www.kalimpong.info

From http://www.darjeelingtimes.com/

MONDAY, 06 MAY 2013 19:25

Darjeeling, May 6: With an ultimatum ended at 6pm today, indefinite bandh called by GJMM has been suspended till further notice said Roshan Giri, at a press meet in Darjeeling today. A delegation headed by Dr. Rohit Sharma met Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata today. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed her concern over the latest incident occurred in Darjeeling, she has also assured to form an Enquiry Commission to investigate the Mirik-Saureni incident. During the meeting with GJMM delegation, Chief Minister had a Telephone conversation with GJMM chief Bimal Gurung and requested to hold back indefinite Bandh called by the GJMM. Police has already arrested 8 GNLF supporters in this connection.

In an incident of clash between GNLF and GJMM supporters, GJMM leaders and supporters were mostly injured during Lathi-charged by the police and RAF personnel in Saureni, Mirik on Sunday. In protest, GJMM immediately called indefinite bandh in Darjeeling hills and demanded immediate transfer of Mirik OC (officer in charge of Mirik police station) and also arrest of GNLF supporters who are involved in the incident. Later bandh was called back, GJMM issued a threat of indefinite bandh with an ultimatum to meet their demands by 6pm of June 6.

From TOI

IANS | May 5, 2013, 07.41 PM IST

DARJEELING, West Bengal: The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) on Sunday called an indefinite strike in the Darjeeling Hills of northern West Bengal demanding the removal of a cop and arrest of the rival GNLF activists for “attacking” its members.

Activists from the GJM and the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) clashed on Sunday during a public rally in Mirik in the district. Police had to resort to baton-charge to control the melee. Two people have been injured in the clash.

The GJM is demanding the removal of Mirik police station incharge Sourav Sen, who allegedly led an indiscriminate baton charge on its activists, injuring several of them.

“We have informed the government, including chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the police top brass that unless Sen is suspended and the GNLF miscreants are arrested, there will be an indefinite strike in the hills,” GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said.

However, the GJM leadership later relaxed the strike call till Monday evening to allow the West Bengal government to act on its demands.

“We do not want to disturb the tourist season. So we have decided to defer our strike call till Monday 6pm. If by then the government does not remove Sen and arrest the GNLF goons, we will go ahead with the strike,” said the leader of GJM, which has called for intensifying its demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

“The GNLF had organised a public rally without police permission. They attacked our people who were participating in an authorised rally. Police indiscriminately baton-charged our people,” Giri said.

“A strike does affect tourism, but if our demands are not met, then we have no other way out. We have to go for strikes,” said Giri.

The dragging campaign for Gorkhaland has led to the loss of many lives over the past two decades, besides hitting the economic mainstays – tea, timber and tourism – of the northern hills of the state.

The Subash Ghising-led GNLF spearheaded the Gorkhaland agitation till a few years back, but then lost ground to the GJM, which is now the numero uno outfit in the hills.

The GJM now runs the GTA after sweeping its maiden territorial elections in July last year.

ibnlive.in.com

Apr 18,2013
Darjeeling, Apr 18 (PTI) The owner of a nursing home at Kalimpong in Darjeeling district was arrested after his wife Dr Gyalmit Lepcha accused him of torturing her mentally and physically. Dr Gyalmit Lepcha had filed a written complaint against Dr Pawan Ojha, the owner of the nursing home and a veterinarian, at the Kalimpong police station on Sunday night. Ojha was produced yesterday at the ACJM’s court at Kalimpong and taken into police remand for 14 days. The police said he would be again produced in the court on April 29. Ojha is known in town as a respectful individual while his wife too is a well-known doctor at the Kalimpong Government Hospital. When approached by the press, she refused to comment.

First of all, I’m not sure why there would be such a surprise that Kalimpong likes soccer more than cricket.
Nonetheless, it is a fact that Kalimpong has a long proud tradition of cricket. The talent’s just not been unearthed.

So good move by UVK et al.

From: www.telegraphindia.com
By RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, April 17: If you thought all boys in all localities in the country played only cricket, Kalimpong would make you think twice.

It has definitely made the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) think about popularising a sport that many in the country see as a religion.

Yes, Kalimpong likes soccer more than cricket, which is why the CAB, in collaboration with the United Veterans Kalimpong, is organising an under-17 t20 cricket tournament that started today.

The venue is the Dr. Graham’s Homes school ground. Four cricket academy teams are participating in the event, of which only one ‘ Veterans Kalimpong ‘ is from the hills.

