Caravanserai

 

An old monk chuckles at me –

Robed in purple,

There is eternity in those eyes;

He twirls a prayer wheel

As if all of time

Revolves around its sun

 

He must have overheard me,

What was there in this town?

Why would anyone

Come to Kalimpong?

It is Darjeeling

The greater jewel of the hills

 

He responds in a raspy voice

‘Once upon a time

The world came to Darjeeling

To meet the mountains,

But the mountains came to Kalimpong

To meet the world.’

 

He gets up,

His bones creak with senescence

And he opens the green door behind him

Asking me to follow –

What was this old building?

A monastery? Another hotel?

 

I enter, and lo –

I am overwhelmed –

It seems like wearied travellers

From around the world

Have gathered here

In this remote corner? I wonder

 

Lepchas, Bhutias, Marwaris,

Merchants from the mountains

The English spy, a Buddhist monk

Traders from the plains

Bankers, Brokers, Botanists,

Exchange goods and stories

 

The world converges at Kalimpong –

The far end of a rich silk route

That swirls all the way

To forbidden cities

Via Pedong, Zuluk, Jelep La

To Lhasa, Gyantse, Shigatse

 

I see sacks of salt, wool, borax,

Ancient scripts, lying in wait

To trade for rice and tea

While a strong curtain of incense

Makes me wonder,

What have I stumbled into?

 

The tinkle of the yaks’ bell

An ancient caravanserai –

Trade beyond borders;

The bells get stronger

The voices deeper

The incense stronger

 

When I open my eyes

I am shocked –

The world has disappeared

Except for broken walls, fallen roof

Reminding, once upon a time

The world converged here

 

I walk through the debris –

Holding centuries of stories

Was I here before?

Under the dust I spot

An old familiar prayer wheel

All of time revolving around it…

 

30^th July 2026

 

Kalimpong occupied a unique position in the eastern Himalayan trade network, serving as the principal gateway between British India and Tibet during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Located near the Jelep La pass, it became the great caravan entrepôt where Tibetan wool, salt, borax, musk, turquoise, and handicrafts descended from the plateau, while Indian tea, rice, textiles, sugar, and manufactured goods travelled northwards. Its bazaar became one of the most cosmopolitan spaces in the Himalaya, bringing together Lepchas, Bhutias, Tibetans, Nepalis, Marwaris, Kashmiris, Bengalis, British officials, missionaries, explorers, and traders. More than just a market town, Kalimpong was a meeting point of worlds—where Buddhist monks, merchants, botanists, and even political agents of the Great Game crossed paths. Through its caravan routes linking Pedong, Zuluk, Jelep La, Gyantse, Shigatse, and Lhasa, Kalimpong became the Himalayan bridge between the plains of India and the high plateau of Tibet, until the closure of the Tibetan frontier in the mid-twentieth century brought this centuries-old trade era to an end.