Mirik & Gangtok boys to rock Asia

The Telegraph, Siliguri, Jan. 31: A Pune-based rock band with a vocalist from Gangtok and a bass guitarist from Mirik will be the first group from India to take part in Asian Beat 2008, one of the continent’s biggest amateur music competitions. [Inset: A file picture of the band members of Silver (from left) Mahesh, Rishi, Amit and Savio with Sivamani after their win at Yamaha Roxx]

The competition will be held in Taiwan on March 9.

The band, Silver, was formed in Pune just four months ago. Yet it came up trumps at Yamaha Roxx, a nationwide competition held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi on January 12 to select one rock group from India for Asian Beat.

“It is indeed an achievement to be chosen for the finals in Taiwan. The meet is considered to be one of the most prestigious in Asia,” said Rishi Rai, who hails from Mirik and has been working in Pune for past three years.

Karma cuts first album – - CD with 7 original nepali songs

The Telegraph, 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. [Inset:Karma in Kalimpong on Thursday. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha]

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.

Hill council workers on warpath over jobs

The Telegraph, Darjeeling, Jan. 31: DGHC employees have decided to gherao Lal Kothi, the administrative headquarters of the hill council, on February 5 to demand a change from contractual to permanent status.

The decision was taken by DGHC Ashitya Karmarchari Sangatan, the recently formed, apolitical employees’ association of the council.

“The DGHC has taken away the prime years of our life and even after serving there for more than 20 years, we are still on six-month contracts. Our sole demand is immediate regularization of the 8,000-odd DGHC workers,” said association president Machendra Subba.

The 8,000 or so employees form 90-95 pre cent of the council’s total workforce.

Though empowered to appoint permanent Groups C and D workers with permission from the Bengal government, the DGHC has not yet made any regular appointments.

“GJM will win the Sixth Schedule Election unanimously” Bimal Gurung

Kalimpong, Jan 31, 1:30 PM IST: ” We have always rejected the Sixth Schedule but if the Sixth Schedule is forcefully implemented in the Hills, we will contest the election and win it unanimously,” Gorkha Janmukti Morcha President, Bimal Gurung said at a press conference at Kalimpong yesterday. [The readers may be reminded that the GJM President had for the first time in an interview with us indicated his desire to contest the Sixth Schedule election: Posted in Breaking Story | Tagged: bimal gurung, darjeeling hills, dr harka bahadur gorkhaland, gorkha janmukti morcha, kalimpong, parliamentary standing committee, president, sixth schedule | 1 Comment »

Darjeeling Boys in Siachen Glacier

Posted by barunroy on January 31, 2008

I was offered these fantastic photos of ‘Life in Siachen Glacier’ by a friend who has just returned home in Darjeeling. However, due to the critical nature of these photos we have only included the one’s that depict our Gorkha boys and the beauty and awe of the Siachen Glacier. I have been told that more 40, 000 of our lads have served in Siachen and the Kargil and are still doing so. On their part they think it to be a privilege and honour. This Photo Feature is dedicated to my friend and thousands of our Gorkha youths from Darjeeling Hills. You guys are the real hero. We salute you!

The Siachen Glacier

The conflict in Siachen stems from the confusion in the improperly demarcated territory on the map beyond the map coordinate known as NJ9842. The 1949 Karachi Agreement and the 1972 Simla Agreement did not clearly mention who controlled the glacier, merely stating that from the NJ9842 location the boundary would proceed “thence north to the glaciers.” In 1957 Pakistan permitted a British expedition under Eric Shipton to approach the Siachen through the Bilafond La, and recce Saltoro Kangri.^[3] Five years later a Japanese-Pakistani expedition put two Japanese and a Pakistani Army climber on top of Saltoro Kangri.^[4] These were early moves in this particular game of oropolitics. [Reproduced from Wikipedia.org] Read more of the article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siachen]

Posted in HB EXCLUSIVE, Photo Feature | Tagged: darjeeling hills, glacier, gorkha, gorkhas, kargil, siachen | 2 Comments »

Hill towns ban poultry products

Posted by barunroy on January 31, 2008

The Telegraph, Darjeeling, 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.”

Posted in In Newspapers Today | Tagged: bann, calcutta, civic body, cooch behar, darjeeling, darjeeling district, darjeeling municipality, executive officer, kalimpong, kurseong, kurseong municipality, municipalities, municipality, poultry, r thatal, rajesh pandey, sanjay chhetri, sanjay pradhan, siliguri, takdah | Leave a Comment »

Morcha chief admits bandh concern

Posted by barunroy on January 31, 2008

The Telegraph, 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. [Inset: Gurung in Kalimpong on Wednesday. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha]

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.

Posted in In Newspapers Today | Tagged: a p rai, bandhs, bimal gurung, chitizens rights forum, civil society, gnlf, gorkha janmukti morcha, gorubathan, i. n. pradhan, kalimpong, morcha chief, n p dixit, ngo, political strife | Leave a Comment »