The other three are Calcutta-based Bournvita Cricket Academy, Calcutta Cricket Academy and Howrah Union Cricket Academy.

Kanchan Maity, an A-level coach assigned by the CAB to promote cricket and spot talent in the hills, said the tournament is part of an exercise to popularise cricket in the hills. “The hills are known for football, but since the time we have been here, it has been quite apparent that there is an aptitude for cricket too.”

“I was here last year and conducted a few clinics, following which I picked eight players and took them to Calcutta in winter where they played the CAB under-14 league. A few of them, particularly the little leg-spinner Avishkar Sharma, fared very well. I think he picked up eight wickets in two 45 over games,” he said. The CAB is being helped in its endeavour by the UVK, which has former local cricketers among its members.

“The CAB had told us about its plans to introduce subdivision-level tournaments throughout the state, including the hills, sometime in May last year. They provided us with cricket kits worth Rs 50,000, and sent Kanchan to conduct clinics here,” said Sandip Jain, the UVK vice-president and a former cricketer from Kalimpong.

Jain said the tournament would be held on a larger scale next year and his association would do whatever it could to complement the efforts of the CAB.
“Our kids have talent in plenty, what they lack is professional guidance. Hopefully, this initiative will mark the start of unearthing cricketing talent in the hills.” One reason for the lack of popularity of cricket in the hills could be the lack of heroes. But then no player from the hills has ever played at the domestic level, like the Ranji Trophy.

The hills have had soccer heroes though. Dinkar Chhetri, the president of United Kurseong Football Club, was himself a soccer star. Urgen Lama from Kalimpong played for the Mohammedan Sporting Club in 1982.

From The Telegraph

A garbage pile near the Mela Grounds in Kalimpong on Monday. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

Kalimpong, March 18: The Kalimpong municipality has not collected garbage in the town for over 10 days, except for Saturday, as it is yet to find a suitable site to dump the town’s waste which was earlier dropped in the Teesta.

The local people had protested and forced the closure of the old civic dump yard at Bhalukhop in June 2008 after which the municipality had been dumping waste in the Teesta near Labarbote, ignoring protests from various quarters.

Once the NHPC’s Teesta low dam project Stage III started in Rambi, over 40 days back, which is about 10km downstream from Labarbote, garbage could no longer be dumped there as the water became stagnant in the upstream area.

The civic body then started dumping garbage at a place near Rambi on NH31A.

Kalimpong generates about four tonnes of garbage every day.

Municipality chairman L.B. Parihar said the town’s garbage problem would be solved soon as the approach road to a six-acre plot at Newargaon in Lower Bhalukhop that the municipality had acquired to set up a solid waste management plant was almost ready.

Parihar claimed the waste management plant was almost ready. “The garbage problem will be solved in a week’s time,” he said.

Even though work on setting up the plant had started about three years back, not much progress has been made because of frequent landslides in the area. A portion of the main road leading to the site was washed away in a landslide in the monsoons in 2011. The road is yet to be repaired and a new road leading to the site is nearing completion.

“If in all these years, the municipal authorities have been unable to find a permanent solution to the garbage problem, I doubt they would be able to do so in a week’s time. All this is very frustrating,” said a resident, who has to breathe the stench of the mounting garbage in front of his house.

Ratan Bahadur Tamang, a vegetable vendor in Haat Bazar, said customers have stopped coming to his shop because of the increasing pile of waste in front of his shop.

“My livelihood is under threat because of the garbage which is piling up everyday,” he said.

Back in 2011 Kalimpong native Manoj Pandey had a brilliant idea… A twitter handle, @TalesOnTweet, that tells tales … in 140 characters.

The challenges of succinctness, and of brevity versus narratives soon found many a follower & contributor, including giants like Salman Rushdie: [She died. He followed her into the underworld. She refused to return, preferring Hades. It was a long way to go to be dumped.], and actor Kabir Bedi [On the bank of the Ganges, he'd prepared a thousand funeral pyres, not knowing the sorrow of death. Till his son died.]

TalesOnTweet now has a contract for an illustrated e-book and a paperback version. These will contain tweets hand-picked from the hundreds that have been contributed by writers around the world.

The People’s Forum has said it will file a PIL (public interest litigation) against the recently announced series of strikes.

From The Telegraph

Darjeeling, Feb. 18: An anti-Gorkha Janmukti Morcha outfit has said it will file a PIL against the latest round of strikes and bandhs declared by Bimal Gurung that would “only serve to harass the common public”.

