Darjeeling's Forgotten Stories

What You Will Discover

Chowrasta — The Heart of Darjeeling

The walk begins at Darjeeling Mall, better known as Chowrasta.

Today, Chowrasta is the social centre of the town, but its importance goes back to the development of Darjeeling as a hill station during the 19th century.

In 1835, the East India Company acquired Darjeeling from the Raja of Sikkim. Over the following decades, the settlement developed into a hill station, administrative centre and base for exploration of the eastern Himalayas.

The growth of Darjeeling brought together administrators, tea planters, traders, missionaries, explorers and people from across the Himalayan region.

Chowrasta became one of the places where these different worlds met.

Our walk begins here, at the centre of the town, before moving into the lesser-known stories that lie beyond the usual tourist route.

Habeeb Mullick & Son — A Shop That Has Seen Darjeeling Change

One of the first stops is Habeeb Mullick & Son, an old family business near Chowrasta.

The shop traces its history to 1890 and has long been associated with curios, jewellery, handicrafts and objects connected with the Himalayan region.

Its history offers a glimpse into the commercial life of an earlier Darjeeling.

The development of the hill station created a new economy around hotels, tourism, tea, trade and visitors. Shops such as Habeeb Mullick became part of that changing world.

Old photographs and objects associated with the business offer a fascinating glimpse of Darjeeling as it once was.

This is heritage at a different scale — not a government building or grand monument, but a business that has witnessed the transformation of the town around it.

Approximate time at stop: 5–10 minutes

Oxford Book & Stationery Co. — Darjeeling Through Books

A short distance away is the Oxford Book & Stationery Co.

For generations, Darjeeling and the surrounding Himalayas have attracted writers, naturalists, explorers, administrators and travellers.

The region has consequently produced an extraordinary body of literature — books about its landscapes, people, cultures, wildlife, mountains and history.

Oxford Book & Stationery Co. provides a fitting connection to this literary side of Darjeeling.

The stop introduces another dimension of the town:

Darjeeling was not only a place people came to see. It was a place people came to study, document and write about.

Approximate time at stop: 5 minutes

Step Aside — Where a Chapter of India’s Freedom Movement Ended

One of the most significant stops on the walk is Step Aside, the house associated with nationalist leader Chittaranjan Das.

Popularly known as Deshbandhu, Das was one of the prominent leaders of India’s freedom movement. He served as president of the Indian National Congress in 1922 and later helped establish the Swaraj Party.

In June 1925, Mahatma Gandhi stayed with Chittaranjan Das at Step Aside.

Das was seriously ill and had come to Darjeeling to spend time in the hills. He died at Step Aside on 16 June 1925, aged 55.

The house therefore occupies a remarkable place in the history of India’s independence movement.

For visitors interested in Indian history, this is one of the most compelling places on the route — a relatively quiet Darjeeling house connected with two of the most important figures of India’s nationalist era.

Approximate time at stop: 15–20 minutes

Interior access to heritage properties is subject to current local arrangements.

Windamere — A Window into the World of the Raj

The route continues towards Windamere, overlooking the historic Observatory Hill area.

The property traces its history to Ada Villa, built in 1841, and later became associated with accommodation for British and Scottish tea planters and other visitors to Darjeeling.

Windamere offers a glimpse into the social world of the old hill station.

During the colonial period, Darjeeling became a seasonal retreat for British officials, tea planters and visitors seeking the cooler climate of the Himalayas.

Hotels, boarding houses and private residences became an important part of this new society.

Windamere is therefore more than an old hotel. It represents a period when Darjeeling developed its distinctive colonial character and became one of the best-known hill stations of British India.

Approximate time at stop: 10 minutes

St Andrew’s Church — The Scottish Connection

St Andrew’s Church is one of Darjeeling’s most recognisable historic churches.

The foundation stone was laid in 1843, and the church became an important centre for the Scottish community in the hill station.

Named after the patron saint of Scotland, St Andrew’s reflects the Scottish influence that was particularly strong among the early European residents of Darjeeling.

The church also contains memorials and plaques associated with people connected with the early history of the town.

Among them is Lt. Gen. George W. Aylmer Lloyd, whose name is closely associated with the early British development of Darjeeling.

His story becomes particularly relevant later in the walk.

Approximate time at stop: 10 minutes

Access to the church interior may vary according to services and local arrangements.

Master Mitrasen Thapa — The Cultural Soul of Darjeeling

The walk then moves beyond the predominantly colonial narrative.

Master Mitrasen Thapa was a prominent Nepali/Gorkha cultural figure associated with poetry, music, theatre and writing.

His presence in Darjeeling’s public landscape offers an opportunity to understand a side of the town that can easily be overlooked by visitors.

Darjeeling’s identity is not simply a colonial one.

The town developed through the lives and traditions of the communities who settled in the hills and made Darjeeling their home. Nepali-speaking communities, along with Lepcha, Bhutia, Tibetan and other Himalayan communities, have all contributed to the region’s cultural identity.

