CELEBRATING THE WORLD HERITAGE DAY
Happy Valley of Gangtok – A Tribute
RAJIVA SHANKER SHRESTA
There used to be a vintage heritage house nestled in what is now the Development Area. The house lost its ground to the overwhelming growth of the capital, slowly and gradually turning into a concrete jungle. Gangtok is yet loved by its dwellers - not only by the occasional visiting tourists - for them Sikkim is the place they must visit in 2014 as the Lonely Planet recommends to the world!
Development Area was then still a natural wild with algeri and aiselu bushes aplenty amidst titepati but no uttis as we find at present abundantly taking over the place that used to be covered with dhupi (fir) and painyu (cherry). Domestic fowl’s cocks giving early clarion call and the wakeup call of the bugle early morning from the police barracks are heard no more but still resound in my ears. Sparrows were seen here, there and everywhere those days but have gone missing somewhere in the wilderness of development. Not a single swallow marks the summer these days, swallows used to come back to their nests religiously to herald the dawn of the season that arrived with them. So also were parrots on faledo branches flocking from tree to tree. Birds chirping whole day since morning are now something one has to strain our ears for with the ever-growing sounds of heavy vehicular traffic in the city. Pigeons, ruppis and kalchuras are seen taking their place. Dogs were heard from early in the day mingling with barking of the deer at night from the Bada Kothi/ Residency forests above the hills. Occasionally, we were told that karyang-kurung (nightingales) were heard passing by the sky above in the night. During tiffin break some of our hostel friends like Legpal and others used to go the forest nearby to collect wild fruit gophla, while we rushed towards the White Hall for bhadrakshe and mel. Wild denizens like fox frequented outside in the shed where we had fowls. Sometimes, river otters from the Rani Khola below travelled upstream through the nearby jhora and kaala from the forest came lurking in the evening. Squirrels have now adapted to us and are seen here and there while Rajpankhi (flying squirrels) were sighted occasionally then. Porcupines too came and we heard of pangolin (ant-eaters) even but were never sighted. Yet we never heard of a bear coming here in those days but were told in case you someday come across and confront one, we should run downhill as the animal cannot chase you with its eyes covered with hairs. Now with a bear entering our school TNA premises it points towards how badly their natural habitat has been disturbed and wantonly destroyed in recent years. Otherwise, I have not come across one even while trekking to Aritar-Hattichherey-Rachela in the winter of 1963 for a fortnight or so while opening forest track accompanying the block officer Late B. B. Pradhan, a relative then posted at Rhenock. During my sojourn in the Bhutan Manas Game Sanctuary later in 1971, I saw tiger pugmarks surrounding my quarter there indicating their visit at night. Often I used to venture into the nearby forest with a Drukpa guard but never saw one. While my divisional forest officer or tourists visiting there used to report of having seen one basking in the sun or near a pool.
We used to hear stories of banjhankri and sokpa from Ramu Pradhan in the evening. Chandray was the other domestic help Late Sanu Mama Mohan Pratap Pradhan had engaged. Coming from our village he was surprised at seeing light glowing out of a bulb for the first time, he used to hide himself when switching on the light as he thought that he would catch fire when a live wire was touched. Diesel Power House was the new source of supply and one hydro power plant at Sichey that we visited once was still functioning. Chandray alias Uday Chandra Dhakal later served the forest department and retired from there with a son taking his place. He is seen sometimes passing through the footpath above our residence often with shilajit and putkako mah as I found once when he dropped in for a chat. He disposed of his nice building with Chandra Niwas and crossed Seti Pul towards Pakyong looking for greener pasture somewhere else but came back after sometime. Ramu often used to go to the forest with a proper patta (permit) to collect fuel-wood. His twin brother Lachchu was employed in the Chandra Nursery and later served Aritar Dak Bunglow at Rhenock. So identical are the two that we often get confused till this day. When I met him last when we went to mourn his sister’s death, only after we spoke did I recognize him. Talking of twins reminds me of a childhood friend whom we lost recently Mani Chandra Khati, Toklai-trained served the agriculture department to retire as an additional director. My kid cousin Bijoy who grew up with him did not know till the day we went to mourn the death that Rajendra, who retired as the additional chief engineer in the power department, was the other twin. Some fifty odd years ago, this fact was shared with me by their father excise officer Bhuwan Singh Khati Babu one evening when visiting my Thulo Mama Bhishma Pratap Pradhan of the Woodland Nursery at Rhenock. In my article, reminiscing our school days in Development Area for the popular Nepali news-daily Hamro Prajashakti, I had quoted the same date of birth from the Civil List of Gazetted Officers of the Government of Sikkim (As on 30th June 1976) in proof and support to this effect.
