Borong

Borong Nature camp

June 2024

Borong Nature Camp

After a long drive from Yuksom through some beautiful scenery, waterfalls and a pleasant cloudy weather, we arrived at Ravangla town. Since Borong would be isolated, we stocked up on drinks and snacks and after having a good local lunch started off towards Borong. The Borong Nature camp consists  of a few cottages on a steep slope overlooking a valley. Below you can hear the sound of Rangit river coming up faintly. The river separates West sikkim from South Sikkim. Across the valley, there were clouds but on a clear day you can see the snow capped mountains peeking through. 

Sanjok Gurung is the owner and host of our homestay and we were welcomed by him and his family after which we settled down into our cottages. Sanjok, he told us later is originally from the Silk Road area in South Eastern Sikkim, where he has a hotel. A few years back, he bought about seven acres of land in Borong where he grows crops and has made a few cottages. The tourist season was almost ending with the rains about to begin. Once the rain starts, he would close the camp and go back to his home. The camp has a few of his relatives helping out including his sister who works as an employee in a nearby school.  

Sanjok Gurung, our host

Over breakfast the next day, Sonjok told us his life story. He had been a monk and he spent over 12 years in Bilakuppe, near Mysore Karnataka studying to become a monk before he left and started his own business.  He said he learned a lot about doing business from the Tibetans in the monastery who are by nature very good traders. We asked him whether the Monasteries get enough children to study and become monks. He said that typically in the lepcha community, one of the kids is given to the monastery as a monk, and nowadays people just have one kid. So, the monasteries have been getting students mainly from Nepal instead, generally from poor families. Religious identity seems to be fluid nowadays and Sonjok interestingly told us that some of the original inhabitants, Lepchas have been converting to Christianity whereas some of the Rai's who are originally Hindu Brahmins are converting into Buddhism. 

On one of the evenings, Sonjok talked about the path of becoming a Lama in Buddhism. He has been to many countries as part of being a Lama. They have to go through extensive training and be ready to teach and preside over rituals. They can at any time decide to leave the monastery and lead a life of a householder which is what he did. However to become a monk, they have to take permission of the parents as this is a life of celibacy which cannot be reverted. Sonjok also said that once of the key philosophers who they had to study was Nagarjuna who was from region of Amravati. He is considered as the most important philosopher of Buddhism and is compulsory study material. I made a mental note of getting a book and learning more about Nagarjuna's philosophy.

We asked Sonjok about Organic Farming and whether there is demand for organic produce since Sikkim is known as an Organic State. He said that there is a huge  demand, but the population growth in Sikkim has slowed down and thereby number of people in the farms have been reducing. The government of Sikkim has even promised one government job per family in Sikkim because of which many people now prefer government jobs instead of the hard work of tilling their farms. Further, the government has progressive policies like 1 year paid leave and 3 months paternity leave.  Many farms are now converting back to forests. 

Nowadays most families opt for only one child. The government in fact gives economic incentives for families who have a second kid. Some families have been adopting children from tribal areas in the Dooar plains of West Bengal, but this is becoming lesser due to strict adoption rules and hassles of integrating them into the community.

Local Organic Market

Above our camp on the opposite Mountain, one can see the Eklaviya foundation school. On day 2, we decided to walk down to the river to experience the hot springs. Halfway down the path, we saw a Church. A man called out to us and joined us. He said his original name was Gurung but he has now converted to Christianity and his new name was David "bro". David had a stall near the hot springs where we could have some snacks and change into swimming clothes. Apparently a lot of people come from Bhutan and Nepal to the hot springs during the winters.

Gurung David Bro

The hot Springs was a great experience. The hot water poured out of an opening on the ground and had collected in a pond which was green in color due to the algae. We sank into the water and soaked in the heat. David collected the hot water at the entrance of the spring and gave it to us for drinking. It was therapeutic and smelt of Sulphur. After spending a few hours, we climbed up back to the camp which took us almost 2 hours since it was a steep slope.

The Sikkimese don't have much of a breakfast. People have their lunch at 10:30am. Then they have some tea or snacks in the office and have their dinner at 5:30pm. By 7:30pm they go to sleep and wake up by 0430 AM. Such healthy living! Sanjok joked that during the tourist season they had to keep awake till almost midnight as the Bengali tourists would come down for dinner only by 10 PM! 

We noticed that smoking in public places is strictly not allowed in Sikkim. Also goods cannot be displayed in front of the store, garbage is collected diligently and there is minimal honking and noise. There's a big difference in terms of the discipline and the look and feel between Sikkim and the plains like Siliguri. A lot of it is due to the local hill culture of community feeling, respect and cleanliness. Sanjok told us that the Government had even sent some officials to Bhutan to learn from them where the environment is even better. 

After a few days, it was time to go back. Sanjok arranged for a car and we packed up and drove away towards Siliguri. We left with a happy and yet heavy feeling, our hearts filled with wonderful experiences and warmth of the people. As we got off the hills into the West Bengal plains, I wistfully looked back at the forests and the greenery of Sikkim, probably the best preserved in India and the last Shangri-La.