Movement for Gorkhaland loses its sanctity

FROM MERI NEWS

BY SUJIT ROY

India never had any place called Gorkha, nor a community as such. Gorkha is now a district in Nepal but surprisingly, the movement for a separate Gorkhaland is initiated on the soil of India. The demand for a separate Gorkhaland is meaningless.

IS THERE any existence of any community under the nomenclature of Gorkha in India? Was there any state with the same title in India in its thousand years of existence?

History says – no, but corroborates that once there was a small state called Gorkha beyond India-Nepal border that still exists as a small district in Nepal.

Gorkhaland was never in any part of India and thus, the claim for Darjeeling in West Bengal to be transformed into a separate state, namely Gorkhaland, and a movement whether democratic or militant for it, is bound to go ashtray.

If anybody or any organisation has any claim for a Gorkha state, he or they will have to visit Gorkha town, the district headquarters, situated on the hilly tracks between Pokhra and Kathmandu. The exact location of the land is 25 kms north of Kathmandu – Pokhra highway via Abu Kairani. The Gorkha, a hilly terrain is famous for its natural beauty and historical elements. One can find here the fort of the Shah kings, palace and Kali temple. The palace has in it the throne of the King Prithvi Narayan Shah who established the greater Nepal after capturing the Kathmandu Valley. The great king is still shown respect by burning a lamp in his memory and achievements known as Eternal Lamp on the fourth floor of the palace. The lamp is never put off and has been burning since the inception of greater Nepal.

Newari Traditions – From Gorkhapedia.Org

BY SHITAL PRADHAN

Beli byah

The most peculiar ritual followed among newar girl is ihi (also ehee). Also known as bael byah, it is a symbolic marriage with a bael (Aegle mermalous) fruit. This ritual is done among the girl between the ages of four to eleven before reaching the period of puberty, where they are married to lord Shiva that the fruit is kept in his place. Newar community has invaded outside Nepal where the traditions are somewhat lost but still it is found in every newar house that the Bael byah have been made. This customary marriage is thought to be the most holy rituals in this noble clan. With this marriage to the immortal lord the newar girl will not follow widowhood when their husband passes away. It is believed that even remarriage can be done.

At the day of ihi the place is cleaned and swabbed with cow dung and red soil to make it pure. The ihi girl is bathed and does fasting for whole daylong. The daughter of Brahmin is chosen to represent the fruit, she is called locantee. The ceremony starts in the morning with the bali (killing) of goat or a duck to lord Ganesha. Followers of Boudh newar never do the killing and the poor one can do it with fried egg. Eight different flags representing eight Devi are worshiped and immersed to the river. A pindah for a bael fruit is made where bamboo root and grass is placed. (A pindah is made of khir mixed with black teel and roundly molded) This is done to please the ancestors of both his father and mother family.

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Solar Refraction

Photo by Prakash Mundra, Gangtok

Shree Harka Sunder Shrestha is seen receiving a British dignitary at the Chowk Bazar

Dear Friends,

My grandfather Shree Harka Sunder Shrestha is seen receiving a British dignitary at the Chowk Bazar .. Can anyone tell me the occasion and the identity of the British official.

Regards

Dipak Shrestha

Fresh Chinese incursions across LAC

FROM TIMES OF INDIA

NEW DELHI: Though it eventually refrained from back-stabbing India during the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting at Vienna, China continues to needle Indian forces all along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC).

In the latest set of incursions across the LAC, Chinese patrols once again “transgressed” into the Indian side at the strategically located Pangong Tso lake as well as Trig Heights in eastern Ladakh on September 2-3, said sources.

There were both boat and vehicle-mounted People’s Liberation Army (PLA) patrols on the north bank of Pangong Tso, two-third of which is controlled by China as it extends from India to Tibet at an altitude of 4,218 metres, on September 2.

