For Conrad said “you know yourself only when away from the safety of social trappings, faced with the elements of nature and nothing to fall back on but yourself, you discover then whether you are weak or strong.” I tested myself and found I was a mixture of both with a wee bit more of the strong side. There still is much of life left in me. More of arches to cross; the time for me to sit and contemplate has not begun.
My younger brother who also stays in another city shared the link of Bipul Chettri’s “Teesta” with me stating “tero buhari le pathako – your younger sister-in-law shared”. As soon as I heard the song, I in my imagination, rushed back home, to a place where my brother and I share the same meal of Gundruk and Bhaat in the evening where pine trees in the hills of Delo or Tigerhill sway to the winds of Chaita.
The education mafia has taken over the system and turned schools into a profitable business model. At the same time, there are schools in remote places that are run by a single teacher as well. Villagers themselves help to make sure the teacher stays in the village and their children are educated. The biggest irony, however, is that the same people who have studied in a reputed private school system will fight to the death for a government teacher post.
Again, every other person in the village is spiritual, all of them being dedicated followers of Baba Ram Rahim Insaan, but there is no political interest in anyone at all. In fact, the village follows a strict non-political policy since time immemorial. To say the least, the village in its life has never seen a single political rally till date, except for the time when once General Aladdeen of Wadiya had decided to visit the village and had delivered a speech at the village community hall. That was the only time that the villagers had seen camels.
Almost all the major dailies published in West Bengal have today turned themselves into a publicity platform for the party in power. Rightfully so, because the romance associated with revealing the truth has died a natural death, and all-paid foreign trips for journalists where one could get an opportunity to steal silver cutlery is in vogue.
As we had informed earlier, we have tied up with RJ Samir – Samir Gideon Ghimire, to bring to you 12 Nepali stories – 1 story a month, in the audio-pictorial format under our series हाम्रा कथाहरु. We are doing this to make our Nepali literature more popular among younger generations, and also among those who may never have read a Nepali story before. This month, we are sharing a story “म मरेछु” by गनु सिंह गुरुङ
When it comes to Gorkhaland, every person living in the towns or the far off countryside desperately needs it. But where are we are lacking…
To me this election is about out right, our security, , our identity, and our very existence which has been is under threat from the Mamta Banerjee led TMC government of West Bengal. This election is primarily about Gorkhas and Gorkhaland Vs. the veiled attempts at diluting and eventually eradicating the Gorkha identity and the atrocities and injustices inflicted by Mamta Banerjee and TMC upon us and nothing else.
“We have sent a memorandum to the BJP, demanding Gorkhaland. They(BJP) have assured us that they will look into it. We are happy that their (BJP’s) manifesto speaks about bringing a permanent solution to the region,”
The release of BJP election manifesto created a mini-political controversy in the Darjeeling hills, with supporters of TMC regime quickly pointing out “Gorkhaland”‘ word is missing from it.