30th November 2010 & we i.e. Rolling Wheels Bikers Club,> a Motorcycle Touring Club of Kolkatawere riding our way back to Siliguri. We left from Chitwan at 7.00Am in the morning to reach Pathlaiya in the afternoon where we had our lunch. (Refer to our Tour of Nepal 2010)

After our lunch comprising of the ‘like it or not, mandatory Gobi’, we started for Siliguri via Kakkarvita. Total distance estimated to be 450km approx.

The road to Kakkarvita seemed beautiful with dense forests in both sides & the smooth tarmac. It is Pleasant in daytime & biting cold in late evening. We had to endure both since we had started late after lunch. Exactly at 8.50 pm we reached Nepal border & customs office & crossed into Indian Territory with a sense of triumph & glory.

After our triumph, we started for Siliguri where we planned to stay for the night & leave for Kolkata in the morning. The 40 Km ride took a heavy toll in the already tired souls and we literally dragged ourselves till the Siliguri Bus stand. Rathinda somehow by accident got separated from the group & boarded some hotel nearby. We decided to search for hotels in the area since Krishnenduda & Bapida had good rapport with some hotels due to their earlier travels. Even then it took us quite a while to manage a hotel in Siliguri since there were no available rooms to accommodate the whole lot of us.

At last at around 10.30pm we managed two rooms in a hotel & relieved our luggage there. Now for food!! The hotel kitchens were closed at this time of the night & we had to satisfy our hunger in a nearby restaurant which was already closing up. After about 10 days we managed to find some mutton & chicken items for us & most importantly without any ‘Gobi’ item.

With bellyful of long desired food & a pack of lovely Indian Cigarettes we returned to our hotel & went to bed. We needed to start early tomorrow for Kolkata.

Since the last two days there was something that was bothering me quite a while. I felt the tour ended too early. I needed a longer break from the daily life in my hometown. To my happiness I found out Bishwa too was having a similar feeling. It was not long when he suddenly said, “you know Kedar!! Sikkim’s not far from here!” It seemed to be the best suggestion I ever had from him & the whole night we spent planning for places we could visit in Sikkim. The others knew nothing of our plan.

1st December 2010 & at 9.00am everyone was ready to leave for Kolkata, when we suggested repairing my bike in Siliguri & then leaving for Kolkata. Bapida too decided to repair his bike in the Siliguri Royal Enfield workshop. Hence Bishwa, I & Bapida stayed back while Tirtho, Krishnenduda & Subho left for Kolkata & decided to make a halt in Raiganj for the rest of us.

We left for the RE workshop & Bapidas bike received a few repairing. When my turn came, we told Bapida of our plans to visit Sikkim. Bapida happily agreed & gave us instructions on the formalities & rules of travelling in Sikkim & then left for Kolkata to join Krishnendudas group in Raiganj. Meanwhile we received a call from Rathinda informing that he & his Bike is leaving for Kolkata by train due to severe fever since yesterday night. His train was scheduled to 4.30pm.

We decided to meet with him & take his camera with us but I received my bike at 4.00pm. We hurriedly left for the station but here strikes misfortune again. My bikes clutch cable tore & we had to come back to the workshop for repairs again. There was no hope of meeting Rathinda in the station anymore.

After our repairs Bishwa took me to his uncle’s house where he used to live a few years back. We received a warm welcome & I was astonished to see his popularity there. Another astonishing fact was, he was called ‘Raja (King)’ by everybody there.

2nd December 2010: At about 10am, after packing & mounting our saddlebag we left for Sikkim & bid goodbye to the friendly neighborhood. To reach Sikkim, one has to travel through the wonderful Sevoke Road. It was the first time I was riding my bike through the wonderful road. Dense pine forests on both sides with the crickets cheering loud, it seemed like a path that led to heaven. Indeed it does. Sikkim is heaven. My excitement knew no bounds. Bishwa too was excited when I asked him to drive for me. It was the first time Sikkim motorcycle tour for both of us.

