Rock Garden, Darjeeling

Darjeeling Rock Garden
Darjeeling Rock Garden
Barbotey Rock Garden
	The terraced garden
Location	Darjeeling district, West Bengal, India
Coordinates	27°01′31″N 88°14′17″E / 27.0254°N 88.2380°E

The Rock Garden (also known as Barbotey Rock Garden) at Chunnu Summer Falls and Ganga Maya Park are recently added tourist attractions in the hilly town of Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal, India. It is a showpiece meant to lure people to Darjeeling after political agitations disrupted tourism in the 1980s. There is another rock garden in Darjeeling known as Sir John Anderson Rock Garden, which is part of Lloyd's Botanical Garden.

Background

The British secured Darjeeling from the Raja of Sikkim in 1835 and developed the area. They introduced tea gardens in the area. Townships sprang up, hotels were built and the population in the area grew rapidly. From 100 people in 1839, the population had shot up to 10,000 by 1849. Spread on hill slopes at an altitude of 2,134 metres (7,000 feet), the town and the area became a major tourist destination.^[1]

In the 1980s, the movement of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) was in full swing in the Darjeeling Hills. The unrest affected the arrival of tourists and Darjeeling started losing out as a tourist destination. With the formation of Darjeeling Gorkha Autonomous Hill Council (DGAHC) in 1988, relative peace returned to the area. Since tea and tourism were the mainstays of the economy of the region, DGAHC initiated efforts to lure tourists back to Darjeeling. "We are now focusing on not only Darjeeling town as a tourist centre, but also the region outside it," D.T. Tamlong, principal secretary, DGAHC told Frontline.^[2]

Geography

8km
5miles

S

I

K

I

M

N

E

P

A

L

Rammam
River

River

Rangeet

Singalila Ridge

Senchal
Wildlife Sanctuary

NP

Rock Garden

TA

Tiger Hill

H

Phoobsering TE

TE

North Tukvar TE

TE

Singalila
National
Park

NP

Phalut

H

Sandakphu

H

Ghum

N

Tonglu

R

Manebhanjyang

R

Orange Valley TG

R

Rishihat TG

R

Soom TG

R

Singla TG

R

Tukvar TG

R

Rimbick

R

Puttabong TE

TE

Lodhoma

R

Bijanbari

R

Darjeeling

M

Badamtam TE

TE

Singtam TG

CT

Ging TG

CT

Chongtong TG

CT

Places and tea estates in the north-western portion of Darjeeling Sadar subdivision (including Darjeeling Pulbazar CD block) in Darjeeling district
CT: census town, R: rural/ urban centre, N: neighbourhood, H: hill centre, NP: national park/ wildlife sanctuary, TE: tea estate, TA: tourist attraction
Abbreviations used in names – TG for Tea Garden (town/village), TE for Tea Estate
Owing to space constraints in the small map, the actual locations in a larger map may vary slightly

This map presents some of the notable locations in the subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full-screen map.

Rock Garden

The garden is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Darjeeling. While proceeding from the town along Hill Cart Road, one has to turn right, well before reaching Ghum. The road descends rapidly into the valley. With sharp bends all the way, there are scenic views at many points. Tea gardens dot the hill slopes.^[3]

Constructed by the Gorkha Hill Council Tourism Department,^[3] it was inaugurated by Subhash Ghising, the GNLF supremo. The Rock Garden is a multi-level picnic ground terraced around a natural waterfall, its attraction is in it "being a sort of road-side facility but with a little too much concrete."^[4] The garden has views of a hill stream cascading over rocks along the slope, with flower gardens and sitting spaces at different levels. There is also a small lake. With tourists pouring in large numbers, tea shops and snack kiosks have come up.^[5]

Ganga Maya Park

Ganga Maya Park is further down the road, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the Rock Garden. Named after an innocent victim of police firing during the GNLF agitation, "it meanders down the course of a chortling mountain stream, past gazebos, clumps of flowering shrubs and trees, over humped backed bridges under which koi-carp coruscate, and into a circular lake with paddle boats and a waterfall."^[4] It has a small lake where boating facilities are available.^[2] Gorkha folk dances are performed to entertain the tourists.

Transport

Good road conditions are essential in the hills, not only for comfortable rides but also for safety. The poor maintenance of the roads often led to protests by transporters’ associations. Amongst the bad roads in focus is the one to Rock Garden and Ganga Maya Park. DGHC maintains a vast network of roads, and they are repairing stretches. Since it is difficult to get bitumen on time, repairs get delayed sometimes. It takes around 30 minutes from darjeeling to reach here and the roads are very steep and only a trained driver can drive in this stretch of road.

^[6]^[7]

In popular culture

Satyajit Ray’s Kanchenjungha (1962) helped the world discover the charm of Darjeeling. Raja Mukherjee’s directorial debut Bidhatar Khela (2007) renewed the magic of the town. Mukherjee, who had never been to Darjeeling before, was overwhelmed by the place and was surprised that the beauty of the hills has not been properly exposed to the world. After two trips to the town, he decided to capture every possible place here — from St Paul's School to Mount Hermon, from Hotel Viceroy, Ganga Maya Park, Rock Garden, Happy Valley to even Morgan's House in Kalimpong — in his movie.^[8]

Gallery

A view of Darjeeling from the road to Rock Garden
The first glimpse of the falls and garden
A portion of Chunnu Summer Falls
The lake at Ganga Maya Park
Rock Garden
Rock Garden
Gangamaya Park
Gangamaya Park
Waterflow from waterfalls
Chunnu Summer Falls in the garden
A waterfall at Rock Gardens in Darjeeling

References

^ Agarwala, A.P. (editor), Guide to Darjeeling Area, 27th edition, pp. 49-52, ISBN 81-87592-00-1.
^ ^a ^b Chattopadhyay, Suhrid Sankar. "Return of the Queen". Focus on Darjeeling. Frontline, 1–14 January 2005. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ ^a ^b "Places of interests". Barbotey Rock Garden. exploredarjeeling.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
^ ^a ^b Gantzer, Hugh & Colleen. "Land of the thunderbolt". Features. The Hindu, 18 June 2000. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "Darjeeling – Queen of hill stations". Chunnu Summer Falls (Rock Garden) & Gangamya Park. West Bengal tourism. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
^ "Bad roads trigger 3-day wheel strike". Calcutta, India: The Telegraph, 24 January 2007. 24 January 2007. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
^ "Hill wheel strike off - Ghisingh 'assurance' satisfies transporters". Calcutta, India: The Telegraph, 29 January 2007. 29 January 2007. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
^ Chhetri, Vivek (11 September 2006). "Hills await reel magic to shoot to fame - Starry heights". Calcutta, India: The Telegraph, 11 September 2006. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2007.