RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, May 15: The directorate of technical education in Bengal has taken necessary steps to ensure the sustainability of Chitrabhanu, the art and craft centre, where no student has enrolled for quite some time now.

Housed in a cottage, once a summer home of Rabindranath Tagore, at Atisha Road here, the centre currently has no trainees. It does not have adequate teaching staff either. As The Telegraph had reported last December, the total staff strength of the centre consists of one instructor, two office clerks, a peon and a night guard.

In an effort to reverse its decline, the directorate now plans to fill up all vacancies and introduce a two-year post-graduate diploma in computer application at the centre.

“The cabinet and finance department have already given nod to the filling up of five posts and we will soon set the recruitment process in motion,” said Parijat Dey, the director of technical education, over the phone from Calcutta.

The posts include that of superintendent, an instructor each for art and craft, music and computer, and a matron for the girls’ hostel. Dey said they would be appointed in two-three months.

The director said the PG diploma course would be open to both boys and girls. He added that the idea of starting the course is to train young people in the hills in computer application and enable them to find employment. The centre has run programmes only for women so far.

Dey said plans are also afoot to revamp the one-year diploma training for ensuring that students become employed or self-employed.

Chitrabhanu was set up 44 years ago to train women between the age of 18 and 30 in disciplines like painting, music and craft. However, there have been no takers for the centre from the side of either trainees or teachers recently.

GOPALI BANDOPADHYAY

I landed at Bagdogra’s tiny airport early this month, experiencing equal measures of enthusiasm and trepidation. The latter especially because West Bengal Urban Development Minister Ashok Bhattacharya had been discouraging tourists from travelling to Darjeeling to enjoy its cool climes. He had warned that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) would create trouble for tourists.

According to media reports, the locals were very agitated about the state government’s actions and the hill station was seething with unrest - an indefinite strike was looming. I had been warned that a strike would mean trouble. I would be stranded in an inaccessible place; food and water would run out; and there could be violence against Bengalis.

Nonetheless, I was desperate for a break and, chin up, decided Darjeeling was the best bet considering the short distance and char-ming surroundings. So there I was, in a car, speeding towards my destination. If I had been expecting trouble, it turned out to be entirely unfounded. The local people seemed peace-loving and gentle.

Following the typical tourist agenda, I began by visiting the popular sightseeing venues. The first day I saw the Japanese temple and Buddhist pagoda and then the Rock Garden and Ganga Maya. Darjeeling has certainly woken up to its tourism potential. Most of its income is from this sector, with tea coming in at a distant second. In peak season, tourist traffic crosses 20,000 per day.

I wanted to know the what the local people felt about the current unrest and the demand for inclusion in the Sixth Schedule. I spoke to as many people I came in contact with: the car driver, shawl and knickknack sellers at the Mall, people at ticket counters, cooks at the guest house and waiters at restaurants where we ate, including the iconic Keventers and Glenary’s.
When questioned about the troubled scenario, Uma, who runs a food stall at the Rock Garden, said they were completely fed up with the government’s lackadaisical attitude - prices of everyday consumption were very high and the condition of roads was deplorable. “We want change. And we feel Bimal Gurung (GJM chief) is the right person who will bring it in,” she said. Her friend Julie concurred. They made just enough to sustain their families. Their husbands were drivers.

I experienced a sense of déjà vu with every response. Whenever I asked someone about the situation and their expectations and hopes, without exception they all seemed to want separation from Bengal; it spelt freedom and development. Why not Mr Subhash Ghisingh of the Gorkha National Liberation Front, who had been their choice for many years? Why had he been relegated to the background? And why did Mr Gurung seem to be a frontrunner and the only solution to their troubles? Why did they pin their hopes so much on him? I asked Banita, who sells local handicrafts and kohl manufactured from local herbs and roots. She flashed a wide smile and literally dragged me to a weather-beaten shack where a lo-cal photographer waited with costumes, beads and allied paraphernalia for women tourists to wear before being photographed. Banita introduced him with a flourish. “He’s my husband, Gautam. He will answer all your questions,” she said. The stocky man smiled and began: “Gurung is the person, he is our leader. He will help us. We have waited for too long. It’s been 20 years and look at this place. What does the future hold for us? There are too many problems: water scarcity, bad roads, everything is expensive, we can’t take it any more.” Then he said something odd: “Do you want to talk to Gurung? I can arrange it.”