A day later, a vehicle-mounted PLA patrol crossed over at the Trig Heights. “The patrol was on our side for quite some time before it went back. PLA has really stepped up incursions into our side in eastern Ladakh region this year, with well over 100 transgressions being recorded there since January,” said a source.

Pangong Tso and Trig Heights have become quite contentious since the 1999 Kargil conflict, with China even constructing a “track” right up to the lake’s southern bank during that time to demonstrate its support to Pakistan. China, it’s assessed, wants the border to be drawn in a straight line on the lake to gain strategic advantage. It seeks similar gains in Trig Heights and Demchok areas in the western sector.

Its time to play God again!

Large Hadron Collider fired up in ‘God particle’ hunt

FROM CNN

CERN, Switzerland (CNN) — Scientists Wednesday applauded as one of the most ambitious experiments ever conceived got successfully underway, with protons being fired around a 27-kilometer (17-mile) tunnel deep beneath the border of France and Switzerland in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the universe. [Inset: Scientists applaud during the switch on operation of the Large Hadron Collider.]

The Large Hadron Collider — a $9 billion particle accelerator designed to simulate conditions of the Big Bang that created the physical Universe — was switched on at 0732 GMT to cheers and applause from experts gathered to witness the event.

While observers were left nonplussed by the anticlimactic flashing dots on a TV screen that signalled the machine’s successful test run, among teams of scientists involved around the world there were jubilant celebrations and popping champagne corks. [Inset: The experiment will look at how the universe formed by analyzing particle collisions.]

In the coming months, the collider is expected to begin smashing particles into each other by sending two beams of protons around the tunnel in opposite directions.

Skeptics, who claim that the experiment could lead to the creation of a black hole capable of swallowing the planet, failed in a legal bid to halt the project at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Others have branded it a colossal waste of cash, draining resources from its multinational collaborators that could have been spent on scientific research with more tangible benefits to mankind.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the project as a major achievement for Europe.

“The repercussions of this scientific investment without precedent in the history of humanity will be essential not only for the intimate knowledge of our universe, but also for the direct applications in fields as varied as intensive calculation or even medicine,” he said

Big Bang test: India’s flag flies high at CERN

FROM SIFY NEWS

Mumbai: India has made major scientific and technological contribution to the new atom smasher also called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which went live on Wednesday at the experimental facility near Geneva in Switzerland. LHC is expected to answer several facts of fundamental nature of the universe that remains a mystery, said the scientists of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).

Indian laboratories, led by Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT) at Indore, have contributed substantially towards construction of the accelerator (LHC) itself, with many components being fabricated by Indian industry and supplied to CERN.

These had to satisfy not only exacting standards of precision but also follow a stringent time-line as dictated by the CERN schedule.

Towards the scientific side, two Indian teams are participating in different experiments.

Each of these collaborations is huge with 1000-2000 scientists from 125-150 top class institutions from 20-30 countries participating.

Large Hadron Collider: Particle accelerator to recreate birth of universe

FROM TELEGRAPH UK

On Wednesday, physicists turn on the multibillion-pound machine that will recreate the birth of the universe. Martin Rees applauds the greatest experiment in history

Einstein famously said that “the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible”. The universe isn’t anarchic: it’s full of patterns and structures.

	The Large Hadron Collider is the world’s most powerful particle accelerator

The same physical laws apply in distant galaxies as in the lab. Our brains evolved to cope with life on the African savannah, but they can make sense of things far beyond our ancestors’ experience – from subatomic particles, far too small to be imaged by any microscope, to galaxies billions of light years away.

As the centuries have passed, we have progressed remarkably in our understanding of the world around us. We know that the essence of all substances – their colour, texture, hardness and so forth – is set by the atoms of which they are made, and by how those atoms are linked together.

We know that in every cell of every living creature, atoms are configured into proteins and tangled strings of DNA. We know, even, that these atoms were all synthesised from pristine hydrogen by processes deep inside stars that died before our solar system came into being. We are literally the ashes of ancient stars – the “nuclear waste” from the fuel that made them shine.

