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RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Jan. 31: Karma Sherpa, a contestant of Zee Bangla’s music reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, has come up with his first solo Nepali album, stealing a march over Indian Idol Prashant Tamang in terms of originality.

People in the hills, who had shown incredible zeal in voting for Prashant in Indian Idol 3, were a little disappointed with his first album, produced by Sony Music, which featured more remixes — of popular Hindi and Nepali songs — than originals.

Karma’s Destiny, on the other hand, comprises seven original tracks, including one song, “Timro Manta (Oh! Your Heart)”, which he has written and composed along with his friend Wangdi Sherpa.

“My first album is dedicated to all those who voted for me during the Sa Re Ge Ma Pa contest and I believe they will love it,” said Karma, who was in town today to promote his music album.

The singer from Sonada near Darjeeling told The Telegraph that despite not being very comfortable in Bengali, he did manage to make an impression during the long drawn contest telecast by the Bengali entertainment channel.

“I am in talks with Nepali film director Tikam Sharma to sing in one of his forthcoming films. Besides, another Hindi movie director has shown an interest in giving me a break,” Karma said.

Karma has been keeping himself busy by performing in various parts of the hills. Last week he was in Jaigoan, bordering Bhutan, where he sang alongside Prashant.

“It is good to see singers from the hills doing well. After Prashant (who is from Toongsoong in Darjeeling) and me, it is now Prakriti Giri (in Amul Star Voice of India — Chhote Ustaad) who is giving a good account of herself on the national stage,” said Karma.

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Jan. 30: The municipalities of Darjeeling and Kalimpong have banned the sale of poultry products in the two towns from today, but the civic body in Kurseong is still mulling over the decision.

R Thatal, the executive officer of the Darjeeling Municipality, said: “We decided to take this precautionary step because bird flu has rapidly spread in other districts.”

Though Darjeeling district is still untouched by the flu, most chicken vendors in the hills source their products from the plains through Siliguri. Bird flu has been confirmed in the nearby district of Cooch Behar.

Civic authorities in Darjeeling met the 40-odd major vendors of the town on January 25 before imposing the ban. Today, all shops selling poultry products were shut.

In Kalimpong, sanitary inspector Sanjay Pradhan said: “We request both sellers and buyers not to trade in broiler chickens and eggs till they hear from us.”

The vice-chairman of the Kurseong Municipality, Sanjay Chhetri, said the civic body “is yet to decide on the ban”.

In Takdah, 35km from Darjeeling, 38 chickens died in a poultry farm yesterday. “We have sent the samples to Calcutta. The chickens may have died of cold,” said district magistrate Rajesh Pandey. Yesterday, the temperature was sub-zero in Darjeeling.

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Kalimpong, Jan. 30: The president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Bimal Gurung, today said civil society’s concern about disruption of normal life in the hills in the present political climate would be kept in mind while chalking out the party’s future programmes.

Gurung, however, said at times options become limited, especially when there are particular situations that demand immediate protest. The Morcha chief, who interacted with a seven-member team of Citizens’ Rights Forum, an NGO here, was responding to a suggestion that the civil society should be consulted before political parties go for strikes or any other form of protests that can disrupt normal life.

The forum, comprising various organisations, came into being late last year following a crippling five-day bandh in the hills imposed by both the Morcha and the GNLF. Later, it had organised a massive rally protesting against the politics of strike.

On January 24, normal life across the hills was paralysed because of a dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the Morcha to demand the arrest of I.N. Pradhan, a GNLF leader in Darjeeling.

During the interaction, forum member A.P. Rai asked Gurung to exempt essential services, including some government departments, from the purview of bandhs. It was the poor people who were affected the most at times of political strife, he said.

“We as a civil society have the right to point out the mistakes as and when your party does something undemocratic,” said forum president N.P. Dixit.

The Morcha president was initially scheduled to address a public meeting at Gorubathan, 70km from here, but was forced to cancel the rally after police raised concerns about his security.

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Kalimpong, Jan. 29: A few concerned residents, under the banner of Save the Hills, are trying to find ways to fight landslides in Kalimpong, a problem skirted by the powers-that-be.