The next day was spent visiting some breathtaking spots where I continued probing the local people. I was touched by their simple and peaceful lifestyle. Not once did I hear a loud voice or an angry protest. They are humble folk and resigned to a hard life in bitterly cold and harsh weather. They always address others with respect and are never rude or antagonistic.

I encountered a few demonstrations; one at the main crossing en route to the Ghoom Monastery and Batasia Loop where a large crowd had gathered and someone was addressing them over a mike. Everyone was listening quietly, and our car passed through without any hassles. Later, we saw schoolchildren from several schools assembled at the main square at the Mall where a stage had been set up while locals and students listened to a person making a speech. It wasn’t deafening, as such events are wont to be in Kolkata. On our last day, as our car was negotiating a descent down a scary incline, we had to stop for a group of women demonstrators who were shouting slogans, but again, it wasn’t raucous. It was a “nari morcha”, said our driver.

Something that struck me was that through the visit, I did not come across a single hospital, government or otherwise. What did the local people depend on for healthcare? Or do they not deserve even this basic right?

On our return journey to Bagdogra we visited Mirik. For a considerable portion of the road we were travelling along the Nepal border. Except for the border post of Pashupati, where police man-ned the crossing, there were long stretches without any demarcation: no fence, wall, or barbed wire. It was significant. Could we have kept our borders so open with Pakistan? Or China? Did this not signify that Darjeeling is unique? That it deserves a different kind of interaction and treatment?

RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, May 14: A detailed mapping of the hazardous slopes could form the basis of an engineering solution to the problem of landslides in the Darjeeling hills. If all go according to plan, such an exercise would be taken up in Kalimpong with the help of the University of Pittsburgh in the US.

An indication to this effect was given by Kent Harries, the leader of a visiting team from Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering. Besides Harries who is the assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, the team includes three students.

They were here on a study tour of the region at the invitation of Gayatri Kharel, a structural engineer and a member of the Planners Alliance for Himalayan and Allied Region (Pahar).

Harries, who spoke to The Telegraph over the phone from Darjeeling yesterday, said the slopes were a significant regional problem that they were not aware of till their arrival and there was a need to find a sustainable engineering solution to it. “Kalimpong could be taken up as a case study,” he added.

Asked if the university would be willing to share its expertise, he replied: “Technology transfer is rule number one.” He also added that a batch of six students from his university would be coming here every year to make use of the opportunity the region provides in terms of study.

On the other hand, Harries said, structural engineers and architects from either the region or other parts of the country interested in the area could visit Pittsburgh.

Echoing his sentiments, Kharel said: “We are in the process of formalising a mutually beneficial relationship. While we could gain from the studies they make on soil suitability and locally available building material, their research students will find varied topics to work on in our hills.”

Those involved in town planning and environment protection are also enthused by the potential tie-up. “Hopefully, the involvement of such an esteemed institution would help draw attention to our part of the world where an environmental catastrophe is waiting to happen thanks to rapid urbanisation and haphazard planning,” said Praful Rao, the convener of Save The Hills.

Subin Pradhan, an architect, said: “Even institutions here, least of all individual professionals like us, do not have the inclination nor, I guess, sufficient funds to carry out detailed studies like the one Pittsburgh is planning. What is even better is that they are willing to share their knowledge with us.”

———
Lepcha Mad
Dr. Sonam B. Wangyal

Of the many people the Lepchas honour few can match the reverence that Lieutenant General George Byres Mainwaring (proper pronunciation Mannering) commands. This veneration becomes all the more significant since Mainwaring was not a Lepcha and belonged to an aristocratic family of Cavenagh-Mainwaring from Whitmore and Budduph in Staffordshire. He was born in India on 18 July 1825 while his father was serving in the Bengal Civil Service. From his father George Mainwaring he received his first name, George, and from his mother, Isabella Byres, his middle name Byres. As it was the convention with people possessing money and status the boy Mainwaring was packed off to ‘home’, in his case home being Aberdeen, Scotland, to complete his studies and from Aberdeen it was to Wimbledon for higher learning in classics and mathematics. In the confines of the British institutions little did the young lad know that one day he would be a champion amongst the Lepchas and that he would be reverentially recalled by this community even well beyond a hundred years of his death.

