Darjeeling is Bharti Kirchner’s third novel, which was published in 2002. It is about two sisters Aloka and Sujata who both get involved with Pranab, a handsome and promising young man. He is engaged to Aloka, who, besides being a quintessential Hindu girl, is beautiful, graceful, kind, a good cook, and heir to a tea plantation in Darjeeling, where Pranab is an employee. Aloka’s family and relatives approve of this marriage, and her father Bir is satisfied that Pranab can handle the estate for him in the future. Things suddenly take a turn when Sujata returns to the estate. Although she is less attractive and less refined than Aloka, Pranab falls for her because she shares his interest in tea. Though they start a love affair, Pranab does not break off his engagement with Aloka. When Bir learns of Sujata’s affair, he sends her to Canada to safeguard the family’s name. Pranab incites the plantation workers against Bir. When they stage a protest, and Bir faces the prospect of losing everything, he decides to get Pranab killed. Since Aloka is blindly in love with Pranab, and even though his betrayal hurts her, she runs away with him to New York to save him, and they get married there.