Over the past two days, the residents hosted a team of students from the North Bengal University’s one-year post-graduate diploma programme in disaster management and gave them a detailed account of the havoc caused by landslides in Kalimpong in September last year.

The team had eight students, accompanied by the department head Sanjay Rana.

The team was taken to a few landslide-hit areas like Elainchikhop, Bhalukhop, Dalapchand and 14th Mile. Save the Hills also conducted a workshop where its president Praful Rao made a power-point presentation for the benefit of the students.

“Some of the students will incorporate what they have learnt during this field trip in their project reports, which they have to prepare in the second semester of their course,” said Rana.

The objective behind the visit, said Rana, was to enable the students to get a first-hand experience of landslides and gather technical inputs.

The students, on their part, said the visit was of immense benefit to them.

“Lack of drainage, haphazard construction and poor soil character seemed to be the main causes of the landslides. What was also noticeable was that the people were not sufficiently aware of the problem,” said Preeti Gurung, a student.

In fact, the students were so moved by Save the Hill’s work on landslides that some of them have made a commitment to support the NGO in whatever way they can.

“We will be writing to authorities concerned and, maybe, even hold a seminar on the issue in our university,” said Gurung.

Rana confirmed that he was toying with the seminar idea.

The NGO has expressed unhappiness over the complete lack of initiative from government agencies to tackle the problem.

“Despite writing to so many agencies, we have found no evidence of any preventive work being done on the ground. The situation remains exactly the same as it was in September. This is scary because the monsoon is only about four-five months away,” said Rao.

The NGO has been tirelessly campaigning about the threat since the September landslides. It has already conducted three workshops.

“Despite receiving little response from agencies concerned, we will keep espousing the cause because, quite simply, our future is at stake here,” said the president of the NGO.

On September 7, 2007, five persons had died in the Kalimpong subdivision after incessant rain triggered a series of landslides in the area.

-Dr. Sonam B. Wangyal

At the time of the British take over of Kalimpong (1865) the population of the present day Sub-Division was estimated to be around 3536 souls only. Following the annexation immigration was actively encouraged and the industrious Nepalis happily crossed the Tista to populate and terrace the virgin soil. By 1881 the population had risen to 12,683 and the annual revenue from poll tax had also increased from a paltry Rs 640 to a respectable Rs 11,800. In the next decade the population more than doubled to 26,631 and the bazaar had, beside the Nepalis, Lepchas and Bhutias, several Marwaris, Mohameddans, and other plainsmen. When Britain extracted a trade convention in 1893 allowing for a trade mart at Yatung it was expected to boost trade through Kalimpong. However, nothing worthy of statistical records materialized and people, by then well over 45,000, went about their normal chores waiting for a bonanza called Tibet Trade. Then towards the turn of the century a man arrived who was to change the face of Kalimpong. This man, Rev. Dr. Grahams, in the opening year of the twentieth century contributed considerably to Kalimpong’s population, prestige and pecuniary development by commencing the St. Andrew’s Colonial Homes. The empty hillside below the Daelo then became the sight of sustained construction. Expecting many more Europeans to follow Dr. Graham, Daelo was made the preserve of the Europeans with the government earmarking ten residential sites of two acres each for European settlement. Far away on the opposite side the ‘Development Area’ was reserved for the hillmen with the ruling that no one else could occupy it. Later matters would end the other way around with Europeans and Bengalis living at the Development Area and the hillmen on the Daelo slopes.

The next spurt of development came when many of the soldiers in Younghusband’s Mission to Tibet passed through Kalimpong in 1904. The Mela Ground was increased to accommodate the soldiers, numerous coolies and suppliers arrived (many of whom never went back) and the crude road to Jelep La was improved upon. Incidentally, the temporary armoury of Younghusband containing some canons (Nepali: tope pronounced as in ‘rope’) became our present day ‘Top-khana’. This Mission profited the British with two more trade marts at Gyantse and Gartok and with that the chances of Kalimpong becoming a bustling trade centre increased. But hope was belied for the road communication was still primitive and most of all the Tista was yet to be bridged sufficiently strong for the expected commerce. It was during this difficult phase that a European wool trader, Mr Korb, finding that all suitable lands being either reserved forest or reserved for hillmen, applied to the government to purchase a plot. This became a sounding bell that there were people, besides the highlanders, who were interested in settling in Kalimpong. With Darjeeling becoming rapidly overpopulated the government now weighed Kalimpong as a possible alternative.