Happy Valley was located in the hillside (above was a Government quarter where Dr. K. L. Narshingham used to stay, later occupied by animal husbandry minister Late Nayen Tsering Lepcha followed by food minister Late P. B. Gurung till the Sangram Bhavan came up with 8-Unit Government Building in between.) It had a sprawling lawn with a small wooden gate and a kitchen garden above with plum and peach trees. Front portion had swasthani flowers, while on the back it had grapevines that gave purple fruits. A footpath used to pass through in front to the Girls School and hostel below. One always heard water gurgling down the Girls School jhora. The road leading to Development Area was not yet carpeted and pedestrians were always alert about gitis and rodas (stone chips and gravels) that they might be hit by that some odd Willey’s left drive jeeps would throw at them. There was no Community Hall yet but a government quarter below where the Police Commissioners stayed. Later, the first agriculture minister Late K. C. Pradhan occupied it followed by ministers K. N. Uprety and D. D. Bhutia. This quarter was demolished for the Manan Bhavan. Scattered were the houses then with the Himalayan Nursery owned by Late Atal Singh Dewan on the other end below the bend with a stretch of the road leading to Sonam Building and Anand Bhavan, beyond was lower Burtuk. I remember visiting the place with some friends when we were taken around by Dr. Ratna Kamal Dewan. He showed us little juniper saplings planted in rows comparing it to like a deep forest. He had a word of advice for us kids – Badasit lage Bada hunchh ani Chhotasit lage Chhota. It means we should cultivate friendship with high/well to do people if we were to be like them or be otherwise. Words still deep implanted in my mind from the elder almost in his nineties at the time. The lone licensed homeopath well known for his musical compositions and dramatics was also honoured by the Government for his contributions to the society and the State. Age keeps him home as he is in his nineties these days.
Dr. RK Dewan reminds me of an attempt made during the time of Late R. P. Lama, INTACH convenor for Darjeeling chapter, to enlist eminent persons as Heritage People of Darjeeling. If we were to have such a list Dr. R. K. Dewan would be my first choice to honour such a list. And the next would be the person often seen walking on the street - the octogenarian Dong Babu. He too was in medical profession (compounder) and I know him since my childhood when he first visited us in this Heritage house way back in 1958. It was my kid cousin Bijoy who grew fond of and brought home a pup. It was loved by everyone in the family. Once it was bitten by an older dog and although the pup had not bitten any of us we all had to take anti-rabies shots on our tummies. We had to take 7 of the usual 21 shots. We know how painful it is with that part of our body swollen. His wife too was in the same profession as a nurse, who used to visit us whenever a medical aid was needed. Dong Babu had a companion for his walks but after his demise we find him walking along these days. Some years ago, when I met Dong Babu walking down the Development Area, I could not stop from asking him if he still remembers and knows me. It was a pleasant surprise for me when he said, “Why not - aren’t you Rachna’s father?” Thereafter, whenever we come across each other we stop for a brief chat and a word of advice from him always is - Keep walking. He is happy finding us thus and says why take a cab for going to town which is just a walk away. I remember he is a good flautist too and want to know from him when we meet next if he still loves to play it as I saw him performing once, years ago. Recently when I met Prem Bhai of Duga, he mentioned that Dong Babu often visits them there and my Jwaisaheb Balkrishna shares with me that their Late father Padam (of SNT) and Dong Babu were together in school at Gangtok. This means he was together also with my cousin Ramesh the first agriculture graduate of Sikkim. May be also with Late N.K. Pradhan @ Khambu OC and my mama Keshab C Pradhan!
Mention of Keshab Mama brings me back to our main subject Happy Valley – the Heritage House no more! In The Life and Times of a Plantsman in the Sikkim Himalayas (2008), he writes, “I was born seven and half decades ago in a large family of eight. Ours was a really happy family residing then in an official cottage called ‘Happy Valley’, now named ‘Development Area’…” He has a chapter captioned Our Garden- Happy Valley Our Home and in another his concluding remark runs thus, “So the Happy Valley (now the Development Area, in reality, a concrete jungle) was really a happy neighbourhood and the ties between a few families have sustained even till this day.” Not only him but all the eight of his siblings right from the eldest Late Dambari, Bhakti, Jagat Bandhu, him, Padma, Krishna Chandra, Laxmi and Meera were all born here. As a Forest Manager their Late father Rai Saheb Bhim Bahadur Pradhan occupied this Government accommodation until they shifted to the Atma Niketan atop the hill in 1958. My Sanumama Mohan Pratap Pradhan the first Nepalese Chief Secretary to the Government of Sikkim then the Assistant Magistrate moved into this British era/style Bunglow along with his wife and my cousins Bijoy and Late Binoy. Like Rai Saheb, they too were blessed with two offsprings, Rajani and Ravi in this house. He too moved into his newly constructed Rhenock House in 1963. I remember as boys we enthusiastically painted the walls of the new house ourselves on a summer break.