We reached Gangtok at 2.30pm and parked our bikes to the ‘Hotel New Orchid’ which is a fixed hotel for our club every time we visited Sikkim. Let’s say since 1998. This hotel is actually our 2nd home. We have heard many stories of their friendliness & cheerful attitude of Sherpa Passang, who is the hotel manager since 1998 & a 12 year best friend of Rolling Wheels Founders.

We climbed upstairs to the reception & asked for Passang & the guy happily shook hands & said, “You must be from Rolling Wheels! Krishna Nandu called me up informing you are coming. Your room is ready as well as your lunch”. Now, this Krishna Nandu is none other than Krishnenduda. Passang in these 12 long years couldn’t pronounce the name as it is & neither did Krishnenduda ever try to rectify that. “He pronounces it so sweetly”, Krishnenduda always says.

When we were showed our rooms we were shocked! The first thing I did was look for my purse to see how much money I would have after paying for a room like this. It was too lavish for us!!

Bishwa asked Passang if he has some other room which was a little economical to which Passang simply smiled and said, “Room of my Choice…Rent of your Choice”. We stood stunned!! Now we understood the depth of his friendship.

We freshened up & had our lunch. It was delicious. Perhaps it was the most delicious food since we left home. After our lunch, we sat with Passang and discussed our tour plans.

In the evening we set out for the M.G. Market to buy a few necessary items like:

1. One belt to hold your pants in the required place.

2. One camera to hold on to sweet memories.

3. A pair of gloves to hold on from the cold while driving.

4. A bottle of Red Wine to hold a party in the hotel.

After the brief ‘HOLD UP’ we returned to our hotel when we received a call from Suprobhatda. He is a senior member of RW as well as the ‘legal advisor’ of the club. He was very happy when he knew that we had left for Sikkim from Siliguri and called to congratulate us & also requested us to travel through the ‘OLD SILK ROUTE’ & also sent us a pair of maps for the same.

The OLD SILK ROUTE is a mesmerizing corner of India – the ancient Silk Route, which used to connect Lhasa in Tibet via the Jelep La Pass to India and onwards to the rest of the world. In the Travel circuit, this territory is marked as East Sikkim and has been opened to tourists relatively recently. Even now most of the route is restricted area due its international boundary with China (Tibet) and the route is controlled by the Indian Army.

We decided to travel the Nathula Pass, Tsango Lake, Baba Mandir, Old Baba Mandir, Kupuk, Bofors point and Zuluk, Renok via OLD SILK ROUTE then to Rishi, Lawa, Kalimpong and descend to Siliguri. We needed necessary permissions for the same.

3rd December 2010: We left for the Tashi Ling Building (The Secretariat Bldg) for the required permissions at 9.30am. We needed to meet the Home Secretary for that. After registering ourselves in the appointment register, we met the home secretary & told him of our plans. He told us that the permission has to be taken from the D.I.G. office in Development area. His job is to accept the same. We also needed to make an application letter for the same. We immediately called up Tirtho for help regarding the application letter. Within a matter of 30 mins Tirtho sent us a couple of Semi-finished letters by email. All we needed to do is to fill up the blank spaces like the engine no., Chassis no. etc & the take a printout. One letter was addressed to the D.I.G & the other to the Home Secretary. Travelling Sikkim numerous times has made him an expert in the permission procedure part. We took the letters to the D.I.G office. The D.I.G was a charming lady who seriously listened to our plans & provided us with the permission. She further assured us of any help if required. She was indeed of much help.

While our way back to the Tashi Ling Bldg, we accidentally entered a ‘One way zone’. The nearby sergeant paid no heed to our being new in this place & entering accidentally and we ended up paying a huge fine of Rs.1000 for traffic violation. This was indeed a big setback since we were already running through limited funds.

We took the permission letter to the Home Secretary & soon it was accepted and we came to know that The D.I.G had called up the Home Secretary to see to our permissions. We were surprised to see the efficiency level of these people.