Mr. C. J. Stevenson-Moore, a Member of the Board of Revenue, along with the Commissioner of the Rajsahi Division and the deputy Commissioner of Darjeeling accordingly visited Kalimpong in the first week of June 1914. Kalimpong was found suitable for a hill station but Stevenson-Moore set three prerequisites: (1) the area east of Tista be declared a Sub-Division, (2) provision for potable water supply be made and (3) the road to Jelep La be improved. In 1915 the Tista Valley Extension Railway opened with Gaillekhola as a terminus and effort was made to improve the existing cart road between Tista and Kalimpong including the road to Jelep La. In 1916 Kalimpong was declared a Sub-Division and in November 1917 the Governor of Bengal visited Kalimpong and approved Rinkingpong as suitable site for a new Civil Station. The rules were revised to allow fresh settlers at Ringkingpong and the hillmen living there walked away with compensation for land, crop and building with an additional bonus in the form of cash for shifting. Kalimpong was now to become a hill station.

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January 29, 2008

The people of Kalimpong block I turned up in huge numbers at a Morcha rally in Kalimpong town today, suggesting that the three-month old party has breached the last bastion of the GNLF.

Around 7,000 people braved the winter chill for close to five hours to listen to speeches by a host of Morcha leaders, including party president Bimal Gurung.

“I’ve always said that people of Kalimpong take time to warm up, but once they are charged up it becomes very difficult to rein them in. The days of the GNLF are numbered,” said Gurung to wild cheers from his supporters.

“We are against the politics of violence. We will not take recourse to khukuris and guns to achieve our goal, but fight with the might of pen,” the Morcha president added.

The Morcha will organise rallies at Algarah tomorrow and at Gorubathan on Wednesday.

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Kalimpong, Jan. 27: The president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Bimal Gurung, is scheduled to address party supporters at a rally at Mela Ground here tomorrow.

This will be Gurung’s second visit to the Kalimpong subdivision after forming the party three months ago. He had made the first trip to address a public rally at the adjoining Motor Stand on October 31 last year.

Unlike last time, when there was not much participation from local people, tomorrow’s meeting could see massive turnout because the Morcha has gained a lot of ground since then. In the last three months, the party has set up units practically in every nook and cranny of the subdivision.

“These days getting people to attend our meetings require very little effort. The mere presence of Bimal is enough to draw crowds,” said Harka Bahadur Chhetri, a member of the Morcha’s central committee.

Chhetri said the meeting has been called as part of the Morcha’s continuing effort to create public opinion against the granting of Sixth Schedule status to the hills.

“If the people take a stand against accepting the Sixth Schedule, no government can ignore their will,” said Chhetri.

Gurung and other top Morcha leaders addressed a public meeting in Mungpoo in the Kurseong subdivision today.

“We are educating the people on the submission we made before the parliamentary standing committee (which has been given the task of examining the Sixth Schedule bill) and the response we got from it,” said Chhetri.

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Kurseong/Darjeeling, Jan. 25: GNLF leader I.N. Pradhan was arrested from Sukna today after eluding police since Tuesday night when he allegedly fired at Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters in front of his house at Ghayabari.

Jayanta Pal, the additional superintendent of police of Darjeeling, confirmed that it was an arrest and not a surrender. “He was arrested from Sukna,” Pal said.

Following an FIR lodged by the Morcha on Tuesday night, the police had found two unlicensed guns from Pradhan’s house and arrested his wife, Deepa, but failed to track down the Kurseong branch committee president of the GNLF. (more…)

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Gangtok, Jan. 24: Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) has appreciated the Sikkim government’s move to withdraw the letters of intent issued to four private hydro-electric power developers currently working on projects in the state.

The NGO now wants the government to take a similar decision on other hydel power projects in the state, including Teesta Stage IV and the 300mw Panan project.

