Dooars India

At the Gates of the Himalayas


the ultimate light
Silhouettes of gondoliers set at sunset, in the lake of the Teesta river dam in Gajoldoba.
a portal to the past
Intense and diversified traffic in front of the portico of Cooch Behar's palace.
hunting for images
Gondolier moves wildlife photographers on the lake teeming with migratory birds from the Teesta River dam in Gajoldoba.
historic turn
Government official at Cooch Behar's palace cycles in front of his workplace.
giants clash
Indian elephant safari participants admire a native Indian unicorn rhino at PN Jaldapara.
Cooch's mirror, Behar's reflection
The majestic palace of Cooch Behar, until 1949, royal home of the eponymous kingdom.
Line
Ducks glide on Teesta river dam lake in Gajoldoba, West Bengal.
a sacred ride
Unusual transport of cows in the vicinity of Cooch Behar's palace.
Sound promotions
Cyclist street vendor promotes his products using a large loudspeaker.
colored crossing
Visiting ladies to the Jayanti region, on the border between West Bengal and the kingdom of Bhutan, cross a stream of the Jayanti River, diminished by the dry season.
We arrived at the northern threshold of West Bengal. The subcontinent gives way to a vast alluvial plain filled with tea plantations, jungle, rivers that the monsoon overflows over endless rice fields and villages bursting at the seams. On the verge of the greatest of the mountain ranges and the mountainous kingdom of Bhutan, for obvious British colonial influence, India treats this stunning region by Dooars.

We woke up in Cooch Behar to a kind of dream. The British Raj has been history for seventy years. The homonymous Principesque State, its rajas and maharajas are two less. The battalion of majestic and red buildings that welcomed them for centuries remains detached from the overcrowded and frenzied chaos of the district to which the Principality was demoted.

The Circuit House we had spent the night in, now one of the many inns run by the Indian government, was part of it. We leave at nine in the morning, after a breakfast that the hosts strive to prepare as Western as possible – consisting of tea, coffee garnished with toast and biscuits style “Maria” – and serve us in the bedroom.

We got into the car. We salute Raney. The Gurkha driver pulls out into the road turmoil that had seized the city a few hours earlier.

A Journey through the former Kingdom of Cooch Behar

Inaugurates your day of honking, swerving and forced squeezes from rival drivers that allow you to flow in the exuberant flurry of Tata and Ashok Leyland folk trucks, the countless mini-cars that have replaced the old pedestrian Ambassadors, motorized rickshaws and pedals. From carts drawn by cows and wandering cows, something more sacred than the motives.

Gate Palace of Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India

Intense and diversified traffic in front of the portico of Cooch Behar's palace.

Twenty minutes later, we sighted the target of the early morning trip. We pass a rickshaw square wala (those powered by cyclists) and an even greater streak of street businesses. Unexpectedly, to the left of this confusion, an elegant fence does little or nothing to disturb the far-off and gaudy view of Cooch Behar's palace.

We left the car, to the astonishment and delight of the passersby who walked there, not very used to the presence of foreigners in those parts of the subcontinent less famous than so many others.

We point to a lacy portico, fixed to two red, yellow and white columns. Includes capitals crowned by statues of the elephant and lion duo, an Indian symbol of royalty. Once the ticket office bureaucracy has been resolved, we make our way to the long lane that leads to the monument, pursued by the first families of national tourists who used to take advantage of the sabbatical break in a way of cultural delight.

Cooch Behar Palace, West Bengal, India

Government official at Cooch Behar's palace cycles in front of his workplace.

At the entrance to the palace itself, an anticipated group of visitors would perform a ritual centered on sharing an esoteric chant. We watched the ceremony close. Then we followed them into the court.

Authorities prohibit photography inside the palace. Thus, we focus on enriching our imaginations of what the lofty and sumptuous life of its owners must have been.

Cooch Behar's Political and Diplomatic Resilience

The state of Cooch Behar originated almost a century after Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut. From 1680 to 1772, he was beset by the unexpected expansionism of the Kingdom of Bhutan, supported by Tibetan forces. Fearful of new and more powerful incursions from the Himalayas, Cooch Behar's court took the radical step of calling for British intervention.

Since 1600, the British East India Company has spread its domain in the India. At the turn of the XNUMXth century, it was already feared. Dharendra Narayan, the then Maharaja of Cooch Behar, agreed to pay him a tribute to drive the Bhutanese to their usual territory on the slopes of the Himalayas.