We know, also, what forces acted on those stars, and act on our bodies. Isaac Newton showed that the force that makes apples fall is the same thing that holds the planets in their orbits and that controls the trajectory of spacecraft and satellites.

Michael Faraday achieved a further unification by showing that electric and magnetic forces were linked – an insight that led to electric motors and dynamos, and radio waves.

Nearly 100 years ago, Ernest Rutherford, then working in Manchester, inferred that an atom contained a nucleus, surrounded by a “cloud” of electrons. These developments have led to lasers, nuclear energy and much else.

But there are still gaps in our knowledge. In particular, we still can’t link the forces uncovered by Faraday and Newton to the so-called “nuclear” force that actually holds the nuclei of atoms together – and without this force there would be no carbon, no oxygen and no life.

Nor can we make our theories about the universe work without adopting some very strange assumptions indeed: there seems, for instance, to be a mysterious force, latent in space itself, that is pushing everything apart and speeding up its expansion.

These profound questions can’t be solved just by armchair theorists. In terms of innate brainpower, we’re no wiser than Aristotle was; without successive generations of experiments, we would still believe, like him, in the four elements of earth, air, fire and water.

Czech nationals sentenced

Siliguri, Sep 10: Renowned international entomologist Petr Svacha, a Czech national, was today fined Rs 20,000 while his assistant Emil Kucera was sentenced to three years simple imprisonment by a court here for illegally collecting butterflies, moths and beetles from Darjeeling.

Chief Judicial Magistrate of Darjeeling U K Nandy, who had on Monday found Svacha and his assistant Emil Kucera guilty under the Wildlife Act and the Biodiversity Act, pronounced the punishment.

Kucera, who was also slapped with a fine of Rs 5,000 under Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act and Rs 50,000 under section 55 of the Biodiversity Act has been given bail and a month’s time to appeal in a higher court.

The magistrate said Svacha was “a victim of circumstance. Considering his antecedents and reputation, he was only being fined”.

Defence lawyer Tarang Pandit said Kucera would appeal in the district session’s court against the sentence.

The two were arrested in Darjeeling on June 22.

Wife number 25 brings contentment

FROM BBC NEWS

By Surendra Phuyal

After 24 failed marriages, a 49-year-old porter in eastern Nepal says that he has finally found happiness in his latest union. [Inset: Katuwal with his 25th wife. Photo by Surendra Subedi]

The simple reason is that the landless labourer’s latest marriage seems to be working out, unlike the previous ones.

Ramchandra Katuwal, of Khandbari municipality in Sankhuwasava, and his wife recently celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary.

He say that his marriage to Sharada has been a “journey of happiness”.

Disastrous marriage

And for Mr Katuwal, the trek before his latest journey was paved with pitfalls and potholes.

He first got married when aged 26 at his home about 600km (373 miles) east of the capital, Kathmandu.

From then onwards his life veered from one disastrous marriage to another.

His first wife set a precedent followed by many of her successors: she eloped with her lover.

“My second wife also ran away,” he said, “and the third one too.

From the succession of wives who came and went over a 16-year period, Mr Katuwal says that he can only remember nine of them clearly.

“(Like other ex-wives) the 24th one also ran away. And I decided not to marry again,” he said.

But his resolve did not last and he wed 23-year-old Sharada seven years ago.

Mr Katuwal says that he is now so happy he has vowed not to marry again. Instead, he wants to focus on his children’s education.

Two Mumbai blast suspects deported to India found innocent

FROM NEPAL NEWS

Two Kashmiries living in Nepal who were arrested by the police on Thursday and deported to India the next day on charge of being involved in 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai have been found innocent.

The Mumbai Special Court Monday established that the two men, Ashfaq Ahmed and Riyaz Lone, were not linked to the Mumbai blasts and ordered the Indian investigation agency – Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – to send them back to Nepal.

