December 2006
Monthly Archive
29 Dec 2006 11:46 pm
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www.telegraphindia.com
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| RAJEEV RAVIDAS |
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Kalimpong, Dec. 29: New Year eve is approaching and the hills are ready to rock.
For 225 lucky people this year’s New Year bash will be a memorable incident. Deolo Tourist Lodge has lined up several attractions for the party that will be the only one of its kind in the hill town. So between the pegs and the lovely food the guests can jive to some foot-tapping live music, courtesy Thopden and his band, as they welcome 2007 from the lofty heights of the lodge.
“We want to welcome the New Year in style, which is why we trying to organise a classy evening for our guests. We have deliberately printed 100 tickets for couples and only 25 for stags so as to avoid any unpleasant situation,” said Sanjay Das, the manager of the lodge. The tickets of the lodge, which is located at an altitude of 1,704 m (5,590 ft) — the highest point in Kalimpong — are priced at Rs 700 for couples and Rs 350 for stags. The tickets include food and two pegs of any drink barring scotch.
The menu on offer is varied so as to suit the palate of one and all. Guests can take their pick from tandoori, continental and Chinese. “Here too we have decided to be very flexible in that a guest can have a fill of any item of his choice. Suppose a guest wants to have only 20 bowls of soup, he will be provided that,” said Das.
The party, though, is not only about drink and food. The guests can dance away their year-old blues at a specially-constructed dance floor on the lawns of the picturesque lodge that overlooks the town. All the couples will be provided with a table for themselves.
The party will start at 6 pm and will continue up to 12.30. And when the clock strikes 12, each guest will get to cut a slice of a special six-pound cake with 2007 written on it, Das said. The idea, he added, is to ensure a trouble-free evening, truly enjoyable one for all the guests.
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26 Dec 2006 11:01 pm
www.telegraphindia.com
ANURADHA SHARMA LAKHOTIA
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| Special attractions |
Siliguri, Dec. 26: Not just butterflies and bees, flowers attract tourists too.
Visitors have started swarming to Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills lured by the orchids and rhododendrons.
Barely has the winter boom begun to peak with the onset of Yuletide and New Year’s Eve celebrations that the local tourism industry is abuzz with queries from international tourists wanting to holiday here “all for the love of flowers” in the coming summer months.
“A new breed of special-interest tourists has evolved over the years,” said Amit Periwal, the director of Clubside Tours and Travels, one of the oldest tour operators in north Bengal.
Though these niche tourists try not to miss the sunrise at Tiger Hill, it is flowers that are the main draw. The orchids of Kalimpong and Sikkim, the rhododendrons of North and West Sikkim and the pink primulas that carpet the Lachung valley in North Sikkim in April and May are major draws for tourists from all over the globe. (more…)
21 Dec 2006 08:28 pm
www.telegraphindia.com
Avijit Sinha
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| Participants at the camp. A Telegraph picture |
Kopish Forest (Kalimpong), Dec. 18: Deepika, Parag and their friends were elated.
At the end of a 15-km ride through the dense forests of Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary, Jhalong and the Sevoke hills, these special children had their first taste of a nature study-cum-adventure camp here today.
Over a hundred of them, hailing from different parts of the state, Delhi, Varanasi and Jamshedpur converged on Siliguri (85 km from here) this morning, eager to attend the six-day camp organised by Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation (Hnaf). They then accompanied a team of experts to reach the campsite later in the day.
“This is the 16th year we are holding the camp. Our objective is to bring the special children out of their homes and into the lap of nature, so that they can see and feel the surroundings and learn from their experience,” said Ashok Nandi, the secretary of Hnaf. (more…)
21 Dec 2006 08:26 pm
www.telegraphindia.com
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| Children make merry in the rally on the opening day. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha |
Kalimpong, Dec. 18: The five-day Kalimpong Carol Festival, which began here today, set the mood for Christmas celebrations in the subdivision, which has the highest number of Christians in the district.
The festival began with a huge rally, which started from the town hall and converged at Damber Chowk, after taking a detour through 10th Mile.
Members of various Christian communities turned up at the rally in their traditional costumes. Father Santa with a sack full of goodies did the star turn and was mobbed by children along the route. As the procession meandered through the busy thoroughfares of the town, the people sang Christmas carols and wished each other.
Later, at the specially constructed dias in the heart of the town, choir groups, including one from Gandhi Ashram here, regaled the gathering with more soothing hymns. Senior Christian leader Chatra Paul Subba explained the significance of Christmas. The carol singing, of course, will continue, beginning at 5 pm, for the next four days. (more…)
21 Dec 2006 08:21 pm
www.telegraphindia.com
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Kalimpong, Dec. 18: The ruins of the Damsangdri fort above Pudung will provide the backdrop to part of the 275th birth anniversary celebrations of legendary Lepcha King Pano Gaeboo Achyok on Wednesday.