The story of Mitrasen Thapa forms part of this much larger cultural history.

Approximate time at stop: 1–2 minutes

Nawang Gombu — Darjeeling and the Age of Mountaineering

The next stop introduces one of Darjeeling’s great Himalayan personalities: Nawang Gombu.

The nephew of Tenzing Norgay, Gombu became the first person to climb Mount Everest twice, reaching the summit in 1963 and again in 1965.

His achievements are part of Darjeeling’s remarkable mountaineering heritage.

For much of the 19th century, Darjeeling was associated with colonial administration, tea and the hill-station lifestyle. During the 20th century, it became increasingly known around the world as a centre for Himalayan mountaineering and exploration.

The story of Nawang Gombu represents this transformation.

It is also a reminder that Darjeeling’s Himalayan identity extends far beyond its colonial architecture.

Approximate time at stop: 1–2 minutes

Government House — The Power Behind the Hill Station

The walk continues towards Government House, now known as Lok Bhavan, Darjeeling.

The site was purchased from the Cooch Behar State in 1877 and developed as an official residence for the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal.

The residence was first occupied in 1880 and became an important symbol of Darjeeling’s administrative significance during the British period.

The original building was severely damaged by the 1934 earthquake and was subsequently replaced. The present structure was completed in 1936, while the historic Durbar Hall survived the earthquake.

Government House provides a different perspective on Darjeeling.

The town was not simply a place for leisure and summer holidays. It became an important administrative centre, with Darjeeling playing a significant role in the governance of Bengal and the wider eastern Himalayan region.

Approximate time at stop: 2–3 minutes

The Government House complex is viewed from outside unless specific access has been arranged.

Hooker Road — In the Footsteps of a Botanist

The route now moves into a quieter part of Darjeeling.

Hooker Road is named after Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, one of the great botanists and explorers of the 19th century.

Hooker arrived in Darjeeling in 1848 and used the town as a base for his exploration of Sikkim and the eastern Himalayas.

His journeys resulted in extensive documentation of the region’s extraordinary plant life and contributed significantly to Western scientific knowledge of Himalayan botany.

His work also represents another important chapter in Darjeeling’s history.

The town attracted not only administrators and tourists, but also scientists, explorers and naturalists who came to investigate a landscape that was still largely unfamiliar to the scientific world.

By this point in the walk, we have encountered remarkably different aspects of Darjeeling:

commerce, literature, politics, religion, culture, mountaineering, administration and science.

There is one final place where many of these stories come together.

Old Cemetery — Where Darjeeling’s Early Stories Remain

The walk ends at the Old Cemetery on Lebong Cart Road.

Away from Darjeeling’s busy tourist centre, the cemetery is one of the town’s most atmospheric historic places.

It is rarely included in conventional sightseeing itineraries, yet it contains the graves of many people connected with Darjeeling’s early history and has been recognised as a site of national importance.

Here, the history of Darjeeling becomes much more personal.

Among the people buried here are two particularly remarkable figures.

George W. Aylmer Lloyd

We encountered Lloyd’s name earlier at St Andrew’s Church.

Lt. Gen. George W. Aylmer Lloyd was an East India Company officer associated with the early British development of Darjeeling.

He died in Darjeeling in 1865 and was buried here.

After hearing his story earlier in the walk, seeing his grave provides a tangible connection with the people behind the historical events that shaped the town.

Alexander Csoma de Kőrös

The cemetery is also the final resting place of Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, the Hungarian scholar and Tibetologist.

Csoma devoted much of his life to studying the Tibetan language and culture. His pioneering work on Tibetan grammar and vocabulary made an important contribution to Western understanding of Tibet.

He died in Darjeeling in 1842, while preparing to continue his journey towards Tibet.

His grave is one of the most historically significant memorials in the cemetery.

A Cemetery Full of Stories

The Old Cemetery contains many other graves belonging to people who lived and worked in Darjeeling during the colonial period.

Military officers, civil servants and other residents are represented among the names and inscriptions.

Together, the graves reveal something that conventional monuments cannot.

They show the people behind the history.

The men and women who came to Darjeeling did not all arrive for the same reason. Some administered the region, some explored it, some studied its natural environment, some worked in its institutions, and others simply made their lives in the growing hill station.

Their names remain in the cemetery long after the world they inhabited has disappeared.

The End of the Walk

We finish at the Old Cemetery.

By this point, Darjeeling may look a little different.

The old shops, churches, hotels and roads are still part of the modern town. But behind them are layers of history involving people and events from very different worlds.

The colonial hill station.

The Indian independence movement.

The Himalayan communities.

The age of mountaineering.

The scientific exploration of the Himalayas.

The commercial life of an emerging tourist town.

All of these stories have left their mark on Darjeeling.

Darjeeling’s Forgotten Stories is an invitation to discover those layers.