Riyaz Lone was mistakenly identified as Riyaz Khatri and Ashfaq Ahmed as Ashfaq Shah alias Abdul Salim Ghazi, aides of the India’s most wanted fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, who are alleged to have had a role in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts that killed 257 people. Riyaz Khatri and Ashfaq Shah are in the wanted list of the Interpol.

“They are just innocent Kashmiris who were living and working in Nepal,” reports quoted Ujjwal Nikam, special counsel, CBI, which is handling the 1993 blasts case, as saying.

He said the two wrongly arrested men would be sent back home at the CBI’s expense. Admitting the mistake on the part of his department, Nikam said, “Since it was a bona fide mistake, the CBI is ready to bear the expenses for their return trip to Nepal to unite them with their families.”

CPN-M seeks no immediate end of Gurkha recruitment

FROM PEOPLE’S DAILY

A central leader of the ruling party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M), said the party did not intend to immediately terminate Gurkha recruitment, state-run newspaper The Rising Nepal reported on Wednesday.

“We don’t have any plan to end Gurkha recruitment as our country lacks a strong ground to absorb unemployed youth, and until we have such an environment in the country we won’t implement our agenda of ending the recruitment,” Barsha Man Pun, known as “Ananta”, a central CPN-M leader and the party’s former armed force commander said on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a program organized by “Association of Ex-army men Nepal” at the Reporter’s Club, in capital Kathmandu.

The CPN-M has been saying that it will ban recruitment of Nepalese youths in the foreign armies.

“The government should work towards increasing employment opportunities for the youths so that they do not get attracted to recruitment in the foreign armies,” he suggested.

He, however, noted that the practice of recruiting Nepalese youths in the military of the other countries was an insult to Nepal’s self-respect. “It is a matter of national self-respect and sovereignty,” he said.

PM’s India Visit: Opportunity And Challenge

FROM GORKHAPATRA SANSTHAN

Newly-elected Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ was recently on a visit of our northern neighbour, China, generating a lot of political gossip that a Nepalese head of government should necessarily pay his first visit to India. This visit was appreciated by an overwhelming majority of the Nepalese people for taking an independent stand without surrendering to outside pressure. Apparently, there were a few people who opposed this visit, but there was little they could do to stop Prachanda from attending the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Concerns

Some of those supporting the China visit have expressed concern about the statement made by the prime minister at the Tribhuvan International Airport immediately after returning from China. He had said that his China visit was to attend the Olympic closing ceremony and that his first official and political visit would be to India. They have interpreted the statement as belittling the significance of his China visit, which was tantamount to making apologies to those unhappy with not making the first trip to New Delhi. So far, the prime minister has defended his statement, arguing that he was trying to balance the concerns of Nepal’s southern neighbour.

Largely there are two types of official visits undertaken by a head of the government: first, a goodwill visit in which only congratulations and thank you notes are exchanged and no treaty or agreement is touched upon. Second, major issues of concern, including treaties and agreements, are raised and discussed. This visit of the prime minister is being held at a time when, first, a devastating flood in the Koshi River has swept away thousands of hectares of Nepalese land as well as hundreds of villages, causing great loss to lives and property worth billions of rupees.

Gorkhaland demand based on documents

FROM SIKKIM REPORTER

New Delhi: “They have articulated their demands during a frank and free discussion held cordially”, said the Union Home Secretary, Mr. Madhukar Gupta, about the arising of the tripartite meeting held in Delhi Monday on the demand of Gorkhaland, as a separate State to be curved out of West Bengal.

