RajatGhosh Editorial Photographer: The himalaya is calling

15^th Mar am away to Kolkata, headed with mom, for a trip to where I will carry on to Lamahata for a photography trip and mom and sis will hang out in Kolkata

for a week or so.

A trip to Kolkata starts with a train ride from 0600, which means one wakes up at 0430 hours, and one gets to sleep for a few hours on the train, Soon we are in Kolkata, and we cross the Howrah bridge to make it to Kolkata, now to rest this day and prepare for the journey ahead

Howrah Bridge

Day 2 will only see us reach New Jalpaiguri, train tkt avability was a problem, n we lose a day as we travel all day in the train as opposed to taking a nigh train which would have helped us sleep at night and not have to spend the night in NJP in a Hotel ( I know it would have been a smarter decision)

but this way we got to know each other better as we sat all day and chitchatted and time flew,

and We reached NewJalpaiguri station, at 2100 hours as opposed to 1855 hours, Indian railways still is bad, and will remain so in my life time it feels like, the train was late many a passenger suffered from anger and irritation as we covered the last 5 km in 95 min

Every one had a theory why it was late. N what railways should do for better efficiency, Finally our prayers were answered by the rail Gods and we reached NJP,

We put up at Hotel balajee 300meters from the station, Strongly advise against staying here, dirty, bathrooms small and even dirtier, sheets torn and soiled, Would not recommend this hotel for stay , better to stay next door at Hotel Tirupathy,

( which we did on the way back ) I presume some hotel owners are driven by money to the highest level, and the famous India saying “ athiti devo Bhava” well that’s passé for them.

This night we had chow at a dhaba by the station Yummy all the way.

Tarka daal+ eggs + roti

Here we also met up with the last member of our team, Sanjukta who a photographer cum tour operator, was waiting for us and we called it a night early we were targeting to start at 0530 hours next day.

17th Morning :

Up at dawn n by 545 we were on the way to lamahaTa, as we crossed Coronation bridge

Coronation Bridge, built by the grist, Image by Subir

I was reminded of the lovely trip to arunachaL with Rik Bonny and Eda , only a few months back as we had ridden to NERM, http://editorialohotographyindiarajat.blogspot.com/2018/11/it-is-day-of-solo-ride-beckons.html

We covered some 30km before we stopped for a round of teA. There was a train crossing n as I sat low by the road a mountain dog came over n made herself comfortable near my feet a selfie n 15 min break over we hit the road once more

Rajat+New buddy

We stopped for breakfast 40 km into the drive our car guy,Mr Dhandup lama

A very agreeable and good looking chap stopped at too commercial a stop for breakfast, but were itchy trigger finger lot, we needed nature around us, we need to make some Images We refused to get off & drove around onwards past another hill before we chose a dhaba to stop for breakfast. Everyone was eager to start clicking a few images we had been on the road too long,

Dhandup Lama and me

First view of Teesta river from Up close

view point of 2 rivers along with Alo n Me

Bfast was roti sabji. But then i asked for chicken momo all quickly changed there order to the same n we were a merry bunch of well fed folks n were only 30 km from

Lamahata, We should be there in 90 minutes max, in time for lunch and then a round of Photography in the evening post lunch

We reached lamahata an hour later n another 10 km drive awaited us to out homestay which needed another 20 minutes to

Upper lamaHata though we seemed to climb down for most part, we drove into a tea estate “ tagada Tea estate “ to reach “ Nawang homestay”

Nawang home stay with Sanjukta

A delightful place with very friendly staff, homestay was more like a homely resort built for guests and at a location that is opposite Sikkim and Mt Kanchenjunga,

Mr. lama who is the owner of the homestay owns 30 acres of the land he claimed n the land was given to his grandfather by the British

Lamahata is named after his family

Once we heard about Mt Kanchenjunga some of us started to see the mountain, even though there was a thick layer of mist, it was clouds that we were imagining as The Mountain,

Subir Photographing his bed

The rooms had a lovely view n accommodated 3 to a room

Subir n me were supratik was sharing a room

We got the violin out n made a few images by the bed n window

Talk about room with a view

Lunch at Nawang set the tone of food to come

Rice, daal cauliflower chicken cooked to perfection

Not too spicy

Served with a smile.

Post lunch we headed out to Mamata park, a pine covered forest that we were sure would lend itself to some interesting images, unfortunately we found the prime location of pine trees swarming with a film crew; not wanting to be a pesky lot who would potentially cause uneasiness amongst the film crew with so many photographers, we took off for alternate locations

first stop was a windy location with a small monument and mandala

The shooters ( Dipankar, Rana, Supratik) arrive at location One

A few minutes soon turn to an hour as we experiment with various shots with the model Alo warming up to the demands of 6 Photographers vying for her attention