Every town worth its name has its own set of ghost stories. Kalimpong, considering its various past influences has several sets of it. Its Bhutanese, Colonial, Tibetan and Gorkhali influences have all left behind their ghost who haunt Ghost Story enthusiasts till this day. In fact this town even has Bihari spirits to add to the cosmopolitan flavor.
I cannot take names, you may call it professional ethics, but when I look back at some of the love letters I wrote then, I still choke with laugher. I recall a few; one was for a girl from St. Joseph’s Convent by a classmate of mine. After three days of momos and alu-chops and chini-pops, which I received as bribe to write that letter, I wrote a letter which included the line, “I have a disease and it’s only cure is you”. It was carefully copied down by the Romeo in his own handwriting and dispatched through a Postman, not before spraying the letter paper with Old Spice perfume stolen from his father’s bathroom cabinet- the postman was always a junior student who had to be pampered and protected. After several days of restlessness and sleeplessness came the reply. I still remember a fattish envelope being delivered to him. He opened it as quickly as he could and out came his original letter, torn to a hundred pieces, and it was accompanied by a chit which read “MADNESS IS A DISEASE CURED IN MENTAL ASYLUMS, NOT BY LOVE”…
This Toy Train, a wonder of engineering, was set up mainly to cater to the then blooming Tibet trade through Jelep-la for which Kalimpong was the most important entrepot. One can say that the existence of The Teesta Valley Branch of the DHR coincided with the golden period of Kalimpong’s past.
Kalimpong, a small non-descript town of just a few thousand inhabitants, because it was in the right place at the right time, was catapulted to world fame and riches in the early and mid 1900s, in the process becoming one of the most important and famous town of its size, in British India.
ऐतिहासिक दस्तावेजहरू हुँदाहुँदै पनि यो ५ डेसिमलको कुरा घरिघरि उठिरहदा र उठाई रहदा म त हाम्रो बुद्धिजीवी भनाैदाहरू संग पो तीन छक्क पर्छु। यि सत्तालोलुप माटो र जाति बिरोधी नेताहरू त आफ्नो पैसा अनि चाैकी को निम्ति जानिजानि सरकार र तल्लो तहका एकदुई जाना जाति बिरोधी एजेन्टहरूको सहयोगमा पहाडका सिधासादा जनतालाई बोरामा सुताउने काम गर्दैछ तर मिडिया र स्वयम्भु बुद्धिजीवीहरूले कि त नबुझेर हो या त ती जाति र माटो बिरोधी नेताहरूले जस्तै नाटक गरेको हो। पहाडको जनताले सूक्ष्म अवलोकन गरिएको छ।
Calcutta High Court bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay has today ordered the demolition of a property situated below CST School in 11-mile Kalimpong by midnight tonight (14th of Aug, 2023).
The case concerns a three storied building constructed by one Mohammad Saifulla, son of Sheikh Jahiruddin of Topkhana, 11 Mile, Ward No. 7, Kalimpong. This construction was challenged by Sh. Bir Bahadur Blon, a retuired school teacher, who claimed that the construction was done on his ancestral land.
The report takes note that “the tea garden workers in Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars do not have land or ‘Parja-Patta’ (land rights) on their ancestral tea growing lands. To dwell on their ancestral homes, they must send at least one family members to work for the tea company. On failure to send a family member for work, they lose their rights to live on their ancestral lands. Since the land rights are vested with tea company, there have been instances when the aged workers having no children were denied the right to even repair their houses on their ancestral lands.”
We, the CONCERNED YOUTH OF HILLS, would like to draw your attention towards one of the well known yet least cared issues of the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong (GTA region) : the problem plaguing the education system in the hills.
One of our readers has written the following to highlight how J.C.B led politics could lead to environmental catastrophe and how the silence of the government/authorities in this whole sordid saga is alarming
It was just another March morning. My eyes were half awake and my fingers were already scrolling the phone screen shuffling between the headlines and news articles corresponding to my conventional practice of starting a day. Just then, I happened to come across a picture of a bhangera – sparrow. The moment hit me hard somewhere and took me for a long travel down my memory lane.