A journey to the clouds to meet Bholenath.

April 29, 2020

I have always preferred monsoon as the best season to visit the hill stations. Nature is like a water colour box. You can get the best of it when you mix the colours with water. If you ask someone that what is the colour of a tree and sky, the obvious answers are green and blue. But when you observe a water colour painting of a landscape closely, you cannot define any colours in particular as there are many shades of green and blue formed with colour mix making the painting a lot more livelier. Similarly, touch of rain initiates true reflection of colour mix from the canvas of nature. And because of this reason only, I decided to visit Namchi , a small sleepy town and headquarter of South Sikkim mostly covered with clouds during monsoon. Namchi means sky high ( Nam means sky and chi means high) in local Sikkimese language. Namchi is famous for Char Dham, a Hindu Pilgrimage site with the construction of Jagannathdham ( East), Dwarika dham ( West), Rameshwaram ( South ) and Badrinath Dham (North) in a single palette of temples constructed at the top of the scenic Solopok hills from where you can tickle the clouds and rain.

Most of us have a firm belief since childhood that the God's Kingdom lies amidst the clouds and therefore when I reached Namchi Chardham, I was excited to see the area covered with thick layer of fog and clouds and the density of mist was so high that it was difficult to see someone standing even at a handshaking distance. My barefooted journey to the God's palace started with the climbing of rain bathed slippery staircases leading towards the main entry gate. Before entering inside the miniaturized version of Bholenath' s Mall, I took a look into the far away surroundings. I felt as if I was standing at the roof top of heaven surrounded by large waves of clouds dangling in the sky with pungent smell of mist and bone biting cold raindrops blown with strong hushing wind causing a shiver and teeth clattering and quiet obviously I had to open my umbrella. While entering inside the temple, twice I slipped on the wet glossy staircases and floor reflecting the white sky with clouds because of continuous downpour and I started my moonwalk in Michael Jackson style holding the umbrella srongly with both of my hands which otherwise would have blown away by strong air and trying to establish firm grip on the neat and clean moisturized floors and staircases while landing safely with my stiff toes. And the moon walk continued for next half an hour while paying homage to Char Dham with beautiful construction of temples and deities and noise of pattering rain drops on my umbrella. I was enjoying every moment of my rainy adventure at the top of an extravagant mall or multiplex of Hindu Gods and Goddesses surrounded by beautiful nature. The entire construction is made on an area of approximately 29 hectares of land and an ideal place for the romantic couples may be to swear infront of God before venturing into a new life. There are beautiful shades with sitting arrangements to enjoy the fountain show of clouds and rain or the surrounding ranges of mountain cliffs visible when the weather is clear. The biggest surprise was yet to come.

When I reached infront of the main Siddheswar temple, the intensity of the rain with thunderstorm went very high and with my moisturized eyelids, I could get the hazy vision of a 100 ft high magnificently built temple engulfed with smoke and mist with tiny droplets of rain floating with air. As I reached infront of the temple and cleaned my rain dripped eyelids and spects with my wet handkerchief, I noticed something which was going to be the part of climax waiting for me. My eyes got fixed into a tall shadowy structure behind the temple covered with dense fog. I moved around the temple to make out what it was, but I failed miserably except for the fact that I was confident, it was a tall structure of a humanbeing in a sitting posture. Before I could come out with the answer, the nature God's magic started to remove the curtain of haze and soon the smoke layer thinned down and to my surprise, almost a 100 ft tall astounding structure of Lord Mahadev emerged and as if saying that " I don't allow anyone to return empty handed. You came in search of me and here I am for you ". With the sudden occurence of this miraculous meet with Jai Bholenath, I was yet to recover from the pleasant shock perceived within and I was still staring at the unique architecture with my surprised eyes and was dumbstruck for a moment. It was a majestic and cinematic appearence of Lord Mahadeva pulling apart the screen of white spectre. A scene which I still recall whenever I visit any local Temple and close my eyes to pay homage to Lord shiva.

And thus I found my Bholenath at a sky high distance. And since my visit to Namchi, I have firmly started believing that far away amongst the floating kingdom of clouds, God exists.

If you are a travel and tourism lover, visit the scenic and serene towns of Ravangla and Namchi at South Sikkim. If you love adventure tourism and if you are fond of walking in the rain through the mountaineous ways and lush green terrains and tea gardens at the backdrop of snow capped peaks of Kanchendzonga mountain ranges, then South Sikkim will be a preferred destination for you.