If the general secretary of the People’s Forum, Pravin Gurung, does go to court, it will be the first time in the hills that any person or outfit took legal recourse against any shutdown called on the sensitive issue of Gorkhaland.

Pravin Gurung today said: “Everybody in the hills is in favour of Gorkhaland, but in the past we have seen that the closure of government offices and the general strikes only serve to harass the common public without yielding any positive results.”

He added: “I have consulted my lawyers in Calcutta and we have decided to file a PIL against the closure of government offices and strikes in the high court this week.”

The Peoples’ Forum said the strikes would not only inconvenience students appearing for various board examinations but also hamper tourism which is the backbone of the hill economy.

The 48-hour bandhs — on March 14-15 and March 21-22 — and a government office strike from March 9-27 could directly affect the HS examinations scheduled to be held between March 13 and 26, though the Morcha has said it will keep the examination calendar in mind. Madhyamik begins on February 25, while the ICSE and ISC exams are scheduled to start on February 27. The examination papers are usually sent by boards in advance and kept either in the treasury office or in bank vaults.

A Morcha leader said: “We will definitely exempt all examination-related departments from our agitation.”

Reacting to the rivals’ charge, Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said: “These opposition parties are against the formation of the state and that explains why they are opposing the agitation.”

Giri said: “Only today, we received a letter from Sonia Gandhi, where she has acknowledged receiving a letter written by our party president on January 21 demanding Gorkhaland. The letter, written on February 6 states ‘I have noted the contents (of Gurung’s letter)’. It is a proof our party has been able to bring the demand to the notice of all national leaders.”

From The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Feb. 17: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has announced a series of shutdowns in the Darjeeling hills from next month to demand Gorkhaland, blaming Mamata Banerjee for forcing its hand and virtually taking away a peace trophy from the chief ministry’s showcase of achievements.

In a throwback to the days of unrest, two instalments of 48-hour bandhs have been called on March 14 and March 15 and March 21 and March 22. The bandhs will be book-marked by other protests and a rally.

See chart:

“The government of West Bengal has pushed us to agitation. Mamata Banerjee has pushed us into it by forcibly interfering in our affairs. She came to Darjeeling and slapped us by saying Darjeeling is a part of Bengal. She made utterances like ‘I can be rough and tough’. Just like she fought for ma, mati, manush, we are also fighting for our ma, mati, manush,” Morcha chief Bimal Gurung said in Kalimpong this morning.

Gurung announced a staggered schedule for the “limited programmes in the third and final agitation for Gorkhaland”. The protests will begin with an across-the-board strike at government offices on March 9 and end with a public rally in Sukna on March 31.

From The Telegraph

Darjeeling, Feb. 4: Bimal Gurung today said he would soon resign from the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Sabha, the council that runs the Darjeeling hills, so that he can devote himself fully to the statehood movement.

“I will resign from the GTA in a few days. The Sabha (the 45-member elected body formed under the GTA Act) will sit for a meeting after which I will resign so that I can be fully involved in the next phase of the Gorkhaland agitation,” Gurung told a party meeting at the Darjeeling Gymkhana Club.

The declaration of intent adds to the headaches of the state government that has been at the receiving end in the hills since Mamata Banerjee raised sensitive issues during a meeting at Chowrastha and provoked a backlash.

Gurung referred to the chief minister’s speech last week. “She acted like Hitler. What does she mean by ‘rough and tough’? Many chief ministers have visited the hills but no one spoke like her in such a bitter tone. No Gorkha should tolerate such statements,” he said.

AND

The move is being seen as an attempt not just to prove his sincerity to the Gorkhaland cause but also to keep the wheels oiled for a renewed agitation if a Telangana state comes into being.

The resignation will help Gurung reassure his core constituency that he has not put personal privileges above the statehood movement. At the same time, the absence of any other leader matching Gurung’s clout will ensure that his writ would run in the council even if he is no longer the chief executive, Morcha sources said.

Gurung said: “Only I shall resign from the GTA. I will not ask the 45 elected members or even the chairman and the municipality commissioners to resign. From now on, no one should come to me for contract work but only for Gorkhaland.”

AND

Gurung today said he had purposely decided not to sign the memorandum of agreement of the GTA. “The agreement was signed by the party’s general secretary Roshan Giri. It was for a reason I had not signed on that document,” he said. “It would have been binding on me.”

