Along the eastern foothills of the Himalayas lie the district of Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal and the state of Sikkim, both of which are considered as a trekker’s paradise.
Five towns in each of them deserve special mention from the point of view of trekking. They are 1) Takdah, 2) Mangan, 3) Sukhiapukhri, 4) Namchi, 5) Mirik, 6) Sarathang, 7) Pelling, 8) Lachung, 9) Sandakphu, and 10) Kurseong.
Each town in either of the district/state is connected to exactly three towns in the other state/district. One town is connected by a 4x4 wheel drive dirt road. The second town is connected by a bicycling route. The third town is connected by a foot-trekking path.
The following information is also known about them :
i) Sarathang has a 4x4 wheel drive dirt road to Sandakphu, which in turn has a bicycling route to Namchi
ii) Mangan has a foot-trekking path to Kurseong.
iii) Mangan is not connected to Sukhiapukhri, which is not in the same district/state as that of Mangan
iv) Lachung and Namchi are in the same district/state, and from each of the two towns there is no route to reach Mirik or Kurseong, both of which are towns in a different district/state than the one in which Lachung lies
v) Sarathang, which belongs to the state of Sikkim, is not connected to Sukhiapukhri which does not belong to the state of Sikkim
Question
If Pelling and Lachung are connected by a 4x4 wheel drive dirt road, Takdah is connected by a cycling route to which of the towns given below ?
Mangan
Kurseong
Mirik
Cannot be determined
Depicting all the connections in a tabular form we get :
Sikkim
Darjeeling |
Sarathang |
Namchi |
Mangan |
Lachung |
Takdah / Pelling |
Sukhiapukhri |
X |
4x4 wheel drive dirt road |
X |
Bicycle route |
Foot-trekking path |
Sandakphu |
4x4 wheel drive dirt road |
Bicycle route |
X |
Foot-trekking path |
X |
Mirik |
Foot-trekking path |
X |
4x4 wheel drive dirt road |
X |
Bicycle route |
Kurseong |
Bicycle route |
X |
Foot-trekking path |
X |
4x4 wheel drive dirt road |
Pelling / Takdah |
X |
Foot-trekking path |
Bicycle route |
4x4 wheel drive dirt road |
X |
If Pelling and Lachung are connected by a 4x4 wheel drive dirt road, Pelling must be in Darjeeling district. Thus Takdah will be in the state of Sikkim.
In that case, Takdah is connected by a bicycle route to Mirik.