DARJEELING HILLS: Demand for Gorkhaland reaches new heights

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FROM ASIAN AGE

HISTORICAL: HMS Destroyer “Gurkha” was the first Tribal and first British destroyer to be sunk by air attack

FROM NAVAL HISTORY AND U BOAT. NET

SHARED BY AARDEE

HMS Gurkha. Click on the image to enlarge

 

History Pennant numbers:  L 20 May 1938 – December 1938, F 20 January 1939 – April 1940.

Gurkha’s departure for the Mediterranean Sea in December 1938 was delayed while gunsights and other items were fitted, repairs carried out and final trials completed. Eventually arriving at Malta on 20th December 1938, Gurkha was assigned to the 1st Sub- Division of the 1st Tribal Destroyer Flotilla.

For most of the time thereafter, Gurkha worked closely with HMS Afridi although there were occasions when she was on her own or with other ships. Examples of these joint operations were: the Albanian Crisis, the visit at Athens, the Red Sea foray and the French troop convoys. For a while Gurkha was employed on North Sea escort duty and in the Humber Striking Force. She then served with the Home Fleet and was almost continuously at sea escorting capital ships on their sweeps in the Atlantic.

The year 1940 began well for Gurkha. On 8 February 1940 she and HMS Nubian hunted a U-boat off Scapa Flow. Later, on 21st February, she depth-charged and destroyed the German submarine U-53.

The next event was most unfortunate. On a snowy 9th March, HMS Gurkha and HMS Nubian were escorting a southbound convoy off the Shetlands when they met a northbound Norwegian convoy. Gurkha’s propeller guard gashed a hole in HMS Kelly’s bow when the two ships connected momentarily. Immediately, Kelly’s signalman sent the message have been hit by mine or torpedo. Am uncertain which. Gurkha’s signal came in clearly, That was me, not a mine.

PAINTING: DARJEELING 200 YEARS AGO!

SHARED BY SHITAL PRADHAN 

Darjeeling 200 years ago. Click on the image to enlarge

HUMAN INTEREST: Miss Nepal derailed but Miss Gay right on course

FROM INDIA ENEWS

By Sudeshna Sarkar (IANS) 

Sandhya Lama with the sponsor

(IANS) As Nepal undergoes a series of social and cultural revolutions, Sandhya Lama, 20, has emerged as an unusual icon.

‘I realised I was different from others when my classmates started ragging me in Class 8,’ says the slender, poised 5 ft 4” Lama who could be mistaken as a model. ”Why are you so girlish,’ they would taunt me.

‘I liked women’s clothes and I liked dancing and I gradually realised that I was actually a girl at heart,’ the transgender youth told IANS.

She was lured by an older acquaintance to leave her home in Hetauda town and go to Kathmandu with him, where he promised to launch her career as a dancer. He cheated Sandhya but she survived the sexual exploitation to carve out a new identity as a woman.

One day, Lama saw a programme on the state-run television channel about a gay rights group, Blue Diamond Society (BDS), which was helping sexual minorities fight for their rights.

Excited, she contacted the NGO and began working for it as a peer counsellor, advising gays, lesbians, commercial sex workers and intravenous drug users about the perils of HIV/AIDS.

This month, Lama beat 54 other transgender contestants to win Nepal’s three-year-old gay beauty pageant and become the Himalayan republic’s gay ambassador to tackle stigma and discrimination related to HIV and AIDS.

‘The World Bank supported the contest with Nepali Rs.2.6 million (over $34,000) as part of its Development Marketplace projects,’ says Sunil Pant, founder of BDS and Nepal’s first and only openly gay MP.

The projects are intended to support non-conventional approaches to address basic problems. Besides getting the World Bank’s recognition, the ‘Talent Contest 2008: Beauty and Brain’ also steals a march over the traditional Miss Nepal beauty contest.

ESSAY: TRIP TO TRANQUILITY

From Journal of American Rhododendron Society

By Britt and Jean Smith, Kent, Washington

INTRODUCTION

This chronology of a trip to Sikkim was to have been a story of searching for and photographing rhododendrons in Himalaya. Unfortunately the tension which prevailed along the border of Sikkim and Tibet caused extreme restriction of travel in Sikkim. A few rhododendrons were seen growing in and near towns which we visited, but only rarely was one in bloom because it was not their season. As a result of this, the story is mostly of Himalayan people whom we met.

Perhaps our fondness for rhododendrons can help us acquire some of the Himalayan philosophy of life. Perhaps it is even a sign that we are reincarnations of Himalayan people. That can be a pleasant, soothing thought if you care to contemplate on it. Belief in reincarnation definitely contributes to the peace of mind of the Himalayan people. They are a quiet and peaceful, but at the same time friendly and interesting people. Their austere lives are lives of happiness and tranquility seemingly found only where the frantic urgency of the modern world has not yet invaded.

