The Importance of Being Siliguri, or the Lack Thereof Border-Effect and the “Untimely” City in North Bengal

Debashis Chakraborty visited Siliguri for the first time in 1952. After the final examinations of Class IV, this was his first trip to Siliguri to visit the part of his family that had relocated to this town from Dinajpur following the Partition of 1947. The family had set off one morning from Dinajpur town and after changing trains thrice, they reached Siliguri the next day. From the train, the child had for the first time seen the blue line of mountains. The Siliguri Junction station, where they got off, struck him as shiny new. They took a rickshaw from the station which ferried them across the wooden deck-bridge over River Mahananda along a winding pitch road. Beside the bridge ran the railway tracks for the toy train. While passing the Road Station (now Hasmi Chowk), he noticed the small wagons of the goods-trains standing idly. And what captivated him further— remained anchored in his memories lifelong— were the houses: mostly made of wood, some stood on stilts. Their house was no different. It was a bungalow, Chakraborty tells us. The yellow paint of the wooden planks contrasted sharply with the bright green of the doors and windows.