The British sent a regiment from Calcutta who joined Cooch's army. After a series of clashes, this coalition triumphed. The British refused to pursue the Bhutanese across the troubled terrain of the Himalayas above. They preferred to leave a garrison at Behar and declare the Princely State of Cooch Behar a subject. This unwanted submission would haunt Dharendra Narayan for the rest of his life.

In this period, the British East India Company was replaced by the direct administration of the British government, the British Raj who established Calcutta as the main entrepot. Though tiny, the Princely State of Cooch Behar was situated just a short distance from the capital.

The Palace demoted by the Indian Union

Over the years, the intense contact of the royalty of Maharajas, Maranis, descendants and relatives with the universe of settlers dictated their westernization, an unlikely prominence in the British social sphere of India, shortly thereafter, in London, Oxford, Cambridge and different cities of Old Anglia and continental Europe.

Cooch Behar Palace, West Bengal, India

The majestic palace of Cooch Behar, until 1949, royal home of the eponymous kingdom.

We toured the palace's airy and refined rooms and halls, attentive to photographs and other records and artefacts that attested to the social, cultural and even ethnic duplicity, to the sophistication and luxury in which the successive dynasties and courts of Cooch Behar prospered until, in 1949 , when the British handed over their Crown Jewel, the state agreed to join the India, part of the province of West Bengal.

Not all subjects were or feel satisfied with the new demotion. An association with the acronym GCPA (The Greater Cooch Behar People Association) is supported by Ananta Rai, the rajless Maharaja of Cooch Behar. GCPA gained notoriety around 2005.

It gained ascendancy around the demand for a new homonymous territory much wider than the current one and with a degree of autonomy C (from A to D, with A's being the main States of India). Or, alternatively, an Indian Union Territory such as Delhi or Daman and Diu, which is politically distinct from the state of Gujarat that surrounds it.

When we learn about this claim, we also see the fascinating richness and ethnic and political complexity of the India. GCPA has long wanted to Darjeeling be part of that territory.

A few days later, in loco, we learned that the land of the famous tea had emerged from a three-month period of strikes and protests over the demand to abandon the province of West Bengal itself and to create a Ghurkaland state that better represented the ethnicity. predominant Ghurka.

Street Promotions in Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India

Cyclist street vendor promotes his products using a large loudspeaker

Travel through the foothills of the Indian Himalayas

We leave Cooch Behar to his strife and nostalgia for real times. We aim to the north and the Himalayas. That same afternoon, we crossed the jungle of PN Bruxa, notorious for its resident tigers, and reached the Jayanti River.

Instead of a real stream, we are faced with a vast sea of ​​white pebbles furrowed by small streams. Several Indian families enjoy contemplating the extraterrestrial scene and refreshing their feet in fluid puddles. Raney can get us a better program. "Sir, madam: eat. I got us a jeep, there's a waterfall you have to see!"

In front of the river sample, the suggestion of a waterfall leaves us standing back, but with nothing to lose, we welcome his enthusiasm and climb aboard the little Maruti Gypsi. A local guide leads us upriver, subject to several stream crossings of the Jayanti.

Indian ladies cross a stream on the Jayanti River, West Bengal, India

Ladies visiting the Jayanti region, on the border between West Bengal and the kingdom of Bhutan, cross a stream of the Jayanti River, diminished by the dry season.

Even the sea of ​​stones funnels into a canyon in the lower Himalayas. "Do you see that stain from the debacle?" asks us Raney. From there it's Bhutan. Shall we go there?”

Once again, it took us a while to take him seriously. Among what we knew of Bhutan was that it had invaded and worried the former rival kingdom of Cooch Behar for years. And that, at present, it charged almost all foreigners more than two hundred euros for each day of discovery of its territory.

A Brief Incursion into the Kingdom of Bhutan

In jest, a little apprehensively, we warned Raney that if there was a problem, he would be responsible for the expense. We continued to follow him, the guide and a platoon of Indians who knew in advance that, like the Nepalese, they could cross the border free of charge.

We crossed the already more dignified Jayanti by a log bridge. On the opposite bank, we officially step into Bhutan. And we are blessed by a Hindu hermit who had installed his home and sanctuary on a lush slab of hillside. The waterfall proved even more commonplace than we expected.

