There are 3 staff at my hotel, who between them cover 24 hours, 7 days a week, two men, and a young, pretty girl called Suda. Suda comes from Soreng, was educated there and then studied "arts" at university in Kalimpong. I think it was a US-style social science course.
Suda is a native Nepali speaker, Hindi is her second language, and she speaks English with equal amounts of enthuasiasm and difficulty, so we had some slight translation problems. I inadvertently failed to interpret "very near", "1km" and "5 minutes" as a 10 minute taxi drive. Never mind, if I had known I probably would have missed the experience on safety grounds. So, 10 minutes later, we met her boyfriend: he is also young and attractive, and runs a shop in the Gangtok suburb of Tadeng.
In typical local style, the shop sells a random, not to say eclectic, mix of goods. Specifically: shampoo, face wash, toothpaste (but no shower gel), biros and Indian greeting cards (ancient and dusty), and several bare and dusty shelves. The main shop income is probably not from these, but from the telephone and lottery kiosk. Especially the lottery kiosk.
I was persuaded to buy some Pears facewash (rs 29.50) and an Irish facial scrub (Rs 300), and offered a cup of scalding hot chai (tea). We then returned to the (same) taxi to travel the km or so to Suda's house. She was very deprecating about her accommodation, but actually it's the Indian equivalent of many shared houses in the UK. She has a huge bedsit with violent aquamarine walls (not her choice of decor), a kerosene stove, with posters, photos of friends, and slogans on the walls. I was offered some hot milk - fortunately also scalding and no I haven't suffered any ill effects.
The original taxi driver took me back home for what felt like an extortionate 300 rupees, (it only costs 1000 or so to Siliguri), but as there were a lot of hills involved and I know the local petrol is 33 rs /litre, I didn't protest too much.
Binu is a maths and science teacher at PNG. She is married to a "very senior" member of the forestry office, a very important body with close ties to the army. They live in a beautiful and unusual forestry office old wooden house, I didn't like to ask too many details, but they were married in 1987. Both are tall (very, by Indian standards, I think he is over 6 foot), and relatively dark for around here: they come from Kerala in the far South.
Binu lives a couple of km up from town, and is collected every day by their ow jeep and driver. It's the first jeep I've seen here with seatbelts - but alas, they had the seats recovered so the buckles have been hidden. PNG road is very narrow, so the driver began by reversing for 60 yards, then paused to drop off a broken mouse for repair. That American disease sure is catching..!
As does everyone in India, they offered me plenty of refreshement including sweetened mango juice, a very nice dinner (rice, dahl, Southern Indian vegetables, carrot-coloured noodles & veg), and of course, chai! Binu's husband spoke interestingly about the problems of Gangtok, especially the monsoon flooding and Tibetan encroachment - both very hot topics around here.
7 Nov 2007
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