Zank Dhok Palri Phodong

The North-East region of India is a melting pot of different cultures and races, Kalimpong being no different from the other places. A confluence of culture and multi-ethnic people makes it an extremely interesting place to live and grow up in. Though the general spoken language in Kalimpong is Nepali, the native groups mainly consist of ethnic Nepali, Gorkhas, Lepchas and Bhutias. Though Hinduism is the main religion followed, Buddhism and Christianity follow with sparse Islam followers.

During my days in Kalimpong, I had numerous opportunities to visit the various monasteries in and around the region. As a kid, I used to be very scared of entering monasteries, mainly due to the dark and scary interiors and the ambiance created by monks chanting with rhythmic beats of drums and horns in the background. But with each and every visit, the fear subsided and in its place developed an interest in the Buddhist art and culture. The Gothic interiors which earlier scared me started intriguing me, the holy chants brought a sense of peace and tranquility. I could spend hours sitting quietly listening to them at the Zank Dhok Palri Phodang monastery situated at Durpin Dara.

Topics such as religion and spirituality can be endlessly debated. I have visited endless temples and places of worship and the marked difference between a hindu temple and other places of worship is the feeling of spirituality. Go to a church or a monastery and spend some time there. You can actually get enough peace and quiet to reflect on yourself. Visit a temple and you would mostly be worrying about your shoes and wondering whether you would find them when you went back. The bigger the temple the lesser you feel close to God. Millions of people pushing, shoving and shouting, trying to get closer to God to cleanse their souls. The final result is that at the end of it all you want to do is just get out of there. I guess its more to do with the viral population growth rather than the level of spirituality of the temples.

One of my favourite activities during my visits to Durpin Dara was to go around the monastery rotating the prayer wheels, trying to spin them as fast as I could, putting in extra effort to move the big wheels near the doors.

Now whenever I visit Kalimpong, I try to visit Durpin at least once. Brings back a lot of memories, my trips there with my mom, and how we used to come here every time we had guests coming over to stay with us. It was here in the Durpin ground, that Prem "Daju" first let me drive a jeep. I think I was in class 2 :) This was the place where I first saw a Helipad and was absolutely at awe when I saw a helicopter come and land. I have visited lots of monasteries in my life but whenever I hear about one, the Durpin monastery is the one that flashes before my eyes. Roots I guess, just roots.