The four projects sent to the backburner by the government include the 99mw Lingza project on the Tholung-chu in the Lepcha reserve of Dzongu in North Sikkim. (more…)

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The no-confidence motion against the GNLF-led civic board in Kalimpong was easily defeated at a specially convened meeting of the municipality today. All six commissioners in favour of the motion, including two GNLF rebels, chose to stay away from the meet, while 17 voted against it.

Later, municipality chairman C.K. Kumai said this was a victory for the GNLF and its president Subash Ghisingh.

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Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Jan. 24: The entire Darjeeling hills shut down today because of the dawn-to-dusk strike called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to demand the arrest of I.N. Pradhan, a GNLF leader from Kurseong.

Pradhan, who is accused of firing at Morcha supporters in Ghayabari on Tuesday night, is still missing. Police had found two unlicensed firearms in his house and arrested his wife, Deepa.

Morcha leaders said they would continue with their protests until the Kurseong branch committee president of the GNLF is brought to book, but steered clear of calling another bandh.

“We brought out a procession today and submitted a memorandum to the district magistrate, demanding the immediate arrest of Pradhan. If the administration fails to do so immediately, we will hold regular torch rallies across the hills,” Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, said in Darjeeling.

Tomorrow’s torch rally is scheduled to be held at 4.30pm.

Most commercial establishments in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong remained closed today and attendance was almost nil in government offices in all three subdivisions. There were no untoward incidents, though Morcha supporters put up pickets on the streets of the three towns early in the morning.

Later, around 500 of them courted arrest at the Kalimpong police station. They were subsequently released.

The tea gardens in the hills functioned as usual as the Morcha had decided to keep them out of the bandh’s purview. Sikkim-registered vehicles were allowed to ply on NH31A that links Gangtok to Siliguri.

The toy train service, however, was disrupted.

“We are thankful to the people for supporting us,” said Daya Dewan, the press and publicity chief of the Morcha, in Kurseong.

Harka Bahadur Chettri, a senior Morcha leader in Kalimpong, said the bandh was successful because incidents like the one involving Pradhan had to be condemned by all.

“Pradhan must be arrested at the earliest and brought to book. For all you know, he could be taking shelter at Lal Kothi (the DGHC headquarters in Darjeeling). We also urge the administration to cancel the gun licences of all former GNLF councilors,” Chettri added.

On the other hand, Dawa Pakhrin, the Kalimpong branch committee president of the GNLF, called it a “black day” for the town.

“In deference to the sentiments of the ordinary people, we have chosen to eschew the politics of bandhs. Otherwise, we could have resorted to one when one of our activists was severely injured in a khukuri attack by Morcha men at Lopchu some weeks ago,” the GNLF leader said.

Pakhrin also came out in support of his absconding party colleague. “We strongly condemn the attempt by the police to target I.N. Pradhan,” he said.

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Jan. 21: Supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today burnt copies of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Accord of 1988 even as Bimal Gurung, the party president, warned against granting another extension to Subash Ghisingh as the DGHC administrator.

Hundreds of people joined Gurung at Chowrastha in Darjeeling at precisely 11.19am. The Morcha chief warned the Bengal government against unrest in the hills, if the state continued to favour Ghisingh.

“During the Gorkhaland agitation, hundreds of people sacrificed their lives. But Ghisingh betrayed them when he signed the accord,” said Gurung.

In Kalimpong, the venue for burning the accord was Damber Chowk. What was noticeable was the presence of a strong contingent of women supporters.

Gurung also said the Lal Kothi — the administrative headquarters of the DGHC — would be gheraoed in February and not in March as was announced earlier. “We will not vandalise property. All we will do is lock it up for an indefinite period,” said Gurung. The Morcha leader said even if the Second States Reorganisation Commission is not formed, the party’s goal would be to attain Gorkhaland.

Gurung is also planning a massive welcome for members of the Standing Committee on Home Affairs when they come to Darjeeling next month. “I have urged my supporters to give them a massive welcome at Lebong (they are expected to land at the helipad there on February 7). We must line up every street in the hills to tell them that we condemn the Sixth Schedule status,” said Gurung.

