DARJEELING HILLS: Alcohol – A menace for teenagers
Posted by barunroy on July 10, 2009
FROM THE STATESMAN
KURSEONG, 9 JULY: The growing menace of alcohol consumption and practice of immoral activities among school children in the Darjeeling hills is causing serious concern among the parents, teaching community and the society in general.
Teenagers these days are often seen binging in the parks and gardens quite openly in addition to the restaurants and hotels, indifferent to the reaction they are causing in the society.
As a proof of the point, the police in Kurseong arrested some teenaged school students from a hotel on Tuesday when they were creating nuisance in an inebriated state.
The Gorkha Jan Pustakalay-Kurseong, secretary, Mr LD Moktan admitted the degenerating trend among the youngsters and said this was very worrisome. “There is no immediate solution to the trend. It is the result of aping the West. The sartorial sense and lifestyle of today’s youth is strange. The parents, social organisations and school authorities must inculcate discipline in them or the society will have to pay a price,” he said.
Mr Moktan said that they were planning to form an organisation to spread awareness among the parents, which should in turn help the youth.
Another senior citizen, Mr GB Bal said that the parents must take the responsibility to keep their children from going astray.
“Unfortunately, most parents do not keep a track of their children’s activities and so the corrective measures are not coming,” he pointed out.
The trend is causing worry in the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha as well. “The teenagers these days are flouting the standard norms of the society and indulging in activities the society does not approve of.
“The GJMM women wing would soon take up the matter. It is lined up for discussion,” said Mrs Prabha Chhetri, the GJMM Kurseong core committee member.
Equally disturbed with the growing trend among the teenagers, the Kurseong SDPO, Mr Rakesh Singh, said: “The administration is doing everything in its capacity to curb alcoholism and disgraceful activities among the teenagers but the society and individuals must also play their own roles and be responsible citizens.”
iwitness_online said
Alcohol menace in the hills can never be stopped or checked especially in Kurseong,after nearly every rally or meeting in Motor Stand one should visit “Bhansa Ghar” located at the station,you will find out the way our Nari Morcha and members of the Morcha party,sickening and revolting,all they are concerned is getting intoxicated beyond their capacity and discussing forthcoming contracts,every Tom,Dick and Harry seems to be a “CONTRACTOR” these days whether male or female.
It took the GNLF about 21 yrs to reach a very high level of corruption but the Morcha in return seems to have achieved in just about less than 2 yrs….hats off to the Morcha
Sanity said
#2.
People were under no illusion that things would change like a miracle under GJM. Well, at least the top rung leaders are not visiting Bhansa Ghar. During the times of GNLF even the councillors were the chief patrons of such joints.
But the topic here is not of the elders getting sloshed but young people – teenagers. That is not a healthy sign and parents must take up the onus to keep their wards in check. Why not a “Parents Association” that monitors all such activities of teenagers and takes corrective action when any teenager falls prey to such activities?
Sanity said
Mr Moktan said that they were planning to form an organisation to spread awareness among the parents, which should in turn help the youth.
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That is the right thing to do!
Nisha said
Siliguri ra Darjeeling ma kaam garney manche haru le alcohol khanu ko lagi meeting point nai Kurseong banayepachi ta it is obvious Kurseong being regarded as the AKHADAA for raksi consuming.
layman said
The growing menace of alcohol consumption and practice of immoral activities among school children in the Darjeeling hills is causing serious concern among the parents, teaching community and the society in general.
…………………………………………………………
I am guessing who is the author?
anoop said
…….. the only solution to the above problem is ………. band the alcohol in whole darjeeling district…….. this can only done by naree morcha…….. gorkhaland napaye panee …… darjeeling lai basney layak ko chai banau nah…..
Hazam said
Rest of the World – Drugs, sex and Rock n’Roll
Darjeeling – Drugs, sex, Rock n’Roll, Ghoos and alcohol.
Amfoi said
Ani corruption !!
Ghoo sing used to carry a cheque book in his pocket and if he wished to give one ,he would simply scribble the amount and hand it to his chamchas.
He even misused lakhs of public money just to buy patakas to celebrate accord day etc etc.
I also remember him distributing ‘kumbu’ and bhajan CDs worth several lakhs to his supporters.