At a tender age of seventeen he was commissioned into the 16th Bengal Native Infantry and on 8 January 1842 he sailed for India. His first few years in India must have made a man out of him for he had hardly acclimatized and oriented himself with the sub-continent when he was inducted into the business of a professional soldier in the Battle of Mahaharajpur. Young Mainwaring did not do too badly and he was awarded the Gwalior Campaign Bronze Star in 1843. After a short break he was back again in action in the First Sikh War of 1845-46. He saw action in Moodki, Ferozashapur and Sobraon and in these battles to he accredited himself fairly for which he received the Sutlej Campaign Medal (1845-46) being cited for the Battles of Ferozashapur and Sobraon.

From 1846 to 1854 there is visible blank in his career records and it can be presumed that the period of peace and lull was utilized by the soldier in learning something more refined than firing guns and cannons. He probably became interested in Indian languages and the period was used in studying Hindustani and Urdu. Anyway, by 1854 he had been in service for twelve years in India and he left for England to sort out personal matters that had been unattended during the long absence from home. He returned to India after three years when the country was heavily under the cloud of Indian Sepoy Mutiny/First War of Independence. He had sufficient knowledge of Hindustani and Urdu and because of that proficiency he was immediately posted to Kanpur as an interpreter with the 42nd and 49th Highlanders. Then after several uneventful years, a trip home for medical causes, and a short stint in Punjab he received orders that would cut profound and permanent impression on him: he was ordered to Darjeeling to study the Lepcha language and compile a grammar and a dictionary.

Between the end of 1867 and the beginning of 1868 he arrived in Darjeeling and began his career as a student of the Lepcha grammar and compiler of the first Lepcha dictionary. The bustling town of Darjeeling had very few Lepcha speakers for by 1868 the Lepchas were a relatively marginalized society with a few living in the fringes of the town and the majority being located in far flung areas. It is recorded that Mainwaring lived with the Lepchas in Lebong area and then moved on to a village called Polungdong. It is difficult to trace this place in the old maps of Darjeeling but the District Records of 1841-79 records that Phulungdung was the Roman transliteration from Tibetan of Fullaloon (Phalilung / Phulung), today’s Phalut, and so it appears that Mainwaring chose this very remote and inhospitable area for his second phase of his work. The choice was probably influenced by the presence of a Lepcha priestess, Mun, who was an authority in the language and maybe also because he would be able to pursue his studies undisturbed in this isolated area.

In 1876 “A Grammar of the Rong (Lepcha) Language” was published and although missionaries like Rev. Start and Rev. Niebel had tried to compile a grammar way back in the 1840s this became the first comprehensive work to see print. The grammar being published he could now concentrate on the dictionary and today even a non-Lepcha reader will be amazed to read the fine details in the dictionary. It will be very safe to claim that despite the development and popularity of the Nepali language it is impossible to find a Nepali dictionary that compares favourably to Mainwaring’s Lepcha dictionary, with a possible exception of Turner’s “A Comparative and Etymological Dictionary of the Nepali Language”. Unfortunately, Mainwaring died before he could publish the dictionary and his unpublished work was taken to Germany by one of his colleagues and was finally published in Berlin in 1898 under the supervision of Dr. Albert Grunwedel, a Tibetologist.

Mainwaring’s involvement with the Lepcha people was not confined to their grammar and dictionary only for he actually lived like a Lepcha and one could almost claim that he thought like a Lepcha. He opened up a Lepcha school at Lebong and has been credited for buying a hundred acres of land for a collective farm for the Lepchas. He dressed in the Lepcha costume and even while attending official matters in Darjeeling he would not shed the Lepcha dress. In fact his involvement was so complete that has been described as “Lepcha Mad”. Major Lyansong Tamsang of Kalimpong, a strong campaigner for the Lepcha cause, remarks, “This remarkable man…loved the Lepcha language and respected the Lepcha way of life, living, religion, culture, tradition and heritage, tried very hard indeed to protect, as well as to enhance, the Lepcha language and succeeded in doing so.” Mainwaring died in 1893 but the reprint of his voluminous dictionary still finds buyers around the world. Lepchas too have not forgotten him and every year the Sikkim Lepcha Youth Association remember him through “General G.B. Mainwaring Lepcha Literary Award” which is awarded to a distinguished scholar for significant contribution to the Lepcha language and literature. It appears that Mainwaring was mad for the right reasons and as long as the Lepcha people stay true to their language and culture he will be remembered reverentially for this unique madness.

