When I asked the meaning of her name, Yalini paused her incessant yapping and said, “Devi Saraswati”. Like any other child of seven to eight years, she has no end of questions, but what makes her different is her impeccable discipline. She would follow every command from ‘Sir’ or from her seniors. “I love the hills,” she muttered as a senior camp official fed her with the spoon. Away from her parents, living with a bunch of seniors she met for the first time, and spending chilly nights in a tent in the foothills of the Himalayas, Yalini knows she must do the hard work to get to the hills up, close, and personal.
“I can take the plunge from the cliff if ‘Sir’ says so,” said the young girl from Bihar who came for graduation from the Siliguri College in North Bengal. She was among the 21 students the institute sent to the camp for an excursion. “I know my team won’t let me die.” The team was formed just six days back. It is this confidence and solidarity that binds everyone – from Lollipop, as her teammates called the girl from Bihar to Kolkata-based teacher Dyutiman Chanda, hovering in his early fifties.
The spirit was indomitable even after six days of hard toil in the blazing sun and freezing nights. The 82 participants at the Nature Study and Rock-Climbing Camp hosted by the Nature and Trekkers Club of Jalpaiguri (NTCJ) were beaming in confidence. ‘Yes, I can do it’ – the words writ large on their faces.
NTCJ wrapped up its 30th chapter of the annual nature study and rock-climbing camp on December 31. For the returnees, the six-day course throws up an opportunity to revive and rejuvenate, while for the debutantes, it’s like self-discovery. This year, the 82 campers were under the aegis of 26 seasoned senior climbers. The seniors volunteer every year out of their sheer love for the camp. The 30th edition of the camp was kicked off by Soumya Ghatak, the manager of Yongttong Tea Estate on December 26. The campsite fell within the premises of the tea garden.
The 82 campers were split into two groups. The younger team of children aged eight to 15 was trained in nature study, while those above 15 years were taught the basics of rock climbing. At the end of six days and five nights in an open field near dense forests and guarded by lofty mountains, the participants romped home with prizes given based on their performance. Those who failed to rank among the toppers were not disheartened, rather they returned home with renewed confidence to perform better next time.
“If the mountain is the common passion for us, then building confidence in youngsters is the shared goal for us,” said Bhaskar Das, the club coordinator at NTCJ and the revered ‘Sir’ to the campers. George Mallory resonated in the words of the acclaimed mountaineer. “If you do not dare, your dreams will never come true. Go ahead and face it head-on.” Trembling and screaming on their first rappelling from a couple of hundred feet high, the frightened campers regain their confidence from his yelling. “You can do it. Don’t let it beat you.” Never in its 30 years did the camp suffer any major accident.
“There’s no place for indiscipline here. That’s the thumb rule of mountaineering, and we inculcate this in every participant,” said Bishakha Sharma, a fellow mountaineer. “Bhaskar Sir is our biggest inspiration. Mountaineering or rock-climbing not only makes us confident, but it builds our characters too.”
Das fell in love with the hills when he attended his first camp at the age of 15. There was no looking back since then. Out of the 21 expeditions in his life so far, he has captained 14. Over three decades and scores of summits like Kedardome, Gangstang, Deo Tibba, Chandra Bhaga-14, Jagatsukh, Younam, Lady of Keylong, Kun, Shigri Parbat, Chandra, Kang Yetze, Palung, and Manirang later, Das didn’t stop at taking an assault on the mighty rocks, rather dedicated himself in grooming up the next breed of climbers. “I’m there for each one of you if you want to pursue mountaineering either as a passion or as a profession,” he tells his campers every year.
“Bhaskar’s rise from being just another youth in this nondescript North Bengal town to earning fame even from a Swiss mountaineering organisation is a tale of sheer determination and passion,” said Debasis Lala, who was the camp commandant in its 30th edition.