The next round of tripartite meeting, between Centre, West Bengal government and Darjeeling parties raising the demand spearheaded by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), is scheduled for November. Till then we will study the documents submitted by them, Mr. Gupta said. The GJM team, including its general secretary Roshan Giri, has submitted documents detailing the area map of the proposed Gorkhaland state, population history, census reports, hill economics, economical relations among the hills, State and Centre, it is learnt. (Agencies)

Varsity row: Contradictory reports adding to confusion

FROM SIKKIM REPORTER

Gangtok: Sikkim Reporter in its September 8 issue carried a front page leader with the heading “NBU only choice at present” and the subheading was: “HRD Minister convinces college faculty that SU is yet to have functional ability”.

In the body of the report, a fairly detailed account was given regarding the brief the State Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister, Mr. G. M. Gurung, presented in Sikkim Government College on September 6, to convince the college faculty and reach a consensus on the controversial issue – whether to re-affiliate Sikkim colleges with the North Bengal University (NBU) or to continue their present affiliation with the Central University in the State called Sikkim University (SU).

The SR report said: “After detailed deliberations with lecturers of individual departments of the premier college of the State, the Minister succeeded in achieving a consensus on the vexed issue. Other than Nepali department, all other departments of the college agreed with the Minister that re-affiliation of Sikkim colleges with the NBU is imperative in the present circumstances”.

It was also noted in the report that Sikkim colleges, earlier affiliated to NBU, became automatically affiliated with SU by dint of an Act of Parliament (passed in 2006) and, hence, the need for re-affiliation with NBU, for which the State HRDD has already initiated a move to obtain necessary consent of Union HRD Ministry, West Bengal government and, of course, NBU.

Newly married couple commits suicide

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, September 9: A one month old marriage ended in a tragedy with both the husband and wife committing suicide yesterday at Paksang Tumin, East Sikkim.

The deceased, Durga Rai (42) and Ravika Pradhan (21) were in their second marriage and had recently eloped after dumping their respective partners.

Both of them were from Ladam Lava, Kalimpong and were presently residing at Paksang, Tumin.

Police found the body of the wife lying in the bed of their rented room while the body of the husband was found hanging from a tree outside. The husband had used a chunni, most probably of his wife’s, to hang himself up.

During investigations, it was revealed that the duo had recently come to Paksang Tumin only a week back and was working in a new road construction site.

It is learnt that the deceased Durga Rai had six children from his earlier wife at Ladam, Kalimpong. The deceased Ravika Pradhan too had a husband from her previous marriage with a 3 year old daughter.

Sikkim Police Act, 2008 to give more teeth to the Police force

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, September 9 (IPR): For a long time need had been felt for the reorganisation of the State Police Forces considering the far reaching changes that have taken place in the country since enactment of the Indian Police Act, 1861. Many Commissions/Committees had been appointed but a comprehensive law on the subject did not materialize for long. [Inset: Sikkimese Police stopping Tibetan Protesters from trying to cross Indian Border]

Having regard to the gravity of the problem the Supreme Court, vide its judgement dated 22nd September, 2006 gave certain directions pending enactment of a new Police Act by the States. Sikkim was the first State in the country to comply with the Apex Court directions.

Further, in accordance with the said directions and the Model Police Act received from MHA, GOI and the various State Acts, the Sikkim Police Act, 2008 has been enacted keeping in view the size, population and infrastructure in the State. The Act has been brought into force in the State w.e.f. September 5, 2008.

The Act inter alia provides for a State Police Board under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister to facilitate laying down of policies, evaluate performance and ensure functional autonomy of the Police subject to the provisions of law. It further mandates Strategic Police Plan and Annual Police Plan to be placed before the State Legislature every year and to also be made readily accessible to the general public.

Important members of the Board are the Leader of Opposition and a retired judge of the High Court besides three independent members and few senior most functionaries of the Government.

Is HRDD undermining the importance of a Central University?

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

It is with great interest and sadness that I read the news item ‘Goodbye Sikkim University, Welcome back NBU”.

The total news item talks about the Sikkim Government’s contention that the Sikkim University is not capable. The State Government must be having its reasons for saying so, but as a lay person watching from the outside, the functioning of the SU appears far from that. The first and positive step that the SU undertook was to study the status and condition of the colleges in Sikkim and was found that the situation was indeed dismal.