 

Tse Ten Tashi holding branch of R. dalhousiae.

On May 16, 1968, Mr. K. C. Pradhan (who was then living in New Haven, Conn.) wrote a letter to Mr. H. L. Larson of Tacoma. In this letter he stated that he was planning to be in Tacoma the following month and would visit Mr. Larson at that time. He also mentioned that Mr. Tse Ten Tashi of Gangtok, Sikkim was a friend and an ardent naturalist in the Himalayas.

Since Mr. Pradhan’s routing for his return to Sikkim did not take him through Tacoma, Mr. Larson gave me a copy of the letter so that I could resume the correspondence if I wished to do so. The primary subject being considered in the letter was the possible procurement of rhododendron seeds from Sikkim, and I was interested in seeds.

By July, Mr. Pradhan’s location was not known, so a letter was sent to Mr. Tse Ten Tashi, Gangtok, Sikkim. It was not known if the address was sufficient, if Mr. Tashi would respond, nor how a letter would get to Sikkim. In the letter was an explanation of the exploration that Dr. Frank Mossman and I had done among R. occidentale and of our conviction that the variation found in that species is not restricted to that species. Mr. Tashi was asked if he knew of anyone who would be interested in searching their native species for superior forms of rhododendrons, marking and pollinating the selected plants, and returning later to collect the seed.

In October a letter arrived stating, “Having failed to hear from you, I am again writing to you as advised by Mr. Pradhan, who is now here with us.” Later in the letter Mr. Tashi wrote, “I am an orchid specialist, having grown them for the last 39 years, and am 58 years old but still active and young as a youth of 25 years old.” Also he wrote, “I shall be in the best position to take the job you had offered, both in collection of the seeds and also take both 35 mm Kodachrome and 16 mm cine colours if need be so that you have the vision of the variations which I have been observing in the past years.”

An exchange of letters was devoted to sparring for a price, which was finally established at $500 for the year’s effort of hunting, collecting and photographing. This was more than I was able to pay so, at the suggestion of Bob Badger, members of the Seattle Study Club and the Tacoma Study Club were asked if they were interested in participating. The Seattle Study Club, with the urging of Jim Caperci, offered to contribute $200, and before the group dispersed that evening, several individuals contributed more than $100 additional. Since I wished to participate, only $100 interest was offered to the Tacoma Study Club and the members quickly voted to contribute this. The Seeds from Sikkim venture was launched with surprising rapidity.

On February 20, 1969 a letter was written to Mr. Tashi to advise him that finances had been arranged.

Seed soon came from a supply which Mr. Tashi had on hand, and this distributed among the contributors. There was a rapid series of letters both ways, as the banks were very slow in transferring funds to Mr. Tashi’s account. On April 24 he finally received notice that the funds had arrived, and all was joy in Gangtok!

Contact was made with the Seattle Rock Garden Society per Mr. Tashi’s suggestion that he might collect seed for them. Mr. Tashi’s second daughter had been married in Gangtok, and life in general continued at its usual pace.

That is how the Sikkim experience began…

There are three questions which are most frequently asked about Sikkim and which seemingly could most appropriately be answered at this point: 1. What is Sikkim? 2. Where is Sikkim? 3. Isn’t that the country in which the American girl married the King? Those questions will be answered in that order.

Sikkim is a kingdom populated by less than 200,000 people. It is approximately 70 miles long north to south, and approximately 40 miles wide east to west.

SILIGURI: Siliguri to feel the winter chill soon!

FROM THE STATESMAN

SILIGURI, Dec. 15: A chilly winter is on the threshold of Siliguri as well as north Bengal if the weather officials are to be believed. The mercury is dipping by degrees and hopefully in a couple of days it would dip considerably to bring about the much cherished soothing flavour of winter.
According to Mr Biman Bagchi of the department of Geography in North Bengal University, the deepening fog for the past two days is signalling the arrival of winter. “The soggy fog embracing dawn and dusk in its murky penumbra and becoming more dense towards the nocturnal hours is the harbinger of chilly winter. A few spells of drizzle may even make the temperature plummet significantly,” he said.

Today’s minimum temperature has touched 13 degree Celsius with the maximum standing at 24 degree Celsius.

“The minimum is expected to come down to 10 degree Celsius in the next 48 hours while the maximum may be around 20 degree Celsius,” Mr Bagchi predicted. Regarding the delay in the approach of winter this year he said that the abnormal concentration of the Western disturbances had impeded the penetration by the West wind.

DOOARS TERAI: ‘Intelligence failure led to Kalchini clashes’

FROM THE STATESMAN

COOCH BEHAR, Dec. 15: Police have admitted that because of Intelligence failure it could not succeed in staving off the Kalchini hostilities last week.

