There yet lurks a look of pure disbelief on faces of some still-primitive men in jeans when they see women driving through unpardonable traffic. Should they know Samantha Dong, it would require a Raphael to construe those incredulous eyes.
India’s first known Land Rover coach, Samantha Dong (28) is an inhabitant of Darjeeling. She has been in perfect sync with the rather rugged terrain since her teenage years and evidently, her steering never spun out of control. Samantha, on her grandfather’s legacy- a vintage Land Rover Series 2A, has been scaling the stretch from Maneybhanjang to Sandakphu which is rife with nature’s ire; from a moody weather to a callous landscape, the road is a nightmare for even the most sangfroid of drivers.
Zest begets career. In the famous event of Teesta Rangeet Tourism Festival, 2017, Dong was the only female participant and eventually it led her ingress into the role of a coach. Henceforth, she had been perpetuating her driving skills through teaching and holds an indomitable aspiration to win The Himalayan Dash.
