Standing in the balcony of the Singhik tourist lodge - as I looked at the waves of the mountain rolling in front my eyes, the hustle and bustle of the city life seemed to be a distant memory . Singhik seemed to be located just at a distance which we could scrape along after the 8 hour long frenzied journey through the high altitudes and rugged terrains of Lachung , Yumthang and Zero point.
The green building of the Singhik tourist lodge, is perched on an elevated point just beside the Gangtok-Chungthang highway. One can see it all the way from the highway itself and the jeeps can directly climb into the sprawling front-yard of the bungalow from the main road.
It was drizzling when we stepped into the Singhik tourist lodge .We were travelling in a shared jeep service from Lachung and we had to bid good bye to our co-passengers from that point . One teenage boy with an assuring smile appeared at the door-step and took our luggage through the sheltered flight of staircases that runs along the sideway of the building and ushered us to a pretty cozy room in the 2nd floor. The attached balcony of that room seemed equally inviting. After the 8 hour long posture of sitting crossed legged in the sparse leg space of the jeep, I could finally stretch my aching legs in the comfy bed.
In the meantime, our young host arrived with cups of hot tea which reinvigorated us enough to decide on taking a stroll outside in the rain though we were visibly tired. It was not raining heavily though;only a pitter-patter .We stood in the front yard of the 3 storied bungalow. The meandering highway can be seen from this view point - up to a long distance; before it converges into the horizon.
A beautiful panorama of the crisscrossing mountains and the Teesta river valley also catch the eye. But that day due to the rain , the mountains were slowly getting surrounded by a murky haze. A veil of vapoury cloud was rising from the valley. The rain had imprinted a pristine freshness into the forests and the mountains. There was a chill in the air but it was altogether comforting.
Situated at an elevation of 5200 feet, Singhik is a small settlement which has most of the amenities of modern life -minus the chaos of it. Singhik is just 4 KM from Mangan , the head Quarter of North Sikkim district and 56 KM away from Gantok which is situated in East Sikkim. Through the highway, Singhik is connected to Mangan in one side and to Lachung on the higher sides.
The moment I had stepped into Singhik, I felt happy for choosing it over Mangan. In comparison to Mangan , Singhik is a laidback place which perfectly suits my taste. I had heard that Singhik has one of the best view of the Mt. Kangchenjunga in whole Sikkim. During the British period, Singhik used to be a thriving town of North Sikkim and remnant of one ancient British bungalow is still there in Singhik in dilapidated state. Do you remember, Satyajit Ray mentioning once or twice about Singhik in his famous Feluda novel ‘Gantokey Gondolgol’? The famous Hindi movie Jewel Thief was shot in Sikkim and some of its song sequences were shot in Singhik.
The present Singhik tourist lodge used to be a Sikkim Tourism Department property. But due to some issue, it was closed down for more than a year. Though few Travel agents promised to book it but the words of warning from the Sikkim Tourism office Delhi ,had initially perplexed us. There were lots of confusing information in internet about this bungalow . The contacts were either invalid or when called up said that the bungalow does not take a booking anymore. Eventually we could book it from the Kolkata Sikkim house and came to know that the bungalow had been recently leased out to private ownership. It is running fine since then and thank god that it does, otherwise we would have passed by this gem of a place for some crowded popular tourist spot. Mr. Tempa Lhendup is the present proprietor and I must add that the bungalow is in a good hand .There were total 4 rooms in the lodge for the guests. Recently the building has got a facelift and has been restored to its former glory. There is a vocational training Center in the ground floor of the bungalow but when we had been there, it was probably closed.
Later that evening, we came down to the vast dining hall of the lodge where Mr. Tempa Lehendup joined and cordially welcomed us . Our initial host Sangay i.e. son of Mr. Lehendup was there only , giving hands in kitchen works and ran about doing our every biding with a smiling face . What came up from our conversation with Tempaji, was that most of the guests were there in Singhik, for a sure shot view of the Kangchenjunga but as luck would have it, no one could- in the last 7 days. As it had rained that day, our hopes were high.
Throughout the night, we listened to the soft music of rain on the sloping rooftop of the bungalow and at the signal of the morning alarm, we jumped up and rushed to the balcony. But Alas! There was no Kangchenjunga over the horizon. Though the sky had cleared up, a thin haze obscured the distant white peaks. Mr. Lhendup also declared it to be ‘no-peak -day’. Though Singhik had a direct diagonal view of the Kangchenjunga yet during April, May- it remains pretty elusive. After a heavy downpour, the probability of sighting is high and it is during this season only when the golden hue in the peak can be seen at the time of the sunrise.
Anyway, after a sumptuous breakfast of puri-sabji in the expansive dining hall , we set out for a short uphill trek to the Singhik monastery. The sloping steps to the monastery directly rise from behind the backyard of the bungalow and the road is strewn with numerous colorful flowers and shrubs. The climb was not very steep and we ascended slowly taking in the cool mountain breeze that kept the colorful prayer flags in constant motion. Though the trek was undemanding but our dormant muscles were put to some work after a long time and even under the nonchalant mountain sun, we were sweating profusely. We kept moving through the domestic courtyards, kitchen gardens, and pig sty stacked on the hill steps.After nearly half an hour, we caught sight of the relic stones of the monastery which seemed to be pretty ancient. If the scrawling in the stone is to be believed, it is from the 13th century - recently renovated!
Finally we were there. The monastery was nothing sort of a spectacular sight and not a single soul could be seen around. Except from the chirping of the birds, everything was so silent that a feeling of peace and harmony automatically infiltrated into our minds.
We headed towards the 2 storied building that bordered the monastery. It was the monastery school and a class was in progress in a ground floor room. On our request, the lama-teacher immediately dispatched one of his senior student to quench our thirst. The young lama first went inside their humble wooden cottage beside and came out with two decorated china cups on a tray. He washed the cups from the tube wale and forwarded the tray towards us with a humble gesture. The water was cool and was like an elixir to our thirsty soul. Now the young monk opened the gate of the monastery and we stepped inside the old monastery.
Though it was very old but live coloring and decoration in the gateway , did not give away its age. Inside it was dark –only illuminated by 7 butter fuelled lamps –signifying the 7 reincarnations of the Buddha .A golden statue of the seated Padmasamvaba glittered in the soft light. There were other statues of Tibetan Kings,Demons etc. The abbot tried to explain something but language was a bar but that could not stop the mutual feeling of veneration that we felt inside the hall.It was altogether a fulfilling experience.
On our way back, we choose a different path- through the stone staircases carved into the hill which directly joins the highway below. There is another old bigger monastery in Singhik which we missed due to shortage of time that day and I sincerely regret that omission. Singhik is not a place for whirlwind safari with checklist of destinations in hand.Its dreamy setting is for those who love to laze around mossy stone floors or who might enjoy birds song in a quiet afternoon under foliage of the Pine trees or would like to read a Pamuk novel inclined in a deserted monastery gate . From here, one can also travel to other places like kabi, Lingchuk , Phodong Monastery, Jhandi view point, Tosha Lake etc. making it a base point. However, when we came back to the bungalow from our short trek, our car that will carry us to our next destination had already arrived. We had to move on. Mr. Lhendup bode us farewell with colorful khadas in traditional Lepcha style. Their incomparable hospitality will be treasured forever in our minds.
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