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Siliguri, Jan. 18: Mira Kumari Rai of Kalimpong remembers her son Roshan with pride.

Roshan, a rifleman with the Gorkha Rifles, was awarded the posthumous Sena Medal, a gallantry award, for killing a terrorist and saving a colleague before dying in a gun fight in the Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir on November 14, 2006.

At an investiture ceremony at the Binnaguri cantonment today, Lt Gen. K.S. Jamwal, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Eastern Command, handed over the medal to Mira Kumari. (more…)

-Dr. Sonam B Wangyal

In the 1864-65 Anglo-Bhutan War the British stretched the Bhutanese troops by opening up multiple fronts along the length of the Bhutan border. However, unlike the Sikkim operation where the Rangeet was bridged, the Tista was not spanned and the battle was fought a good distance away from today’s Kalimpong town. The main motive for the British aggression was to cut off the Bhutanese from all the passes leading to the Indian plains. The war was fought between two uneven sides and despite a bit of saber rattling and some resistance the Bhutanese were no match against the more disciplined, better equipped and numerically stronger British forces. The westernmost flank traced the route through Ambiok, Algarah and thence to Daling fort. Following the expected victory the entire ‘Athara Duar’ or the eighteen passes between Assam and Bengal (‘Dwar/Duar’:Sanskrit – door, opening, pass) became British possession, and since the area west of Ambiok-Algarah-Daling was cut off from the Bhutanese it was also incorporated into the British gains. Kalimpong proper and its surrounding areas therefore came to British possession not because the British fought for them – it was just a bonus acquisition.

Quite naturally the British did not display any calculated concern to a cheaply obtained land and, regardless of the similarity of the population and terrain to that of Darjeeling, the wrested area was attached to the Western Duars as the Dalingkote Sub-Division. Kalimpong was left as it was and even the Mondals who collected the poll taxes for the Bhutanese were allowed to continue except that they would be doing so for the British thenceforth.

In the following year the Sub-Division of Dalingkote was transferred to Darjeeling and the designation ‘Sub-Division’ removed. The newly formed district was divided into (a) the Headquarters Sub-Division (960 square miles) consisting of all the hill areas on both sides of the Tista and (b) the Terai Sub-Division that included the foothills. Later (1891) Kurseong became the headquarters of a Sub-Division by the same name and in 1907 Siliguri Sub-Division was carved out, but Kalimpong remained as an unsolicited attachment to the District Headquarters. The apathy to this add-on territory was so absolute that for the entire area only two officers were appointed: a manager for the Khas Mahal lands and a Police Inspector. When Kurseong Sub-Division was created it had a population of 44,649 and in 1901 Kalimpong’s population was very close to that but the status of a Sub-Division still remained a distant dream. By 1911 the population had soared to 55,653 and yet Kalimpong was not made a Sub-Division and the honour was to eventually arrive only in 1916 when the population rose well beyond 70,000: it had taken all of 47 years for area to become a Sub-Division. Questions that logically and instantly arise are, why the apathy and why the delay in creating the Sub-Division.

The answer probably lies in something that Kalimpong could do nothing about: it was after all just a ‘bonus land’.

It gives me great pleasure to report that we will be featuring articles and essays by Dr. Sonam B. Wangyal.

Dr. Wangyal is the author of two books about the Darjeeling Hills: ‘Sikkim and Darjeeling: Division and Deception’ (2002, KMT Press, Bhutan) and ‘Footprints in the Himalayas: People, Places and Practices‘ (2006, KMT Press, Bhutan). In addition he has contributed numerous articles in various publications such as Himal, The Statesman and Himalayan Times (Kalimpong). He has a vast and probably unparalleled knowledge about the culture, traditions and history of our region including languages, customs, religion and personalities.

Dr. Wangyal’s writing is most informative and a must read for all of us associated with Kalimpong and the Darjeeling hills, and we are indeed very fortunate that he has graciously agreed to the posting (or reposting) of his writings here.

I am sure all readers will enjoy these articles and again I encourage you to participate by contributing with your comments and opinions, hopefully leading to lively and productive debate and discussion.

Thank You

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