The local story
Rongnyu, Rongeet and the meeting below Peshok
Below the tea slopes of Peshok, two rivers come together. The Teesta runs down from North Sikkim; the Rangeet comes from the west, draining the slopes of Kanchenjunga and the Singalila range, and forms part of the boundary between Darjeeling and Sikkim before it ends. They meet near Melli and Teesta Bazar at a spot often called Triveni. From the road above, at a viewpoint that locals and drivers call Lovers' Meet, you look straight down on the junction.
The name comes from a Lepcha story, and we tell it as folklore. Lepcha elders say the two rivers, Rongnyu (the Teesta) and Rongeet (the Rangeet), were lovers who agreed to meet in the plains below. Rongnyu chose a serpent as her guide, and it led her by the most direct way, so she arrived first. Rongeet followed a bird, which wandered and stopped to feed, so he came late and hurt to find her already waiting. The story is told in several versions, but the meeting of the two rivers is always its heart.
The hillside itself is tea country. Peshok tea estate covers the slopes around the village, and Lopchu, one of the better-known gardens of the Darjeeling hills, lies close by on the same road. The road through both, from Ghoom and Jorebunglow down to Teesta Bazar, is the main link between Darjeeling and Kalimpong, so Peshok has long watched the traffic of the hills pass by its tea rows. Tea here grows lower and warmer than in the high gardens around Darjeeling town.