Darjeeling/Kalimpong, May 7: The Siliguri jao (let’s go to Siliguri) campaign of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha could have led to chaos on the roads leading to the plains from the hills, but most people managed to beat the rush and reach the venue on time.

By the time the meeting began at Indira Gandhi Maidan, the ground was nearly full.

The Morcha had only four days to sort out the logistics after the administration gave it permission to hold a meeting in Siliguri on Saturday evening. The people in the hills, however, took it upon themselves to take care of all the arrangements.

“We collected whatever money we could from our village. While some gave Rs 50, others contributed around Rs 150 to hire vehicles. Most drivers only charged for the fuel,” said Amrish Sharma from Judge Bazar in Darjeeling.

Apprehending heavy traffic on NH55, many people left for Siliguri yesterday in the evening. “There was no way we could reach the venue on time even if we had started off at 6am today,” said Poonam Kumar Sharma, a lawyer from Darjeeling.

Others started from Darjeeling at 4 this morning although the rally was to start at 11am. Those who pushed off around 7am could not reach Siliguri on time. “It took us almost two hours to get to Darjeeling More from Pintail Village (a distance of about 2km),” said Sailendra Pradhan of Darjeeling.

People had branched off to different routes via Mungpoo, Rohini Road and Pankhabari, but faced massive traffic jams near the venue. Parking became a major problem and the 3,000 Morcha volunteers struggled to manage the vehicles.

Those who turned out at the meeting included a significant number of first-time participants at political events. Their decision to actively engage with politics appeared to be based on a combination of factors, starting from the non-violent character of the movement to the perceived denial of democratic rights by the CPM-led Bengal government and anger over the recent incidents of assault on ex- servicemen and women in Siliguri.

“Look, as in the mid-80s, the vast majority of the people in the hills are total converts to the cause of Gorkhaland. However, the difference between then and now is the political language of the current movement. Non-violence has struck a chord in our hearts,” said Neel Kamal Chhetri, a teacher from Kalimpong.

Chhetri and his friends had pooled in money to hire a vehicle to go to Siliguri. The group of five included Nasser Ahmed and Nilesh Khadka, both entrepreneurs, and Bikal Prasad and Sulab Pradhan, who work in offices. None of them had ever gone to a political meeting before.

“We are hurt. The incidents in Siliguri (lathicharge on the ex-servicemen’s rally on April 9 and assault on women later in the month) were particularly distasteful. Had such incidents happened in, say Delhi, the CPM’s goondagiri would have been exposed,” said Prasad.

Siliguri, May 7: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has set a deadline of seven days for the Darjeeling district administration to arrest three CPM leaders for spearheading alleged assaults on some of its supporters in different parts of the town last week.

Bimal Gurung, the Morcha president, threatened to bring down 10,000 cadres from the hills for a protest meeting and call an indefinite strike across the district if the deadline is not met.

Addressing a rally at Indira Gandhi Maidan here this afternoon, Gurung said: “Based on reports, we have lodged complaints against Jibitesh Sarkar, Mukul Sengupta and Shankar Ghosh, all CPM leaders, for assaulting our supporters, including girls, while they were on their way to the subdivisional office for a hunger strike.”

The death of a 25-year-old while returning to the hills, the arrest of an inebriated supporter, a fire in a kitchen raised on the grounds and a daylong traffic congestion on the Darjeeling More-Bhaktinagar More stretch of NH31 marked the meeting.

Earlier in the day, the Darjeeling district administration, which included 1,000 police personnel, coupled with 5,000 volunteers of the Morcha had monitored the crowd of more than one lakh as they kept trickling into the town from around 10am. A batch of 1,500 Morcha volunteers had already arrived yesterday.