Now all we had to do is to give copies of the permission letter to different offices like the Tourist Office, The D.I.G. office, the Black Cat Barracks. We had our lunch in the Black Cat canteen with tea & noodles at 6.30pm. Meanwhile the letters were accepted & we were given the NOC for the entire route. We thanked the concerned officer & left for our Hotel. Next day, in the early morning we would be heading for Nathula pass.

At night we quickly packed our bags and paid the hotel bills since we would be leaving early morning for Nathula pass. This is the time we noticed that we don’t have enough money for the tour. The Rs.1000 fine has put us in a fine mess. The money we had with us is just enough to take us back home in Kolkata but not to make the tour of Sikkim. Bishwa & I became busy discussing what’s to be done. Just at this time, suddenly we received a phone call. It was Rathinda!! He called us up to see how things are going. We told him of our possibility to cancel the tour & come back to Kolkata due to fund shortage. Rathinda strongly objected to the proposal & said he would deposit the money in my bank account provided we would successfully make the tour without any compromise. We were stunned!! This is Rolling Wheels bikers club. An environment of true friendship. A family united.

Just before we went to bed Bapida & Suprobhatda called up to wish Good Luck & warned us of possible dangers in the roads & advised not to take junk food. It felt so good to be cared for.

An important piece of advice for the Old Silk Route: There are no petrol pumps in the way, so we need to carry some on our own.

4th December 2011 and we reached The D.I.G office at 5.30am to bid goodbye. The D.I.G. was somewhere else on duty but when we called her up in her mobile she came down to the office and had a look at our papers. She told us that we have a special permission to make a stay in Nathula at the army barracks if required & we would get any help required from the army. This permission has been done by the P.A. of the Home Secretary, Mimi. We were sad since we couldn’t get time to thank her for the help she had done without our request.

We went to the market and bought some chocolates & an empty 5 liter jar for the extra petrol we needed to carry. Meanwhile Rathinda called up and informed us that he has deposited Rs.3000 in my bank account. We set off for the petrol pump and Bishwa waited for our turn to fill up the tanks while I hurried to the A.T.M counter for cash. At about 9.00am we started for Nathula pass with a peace of mind and unbounded excitement.

Nathula Pass is about 62 kms from Gangtok (The Capital town of the state of Sikkim). We were cruising through the sharp hairpins that were taking us to a higher altitude with every steep curve. One side of the road we had the mountains while the other side a deep cliff. The thought of falling into one made me a little nervous. Luckily I was sitting pillion to Bishwa & I knew he was safe hands.

After crossing about 21kms we reached the first check post. It was called ‘3 miles’. We had to deposit a copy of the permission letter here. After the formalities, we started for Tsango Lake which was 25 kms from here. While going I noticed many big & small army barracks on the way. Couldn’t take any snaps due to prohibition & terrible road conditions which is rather astonishing since these roads are maintained by the Border Roads Organization (BRO) which is one of the most efficient ones in the country. We enquired about the reason in the check post and came to know that a week back this area received heavy & continuous rainfall for 3 days which resulted in such bad road conditions which are already in the process of repairs. Yeah…we noticed them too. I really wish the whole of West Bengals roads falls under BRO.

After driving total 46 kms we reached the Tsango Lake. The lake was half frozen and the water was chilling cold. There were many beautiful birds around the lake & there were Yaks. I took the opportunity to take a ride on the mighty buffalo. Well…the real intention was to keep my legs warm in its thick fur. Thick it was but the Yak smelt very bad. YUKKKS!!!

After the yucky ride we started for Nathula pass which is about 11kms from Tsango Lake. The road conditions became worse and narrow. It also seemed a little steeper. While driving, there were situations when we had a few funny fall downs which were actually totally harmless. Ultimately at about 1.25pm we reached Nathula Pass last check post where we had to show our permission letter. Nathula was still 3 kms to go. At last at 1.40pm we reached Nathula. My joy knew no bounds. I raised my hands & shouted “I love my India”. Bishwa shook hands with a Chinese soldier and yelled “Indi Chini Bhai Bhai” (India & China are Brothers). I am not sure whether the guy understood what we said and greeted us with a smile & a Thumbs up of Good Luck. He also took a snap of ours in his camera.