In any case, from that moment on, we could say that we had been in mysterious Bhutan. All in all, the feat was extraordinary.

From Jayanti, we travel west. We cross the Torsha, another of the rivers that irrigate the Dooars. We enter the PN Jaldapara where we sleep and get up early to participate in one of the elephant safaris, taking place from five to nine in the morning, along trails in the local jungle.

From the top of the tamed pachyderm we spot peacocks, wild boar, buffalo, sambar deer and the park's star creature, the peculiar unicorn rhinoceros native to the subcontinent that, against all odds, the authorities of the India and Nepal they managed to proliferate from 1900 in the early 90s to 3550 in 2015.

Elephant Safari, PN Jaldapara, West Bengal, India

Indian elephant safari participants admire a native Indian unicorn rhino at PN Jaldapara.

The Dammed Lake of Gajoldoba, a Pseudo-Ecological Trump of Dooars

In the late morning, we proceeded towards the western threshold of West Bengal. Once again, on this stretch, another river stops us. We reach Gajoldoba and the bridge formed by the extension of the Teesta dam crest.

We snake through an Indian crowd engaged in exuberant weekend get-togethers.

From there, to the north, almost to the base of the ubiquitous supreme mountain range, stretches a prolific lake dotted with floating vegetation.

It is a resting place and habitat for dozens of species of migratory birds: ducks, larks, plovers, loons, herons, storks, harriers, among many others. A real delight for the most obsessed bird watchers.

Ducks on Teesta River in Gajoldoba, West Bengal, India

Ducks glide on Teesta river dam lake in Gajoldoba, West Bengal.

The Calcutta-based authorities have an ecotourism project for West Bengal in the pipeline. His chief minister named him “morning glow” in an allusion to the intense reflection generated by the little stirred waters and which, even at that late hour, against the setting sun, we had difficulty confronting.

We couldn't wait for the next day, let alone for the project to be completed. Accordingly, we boarded one of the wooden boats powered by local gondoliers and set sail immediately.

Photographers at the Teesta River Dam in Gajoldoba, India

Gondolier moves wildlife photographers on the lake teeming with migratory birds from the Teesta River dam in Gajoldoba.

At this hour, just us, another pair of wildlife photographers, and three fishermen were plying the huge lake and disturbing the peace of the countless roasted specimens.

The tour was an invigorating escape for us. To the dismay of the boatman, we extended it until sunset was golden and then rose that mirrored setting of Dooars, the fascinating Indian gateway to the Himalayas.

End of the day at the Teesta river dam lake in Gajoldoba, India

Silhouettes of gondoliers defined by the sunset, in the lake of the Teesta river dam, in Gajoldoba

The authors would like to thank the following entities for supporting this article:  Embassy of India in Lisbon🇧🇷 Ministry of Tourism, Government of India; Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal.

Dawki, India

Dawki, Dawki, Bangladesh on sight

We descended from the high and mountainous lands of Meghalaya to the flats to the south and below. There, the translucent and green stream of the Dawki forms the border between India and Bangladesh. In a damp heat that we haven't felt for a long time, the river also attracts hundreds of Indians and Bangladeshis in a picturesque escape.
Jaisalmer, India

There's a Feast in the Thar Desert

As soon as the short winter breaks, Jaisalmer indulges in parades, camel races, and turban and mustache competitions. Its walls, alleys and surrounding dunes take on more color than ever. During the three days of the event, natives and outsiders watch, dazzled, as the vast and inhospitable Thar finally shines through.
Goa, India

The Last Gasp of the Goan Portugality

The prominent city of Goa already justified the title of “rome of the east” when, in the middle of the XNUMXth century, epidemics of malaria and cholera led to its abandonment. The New Goa (Pangim) for which it was exchanged became the administrative seat of Portuguese India but was annexed by the Indian Union of post-independence. In both, time and neglect are ailments that now make the Portuguese colonial legacy wither.
Tawang, India

The Mystic Valley of Deep Discord

On the northern edge of the Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh, Tawang is home to dramatic mountain scenery, ethnic Mompa villages and majestic Buddhist monasteries. Even if Chinese rivals have not passed him since 1962, Beijing look at this domain as part of your Tibet. Accordingly, religiosity and spiritualism there have long shared with a strong militarism.
Gangtok, India

