Darjeeling,
May 25: It's a washout.Let alone Kanchenjunga, tourists in
Darjeeling have not been able to see 5 feet in front of them.
Tiger Hill sunrises may be out of the question and a ride
to the rock garden or zoo impossible, but the vagaries of
weather have done little to deter people from heading for
the hills to beat the heat.
`We have seen nothing in Darjeeling. A thick
blanket of fog cloaks the town in the morning and hangs there
till late in the evening. Then there is the rain that drums
on the roof all day,` said Tanmay Ghosh, from Nadia, who came
to Darjeeling three days ago with his family.
`But it's not all that bad. Not many have
seen Darjeeling in this mood and we are enjoying it. It feels
fine to just laze around in the hotel,` he added.
This May is one of the wettest in recent
times, with the hills recording 212.5 mm of rainfall. The
town is wrapped in thick fog and the showers, which have refused
to stop since May 17, have tethered tourists to their hotel
rooms.
In May 2003, Darjeeling had recorded a rainfall
of 55 mm, with only six days of rain in the month. Even in
April, the total rainfall recorded in Darjeeling has been
higher than last year. While Darjeeling received a total rainfall
of 66.7 mm last year, this time round, the total rainfall
recorded in April stands at 93.7 mm.
The heavy fog cover is bringing visibility
to almost zero in areas along the Jorgebungalow and Ghoom
stretch, but tourists do not seem too worried about being
denied a peek of the rolling hills and the panorama of peaks
that Darjeeling is famous for.
` They say the view from Darjeeling is really great and that
the Kanchenjunga can be seen from virtually every place in
town,` said Sukvinder Singh, a tourist from Jalandhar.
`We can see nothing, but are enjoying the
peculiar weather here and it is interesting to walk around
the Mall and surrounding areas, seeing other people appear
seemingly suddenly out of the mist.`
Hoteliers in town also spoke on the same
lines. They said business were doing well and that Darjeeling
was witnessing a surge in the number of tourists despite the
gloomy weather.
`There has been no cancellation of any bookings
that were made for this month. People are, in fact, enjoying
the weather here,` said Dinesh Sharma, the general manager
of Fortune Central Resort.
Courtesy
The Telegraph |
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