The British tea planters left their sign throughout the Darjeeling hills and the accompanying Dooars area. Panighata is such a place. Its main attraction is an old British bunglow on a hill top and the accompanying deciduous forest. The bunglow is also known as "Saheb Kuthi" or simply "Top Bunglow".
This tour started from Siliguri on 2nd June 2007. Tour convenor was Biswajit who works at a bank at Panighata. Our other members were Parthoda & Sagarda. All arrangements were done by Biswajit, after much anxious persuation by Sagarda.
Went by Sagarda's WagonR car. Kept the car inside Panighata police station. Shyambihari, a worker of Biswajit's bank, accompanied us as an escort to show us to our destination. Languid walking accompanied with much resting took us to the top in 1 hour 30 minutes. We were heartily welcomed at the top by Kaley Tamang, a local resident of Panighata hilltop having his residence nearest to the Top Bunglow.
Fooding and other services were provided by Kaley Tamang. It was a warm day. The Bunglow did not have any electric supply. The wind was very very refreshing. So we decided to spend the night outside on the verandah. Wonderful night view of Siliguri and accompanying plains. Parthoda took a few experime
ntal night shots with my digital camera. Sprinkled carbolic acid (Pheneol) around our sleeping spot as an antidote to keep away snakes. The season being summer, and the spot being an abandoned bunglow, there was every possibility of meeting some snake. Even in the peak summer month of June, the breezy atmosphere was very cool. At night I had to fully wrap myself with a bed sheet to protect myself from the cool wind, which was no longer a breeze.Went for a dip at the Changa khola rivulet on the next morning. Kaley's son and grandson accompanied us to show the way. The water level was hardly sufficient to drown our bodies. Two of them constructed a small dyke of sorts to enclose the water. The level of water rose a bit to enable us to dip.