An Hillside Life

Gangtok it is the capital of Sikkim, an ancient kingdom in the Himalayas section of the Silk Road, which became an Indian province in 1975. The city is balanced on a slope, facing Kanchenjunga, the third highest elevation in the world that many natives believe shelters a paradise valley of Immortality. Their steep and strenuous Buddhist existence aims, there, or elsewhere, to achieve it.
Meghalaya, India

The Bridges of the Peoples that Create Roots

The unpredictability of rivers in the wettest region on Earth never deterred the Khasi and the Jaintia. Faced with the abundance of trees elastic fig tree in their valleys, these ethnic groups got used to molding their branches and strains. From their time-lost tradition, they have bequeathed hundreds of dazzling root bridges to future generations.
Ooty, India

In Bollywood's Nearly Ideal Setting

The conflict with Pakistan and the threat of terrorism made filming in Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh a drama. In Ooty, we see how this former British colonial station took the lead.

Hampi, India

Voyage to the Ancient Kingdom of Bisnaga

In 1565, the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar succumbed to enemy attacks. 45 years before, he had already been the victim of the Portugueseization of his name by two Portuguese adventurers who revealed him to the West.

Goa, India

To Goa, Quickly and in Strength

A sudden longing for Indo-Portuguese tropical heritage makes us travel in various transports but almost non-stop, from Lisbon to the famous Anjuna beach. Only there, at great cost, were we able to rest.
hippopotami, chobe national park, botswana
Safari
Chobe NP, Botswana

Chobe: A River on the Border of Life with Death

Chobe marks the divide between Botswana and three of its neighboring countries, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. But its capricious bed has a far more crucial function than this political delimitation.
Faithful light candles, Milarepa Grotto temple, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 9th Manang to Milarepa Cave, Nepal

A Walk between Acclimatization and Pilgrimage

In full Annapurna Circuit, we finally arrived in Manang (3519m). we still need acclimatize to the higher stretches that followed, we inaugurated an equally spiritual journey to a Nepalese cave of Milarepa (4000m), the refuge of a siddha (sage) and Buddhist saint.
Architecture & Design
napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s – Old-Fashioned Car Tour

In a city rebuilt in Art Deco and with an atmosphere of the "crazy years" and beyond, the adequate means of transportation are the elegant classic automobiles of that era. In Napier, they are everywhere.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Adventure
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
Burning prayers, Ohitaki Festival, fushimi temple, kyoto, japan
Ceremonies and Festivities
Kyoto, Japan

A Combustible Faith

During the Shinto celebration of Ohitaki, prayers inscribed on tablets by the Japanese faithful are gathered at the Fushimi temple. There, while being consumed by huge bonfires, her belief is renewed.
Sirocco, Arabia, Helsinki
Cities
Helsinki, Finland

The Design that Came from the Cold

With much of the territory above the Arctic Circle, Finns respond to the climate with efficient solutions and an obsession with art, aesthetics and modernism inspired by neighboring Scandinavia.
Meal
World Food

Gastronomy Without Borders or Prejudice

Each people, their recipes and delicacies. In certain cases, the same ones that delight entire nations repel many others. For those who travel the world, the most important ingredient is a very open mind.
Tombola, street bingo-Campeche, Mexico
Culture
Campeche, Mexico

A Bingo so playful that you play with puppets

On Friday nights, a group of ladies occupy tables at Independencia Park and bet on trifles. The tiniest prizes come out to them in combinations of cats, hearts, comets, maracas and other icons.
Sport
Competitions

Man: an Ever Tested Species

It's in our genes. For the pleasure of participating, for titles, honor or money, competitions give meaning to the world. Some are more eccentric than others.
scarlet summer
Traveling

Valencia to Xativa, Spain (España)

Across Iberia

Leaving aside the modernity of Valencia, we explore the natural and historical settings that the "community" shares with the Mediterranean. The more we travel, the more its bright life seduces us.

Maksim, Sami people, Inari, Finland-2
Ethnic
Inari, Finland

The Guardians of Boreal Europe

Long discriminated against by Scandinavian, Finnish and Russian settlers, the Sami people regain their autonomy and pride themselves on their nationality.
View of Fa Island, Tonga, Last Polynesian Monarchy
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

Exotic Signs of Life

on this side of the Atlantic
History

Island of Goreia, Senegal

A Slave Island of Slavery

Were several millions or just thousands of slaves passing through Goreia on their way to the Americas? Whatever the truth, this small Senegalese island will never be freed from the yoke of its symbolism.”