The inspector general of police, north Bengal, Mr Kundanlal Tamta today admitted here that they had no prior information about the GJMM’s government office blockade programme at Kalchini. “Police are being instructed to ensure such lapses do not recur,” the IGP said before leaving for Kalchini. The IGP also spoke on the alleged reorganisation of Kamtapur Liberation Organisation and its subversive plans in north Bengal in association with ULFA and other militant outfits. “Such information came earlier from different Intelligence agencies but there was no substantial evidence to prove those. Funds are required to organise a militant outfit and they have to collect it forcefully from different quarters. But, no extortion incident was reported from anyplace recently,” he said.

He, however, was careful when it came to the Maoists. “The spread of Maoist organisations in the Dooars depends on the economic scene. The Maoists generally use NGOs and other organisations to influence the people by taking advantage of their grievances against the administration and the government. At present, they are engaged in their first phase of work in the Dooars. The lower level officials and bureaucrats are responsible for this. They are not helping the people avail of the facilities offered by the government and the Maoists are taking this opportunity to strengthen their organisation,” Mr Tamta, said.

DARJEELING HILLS: GJMM upset with police atrocities in Dooars, Siliguri

FROM THE STATESMAN

Darjeeling, Dec. 15: The Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha has demanded an impartial probe by the state and Central government in its letters to chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Union home minister Mr P Chidamabram and the chairman of National Human Rights Commission against the “politicised role” of police administration in the two day violence in Dooars and Siliguri last week.

“Our rally comprised mainly of women and students demonstrating peacefully outside the Hamiltonganj BDO office to implement state government office closure programme of the GJMM. They were attacked by anti-socials without any provocation and the police force headed by the IGP, north Bengal Mr KL Tamta played a biased role in the series of incidents. We demand his transfer,” said GJMM spokesperson Mr Binay Tamang.

The GJMM has further alleged that violence triggered when “some anti-socials hired by the Alipurduar RSP MP Mr Joakim Buxla attacked a GJMM rally with a “fusillade of missiles” from inside his house. The GJMM has served the state government an ultimatum till 22 December to arrest those involved in the attack on its supporters at Kalchini and Debidanga failing which it would call a 72-hour strike and also skip the second tripartite talks in New Delhi.

Indicating the role of Bangaladeshi infiltrators in the attack, the GJMM has blamed the residents of Kalkot mouza’s Refugee Rehabilitation Colony for violence in Debidanga on 11 December. The assault on GJMM’s students’ wing leader Mr Dhanraj Thapa in Birpara on Saturday allegedly by RSP cadres further aggravated the situation.

SILIGURI: Glitches make traders doubt e-auction success

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Siliguri, Dec. 15: The online sale has not gone down well with buyers at the Siliguri Tea Auction Centre, who believe that the system is hardly user-friendly.

Many STAC members are also unwilling to buy the government claim that the software would become fully operational in Siliguri by January 31.

E-auction was launched at the centre on Saturday in the presence of Union minister of state for commerce, industries and power Jairam Ramesh and Tea Board of India chairman Basudeb Banerjee. The dignitaries said at the function that the new system would be implemented completely by January 31 and the existing manual trading would become obsolete.

But Day I itself was marked with hiccups and hitches. There are around 400 buyers registered with the centre and the majority of them could not participate in the auction on Saturday. “Only 26 people, who were given user IDs and passwords to log in to computers, could quote prices and as there were problems with connectivity, ultimately, 10-12 buyers could participate in the auction. Different varieties of tea had to be sold at lower prices as laptops did not work and higher rates could not be recorded,” said Ankit Lochan, a buyer.

The buyers also doubted the efficiency of new system. “Manually, 3.2 lots (assembly of 20-80 tea bags containing around 35 kg in each one) are put on bid per minute. But, in the e-auction, hardly two lots could be traded in one minute,” said Bajrang Sethia, a member of the STAC.

“The weekly auction at the centre is on Thursday and 7,000-8,000 lots are traded in one day. Given the pace at which the commodity was sold on Saturday, one has to assume that it will take four-five days to buy the brew online.”

“The tea board, we feel, should sit with us and seek our feedback, understand the problems and arrange for further training for buyers so that the switchover to the online auction is smooth,” said Lochan.

As the buyers encountered frequent problems in logging in and purchasing tea, Ramesh and Banerjee had to face embarrassing moments in the auction hall.

Some buyers rose from the seats and asked for user IDs and passwords. Others complained that they could not participate in the auction because of lack of infrastructure. The minister and the tea board chairman sought to pacify the buyers by telling them that “it was a token process”.

SILIGURI: Morcha drives away traders

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Siliguri, Dec. 15: Police today turned away around 300 Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters from Bagdogra where people opposed to the Gorkhland demand had started assembling when the hill party got ready to sit for a hunger strike.

