Are we responsible parents? Are we a part of responsible civil society? Is every school and every teacher taking up responsibility? It’s high time we pull up our socks and get ourselves on our toes if we want to see every flower that we have sown blossom and spread its fragrance.
Drug addiction is a common problem of youths these days. Most studies reveal that drug addicts are from the urban areas where there is sufficient…
Allowing tourism in Darjeeling from 1st July, 2020 is a blunder. I understand the plight and hardships the stake stakeholders of tourism industry are facing due to recent COVID19 pandemic crisis. I too am going through this adversity, as I myself am involved in tourism management in Darjeeling and Sikkim since past many years. We are facing extremes pressure to pay loans, EMIs, lease rent to the hotels, salaries to staffs and drivers, renewing and maintaining trade license of hotels, travel agency office, vehicles etc.
Although Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal and the state of Sikkim have been projected predominantly as tourist sites, the mainstay of the rural population continues to be agriculture. According to Census 2011, the majority of the population here are rural (60.58% in Darjeeling-Kalimpong & 75.03% in Sikkim) and agriculture is the main occupation. Here farming communities depend on wage labour, small businesses and tourism (homestays) to augment their income from agriculture and all these were also closed during the lockdown period.
One day a friendβs father told me that I should join the army. He told me that it was great to serve the nation at the forefront. Well for that I had to sit for an exam and then I would be called for an interview at SSB at Bangalore, Allahabad or Bhopal. The journey and stay would be all sponsored by the Indian Army. Well the second part was more exciting for me rather than the first…
You were my very first friend in the hostel, when I was all new and had no one by my side. It was you who’d always given me company. After the tea break, when my frock’s pocket would be full of sweets but my eyes fixed to the gate, with the hope that someone would come and take me back home.You’ve seen me crying, laughing and running like a lunatic in the lawn.
Casteism is a weird thing and I still can’t wrap my head around it. I have been way more privileged than my ancestors who struggled to be a part of the society so driven with hatred against the ‘lower castes’. I went to a convent school where I wasn’t made aware of my caste for a really long time because we didn’t talk stipend or reservation. My family was quite well to do, too and I grew about without realising the complexities of this oppressive system.
At a time when the people of Northeast India are facing the brunt of anti-Chinese sentiments in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic, the movie Axone comes as a breath of fresh air. This satire on racism and stereotypes by Northeastern director, Nicholas Kharkongor premiered on Netflix on the 12th of June 2020 and it generated quite a buzz! On the morning of the 12th June, my Instagram story feed flooded with posters of the movie, comments on the aptness of the movie at this point of time and snapshots of the racist comments from the movie β unfortunately ones, we as an ethnic minority, are well acquainted with. I will admit, I was equally excited for this premiere. My friends and I had been awaiting it since the beginning of the year. We even went as far as to coax our Naga friends to bring Axone for us.
It is a well-known fact that corona virus is now affecting homes across the country. Thousands and millions of young people of our hills and lowlands are being held captive in various states of the country for employment. At this time, they are living in a lack of money to pay rent and raise food. Factories, hotels and restaurants are closed due to the lockdown. Their current condition is very pathetic.
In December 2019 a cluster of pneumonia-like cases was reported in the Wuhan district of China for the first time. Five months later, this previously unknown contagious disease has wreaked havoc across the globe. The COVID-19 aka SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2) pandemic has affected β directly and indirectly β almost every individual in the world. It has crashed entire economies, tested healthcare infrastructures, and caused havoc and general panic among the global public. The modern world has come to an uneasy and uncertain standstill.