Mauritius Island, Indian voyage, Chamarel waterfall
Islands
Mauritius

A Mini India in the Southwest of the Indian Ocean

In the XNUMXth century, the French and the British disputed an archipelago east of Madagascar previously discovered by the Portuguese. The British triumphed, re-colonized the islands with sugar cane cutters from the subcontinent, and both conceded previous Francophone language, law and ways. From this mix came the exotic Mauritius.
Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Winter White
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
Kukenam reward
Literature
Mount Roraima, Venezuela

Time Travel to the Lost World of Mount Roraima

Persist on top of Mte. Roraima extraterrestrial scenarios that have withstood millions of years of erosion. Conan Doyle created, in "The Lost World", a fiction inspired by the place but never set foot on it.
Tinquilco Lake in PN Huerquehue, Pucón, La Araucania, Chile
Nature
Pucón, Chile

Among the Araucarias of La Araucania

At a certain latitude in longline Chile, we enter La Araucanía. This is a rugged Chile, full of volcanoes, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and the coniferous forests from which the region's name grew. And it is the heart of the pine nuts of the largest indigenous ethnic group in the country: the Mapuche.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
El Cofete beach from the top of El Islote, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain
Natural Parks
Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain (España)

Fuerteventura's Atlantic Ventura

The Romans knew the Canaries as the lucky islands. Fuerteventura, preserves many of the attributes of that time. Its perfect beaches for the windsurf and the kite-surfing or just for bathing, they justify successive “invasions” by the sun-hungry northern peoples. In the volcanic and rugged interior, the bastion of the island's indigenous and colonial cultures remains. We started to unravel it along its long south.
Jerusalem God, Israel, Golden City
UNESCO World Heritage
Jerusalem, Israel

Closer to God

Three thousand years of history as mystical as it is troubled come to life in Jerusalem. Worshiped by Christians, Jews and Muslims, this city radiates controversy but attracts believers from all over the world.
Heroes Acre Monument, Zimbabwe
Characters
Harare, Zimbabwewe

The Last Rales of Surreal Mugabué

In 2015, Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabe said the 91-year-old president would rule until the age of 100 in a special wheelchair. Shortly thereafter, it began to insinuate itself into his succession. But in recent days, the generals have finally precipitated the removal of Robert Mugabe, who has replaced him with former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Princess Yasawa Cruise, Maldives
Beaches
Maldives

Cruise the Maldives, among Islands and Atolls

Brought from Fiji to sail in the Maldives, Princess Yasawa has adapted well to new seas. As a rule, a day or two of itinerary is enough for the genuineness and delight of life on board to surface.
One against all, Sera Monastery, Sacred Debate, Tibet
Religion
Lhasa, Tibet

Sera, the Monastery of the Sacred Debate

In few places in the world a dialect is used as vehemently as in the monastery of Sera. There, hundreds of monks, in Tibetan, engage in intense and raucous debates about the teachings of the Buddha.
On Rails
On Rails

Train Travel: The World Best on Rails

No way to travel is as repetitive and enriching as going on rails. Climb aboard these disparate carriages and trains and enjoy the best scenery in the world on Rails.
Society
Dali, China

Chinese Style Flash Mob

The time is set and the place is known. When the music starts playing, a crowd follows the choreography harmoniously until time runs out and everyone returns to their lives.
Casario, uptown, Fianarantsoa, ​​Madagascar
Daily life
Fianarantsoa, Madagascar

The Malagasy City of Good Education

Fianarantsoa was founded in 1831 by Ranavalona Iª, a queen of the then predominant Merina ethnic group. Ranavalona Iª was seen by European contemporaries as isolationist, tyrant and cruel. The monarch's reputation aside, when we enter it, its old southern capital remains as the academic, intellectual and religious center of Madagascar.
Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Wildlife, lions
Wildlife
NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Wild Heart of Mozambique shows Signs of Life

Gorongosa was home to one of the most exuberant ecosystems in Africa, but from 1980 to 1992 it succumbed to the Civil War waged between FRELIMO and RENAMO. Greg Carr, Voice Mail's millionaire inventor received a message from the Mozambican ambassador to the UN challenging him to support Mozambique. For the good of the country and humanity, Carr pledged to resurrect the stunning national park that the Portuguese colonial government had created there.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.
PT EN ES FR DE IT