The success of the hill stations of
Western India had induced the Government to do something for the citizens of
Calcutta and the Bengal Presidency. An experimental station for ailing troops
was opened at Cherrapunji in Assam, but it proved to be a wash-out-literally- as
it turned out to be one of the wettest places in the world. But the government
continued to look for an alternative place, and asked G.W.A. Lloyd to follow up
the recommendation of J.W.Grant, the Commercial Resident at Malda, an
enthusiastic explorer of the Himalayan foothills. The place Llyod and Grant
inspected in 1829 was an old and deserted Gurkha military station 'Dorjeeling' or 'Darjeeling'. |