At the receiving end of Gurung’s speech were the CPM and the Bengal urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya.

Senior leaders like Ananda Pathak and S.P. Lepcha were also not spared in the more than 20 minutes of CPM-bashing. “It’s a shame that they are members of a political party whose cadres are beating up our boys and girls. They should not forget their identity,” he said.

About Bhattacharya, Gurung said: “He had said he would not let Siliguri be included in Gorkhaland. We now say that we will not leave an inch of Siliguri outside Gorkhaland. Ghisingh was a hindrance to a separate state. We threw him away like an ominous black cat on March 10. I warn Asok Bhattacharya that he should not do anything that will force us to remove him in a similar manner.”

Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri and leaders like Harka Bahadur Chhetri also spoke on Gurung’s lines and so did Kamtapur Progressive Party president Atul Roy and Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party president Asutosh Barma.

Contacted in Calcutta, Bhattacharya said: “I hate to talk about politicians who are not competent and exploit the emotions of a community to achieve their ends. The way they have held the meeting and spoken today is comparable to the Nazis during World War II.”

In his speech, the Morcha president did not forget to thank the administration for the arrangements. “We had a number of preconceived notions (about the administration), but it was good to see that everything went off smoothly,” he said. “I thank the administration for making the necessary arrangements.”

Three police officials of the rank of inspector-general and two special inspector-generals had been assigned the responsibility of the arrangement.

“We had divided the force into two groups. While one batch was kept at the venue, the other was posted along the road to check indiscipline. Around one lakh people had assembled and about 5,000 vehicles had come today but thankfully no untoward incident was reported,” said K.L. Tamta, the inspector general of police (north Bengal).

There was a scare around 2.50pm, when a fire broke out in a makeshift kitchen. The volunteers were quick to douse the flames, which left one injured.

Binod Pradhan, a resident of Kalimpong, died when the truck in which he was travelling was hit by a boulder at Hatisurey, 25km from here. “The boulder fell from the hills above, injuring six in the vehicle,” said Uday Tamang, the officer in charge of Rambhi police outpost. “One succumbed to injuries on his way to the Kalimpong hospital.”

Two of the five injured have been admitted to a nursing home in Siliguri, while others were administered first aid at Rambhi block health centre and released.

A truck carrying supporters from Darjeeling had overturned near Salbari close to Sukna on NH55, injuring two.

Romit Bagchi

SILIGURI, May 7: With politically instigated rancour threatening to dry up the deeper springs of fellow feeling and understanding, it is highly exalting to recollect Rabindranath Tagore’s profound attachment with the Darjeeling Hills and particularly with the tranquil splendour of Mongpu near Kalimpong. He seemed to be enamoured by the transcendental charm of the Darjeeling Himalayas and the simplicity of the Hill populace, mostly people of the Nepali origin. The Darjeeling Himalayas beckoned him with a mesmerising appeal when his sensitive mind got restless and fatigued with the ‘mud and squalor’ of the mundane everyday existence. He sought refuge amidst the austere silence and the wide, compelling ecstasy and peace surrounding the eternally mystifying Himalayas. By his own admission, he turned to the Himalayas when the Ineffable’s timeless call overwhelmed him, compelling him to leave behind the stone load of the striving world for some time.

As per records, Tagore ascended to the Darjeeling hills 11 times. Four times, he came to Mongpu. However, fate intervened when the physically indisposed poet attempted to come to the picturesque spot for the fifth time in 1940, ignoring his physicians’ counsel. He could not reach his destination. He fell ill on his way to Kalimpong. The abnormal swelling of his prostrate gland benumbed his senses with pain. He was brought to Kalimpong in a semi-conscious state. Pratima Devi, Tagore’s daughter-in-law, took him to her Kalimpong residence ‘Gouripur Bhavana’. He, however, could not, stay long as his condition kept on deteriorating fast. He left for Calcutta by train from Siliguri station (now, Siliguri Town station) after staying in Kalimpong for a week.