Ensuring both wilderness and safety from wild animals straying from the untamed forests is a great challenge for the NTCJ seniors every year. The presence of extremists in the region, too, poses a risk. Cops are intimated about the schedules soon after the organisers zero in on the venue. “We make three visits to the spot in the intervening period, reach out to the local administration, carry out a thorough recce of the place, and start work on preparing the ground months before the camp,” shared Lala.
The presence of a river is a must for the camp. The participants are taught how to tackle boulders, fetch water from the river, set up their tents, cook their food, and live a community life through sharing.
The campsite in Samsing has the river Murti trundling down the hills on one side, while the lush Yongttong tea garden sprawls on the other. The entire area is flanked by dense forests of Kumai and Neora Valley and the hills of Jhalong and Bindu by the Bhutan borders. Flocks of birds flying in the cobalt blue sky, the squawking of peacocks at dawn, the burbling of the river around the clock, the virgin quietness of the surroundings, and the hissing of the chilly breeze in the night transported the urban souls into an entirely different world of peace and tranquillity.
The Nature Study group was taught stargazing, plantation and storytelling, besides trekking, bouldering, making of Burma bridge, climbing small hillocks, and staging some performances as all participants sat in a circle with piping hot soup every evening.
Yalini and her friends returned home with a lesson on planets, stars and comets. They realised how listening to bedtime stories was far better than staying glued to mobile phones. They learned to be independent and responsible, instead of depending on their parents for everything. They were taught to help each other in pulling off a task they were assigned, instead of being alone in their virtual world.
If the camp took the kids to a world unknown to them, then it brought their seniors to face themselves for the first time and believe that they could do this. “I never thought I’d be able to cross such hurdles,” said Aditi Chatterjee, a teacher from Kolkata, after she rediscovered herself in the six days at the camp. “It seemed impossible when I came here. I can’t believe I crossed the river and climbed the rocks. Too few successes in life can be so fulfilling.”
A lot of wanderlust and a bit of curiosity had driven Dyutiman to the camp. The senior-most in the group of 82 set new benchmarks when he received the Best Camper award at the end of the six-day course. “I’m going home a lot younger,” he beamed after being hailed for taking up every task ahead of others.
The Rock-Climbing group was trained in trekking, climbing, bouldering, rappelling, river crossing, and survival skills. The group was broken in pairs and sent for a night out away from the campsite. They had to put up their tents, set up fire, and cook their food. Camp officials armed with walkies kept an eye on the area through the night. The climbers are trained in handling mountaineering devices, using the rope in various functions, giving different types of knots, and packing the rucksack.
“I couldn’t imagine how life could be without internet and cell phones until I came here,” said Nikita Chhetri, another student from Siliguri College. “We came here like picnickers but what we learned here has been invaluable. I guess none of us would like to miss the camp next year as well.”
Going back to the camp every year is a passion for the volunteers. They are ready to cross the bar no matter how high it is. Club veteran Dipankar Sen was back this year, barely three months after he survived a cerebral attack. The disease took a toll on his vocal cord but failed to dent his spirit. “My son was suffering from behavioural problems, which is common among most teenagers. I heard about the NTCJ camp and then brought him here with the hope that it might help. In these six days, I have noticed he’s started regaining himself. No medicine could do such wonders,” admitted Dr Partha Pratim Pal, himself a physician.
The camp leaves an indelible mark in the minds of the participants every year and brings about a positive change in each one of them. It chisels out a mindset of courage, confidence and camaraderie. The annual school sporting event was held three days after Turvasu Tarafdar returned home from his third camp and first in the rock-climbing group after turning 15. “I was running third place in the 400-meter sprint when I recalled the words of Bhaskar Sir: ‘You must change your mindset and face every challenge to beat it. Then only you can win.’ I don’t know what played inside me, I got a boost and touched the finishing line first,” said the triumphant teenager.
The 82 participants were strangers to each other until they reached the campsite. The following six days bound them together in an invisible bond. After the celebratory campfire last night, they were struck with the reality of parting the next day. There were tears in every pair of eyes as they exchanged phone numbers and promised to meet again the next December.
Debjani Aich