Whose blood was it anyway ?
patleybaskounpad said
in darjeeling
if the buuz doesn’t take you the ‘chirrrips’ will…
anyway as old freddie said or rather sang..
‘who wants to live forever?’
JTM said
Future ‘Gorkhas’? Gorkha naam gayo Darjeeling ma. There is total confusion in this movement.
Amfoi said
Black is black,white is white
No secrecy. No nepotism
All evils n wrong doing must be exposed.
Bimal dai ko pani mero ma lekha jokha chha.
JTM said
Talliland
xxx said
i would like to ask the reporter , what does he/she means by:
degenerating trend among the youngsters
standard norms of the society
disgraceful activities among the teenagers
where does personal freedom stand among all these
xxx said
Mr Moktan said that they were planning to form an organisation to spread awareness among the parents, which should in turn help the youth.
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do you need an organisation to discipline your child.
what child learns is what he sees at home.
so it is not the child to be disciplined primarily but it is the parents that needs to be discipline themselves first.
most of the parents in the hills hardly know what the essentials of parenthood are and how a child needs to be brought up.
Sanity said
#14.
With people like you this nation is doomed!
If your statement, “what child learns is what he sees at home” is to be applied to the rest of India, then all these parents also are corrupt and inefficent for they are only producing corrupt and inefficient people these days.
“parents in the hills hardly know what the essentials of parenthood are and how a child needs to be brought up”. Children in the hills may lack many of the facilities that is available to the children of the plains but they certainly do not lack love. Children in the plains are literally starved for love – that is why most turn out to be sadomasochist in later life.
JTM said
Mr LD Moktan admitted the degenerating trend among the youngsters and said this was very worrisome. “There is no immediate solution to the trend. It is the result of aping the West. The sartorial sense and lifestyle of today’s youth is strange.
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Aping the west.
This a wrong idea that some people tend to employ to describe young people. In fact I think it is an escapist route of avoiding the onus on one self whether it be a parent or a social body head such as Mr Muktan.
Clothes etc worn today are more inspired by Bollywood and the fashion industry where clothes and dance movements canbe as suggestive as one canbe.
I have yet to see a Hollywood film where the actors are wearing the kind of clothers that our youngsters are wearing. It is all from Bollywood.
If alongwith children even parents are besotted with the glitz glamour of Bolywood then waht can anyone say.
I cannot comment on the drinking habits cos I have;nt seen it with my own eyes on Darj.
But yes whatver little interaction I ahve with some here:
These are my observations OF SOME youngsters: Defiant, stubborn, one track, narrowminded, out of control, cocky, arrogant, ignorant show offs.
I am again going to repeat that the name Gorkhas which was earned by centuries of hard work, dedication and sacrifice seems to be unsuitable to be granted to such a stock as mentioned above.
It is difficult to match upto such a name.
So the support for Gl will continue of Darjeeling is able to show exemplaries qualities. But if what we hear is stuff like above then forget it.
If the standard of the society comes up to Gorkha levels, it will happen easily. Just speaking Nepali is not enough.
JTM said
News like above and all the GNLF-GJMM fighting are not the kind of news one would like to hear of THE ‘GORKHA’ LAND.
DobRub said
This problem is everywhere. The only thing about Darjeeling being highlighted is that ours is a small place and even the dropping of a pin is heard far and wide. Besides, the people of Darjeeling have always been open to new experiments whether it be good or bad. Its because of this characteristic of the people that they have stood out different from others. Infact, these teenagers won’t be habituated on this. I am sure they were out to celebrate something.
JTM said
I see what abt the newspaper report about a cloud of of dope smell in the stadium during a football match in a schoool in ….(not in Darjeeling) but you know the school. They were also celebrating smoking chaars, were they?
I am not saying it just quoting a newspaper report which all in the region read.
JTM said
Sorry …smoking Charas…all teenagers. Either tiyo ka hava darj ma puke ko chha or vice versa and we all know the main traffic between Dharamshala and Darjeeling is mainly by which …….
RAJA said
This problem is everywhere but percentage of drag addict more from darj,sikkim and NE state than rest of India that I have seen from my student life , reason till unknown to me.
Reason for more alcoholic than peoples of plain beacoz of cold weather I believe.
