People and wildlife of Eastern Himalaya_My journey to some remote village_Batasia

[Samrat Sarkar]

Tomorrow I will return to Siliguri. I was offered a special dinner at night; bread-chicken, a soup of Ghundruk[a type of hilly grass] and a type of boiled potato[‘tarul’ in nepali language] which is a traditional delicacy of the Thapa tribe.
As I was about to leave for Siliguri. Mohan was repeatedly reminding me to visit this place again during March, when Guras bloom in a very large number. He held both of my hands and requested to find a suitable job in Kolkata for his son Nishan. But Nishan informed that he will not go anywhere else from his village and will spend his whole life in the village itself and will take up some small job here. But he will never leave this village for his livelihood. Hats off to Nishan!

Originally written in Bengali and photographed by Samrat Sarkar.
Translated into English by Biswajit Debnath.
Equipment used – Canon EOS 7D + Canon 500mm f4 IS II USM L + Monopod and Olympus OMD EM-1 + Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 PRO.
I have used some Nepali names in place of English or scientific names for the trees and medicinal plants found in Batasia. It was difficult for me to identify each and every plant species.


Green-tailed Sunbird and Rhododendron