Apart from this, SU have been able to restructure and reframe the total syllabi of the various subjects at the undergraduate level within a time frame of one month. They were able to involve senior faculty members, Vice Chancellor, former Vice Chancellor from the best universities and colleges like St. Stephens College, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Lady Shri Ram college, Loyola College, Chennai, National School of Law India Universtiy, Bangalore, JNU, DU, Jadavpur University, to mention a few. Restructuring and reframing any syllabus takes a long time for most universities, but here it was done in such a short period of time and that to involving the lectures of college in Sikkim too. And this revamped syllabi is being used in the colleges right now and it has been welcomed and appreciated by the student community too.

Skeleton bridge, suspended actions Myopic engineers blamed for delay

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, September 9: The picture at the right side is supposed to be a suspension bridge meant to link villagers from Luing Tami Dara and Doksing areas under Ranka constituency to the approach road leading to Gangtok.

Obviously, the bridge has seen better days and is now a sorry resemblance of what it used to years ago, hidden from the myopic vision of the concerned engineers of State Rural Development department.

Ever since the suspension bridge disintegrated into a skeletal remains, ordinary residents of Luing Tami Dara (both Upper and Lower) and Doksing villages had putting up their problems and memorandums for a new bridge.

In 2006, the locals submitted a representation to the Area MLA highlighting their woes due to the defunct bridge. The people of these villagers have to take a longer and uncomfortable detour by crossing over private lands and farms to reach the road leading to Gangtok.

The suspension bridge is reached through a footpath and is built over Seti khola near Banjakri falls.

The Area MLA also visited the spot and requested the concerned department for relief measures on behalf of the people.

In February, 2008 the Luing Pabring GPU also passed the demand for construction of a new bridge and subsequently a team of engineers from the concerned department visited the spot.

AND NOW IT’S STATUS QUO Colleges to continue under SU till further orders Student bodies to meet CM We are hundred percent prepared: VC

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, September 9: As the uproar and confusion runs amok among the colleges here, a status quo has been maintained for the time being as far as affiliation of colleges in Sikkim under Sikkim University is concerned indicating a step down from its earlier stand by the State government.

A team of HRD officials submitted a formal communiqué from the State government to North Bengal University yesterday evening requesting to maintain a status quo on the affiliation issue.

A status quo has been maintained for the time being regarding the affiliation issue, it was informed.

This means that colleges here will under the Sikkim University and will be so till further orders from the State government. As per sources, the examination scheduled to begin from September 19 is expected to get postponed.

It may be recalled that few days ago, the West Bengal government had agreed to take colleges of Sikkim back to NBU in response to a SOS from the State government.

However, the State government had second thoughts and sent three HRD officials yesterday evening to NBU at Siliguri seeking a status quo this time.

Faced with two diametrically opposite requests in a short span, NBU will hold a meeting on September 12.

“An Executive Council of the higher authority has summoned a meeting on September 12 after which NBU will give a fresh reply regarding the re-affiliation request”, an NBU official from Siliguri told SIKKIM EXPRESS.
The transition of affiliation of colleges in Sikkim from North Bengal to Sikkim University last year and thereafter has seen a series of confusion ever since the new academic session began from July second week this year under the Sikkim University.

Chamling rues presence of dishonest party members

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, September 9: The SDF president and Chief Minister Pawan Chamling today blamed the higher ranking party members for the lack of proper understanding among the grassroot people about the principles and policies of the SDF party. [Inset: Sikkimese Chief Minister Pawan Chamling]

Speaking at the inaugural function of SDF party office at Lower Namphing, Temi Tarku constituency today, the party president said that the grassroot people are yet to understand SDF’s policies and principles because of the dishonesty of the party members themselves.