JTM said
@ 18 So you think children getting drunk, having sex is okay to have a celebration? Whether they get hurt, have accidenst, get pregnant, get mentally affceted before time, fool around with parents money, become misfits in society outside later on.
Is the kind of culture and society you are encouraging? Kindly go somewhere else and propagate it.
Forget Gorkhas no other community or any human family would look down so kindly on such a social trend being excused as celebration.
I am finding there are lots of people in Darjeeling who stay there as Darjeelingers but are doing their very best to break the very foundations of a Gorkhali society. Appearing as sympathisers while actually smiling at any deteroiration. The Lhasa Mafia.
JTM said
Lhasa Mafia???????????????? It is a qs.
Amfoi said
Filthy,smelly…day by day !
JTM said
The movement yes. Tks to residents like you’ll. People like you want Gl but do not know anything abt Gorkhas. The joined hands of showing unity is now growing claws. Such a farce.
layman said
Desi daru (pronounced THEY-see DAA-roo), illicit liquor, spiked with pesticides or chemicals to increase its potency killed more than 100 people in Gujrat. Watch BBC.
Rajneesh said
Yes, and they use pesticides knowingly to increase the potency of desi daru??? Yeah we can see the reuslts already.
Sanity said
#13.
Personal freedom does not mean irresponsibility. In India we have taken freedom for the wrong things – freedom to be corrupt, to cheat and swindle, freedom to do all immoral things. We have forgotten that “with freedon comes responsibility”.
Parents must keep a close watch on what their children are doing outside their homes. Peer pressure is a big thing and it is not always positive. One might be pressurized to do wrong things just to prove that one is not a loser. But if they fall into wrong habits, they will becomes losers for life. Freedom comes with awareness. Teenagers, no matter what age they live in, cannot have complete awareness of what is right and wrong – that is also biologically driven considering the hormone surges at that age! We cannot ape the West for no matter how advanced the West may be in material terms, their social structure and social values are down in the dumps. Parents are just machines that brought you to life, families don’t matter and friends and pets are more important than them, marriage is rapidly losing its value (more than 60% of the married population in UK have been divorced at least once!) and single-parent children are the norms of the day. Will we be able to save ourselves from such a situation?
DobRub said
JTM…go get a life!
Don’t try to act like a samaj sudharak! The so called bad habits these teenagers have developed can be overcome in a matter of time. But, the habit that you have, i.e of bashing certain communities at the slightest pretext, can never be overcome.
DobRub said
Gawd….your pathetic existence shames me!!
Amfoi said
Through this blog, I alert those unsuspecting ,gullible parents not to send their college going siblings down to Siliguri for tuitions especially in winter.
Many a times, I ve found them in such filthy environment that it would be best for me not to go on writing the stuff that demeans our dignity.
I want assure that this problem haunts all us notably the Gorkhalis,Nepalis,Sikkimese,Bhutanese,Tibetans and not to mention of NEs.
I firmly believe ,parents sud infact, play a guiding role in shaping their future.
JTM said
Dobrub Shameless! despite several commentators wanting you banned you still hopping around. You are also one of the sabotagers of GL was clear to me from a long time. Fine ask for Bhotland. I dont mind as long characters like you are not part of Gorkhaland.
JTM said
Dobrub says………The so called bad habits these teenagers have developed can be overcome in a matter of time.
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??????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Shocking!
patleybaskounpad said
i don’t know where you come from JTM but almost everyone who has been impressionable and young have at one time or the other smoked weed (or even more potent stuff)had a few drinks, chased skirt, got into a few fights and yes binged on beer…
i am no apologist for DobRub…but almost everyone who got raised in Darjeeling went through that phase and lived to tell the tale…yes they do go away with time…
Sanity said
#34.
In all those episodes of experimentation only a few made it real good. The rest are all lost in mediocrity – huge talents faded into oblivion and would-be stars never went on to shine. And a substantial number were drowned in it – the addiction and related problems. I think we just cannot say that all these will pass away with time – for some it doesn’t and becomes the means to an end of their lives or whatever is left of it. For a substantial number it becomes the stumbling block to their destined achievement in life.
