt’s place, picked our luggage and left for the railway station to board our train.
We boarded Haldibari Kolkata Superfast Express -12364. The train left Jalpaiguri around 9 am. The journey was so different from the onward journey. This time there was no giggling, no hurling, no chattering. Everyone looked longing to go back, back to the woods the turn across the road the path across the wilderness, the unknown. We arrived at Kolkata railways station around 8 pm and left for our respective places with heavy heart.
