Winding through the clouds on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

Kneeling up in their seats, a troop of school girls clapped as a popular Bollywood song played out from a phone. Plaited into loops, their matching hair swung to the rhythm of the train as it curled around a wide arc, the back end snaking out of a bamboo forest. I was on board the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, and the climb up West Bengal’s jungled slopes was alive with music, cheering, and hoots at every turn. From the open doorway, I could smell the freshness of pine, its clean scent…