JTM said
Wonferful I can read that the report is abt children and all you guys are advocating the mess! Since you are well-learned abt it I hope you also realise many do not make it thru the ‘phase’. It seems you are all advocating that the minor age be reduced to 8 years only. After all adults who can do adult stuff.
patleybaskounpad said
nobody is advocating anything…there are things that men do as rites of passage and having done so they move into other things…
as for talents being lost, i would blame that to lack of opportunity and not on the supposed ‘weaknesses’ of those who could not ’shine’..
the scene in any Western Univ. is far more hedonistic and yet life here does seem to go on….
JTM said
Anyway SCHOOLchildren indulging in….. as ‘a growing menace’ is bad for them and for society. They are at the most impressionable and vulnerable age of their lives. I do not support freaking out on alcohol or sex at this age. Because it will affect them physically and psychologically and will remain so in many ways for the most of their lives. Especially for girls. They get pregnant not the boys.
I will give you a real case but cannot reveal the sources. Young teenage girl gets pregnant by young teenage boy. Girl wants support from boy (obviously his family because he is dependant). Boy’s mother fends off the girl saying prove that the unborn child is my son’s. You are a loose bad charactered girl. God knows whose child you are carrying. Go get a DNA test. Girls gets distraught and wants to commit suicide. Boy’s mother goes to organisations complaining that the girl was trying to ruin her son’s life. Boy too young to make any decision is clamped up by mother who will not allow him to be speak or to even meet the girl. Girl is going through a lot of trauma. Already reputation is ruined in society by boy’s mother who accuses her of everything possible (what she considers great crimes)..alcohol drinker, smoker, promiscuous, etc, etc. . Going thru pregnancy in under such stress and strain. What are her options? Whatever…the scars will remain in her emotions for the rest of her life. Meanwhile a religious assn is ready to adopt the baby into their mission.
Others can have their opinions.
JTM said
In Seychelles I noticed this. in case of pregnancies between unwed dependant individuals, the law does not force marriage but insists that the baby is taken care of by the girls’ mother with expenses and name given by boys side till the child is 18.
patleybaskounpad said
what JTM mentions are very sad cases but our comments were limited to the naughty and stupid things that all people do in their adolescence and come out of it a little bruised but wiser nonetheless…
in fact Seychelles reminds me of a recent report about SA where rape is endemic and even has some perverted cultural/social sanction amongst a majority of the males as a kind of a manhood ritual..
no i am not condoning ‘immoral’ living and heinous crimes of that nature…i was just suggesting that the aberration of the Darjeeling youth have to be seen in their perspective and what better perspective than that of those who have traveled along that road and enjoyed the scenery while it lasted…and lived to tell the tale..
JTM said
Look Patley school children indulging in what has been reported as ‘growing menace’ did not happen in my time I dont abt yrs.
And I am not even interested in calling it moral or immoral. It is a social problem.
Excessiveness of any kind whether for children or adults is unhealthy for everybody. More so for children who are NOT legally allowed to even have alcohol. Where sex is concerned there is a law aginst child brides which amounts to the same thing…not being physically or mentally old enough.
You are hung up adolesecent stuff I am hung up it becoming a growing menace. Boys with broken necks riding bikes in a drunken state, girls ending with quack drs is not something which should become a general social practice. And more than all, people fighting abt who is the father is not what I would like girls to be subjected to at a delicate age. And in small towns the entire community remembers it forever. I have seen middle-aged men making jokes behind respectable women abt how he had her when she was 16 and how hot she was.
DobRub said
Open up! Its not about you and your small world. You have to learn to accept other’s views and opinions if you want to know the real world. This is the the way the cookie crumbles, deary!!
JTM said
Fine then let Darjeeling come in the news for such matters. but them make sure all the communities are named. Dont want an artcle coming out saying that Gorkha children on rampant sex and booze. Let it be mentioned that Tibetan, XXXxx,XXXX, XXXX, etc children are discvering the new Nirvana.
JTM said
by the way Dobrub, How is yr alliance with the Urghi Muslims in Western China going? I remember distinctly you mentioning that yr Tibetans will be fighting the cause against China with an alliance with them.
Stay out of my way. Talk to others on the blog.
DobRub said
Don’t let anger take you over! You often end up doing things that you will live to regret in fits of anger.
DobRub said
BTW, who is interested in talking to you….of all the people!! I would rather teach my dog a few tricks than to discuss matters with you. I am sure she will learn it faster!!