The highlight of this year’s festivity will be the sheraboo (literally meaning hunter). As the name suggests, it is a dance performed by the Lepchas before they embark on hunting expeditions, or while rejoicing after a big catch.
“About nine or 10 of us will perform the dance. The idea is to inspire youngsters to preserve our traditional dances in their true form,” said Azuk Tamsangmoo, chief adviser to Rongoung Prongnun, an youth organisation of the Lepcha community. (more…)
11 Dec 2006 11:26 pm
www.telegraphindia.com
Kalimpong, Dec. 11: The permanent repair work on the damaged portion of NH 31A at 27th Mile here is yet to start, as the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) authorities have not released the required fund though the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) have submitted the estimate.
In their defence, NHPC officials said the delay in the release of the funds was because the BRO, which will execute the work, submitted the estimate in the third week of November. The BRO has put forward a revised estimate of Rs 2.93 crore for the work. “We have sent the estimate to our corporate office, and the funds should be released within the next two weeks,” said S. Khatua, chief engineer, Teesta Low Dam Project, Stage III, Rambi. Khatua said they wanted an assurance from the BRO to complete the work before the onset of monsoon, to which, an official of the road organisation said: “We can start work only after the power corporation releases the funds.”
(more…)
10 Dec 2006 08:07 pm
www.telegraphindia.com Kalimpong, Dec. 10: The postal department’s approach to work may well have robbed a young woman of her job.
Swapna Lama, a resident of Upper Gumbahatta here, could not sit for the second part of the examination for recruitment to the post of lower division clerk (LDC) in the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), thanks to the local post office which delivered her call letter five days after the examination date.
The speed post letter posted from Calcutta on November 21 reached the Kalimpong post office on November 24, but was delivered to Lama only on December 7. The peon on the route had gone to Lama’s place on November 24 itself, but not finding anyone at home, returned without delivering the mail. The LDC Part II examination was slated for December 2.
“The rules clearly say that the postal officials must go to the mailing address for seven consecutive days, and only on not finding the addressee on all seven days can they return the mail to the sender. But, in my case, not only did the postman make a solitary trip to my house, but the postal officials also failed to return the letter to the sender after seven days,” said Lama, who teaches at the local Kendriya Vidyalaya.
She has now approached the Kalimpong Consumer Association (KCA), requesting it to take up her case against the postal department.
“The opportunity to secure a job in the ESIC has gone, at least for now, but I don’t want other people to suffer my fate,” Lama said.
(more…)
08 Dec 2006 06:10 pm
www.telegraphindia.com
Kalimpong, Dec. 8: The Cabinet approval of the bill granting rights of forest land to residents of fringe villages has been welcomed by the Himalayan Forest Villagers’ Organisation here.
According to information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, who spoke to reporters after the Cabinet meeting yesterday, the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2006 was given the nod to “undo the historical injustice” to tribals residing in forests for generations.
Noting that there was a controversy on whether there should be two bills (one for tribals and another for forest dwellers) or not, Das Munshi said the Cabinet decided on one with 2005 as the cut-off year.
The bill will be introduced in the current session of Parliament after amendments are suggested by the ministers of tribal affairs, panchayati raj, forest and law, he added. (more…)
07 Dec 2006 08:39 pm
www.telegraphindia.com SUBHRO SAHA
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| Members of the Dr Graham’s Homes choir in town for two performances over the weekend. Picture by Aranya Sen |
It’s taken them five years to make it to Covent Garden via Calcutta. And that’s just part of the learning curve for the young members of the Dr Graham’s Homes choir.
If Calcuttans have been greeting them with a spontaneous ‘thank you for the music’’ these past few winters, the city has also changed the lives for many of these talented kids from Kalimpong.
“You often need an annual event to project the work of an organisation. Calcutta has given these children the platform to realise the kind of chemistry they can create with the audience when they perform on a big stage,” observes M.J. Robertson, president and chairman, board of management of the Homes.
(more…)
07 Dec 2006 07:43 pm
www.thestatesman.net
SILIGURI, Dec. 7: Three armed robbers entered into the official residence of Dr GM Dey near the Kalimpong sub-divisional hospital around 9 pm last night, and looted Rs 12,000 in cash and other valuables, including three cell phones, from him at gunpoint.
The robbers reportedly claimed themselves to be the members of United Gorkha Liberation Army (UGRA), a militant outfit of the Hills. The Kalimpomg police, however, have ruled out the possibility of the involvement of UGRA militants in the robbery.
According to the doctor, three men, in their mid-20s, entered into his residence posing as patients, keeping their faces half-covered. “After opening the door, I found a young man requesting for medical help. However, after entering the room along with two of his associates, he asked me to hand over Rs 20,000 in cash. All the three robbers were armed with revolvers,” Dr Dey, said. Mr Debashis Boral, ASP, Kalimpong, said: “We have no evidence to claim that the UGRA militants were involved in the incident. It is unlikely that an extremist organisation would rob a house without issuing any threat calls.”
The ASP, however, said that a probe had been ordered into the incident.
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