Into the nipple of Sikkim

10-24-2011 Pelling, Sikkim, India

Today I've managed to extract myself from the cozy Darjeeling wormhole – the wee-bit over a month there has felt more like a day. The place has grown on me under the auspices of the great Kangchengzonga and in the family warmth of the wooden Aliment hotel with its yummilicious multilingual library [where I've found nearly all the books of Paolo Coelho and even "The Lost Horizon"! I guess, the folks who travel to this area tend to be into that bend of work]. But today I woke up and the Great Himalayas beckoned to me from 100 km away. So, I went in the most direct route – through the steep canyons and over the mountain rivers - all of 5 hours to Pelling in the Shangri-La-like state of Sikkim [it's that little “nipple” that India pokes out between Nepal – West, Bhutan – East and Tibet – North]. It is the very state where but a month ago the earth crust convulsed with a 7.0 Richter strength – twice within one week [causing much of the road structure of the Northern Sikkim to collapse, along with nearly 600 schools and 100,000 houses]. The silver lining of the quake: it's VERY quiet now. Most of the locals escaping the heat of the valley precipitated in Darjeeling, not daring to venture here.

Though both Darjeeling and Sikkim are mightily wrinkly topographically, I could sense a change entering Sikkim – it's the unmistakable Big Mountains feeling – even at 2 km alt. As the sun dropped behind the azur hills, sprinkles of orange-glowing homes lit up in sparse constellations upon the indigo slopes, opalesque mist covered the river deep in the canyon below, and the air has filled with a warm scent of burning wood.....which, it turned out, belonged to the fires folks made along the road, and the sound-scape mixed the gurgle of the river with hypnotic waves by crickets and cicadae. It reminded me of the mystical roads I've been fortunate to follow in the Caucasus and the Sierras – one is so close to the Soul of the World there. For some reason, the light of the homes is especially warm – none of the fluorescent sterility – just an orange glow against an indigo backdrop....a combination that seems to trigger that primal urge to go into the cave with a fire in any human.

I knew I was moving in the right direction. When I spoke with my father, he queried what was my goal in going to this little Himalayan kingdom [Sikkim was formerly a sovereign state]. My answer, naturally: “I don't know. I just see the Great Mountains, and they are calling – so I come closer.” He laughed: “well, you are just following your gaze, then?” I guess, that's true....though the gaze just follows the heart. I smiled at the child-like simplicity of my life and felt very grateful for every moment of it.