Am now in a hotel room in delhi, comfy and safe..however, the scenario was very much different 48 hours ago, when we, (cameraman ah thong, soundman ah yap, ep yan) were told to cease our work in darjeeling immediately and vacate the mountain, if not, when the curfew sets in, we will not get to leave infinitely. It was rather chaotic then, when we made our way back to the hotel, we saw hordes of people thronging the streets with their luggages, attempting to get into the cabs that would evacuate them from the town.
A political strike is on, visitors were told to leave.Fortunately, we have our own transport and we started fleeing around five pm, started our descent down the 2200ft mountain. then it started getting darker,fog came and enveloped us totally, the steep winding road down made it all seemed impossible…night came and from the top, we saw the train of cars almost creeping down the slope like a snake,a snake in the dark…Tried to establish contact to get a flight out of the region of west bengal but i guess many beat us to it..flight was full…as everyone wanted to fly off to another city, in fear that the airport might shut down too… we managed to get to the town of siliguri, where we stayed for a night, awaiting news of a possible flight to delhi..alas, it was a no go. We had no choice but to stay on another night and this morning we manage to fly to delhi with our original booking and miraculously, here i am,typing away , safe and sound. Later in the morning, we will embark on our journey home.This has been an experience that none of us will ever forget.Thank you Mrihal(our guide) and the driver, without you guys, we might just not have the chance to go home.Hope that all will turn out fine and you guys can go back to your homes once the protest is over. Though the strike’s duration was deemed indefinite, one could only hope that things are resolved with greater speed for the good of all.. Be well.
