The final destination along the Tea Horse Road, both for our own expedition and for the great journeys of the past, was Kalimpong, in Western Bengal. It became for many muleteers and tea traders a kind of plush retirement community; close enough to the snow and spires while being accessible to the more temperate market centres. Yeshi and I would spend days sipping sweet tea and eating lethally good baked goods from Auntie Penzon in her ʻSomdala Kotteeʻ (Orange Cottage). She was a goddess of warmth and wizened beauty. Deep, bubbling, and utter royalty along the length of the trade route, she had her own tales of the route and its characters. One of the great beauties of her time, her own origins went back to ‘Gyalthang’, now called ‘Shangrila’, and my home for a decade.
She had competition though for attention in the form of a young relative who who would light up the green interior of the cottage with daily squeals of laughter and that rare thing: morning joy. She would in a moment make me forget my baked goods, my tea, our tales of the route as she took over time and space. Uniformed, with a small back pack, she would be hustled off to school and return later in the day, equally energized and alive. This was one morningʻs departure that lit up mine. One moment later she was gone.
Wait, what ????!!!!!!????? You end the writing with ” ….. one moment later she was gone ….” what happened to this gorgeous child ?????? 😢
Ohhhhhh – whew – just realized you were saying this joyous soul was dancing before you then departed on her way to school. Gosh, what is silly I was to jump to the conclusion that something horrible had happened to her … what a relief that I came to my senses !!!!!!!
Not to worry Danielle. She went skipping off to school as she did every day…and then would return with her energy intact to run the household.