Somewhere, my love, there will be songs to sing Although the snow, covers the hope of spring.
Somewhere a hill, blossoms in green and gold
And there are dreams, all that your heart can hold..."

Haunting words from the theme song from Dr Zhivago open the floodgates of my memories of Darjeeling. I'll always remember dancing to this song in Darjeeling because it was the first time that I felt very grown-up. At 16, in November 1966, this was my first introduction to being part of a young go-getter crowd. I had just joined North Point College. Peter Karthak, well known writer and musician, his brother Mark who operated a travel agency in Kathmandu, Devendra Gurung, another tourism entrepreneur and Abhay Gurung, a famous football player, are four people I remember being with me that evening. I felt excited and happy because I was discovering the excitement of being young and beautiful-even though I did not know it that day. I would never have been able to stay up dancing with strangers till 10PM in Kalimpong where I spent my school years.

I went on my first blind date in Darjeeling. My dear friend Betty wanted to see a movie with her steady boyfriend at the Capital Cinema Hall but needed an excuse to get permission from her family. So she decided I would double date her boyfriend's friend! I did not like my date but I loved the chocolates and popcorn he heaped on me.

I spent most of my school years in Kalimpong, just 32 miles away from Darjeeling. Even as a child, Darjeeling beckoned with her 'city' lights. Kalimpong was studies and routine, but Darjeeling was glamour with sophisticated women who promenaded up and down Chowrasta during the day and swayed to the rhythm of Western music at the Gymkhana Club in the evenings. I adored the beautiful clothes they wore, specially the sleeveless backless cholis worn with panache in the freezing Darjeeling evenings. As a child, Chowrasta meant endless pony rides paid for by indulgent grandparents and aunts. Chowrasta meant hot dogs and cheese sandwiches with milkshakes at Keventer's and yummy cakes from Glenary's.

"Yati Chokho Yati Mitho diunla timilai maya" is the other song I associate with Darjeeling. It was penned by my husband Gopal Yonjan in the heydeys of our romance. We met in Kathmandu but it was the few days of frequent close meetings in Darjeeling that fanned the flames of our love. This photo (see pic, top) was taken in 1968 at the gardens of the zoo. We decided to marry after our whirlwind romance in the Queen of the Hills.

Gopal introduced me to the literary world of Darjeeling. I met many lyricists, singers, composers, poets and writers. For someone who had grown up with Western classical and pop music, meeting these intellectuals who discussed Nepali music and literature with such earnestness was my first exposure to the vastness of Nepali art and culture. Darjeeling, at that time, was at its height of literary activities. I distinctly remember Gopal composing Agam Singh Giri's Yudha ra Yodha. It was also a time of musical concerts and sitting endless hours in the cold room at Kala Mandir while he played and sang for his friends.

At the top of the hill at Chowrasta known as Mahakalthan was a shrine where a Hindu priest and a Buddhist lama sat together in total peace, handing out blessings to whoever came along. It was to this hill that Gopal took me to share some of his dreams and to woo me with undying promises of love!

Darjeeling, my Darjeeling, will always be a special place of music, romance and sophistication.

Renchin Yonjan grew up in Kalimpong, blossomed in Darjeeling and now works as a self-described "social architect and entrepreneur" in Kathmandu.