The date of his departure was 27 September 1940. The time was around 9 p.m. The platforms were over-crowded. People scrambled to have a glimpse of the ailing legend. That, however, proved to be the last glimpse, for the poet never returned to his favourite haunt. He died in Calcutta a few months later.

At a time when acrimony darkens good sense under overt or covert political patronage, Tagore’s luminous relationship with the people of the Darjeeling Hills serves as a balm to the brazen souls. They returned his affection thousand fold having discovered in him a superhuman incarnation of what is divine in man. Tagore may enlighten us at this critical hour when we all seem to be walking by our own choice into Hell’s trap.

RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, May 6: A residents’ committee here has invoked the Right to Information Act to ask the municipality and the subdivisional administration to explain the delay in shifting the town’s dumping yard from Lower Bhalukhop to the new site at Lower Newargaon.

The authorities had promised on October 5 last year to get the work done in six months. The residents believe that the current dump-yard had contributed to the landslides in Lower Bhalukhop in September 2007. Afterwards, they had prevented municipality vehicles from dumping wastes at the site.

The agitation was withdrawn after the new site, located outside the municipal area, was identified and the authorities set a six-month deadline on themselves for shifting the dumping yard.

“The six months have come and gone, but there are no signs of the new dump-yard,” said Bishnu Chhetri, the coordinator of the Bhalukhop Disaster Management Committee, which submitted the RTI application yesterday. Chhetri hinted that depending on the official response, the committee might restart its agitation.

Kalimpong subdivisional officer P.T. Sherpa said the matter primarily concerned the municipality. “The approach road to the new site at Lower Newargaon is under construction and once that is done, the dump-yard will be developed. The funds for the project is available with the municipality. Hopefully, the shifting should take place before the monsoon,” he added.

In the absence of municipality chairman C. K. Kumai of the GNLF, who has not been attending office because of the current political turmoil in the hills, it was not possible to get any response from the civic body as no one was willing to go on record.

In September, landslides caused extensive damage to houses and agricultural land in Lower Bhalukhop. Seven families were rendered homeless, 27 houses were damaged and six-seven acres of farmland was washed away.

Praful Rao, the convener of Save the Hills, an NGO, said the Bhalukhop area was vulnerable to landslides. “Given the large-scale human settlement, the area could witness a catastrophe if more landslides occur there,” he said.

RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, May 2: The repair of NH31A during monsoon is expected to be completed expeditiously this year with the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) relocating 87 Road Construction Company (RCC) from Kalimpong to Melli, located on Bengal’s border with Sikkim. The BRO is raising another RCC also to lessen the burden on the 87 RCC.

The 87 RCC, which was earlier attached to the Thimpu-headquartered Project Dantak, is now part of 764 Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) based here. The force, which is under Gangtok-headquartered Project Swastik, was earlier engaged in Afghanistan.

From now on, maintenance of the NH31A’s Sevoke-Ranipool section in Sikkim will be the main task of the 87 RCC. Earlier, the company had been assigned the repair of many other roads in the Darjeeling hills and Sikkim.

A major responsibility the 87 RCC had in the past, Damdim-Algarah-Rishi road, the alternative to the road between Siliguri and Kalimpong, will be looked after by 130 RCC being set up at Rangli in Sikkim under the 764 BRTF.

Kalimpong is 16km from NH31A, while Melli is along the national highway.

A number of factors are believed to have contributed to the upgrade of the BRO operations in the region. They are prolonged disruptions on roads, especially on NH31A, caused by rains last year and a large number of road projects in the pipeline in Sikkim.

Welcoming the BRO move, T.D. Bhutia, the president of the Janmukti Morcha Chalak Mahasangh, hoped that uninterrupted traffic on the highway would be ensured during monsoon. As rains affect vehicular movement, the prices of essential commodities shoot up.

“We were even forced to buy petroleum products at a premium after tankers got stuck on roads for days following landslides,” said Navin Poudyal, a resident. The BRO officials hope that maintenance of the highway will be much better with the 87 RCC’s shift to Melli.

Despite being overburdened, the 87 RCC has managed to repair all roads, it had been tasked to restore during last year’s rains, well before monsoon. The officials said the company had also completed road resurfacing work between Sevoke and Lohapool.