LEPCHAJAGAT: A STORY OF CHANGE.

sanjib000 (36)in #freewrite • 6 years ago

Ab to zamana badal chuka hai,says Pashang Tamang with a wry smile when over a cup of chai, I ask him if the kids these days prefer to pick their own partners. Times have changed but even in the last decade, the Lepchas were part of a close-knit community in which marriages were arranged strictly between families with the same surname i.e. within the same sub-caste. The formal consent of the families was the first impetus behind starting a conversation between a man and his wife-to-be but tourism has sunk deeper into the social fabric of the Lepchas than can be gleaned from a night at one of the numerous homestays in Lepchajagat. As the Lepcha teenagers of today text each other about their dreams and desires, Pashang still looks somewhat unsettled at the thought of a Tamang marrying a Gurung.Pashang, the proprietor of Kanchankanya Homestay in Lepchajagat and our host for the next couple of days, is a busy man. While he is supervising the construction of a third floor over the existing structure and worrying about how to arrange regular hot water supply for the guests in the winter, his primary concern continues to be the increasing competition in the lucrative hospitality industry. Seven years back when the great Bengali adventure seekers and weekend travel enthusiasts were pinning Lepchajagat as the perfect place to drop into anonymity on the offbeat tourism map, Kanchankanya was one of the few homestays. Now, with each passing day more concrete structures are mushrooming on the hillside. Where there were the sprawling fronds of ferns, velvety clumps of moss, and rhododendrons, now stand rectangular structures obstructing views of the magnificent Kangchendzonga and its snowy neighbours.Lepchajagat, or Lepcha Bustee as the locals say, started out as a settlement of around twenty Lepcha families on a stretch of motorable road between Ghoom and Sukhiyapokhri. In the 1800s, when the tea estates around Darjeeling began to flourish, members of the Lepcha community moved to Darjeeling and its surrounding areas to find work. Almost every family in Lepchajagat can trace their ancestry to someone who worked as a labourer in one of the many tea estates that the region is now famous for. The plantation owners wanted a local workforce who were willing to labour for low wages and were also conversant with these heavily wooded hills and their mysteries. The Lepchas fitted the bill perfectly. Eventually few of the Lepcha families chose this tract of pine and fir-covered hillside to build a community and that is how Lepchajagat, literally World of the Lepchas, came to be.

Lepchajagat......

Entering Lepchajagat.....

Calla lilies line the road in Lepchajagat

Foggy Mornings in Lepchajagat

Jungle Hike in Lepchajagat