Step Aside,Darjeeling

Step Aside,Darjeeling

From the Mall (Chowrasta), Darjeeling, it was roughly five minutes’ walk down, through the C.R. Das road, and the creamy white building Step Aside appeared in my left. In 1952 the house was registered under the Society act and named “Deshbandhu Memorial Society”. The legendary freedom fighter of India, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das had come to Darjeeling to regain health on 16-th May1925 and stayed at the Step Aside, Darjeeling.
Before joining in the active politics, the barrister at the Calcutta High Court, Chittaranjan Das pleaded numerous court cases of the poor without charging any fees. In the famous Alipore Bomb case he defended Aurobindo Ghosh, and in many ways, he boosted the freedom movement of India. Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das was in active politics for the last eight years of his life and in that short time he has left the indelible impressions of grandeur through his selfless services. First Mayor of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, he had his political disciple like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and this illustrious personality gave his valuable contributions in the field of literature also.
On his invitation Gandhiji visited Darjeeling and stayed at the Step Aside from June 3 to June 6 1925. Gandhiji reached Darjeeling on his way from Shantiniketan and from Siliguri he reached Darjeeling almost all the way on foot, because he wanted to experience the serenity of the Darjeeling hills. In Gandhiji`s words, “If the Darjeeling of love is so beautiful as this, how much more beautiful must be its Dhavalgiri (Kanchanjungha), which shines in the distance before me”. In many descriptions Gandhiji recollected his memorable days at the Step Aside, Darjeeling and his communion with Deshbandhu, described the loud laughter of Deshbandhu that used to reverberate in the house, the way Deshbandhu learnt spinning from Gandhiji and in the words of Ganghiji, “Deashbandhu was as kind as he was noble. I realized this fully in Darjeeling”. The two great leaders of Indian freedom movement came closer at Step Aside where Gandhiji recollected, “Hospitality was the badge of his clan”.

The balconey

On 16-th June 1925 at 5.30 pm, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, suddenly passed away, at the Step Aside, Darjeeling, due to heart failure. Gandhiji received the news of his death, at Khulna, Bangladesh and cancelled his proposed Assam tour to join the funeral of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das at Calcutta. In his mourning message Gandhiji expressed his grief; “......India has lost a jewel. But we must regain it by gaining swaraj (self rule).”
The impressions of presence of the legendary personality could be felt in the compendious memorial at Step Aside, Darjeeling where the preacher of non violence in Indian freedom movement, passed away so early before he could see the independent India.
In the approaching darkness, an inexplicable environment of gloom could be visualized in the composure of the Step Aside. As we were walking down steps to leave the premises, the drifting mist already swept away the stupendous beauty of the entire surrounding, and the snowy peaks of Kanchanjungha were under the thick cover of fog.