yet again ... getting lost ... then enjoying self-discovery ...

First, the gardens The Botanical Garden was a pleasant surprise! Beauty of an unkempt garden? or that of the late morning winter sun? or of a path less taken? Jug Suraiya had once written about how a major role of the branches of State Bank of India was to serve as landmark for addresses - to help people reach their destinations. On similar lines trees help those in love? An Indian addressed as Sir and his name placed above that of a European. Not common this! Just outside the gate of the Shrubbery Nightingale Park - amidst the hill trees!  Now, to the museums Museums are ever fascinating. This one of the DarjeelingHill Railway was not an exception. It also had a sketch of Mark Twain when he took the journey during 1897. Tibetan museum at Dharamshala was stark. The museum at Darjeeling too was nicely done. Cultural maps of areas around ours often reminds how little we know about our neighbours! How long before this moves from the road to the museum? Finally, the cemeteries  Cemete

Darjeeling has a fairly high number of buildings that ooze grace. Many of these had windows that were special.  On some of the walks I wondered if the windows too were  looking at me?   A house of windows? Did someone replace the walls with windows? The Deshbandhu Museum on the Bhutia Basti route. Walls of this graceful building are home to windows of different shapes and sizes. What to say of a town where the Post Office exudes such beauty! Is the afternoon light trying to peep in through the windows? This, somewhere on the road to the Japanese Temple. A solitary and lonely window high up from the ground! The Union Church on the Gandhi Road. Windows about to be strangled? The Hill Cart Road has surprises on offer when the traffic allows one to languorously walk and look around. A chimney and an electricity pole waiting for the windows to open? On a road with an intriguing name - Toong Soong. Windows in the dark!  These sit in silence atop a bustling street - near the Chauraha. Mehmet

Walking up and down the roads and lanes of Darjeeling was a pleasure.  Every now and then I would come across a bench that I would sit on. Here I would enjoy the views, savour the bakery products I carried or just sit - happily lost in thoughts. Benches with a view at the Shrubbery Park. Part of Mr. Tartan's private bungalow it was purchased by the then ruler of Cooch Behar who coined the name - Shrubbery. Sometime hence it was then transferred to Raj Bhavan. During the recent years the Hill Council has turned it into a tourist destination. Even the parks here drip with history! This somewhere on the Zakir Hussain Road. For some reason I felt glad it was there. At the Alubari Monastery These benches offered views of the hills, peace of the monastery and songs of the flags. On the road to the Peace Pagoda . What an idea this! Benches along the road. A bench on rails at Ghum . The station - for some reason - had a stall selling Banarasi Paan. Multicoloured benches on the approach pat

Moving beyond comfort zones Nimesh Ved, Arti Pandey and Anshumalika Rai Thanks are due to Teacher Plus . Published in their January 2023 issue.  Beginning Our journey began with a few conversations on the need to bring gender and sexuality on the discussion table in our school. Located in a peri-urban setting in north India, our Hindi medium school caters to lower income group families. During the initial days we agreed on certain basics: It may not be easy to sell the concept to colleagues – yet it is crucial to get them on board. Given that none of us had swum in the proverbial waters – we would not only need to get more familiar with the subject but also converse frequently amidst ourselves. Sporadic visits by experts would not help – we would need to take the plunge ourselves. We were taking a gamble – the chances of failure were not low. Ourselves During the initial days, we realized that the three of us need to give our time, move beyond our comfort zones, and cross a few barrier