www.telegraphindia.com
Kalimpong/Darjeeling, July 22: A year after the arrest of suspected rapist and murderer of Hannah Foster, a 17-year-old girl in Hampshire, England, people who helped police track down and nab the alleged offender Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, have been rewarded as promised. (more…)
Statesman News Service
KALIMPONG, July 20. — The felicitation of Paril continues. As an expression of solidarity towards the 13-year-old sub-junior national archery champion, the association of the heads of ICSE and ICS schools today handed over a check worth rupees fifteen thousand rupees to Paril Lepcha here at Dr Graham Homes. (more…)
www.telegraphindia.com
Kalimpong, July 19: The GNLF has condemned the state government for not releasing funds sanctioned by the Centre for an engineering college to be set up here. (more…)
Fiction by Prabin Moktan.
The Watch
The moon loosened itself from the clouds and a soft light shone down on Min.A scar very precise and geometric ran underneath his left eye to disappear into a cross-stitch of other smaller scars that were concealed by a mop of jet-black hair.Min and his two friends were on a mission. The three of them quiet, confident and almost feline stole into the darkness and positioned themselves below the broad leaves of the banana trees that flanked the dirt road leading to the cluster of huts. Slowly they began to work at the trunk of one of the trees, laboriously sawing away the wet tissues with a khukri. They worked quietly; the only sound was the muffled noise of the sawing and the patter of the waters of the dhara falling on the flat stones below. It wasn’t long before the upper half of the trunk was almost severed, held precariously by a few strands of stubborn fibre. They stopped and waited for the heavy drunken footfalls of Kaka to come dragging down the dark road. Presently the stooping figure of Kaka drunk as usual staggered along, swaying from one end of that narrow road to another. He had barely reached the dhara when Min and his friends let go of that unstable plant to make it fall at Kaka’s feet with a giant thud that disturbed the night and sent all the dogs of the hamlet nearby into a medley of very terrified barks. Kaka jumped out of his drunken stupor and in that sudden burst of uncoordinated, uncontrolled movement landed right into the slime pool with its cold sticky mess of soap water and mosquito larvae. Min and his friends jumped out of the darkness desperately trying to control their laughter. They pulled Kaka out of the mess and put him under the dhara to give that reluctant individual now reduced to a complaining bundle of flailing arms and gibberish, a swift and very undignified bath. They then carried that soft white naked mass of puffy flesh to his house and deposited it in his room so that he could regain both composure and dignity in the familiarity of his piss-stained double bed. (more…)
New fiction by Prabin Moktan…
AMALA AND THE WORM
Nabin Limbu lead as normal an existence as any 23 year old freelance DTP professional who dreamed of landing a government job before he crossed the age limit for such luxury. He did not smoke but occasionally hung out with his friends to binge-drink with them at the neighbourhood chaang joint run by amala, a middle-aged Tibetan hag who had come to Kalimpong during the early sixties.This woman had one daughter who was majoring in American studies from a university in the US and a son somewhere in Dharamsala with His Holiness’s government in exile. Both were acutely embarrassed by their mother’s present vocation but they could do little to convince Tshering Nima to take up an alternative career. Her daughter a pragmatic girl who valued the entrepreneurial skills of her people suggested that she sell noodles while her son would rather have her live a quiet religious life spent counting her 108-beaded rosary. But Tshering Nima would have none of it. She had struggled all her life and she would not suffer these upstarts to tell her what to do. So she religiously got up at five every morning to visit the beef stalls to fetch her daily quota of ox-tail bones, lungs and a general assortment of other bovine appendages from which she could conjure up a tasty side dish for Nabin Limbu and company. (more…)
www.thestatesman.net
KALIMPONG, July 18. — The GNLF-C, while extending its support for Sixth Schedule status today, claimed that it will head for a full-fledged demand for a state if the inclusion of the Dooars and Siliguri were to be overlooked. (more…)
www.telegraphindia.com
Kalimpong, July 17: It was all about female emancipation. A women’s organisation today felicitated Usha Chhetri, who has recently been posted here as the sub-inspector, at the Chest Clinic community hall in Haat Bazaar here. (more…)
www.thestatesman.net
KALIMPONG, July, 14. — Fourteen persons were injured in an accident at Labarbotey, 18 km from here, today. The actual cause of the accident is still unknown. The vehicle reportedly fell from a height of about 15 feet. Ten of those injured were admitted to the local sub-divisional hospital. Four others were referred to Siliguri.
www.thestatesman.net
KALIMPONG, July, 14. — Pressure is mounting on the DGHC chairman as to whether he would be able to bargain for the inclusion of Siliguri and Dooars in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, following the meeting with the chief minister scheduled to be held at Kolkata tomorrow. (more…)
www.telegraphindia.com
July 13: The two-day programme to celebrate the 191st birth anniversary of Nepalese poet Bhanu Bhakta started today at the Town Hall in Kalimpong. (more…)
