I MAY BE OUT FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS

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Tracing Tea Team Plans 15,000 Kilometer Trip From Calcutta to London

By William I. Lengeman III

Nowadays the tea we drink makes its way from far-flung regions in a relatively short amount of time. But that wasn’t always the case. One upon a time tea had to make its way from China, and later India, primarily by one of two routes - either by a long sea voyage around the tip of southern Africa or on an arduous overland trek from Asia to Europe.

Though the former route was probably more common, it’s the overland route that forms the basis of the Tracing Tea project, which the participants describe as “the international collaboration of four students and a film crew who have a love of tea strong enough to survive 15,000 km in three-wheeled auto-rickshaws.”

The Tracing Tea expedition is being timed to coincide with the 350th anniversary of tea’s introduction to Britain. The trip, which will take the team through 18 countries, will be documented at the Tracing Tea Web site and is expected to eventually be the basis for a documentary film and a book. Excerpts from an exploratory journey along the route are posted at the Tracing Tea site.

Among the highlights, a photo gallery chronicling various segments of the route, including China, central Asia, Iran, Turkey and more. There’s also a generous selection of film clips, including one that chronicles a mishap in Austria, another that recounts bureaucratic headaches in Kyrgyzstan and yet another of Darjeeling, India. Other highlights include a blog that covers the preliminary journey and a book excerpt from team member Michael Pye.

The actual trip is projected to take six months and is set to get underway in July 2008. It should prove to be interesting, if the group’s experiences with their first trip are any indication. As Pye noted, when reflecting on the research expedition, “I learnt that anything is possible, even thirteen thousand mile car journeys, with a heady mixture of uncompromising determination and near sectionable lunacy.”

GJMM to organise indefinite rally

Kurseong March 23: The GJMM will organise an indefinite rally in different parts of Darjeeling Hills from tomorrow onwards. The GJMM Kurseong sub-divisional branch, Press and publicity secretary Mr Daya Dewan informed that the tripartite accord of DGHC signed in 1988 should be immediately withdrawn as well as the “Memorandum of Settlement” signed on 5 December 2005 should also be withdrawn and cancelled. Meanwhile, the GJMM Kurseong branch, Chief Mr Pradeep Pradhan said that unless these two demands are met the GJMM will continue its indefinite rally as well as other agitation programmes. Thus, Mr Ghisingh should immediately cancel both “DGHC accord of 1988” and “MOS of 2005”. [The Statesman]

Gorkha Janamukti Morcha threatens indefinite agitation

The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), opposed to the Sixth Schedule status that envisages greater autonomy to West Bengal’s Darjeeling district, has threatened an indefinite political agitation in the hills towards their demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

‘We will carry out a peaceful and democratic agitational programme in different parts of Darjeeling, Siliguri and Dooars area in north Bengal. We want that the tripartite accord of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) signed in 1988 be immediately withdrawn,’ GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told IANS.

‘We would not only undertake the political agitation in Darjeeling but would also extend our activity in Siliguri (the plains) and Dooars as these two places are inseparable parts of Gorkhaland,’ Giri said.

While the Sixth Schedule of the constitution envisages greater autonomy, the GJM, which has challenged the over three-decade hegemony of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) leader Subhas Ghising, has raised the demand for a Gorkhaland.

Giri said the Memorandum of Settlement signed on Dec 5, 2005, should also be nullified because people of Darjeeling do not want any Sixth Schedule status for the region.

The central government had in 2005 announced Sixth Schedule status to the region to ensure greater autonomy to the governing DGHC in the hill district. The proposal is now pending union cabinet approval.

GNLF was the principal political force in hills till GJM emerged.

Asok sees ‘foreign hand’ in hill trouble

Siliguri, March 23: Bengal urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya today said “foreign powers” were taking advantage of the unrest in the Darjeeling hills to create tension in the region, but did not identify them.

“Some foreign powers are creating problems here, taking advantage of the recent developments in the hills,” the minister said.

Asked if these foreign hands had been identified, Bhattacharya refused to give a straight answer. “We have received reports that some outside elements are trying to tie up with groups within the region to create rifts and disturb the peace here.”

The hills have been on the boil ever since a stand-off began between the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the GNLF, leading to Subash Ghisingh’s resignation as caretaker administrator of the DGHC and the shelving of the bill drafted to grant Sixth Schedule status to Darjeeling. However, this is the first time a senior CPM leader has mentioned “foreign powers” in this connection.

SMC water reaches five wards

Siliguri, March 23: The Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) has started supplying drinking water to five of its 14 added wards, with a promise of covering the remaining ones by the end of this year.

The wards, the water supply for which was inaugurated today by Asok Bhattacharya, the Bengal urban development and municipal affairs minister, at Shaktigarh, are from 31 to 35.

“The SMC will supply water to the other added wards — that is from 36 to 44 — before Durga Puja,” said Bhattacharya.

The project — implemented with technical support from the Public Health Engineering department at a cost of Rs 7 crore — will help more than one lakh residents of the five wards. Joy Chakraborty, the member mayor-in-council (water), said unavailability of land was the reason for taking almost a decade for supplying water to the wards.

Farmers’ club to create jobs

Kurseong, March 23: Some residents of Ambootia Tea Estate, 6km from here, have formed a farmers’ club and tied up with Nabard in a bid to solve the unemployment problem that is plaguing the hills.

The Ambootia Farmers’ Club, formed on February 16, is the first of its kind in Kurseong subdivision and has 13 members.

Sudarshan Pradhan, the coordinator of the club, said they had tied up with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), which will help the members by providing financial assistance and training.

Bhutan ready for democracy

Phuentsholing, March 23: A keen contest is on the cards as Bhutan goes to polls to elect its first National Assembly tomorrow, ending more than a century of absolute monarchy.

Voting in the 47 constituencies, with exactly double the number of candidates in the fray, begins at 9am and ends at 5pm.

The border of the Himalayan kingdom with Bengal has been sealed since the night of March 22 and will reopen at 6am on March 25 after the results are out. [Inset: Monks sit near a polling station in Thimphu on Sunday. According to the country’s Constitution, monks will not be able to exercise their franchise. (PTI)]

Only two parties are contesting the elections — the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Druk Pheunsum Tshogpa (DTP). The polls, with 3,18,465 voters, will be watched over by 42 international observers and a host of reporters currently camping in Bhutan.

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