The venue of the hunger strike was the Bagdogra police station, 14km from here. The Morcha procession had reached there around 7.30am. As members of the Nari Morcha prepared to sit for the fast, the others shouted slogans against the attack on party supporters at Kalchini in the Dooars and Debidanga on the outskirts of Siliguri last week.

Women supporters of the Morcha have for the past few days organised hunger strikes in front of different police stations across the hills and in Sukna to protest against the clashes in the plains.

Hearing the slogans, local youths opposed to the statehood demand started trickling in, assembling in ones and twos in front of the police station.

“The police told us that if we went ahead, there could be a clash. Finding that the situation was not conducive, we submitted a memorandum to the police and marched out of the place around 9.30am,” said Madhusudan Thapa, the president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s Siliguri subdivision committee.

As the Morcha supporters left for Panighata in Upper Bagdogra, known to be a party stronghold, the crowd too fizzled out. Pradip Dutta, the deputy superintendent of police of Siliguri admitted that there had been a “slight tension”. “The Morcha supporters had been to the police station to submit a memorandum. However, after they departed, things went back to normal. We have posted some extra men at the police station,” he said.

In Jalpaiguri’s South Latabari, almost near the spot of the Kalchini clashes, local traders alleged in a police complaint that the Nari Morcha today had stopped them from putting up stalls at the weekly haat. Morcha leader Rajesh Sharma said: “It will take some time to defuse the tension. The women thought that the putting up of the stalls would mean the presence of more people, which in turn may lead to tension.”

KURSEONG: Teacher goes missing after SOS

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Tulsi Raj Sharma, who went missing

Kurseong, Dec. 15: A 28-year-old school teacher went missing yesterday evening after calling up his father and telling him that he had been caught in a “problem”.

Tulsi Raj Sharma, a computer teacher at Pushparani Roy Memorial Higher Secondary School here, had left home for Siliguri on Saturday morning to get a desktop repaired.

“He had gone to Pankhabari to visit his ailing maternal grandfather and he spent the night there. Yesterday morning, he went to Siliguri to repair the computer,” said Sishupal Sharma, Tulsi’s father, over the phone from Garidhura this morning.

At 7.30pm yesterday, Tulsi called his father asking him to come to Kurseong motor stand. “He called me and said he was stuck in a problem. He asked me to come to the motor stand. I rushed to the stand, but could not find him. After that, I called him on his cellphone several times, almost all through the night. But there was no response from him. However, during my last conversation with him, he did not tell me about the problem he was facing,” said Sharma.

Immediately after calling his father, Tulsi sent SMSs to several people he knows in Kurseong. The messages read: “Tulsi is no more. Please convey this message to everyone”. The SMS was sent from his own cellphone.

DOOARS TERAI: Boss’s rap to Kalchini force

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

An all-party meeting at the Kalchini panchayat office on Sunday. Picture by Anirban Choudhury

Alipurduar, Dec. 15: The inspector-general of police (north Bengal) has hauled up the office-in-charge of Kalchini, saying had the force played a proactive role, the clashes that shook the block on Wednesday could have been avoided.

K.L. Tamta, the inspector-general, who toured the block this afternoon along with S.R. Misra, the additional superintendent of police of Alipurduar and Ujjwal Bhowmik, the subdivisional police officer, said many people were aware of the Morcha gathering.

Tamta had interacted with the people in the Hamiltongonj market.

“They told me that they knew about the Morcha rally. It was a failure on the part of the officer in charge of the Kalchini police station that he did not have any information about the movement. The police should have played a proactive role so that they could prevent the incident. Everybody seemed to have known that there would be a gathering in front of the block office and near the Latabari gram panchayat office,” said Tamta.

The officer said the people had told him that they had come to know about the gathering from newspapers. “The police in Hamiltangunj must improve the relationship with the local people. Only then will they be able to get information and can ensure peace in the area.”

DARJEELING HILLS: CPRM to back Bimal in Delhi

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Gurung: More help coming

Darjeeling, Dec. 15: Supporters of the CPRM have started leaving for Delhi for the three-day dharna in support of Gorkhaland at Jantar Mantar, starting from the 19th of this month.

Although of late the party has not shared a good relationship with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the CPRM has decided to extend support to Bimal Gurung’s outfit for the statehood agitation.

D.S. Bomzom, spokesperson for the CPRM, said: “We are trying to mobilise and take 1,000 supporters to Delhi. We hope at least 800 will be able to make it to the dharna.”

“The tripartite meeting is scheduled to take place soon. We hope the dharna will help the one-year old (Morcha) movement,” he added.

The argument has surprised many as Gurung had on various occasions accused a certain section of the hill leaders, who are now advocating the separate state cause, of having a hand in killing about 1,200 Gorkhaland supporters during the 1986 agitation led by the GNLF. Gurung was then a GNLF strongman.