Kalimpong is a hill station located in the state of West Bengal, India with an average elevation of about 4,100 feel. It’s neighbor, Darjeeling also located in the Himalayan Mountains, is famous for its tea industry. Relli, where the LOT Home is located, is down the mountain around many hairpin curves from Kalimpong.
At present, Kalimpong, with a population of 43,000, is in the throes of a political situation. The Chief Minister of West Bengal has announced that the Kalimpong region is to be upgraded to a district. India is a union of 29 states and 9 territories with each state having its own government. The Gorkha Liberation Party wants to create a new state called Gorkhaland by annexing all the territory in the Darjeeling region and the Nepali speaking plains area, but West Bengal does not favor this action. This conflict has been in the works for 5 years but things have heated up in the past couple of weeks.
Pictures are from the Kalimpong area. The first picture is a commercial tea garden.