Apart from the small name-board in front displaying the name Happy Cottage for the private estate property where the Private Secretary to the His Highness Maharaja of Sikkim Late Purna Kumar Pradhan used to stay, there was no such decoration for the Happy Valley. This house was then occupied by General Manager SNT Hartnett. When the first cabinet for the newly formed 22nd State was constituted, the house was the official residence of the then Forest Minister Ram Chandra Poudyal. Happy Valley thereafter became the official residence of the Speaker Sikkim Legislative Assembly Dorji Tsering. I was fortunate to be somewhere nearby where I had spent wonderful early parts of my life. A new four storey building came up above this house and I was amongst the eight officers who were allotted a unit each in 1974. I had come back after a two-year training course at Mussoorie, Shimla and Calcutta that year and was posted as the Under Secretary (Accounts). Though we got a government site allotted near the Community Hall in 1979, we could complete the construction and move in only in 1991.
It was in 2003 that I was the State Convener for INTACH – Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. This body aimed at the national and international level to help educate the people and spread the message for the need of awareness to the conservation of heritage as its name suggests. It was in a State function Celebrating the Commonwealth Day on 14 March 2005 and Sikkim Youth Revolution Year that three handy booklets brought out by the Karuna Devi Smarak Dharmarth Guthi were released by the Chief Minister, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly in the presence of dignitaries here and one from Manipur. These were handy booklets Heritage Conservation written by Thakur Ranvir Singh, its translation in Nepali Dharohar Suraksha by me and Motivation: Skills and Techniques by T. S. Stephen. During my tenure, some prominent people from different professions right from the Chief Minister obtained its life-membership. My convenor-ship ended as abruptly as it had started without my knowledge and consent. No one contacted me to hand over the charge or at least the bank account kept updated every year. Anyway, those were the days when demolition of some heritage buildings was in active/serious consideration. My point of view in the book expressed, “… I do not feel it an idea wise and rational enough nor does it sound reasonable to reckon 100 years as the minimum age that such sites have to be categorised as heritage here in Sikkim. This norm has been for our great country India, where the history is over 3,500 years old. It is my 50 years in Gangtok this year in 2005 and I feel that many of the developments and prosperity that Sikkim achieved could be found and seen in the capital town (except a number of places of worship like gumpas and a few mandirs.) Man-made sites, which are 50 years or more old, namely Raj Bhavan (Bada Kothi or the Residency) and its gardens, the Royal Palace and its approach the Ridge gardens, Chandra/Woodland Nursery gardens at Rhenock are some of the heritage sites that come instantly to my mind that can no longer be ignored nor can we afford to be lackadaisical towards them. We shall feel amply rewarded if this humble presentation could be an eye-opener that serves to meet the end for the cause of heritage which is the crying need of the hour, not only for Sikkim, rather for the entire North East Region and the country as a whole. I remember it appropriate too for Sikkim history dates back to mere 350 years and later my minister known for his blunt attitude warned me to be careful interfering with their way of functioning.
After I moved to my house Rachna in 1991, no track could be maintained for the occupants there in the Happy Valley and many might not be aware of its historical importance or heritage value. Only recently when visiting my cousin Bijoy and looking for this Heritage House I sought his help. There was no sign and the sprawling area it once used to boast of. The Heritage House razed to ground without a trace of it being visible. Only solace was when my son Raman told me that some eight or nine truckloads of the well-chiseled stones that once adorned this Heritage House and walls surrounding the Happy Valley were purchased by Late Jagat Bandhu Mama and used while renovating their house Atma Niketan. A befitting and wise step to honour not only their deceased parents, families and the heritage that had once provided shelter to so many of us there but also to the departed soul of the Happy Valley though the body is no more amidst us!
Not only man-made structures, but hills and vales, flora and fauna, etc. but even our senior citizens could be heritage value for us to know them, appreciate, honour and treasure when they are still amidst us. When someone we love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure as my daughter Rachna wrote when we lost our sister Sunita and Jwainsaheb Uday in a road accident near the Teesta on 16th April two years ago in 2012.
I dedicate this article on the occasion of the World Heritage Day or the International Day to Monuments and Sites being celebrated every year on 18 April since 1983 when it was approved by the UNESCO.