“The higher level functionaries of SDF party are not aware about the principles and strong polices. The party workers are yet to grasp the essence of SDF as they don’t do proper study. Under these circumstances, people are finding difficulties to understand SDF party”, said the Chief Minister.

Highlighting that the party is suffering due to dishonesty among the members themselves, Mr. Chamling said that it is an irony that the party members themselves are unaware of the principles of SDF.

“People should have by now understood the principles, policies and future plans of SDF as mentioned in the party manifesto. But the party is facing problems at the ground levels as the members are not implementing the principles and policies of the party in an honest manner”.

Darjeeling

Darjeeling  Photo by Vis-a-Vis

Unanimously described as the ‘Queen of Hills’ Darjeeling is unique in its versatility. For the tourists, fresh from the sights of other lands, Darjeeling comes not only as a delightful surprise but as a veritable relief from the hot and sultry weather of the plains. From the surroundings of this unrivalled mountainous town which stands at an average height of 7,000 feet above sea level, one sees the breath-taking beauty of the snow covered peaks, the tips of which seem too silvery to be real, a dappled effect indeed of vivid white and patches of grey.

Darjeeling is at once, both old and new. The cosmopolitan town itself has come a long way since its modest beginnings in 1835. The new includes modern amenities, first class hotels, comprehensive shopping centers; some of India’s most famous boarding-schools, cinema halls and the world’s most sought trekking trails. Yet a few miles of the town one comes into contact with age-old customs and ways of living – hand plowed terraced hill side fields, surrounded by gaily painted huts, hollowed out bamboo pipes for carrying water and villagers still utterly unspoilt by the rush and materialism of the Twenty First Century.

A Brief History

The name ‘Darjeeling’ came from the Tibetan words, “dorje” meaning thunderbolt (originally the scepter of Indra) and “ling” a place or land – Hence, ‘the land of the thunderbolt’. This name could also have been inherited from a Buddhist Monastery of the same name once situated on the top of the Observatory Hill.

The town which originally consisted of a few mud huts surrounding the monastery on Observatory Hill was officially inaugurated by Captain Lloyd and Dr. Chapman. In 1839, the station was handed over to Dr. Campbell who was its first Superintendent. At this time there was not more than 20 families in the district of Darjeeling, and the further building up of Darjeeling, both physically and industrially was due almost entirely to Dr. Campbell’s twenty two years of untiring labour.

From a collection of a few mud-huts it has today grown up to be one of India’s premier hill stations, visited by tourists from distant corners of India and all over the world.

Was Darjeeling ever part of Pakistan?

In 1947, the then leaders of the Muslim League came forward with their own plan for Darjeeling and her merger with East Pakistan. A Muslim league team visited Darjeeling around the same time, held talks with the leaders of the local political party and participated in a convention on the merger issue. Some understanding appears to have been reached between them. This was reflected in the bizarre developments in Darjeeling between August 14 and 18, 1947. This Pakistani flag [see the only photo ever taken] fluttered on the Darjeeling Town hall for full five days in place of the Union jack. Darjeeling was popularly stated to have become a part of Pakistan in preference to India and Nepal. In fact, even sweets were disturbed and fireworks let off in joyous celebration of Pakistan’s independence.

The District of Darjeeling¹

The District of Darjeeling has an approximate area of 12,000 sq miles with a population of 1,605,900 (2001 census). According to the census, 67 per cent of the population still lives in rural areas. The density of population is about 510 persons per square kilometer and the sex ratio is 940 females to 1000 males. The literacy rate is of 81.28% among males and 63.92% among females. Hindus and Buddhists form the majority in terms of religious groups and Muslims and Christians are relatively fewer in numbers.

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Mid day meal!

Children line up for mid-day meal at a Tea Garden Primary School. Photo by Rudra Kaushik

Its time to relax

Prominent Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders Anmol Prasad, Amar Lama and Binny Sharma have a relaxed chat. Photo by Himalaya Darpan