Welcome and great salutations to all Fairy Tale Hunters of the world. This time you find the hunter gliding across the slopes of West Bengal, finding shelter amongst palm groves and dining with the company of Nordic map makers, supreme princely Indian sons in the lap of golden thrones discovering lost orchids and American astronomical cosmic robot creators. How true it is that we are never stopping learning no matter where we land in time. Can you imagine the imaginative and inventive table talk as the peacocks chatter outside?
Here we are high above the churning Relli River in the city of Kaliimpong resting in the saddle of the Deylo mountain range. This is a famous centre of education and a teaming market town full of a cosmopolitan history built in the centre of the ancient trading route north to Tibet.
I’ll soon be crossing the plains of Darjeeling, saying farewell to Sikkim and heading south away from the Himalaya. We will remember our adventures in the roof of the world as I plunge back into the melting pot of the stories of India on my way home. Never fear though for the hem lines of the snow peaks of Kanchanjunga still have tales left to tell us. I’ve even discovered lost songs of the steaming monster that is the toy train of Darjeeling and how once the local armies whisked a yeti off in a helicopter! Keep track of all these stories by finding them on the website. Now for some special story telling surprise!
We have a new school aboard our magical journey! We welcome the students of The Indo-Tibet Buddhist Cultural Institute. They will be contacting as with stories of the yeti for our bookshelf over the coming weeks. The students are from many places such as Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim and cities in India like Luxor and Kolkata. Their school is the oldest Tibetan Buddhist Cultural Institute in the whole of India and they are very happy to share their stories with us. Have a listen to them below.
The following three stories were told to me by: Pem Lamu Sherpa, a student of The Indo-Tibet Buddhist Cultural Institute.
Her first story is called Supandi, a funny story. She told me it in Nepali and then in English.
Her next story is called The Hidden Treasure and Pem said that it had a moral reminding us that being rich in money means nothing in real life. I wonder if you can understand what she means by listening to her story below.
Pem’s final tale for us is the story of the Quick Witted Frog. It would be extra fun if you could draw a picture to go with these stories. Next it’s easy! Once you have made them please send those to me via the contact link on the site and I’ll add them to the story.
The following story was told to me by Chungda Bhutia (Student of The Indo-Tibet Buddhist Cultural Institute) and it is a ghost story in Nepali. I wonder if you can understand what she is saying. Perhaps you are a translator. If you are maybe you could help me decipher what Chungda is saying.
A massive giant thank you to the student of The Indo-Tibet Buddhist Cultural Institute and we look forward to hearing from you again soon.
I must back my bag of tricks once more for I am off to the home of Rabindranath Tagore. So long for now and I will speak to you all again soon.
To help us remember the magical stories of Nepal below is a wonderful montage of pictures and music compiled by Lakhpa Tashi, who is a senior student of The Indo-Tibet Buddist Cultural Institute in Kalimpong. He told me that he took all the photos himself for a project promoting his village of Humde in the district of Mangang, Nepal last year.