A Writers’ Buildings source said the government saw no reason to be apprehensive of Gurung’s “empty threats”.

“He (Gurung) stands only to lose, should he give up the post of chief executive. We don’t think he would do that. It will be extremely difficult for him to pick a successor,” said the source.

“As far as his logic of not being a signatory to the tripartite agreement is concerned, there is no legal or constitutional basis to it. Roshan Giri (the general secretary of the Morcha) signed the agreement as the authorised signatory of Gurung. Besides, not signing the agreement does not make it easier, or more difficult, for Gurung to pull out of the post,” the source added.

Very cool.

Jane McCabe is a PhD candidate at the university of Otago (New Zealand). She is studying the early ‘Anglo-Indian’ students of Dr. Graham’s Homes for her dissertation: “Kalimpong Kids: New Zealand as destination for the mixed-race offspring of British tea planters in colonial India”.

Here’s a link to her academic profile, and a link to the Kalimpong Kids site that she maintains.

From Yahoo

The fate of 130 Anglo-Indian children, educated and sent to New Zealand for a better future, is being recorded by a University of Otago PhD candidate.

The children, known as the Kalimpong Kids, were removed from their families at a young age by a Scottish Presbyterian missionary in the early 1900s.

Though all have since died, Jane McCabe, whose grandmother was one of the children, is recording their story through their descendants.

Dr John Graham set up the St Andrews Colonial Homes, at Kalimpong in the Darjeeling district of north-east India, to save the illegitimate children of European tea planters and their Indian or Nepalese mistresses – workers from the plantations.

Miss McCabe says Dr Graham felt the futures of these loved, but mixed-race, children – product of two cultures and welcome in neither – should be improved given their European blood.

His school aimed to educate the children in English, give them manual and social skills, then, when they were 15 or 16 years old, send them to the more egalitarian colonies, where a job had been found for them. Boys arrived to work on farms, and girls had contracts to work as domestic help.

Miss McCabe says family stories and records show that the relationships between the fathers and mothers of the children was mostly genuine, and only prevented from being formalised by social restrictions.

However, few of the children saw their mothers again, and some families have no details about her identity, as the children were often removed at a very young age.
Several had relationships with their fathers later in life though, including Miss McCabe’s own grandmother, Lorna Peters, who had arrived in Dunedin with five others in 1921.

Her tea planter father came to live in Dunedin and Lorna lived with him until her marriage, then he lived with her family the rest of his life.

Miss McCabe has traced some of the New Zealand families of the original Kalimpong emigrants, and her PhD will answer questions about why New Zealand was the only colony which accepted the children in large numbers until emigration stopped after thirty years in 1939.

As well as an oral history from families, her research includes access to the diary Dr Graham kept when he visited New Zealand in the 1930s and sought out every one of his former students.

Happy Independence Day to all dear Kalimpongeys..

.. featuring Kalimpong’s little Yangzam.

(Thanks to DestinedNomad for the video)

From The Telegraph

RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, May 13: If you have been toying with the idea of playing the guitar and rock is your style, a music school in town can guide you in your journey.

A rock guitar school that offers its students certificates from an England-based music institute started here last month.

It is the first institution in Kalimpong to provide training in rock guitar.

Rock School set up by guitarist Clement Lepcha is functioning from Haat Bazar near here and has a tie-up with an institute by the same name in England.

Lepcha said students of his school could complete their courses and apply for the exams that the foreign institute conducts every year.

“There will be eight grades in total. We have started with the first two grades. Twelve students have already enrolled in our school,” said Lepcha.

Examinations are held for each grade. Lepcha said guitar classes were held every Saturday. While the admission fee is Rs 1,500 for each student, the monthly fee is Rs 800.

“We will be shifting to a permanent place at Dungra Busty in 11th Mile. As of now I am the only qualified teacher. But I will recruit more teachers as the number of students increase,” said Lepcha, who has a degree in classical guitar from Trinity College of Music, London.

Although guitar is very popular in the hills, there are not many schools that provide expert training in the stringed instrument. Darjeeling has a school for western classical guitar, but Lepcha’s school is the first in rock genre.

Lepcha said the training would include both practical and theory lessons.

Norden Lama, the 39-year-old bassist of rock band Flames, and a student of Rock School, said: “I have been playing the guitar for 24 years now. But I don’t know how to read the notations. I learned guitar on my own but now I want to learn it in a systematic way.”

Lepcha said the annual exams for this year were scheduled for November. The tests would be conducted here.