NIHARIKA
A KALIMPONG STORY
Niharika is now a lovingly restored home with extensive grounds situated in the Development area on the southern hill of Kalimpong. Built in the early 1900s when the British were developing the area as a hill station for settlement, the white two-storied house commands a view of the entire Singalila range, now alas partly obscured by the giant trees that were surely in their infancy when the builders first broke ground. Philpot’s Final Report on the Survey and Settlement of Kalimpong Government Estate 1919-1921 shows that an area of 1989 acres of the hill had been reserved for the “new hill station” known as the Development Area. The project’s champion and insatiable builder Norman Odling promoted it wholeheartedly, even producing a brochure to attract settlers; had he succeeded, Kalimpong may have well become a rival hill station to Darjeeling, albeit a less rambunctious one. But as the postwar anticolonial movements gathered steam in the early twenties, there appeared to be fewer and fewer takers for the plots. In the meanwhile, Indian elites from the plains began to see an opportunity to buy summer homes in the Development Area. It was thus that the Secretary of State in Council settled the Niharika estate to the hands of a family of vakils and judges in 1920. There are no records of when the villa was built but the terms of the settlement stipulated that the house was to be completed within one year from the date of settlement. It is therefore safe to assume that by 1921, the building was completed. Seldom used by the Indian gentry that owned it, Niharika resembled many other properties on the hill belonging to absentee landlords. For a number of decades, it later served as a home for two sisters who traced their roots to Sardar Muhammad Ayub Khan who routed the British in the 1818 battle of Maiwand.Thereafter, Niharika fell into disuse and decrepitude over the years as parts of the estate got gradually sold off leaving only the main grounds and the villa intact. Graffiti mocked its grubby walls, only a few panes survived the cricket balls, pigeons roosted in the rafters and mould and rot made way for the rain into the bedrooms. It was not until the lockdown afforded a hiatus in which to restore it safely that the villa came into its own.
The project took two enjoyable years with the object not just of mere restoration for nostalgia’s sake, but also for marrying the best contemporary practices into it so that it would in some measure be an exemplar for resuscitating other old places. With invaluable advice from friends in ICIMOD most of the monsoon runoff from the lawns is now guided into a recharge hole to fill the aquifers that feed community seeps and springs downstream. A rainwater system was put in place, harvesting the water from the roofs and filtering it into a giant underground tank. The old rusted galvanised iron plumbing was repurposed as a staircase to the roof tanks. The odious external staircases for manual scavenging, symbols of caste tyranny, are now transformed into a fire escape and an airy smoker’s balcony. Salvaged doors and windows became elegant cupboards and closets. The surviving sanitaryware from colonial times were preserved as much as possible and the plumbing was adapted to resonate without putting the occupant out in any way. To our great delight, the months of scraping paintwork off the doors and windows revealed beautiful teak underneath, now polished and shined to perfection. The old patina of the cement floors and the comforting fireplaces lend their charm to the old place.
Other amenities include a large garden space for your faithful labrador to romp with the kids. A well-appointed kitchen with any supplies you need to bring out the chef in you - and if not, then Praveen will lay out hot meals of your choice. A table tennis board to while away the afternoon and Netflix and Zee on tap in the large living room screen upstairs. For the reader, a small shelf of books and a cosily lit bench on the far landing above the staircase. Walks around lead the hiker to the edge of Baderay Bhir for a view of the Tista and Relli, or to Crookety nearby to see Nicholas Roerich’s paintings or to a doughty dosa and coffee-by-the-yard, handmade by the infantrymen at the Army golf course. And the house notebooks online will tell you all about the rest of Kalimpong. While you laze in the morning sun with our first day’s complimentary breakfast. Therefore, Niharika The Old Place.
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