जोन बारलालको घर बानरहाट थाना अन्तर्गत लखीपाडा चियाबारीको विघा लाईनमा पर्छ । उनी यस चियाबारीका एक जना चिया श्रमिक टेकटर खलासीको रुपमा २००७ सालसम्म कमानमा कार्यरत थिए । घर परिवारमा आर्थिक संकटको कारण अंगे्रजी स्कुलमा पढदा पढदै बीचमानै स्कुल छोडन परयो । र पछी श्रमिकको रुपमा चियाबारीको टेकटर खलासी बन्न परेको कुरा बारलाले बताए । शनिबार दिउसो अतितका दिनहरुलाई याद गर्दै आज अलिपुरद्वार भाजपा सांसद सांसद जोन बारलाले श्रमिकहरुसित गएर पती ओजन गर्ने काम गरे । आफनु वितेका दिनहरुमा चियाबारीमा एक जना कुल्लीको रुपमा काम गरेको दुरदिनलाई बारला आज पनि सम्झना गर्छन ।

सांसद जोन बारलाले सहकर्मीहरु मनी दर्जी, पवन लोहार किरण सुनवार राजु दाससित लखीपाडा चियाबारीको फेकट्रीमा गएर कुल्लीहरुसित पती ओजन गर्ने काम सांसदले गरेको हिमालय दर्पणलाई जानकारी गराएका छन । सांसद जोन बारलाले आज उक्त काम गरेर आफु एक जना खाँटी चियाबारी श्रमिक नेता रहेको सन्देश दिन चाहेको बुभिएको छ । जोन बारलाको राजनीतिक पृष्ठभूमीलाई निहाल्दा पनि बारला एक जना चिया श्रमिक नेतानै रहेको पाईन्छ । १९९५ सालदेखि २००७ सालसम्म उनले लखीपाडा चियाबारीमा एक चिया श्रमिकको रुपमा काम गरेको बताउछन ।

घर परिवारमा आर्थिक संकट रहेकोले उनी बानरहाटको एक अंग्रेजी माध्यमको स्कुलमा पढने गर्थे तर माता पितको कमानमा हाँजिरा कम थियो । जसले गर्दा अघिको पढाई आर्थिक तङगीको कारण जारी राख्नु सकिन र बाध्य भएर चियाबारीमा काम गर्न परयो । लगातार काम गर्न थाले पछी आफुलाई थाह भयो कि चियाबारीमा काम गरेको आयले कस्तो जीवन जीउन सकिने रहेछ । उनले धेरै दुख कष्ठ भोग्नु परयो । श्रमिकहरुको दुख कष्ठलाई आफ एक जना श्रमिक रहेकाले नजीकबाट अनुभव गर्न सकेको बारला बताउछन । यसै कारण श्रमिकहरुको हक अनि अधिकारको निम्ति आफुले २००७ सालमा आदिवासीहरुको समाजिक संगठन विकास परिषदको माध्यमबाट श्रमिकहरुको अधिकारको निम्ति आवाज उठाउन परेको तिनी बताउछन । यसैक्रममा विकास परिषदको आन्दोलनले सरकारलाई निकै प्रभाव पारेवापतनै डुवर्स क्षेत्रमा केही विकास पनि भयो ।

उदाहरणस्वरुप बानरहाट मोराघाटमा बनिएको कार्ति हिन्दी कलेज, हिन्दीमा प्रश्नपत्र आदि बारालको दाबी छ ।

डुवर्सको विषबारे बोलदै आज अलिपुरद्वार भाजपा सांसद जोन बारलाले भने म पनि एक दिन टेकटरको खलासी थिएँ । आज आएर सांसद बनेको छु । र मेरो पहिलो कर्तव्य हो । चिया श्रमिकहरुको हक अनि अधिकारलाई सरकार समक्ष उठाएर त्यसको समाधान गर्नु । यसमा एक नम्बर छ चिया श्रमिकहरको न्यूनतम हाँजिरा । जबसम्म चिया श्रमिकहरुको हाँजिरा बढदैन ।

आदिवासी समाजको कहिले पनि उत्थान हुदैन । कारण आज पनि चिया श्रमिकहरुको परिवारको राम्रो शिक्षा दिक्षा हुन सकदेन । यसको एक मात्र कारण श्रमिकहरुको हाँजिरा हो । जनु हाँजिरा श्रमिकहले पाउछ । त्यसले घर पनि चलाउन सारो पर्छ । जुन कुरा आफु स्वयंले भोगेको सांसद बताउछन । जबसम्म हाम्रा नानीहरुको राम्रो शिक्षा स्तर हुदैन । तबसम्म डुवर्स तराईबाट कुनै पनि आदिवासी नानीहरुको बीडीओ, इन्जिनीयर, डाकटर बन्न सकदैन । यसको निम्ति न्यूनतम हाँजीरी आवश्यक छ । जुन दिन चिया श्रमिकहरुको हाँजिरा बढछ । त्यस दिनदेखि आदिवासी समाजको समाजिक आर्थिक अनि सांस्कृति अवस्थाको उत्थान अनि विकास भएर जाने सांसदले बताए । यसैको निम्ति आफनु शच प्रतिशत प्रयास रहने बताउदै सबैलाई आदि कवि भानु जयनतीको

उपलक्ष्यमा शुभकामना व्यक्त गर्दै तराई डुवर्स अनि दार्जिलिङ पाहडमा शान्ति अनि भाईचार बनी रहने सन्देश पनि सांसदले आज दिएका छन ।

Special Report: Band Poudel

The post अलिपुरद्वार भाजपा सांसद जोन बारला – Inspirational appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

So there on the table stands his holy mug with the holiest elixir, hot – the way he loves during winters. A plate of usineyko isskus, neatly peeled and sliced, with dalley ko acchar by its side, all neatly placed beside the mug. Dhiren’s concentration was however deeply set on his phone screen. By the way, Dhiren now has a smartphone and he is also well acquainted to the world of social media. He no longer buys newspapers, and depends completely on the 5.5 inch of his newly introduced world.

The device proves a better deal for Dhiren when mixed with his Teen Paani, as he is better able to express his likes, dislikes, opinions and frustration in form of comments. He goes by the name “Syakri Kancha” on Facebook, and he is on, he has made his way into the intellectual world of with lots of effort, including writing pages long rants, getting abused and scolded, avoiding conversations because of his weak understanding of English, and even flirting immensely with a fake account. But during the course, he has drawn a lot of knowledge, follows all the leaders and intellectuals and follows every other news portal with the word Darjeeling, Gorkhaland, Gorkha or Hills in its name.

But today, Facebook is about something else, it is about snow in Darjeeling after almost a decade. To put up in better words, Dhiren hadn’t even completely learnt driving when it had last snowed.

Dhiren’s timeline is flooding with pictures and videos of snowfall. But unlike other usual youths of the town, Dhiren isn’t excited. The most he is willing to do is to open his window and take a quick peek. He decides to extend his engagement with the event by casually hitting up a gesture of amusement to the Bada who lives in tallo ghar standing by his door – “Balla hui paryo hai Bada”, he says, and he instantly regrets. Bada starts up with his usual – “Yo ta kei haina, hamro time ma ta….” and before regretting any further, Dhiren slowly shuts down his window.
He better decides to stick with his Teen Pani enjoying snowfall digitally on Facebook, though he knows that others would give up everything to just stand under the snow.

By others, he means the people outside…. that guy strolling at Salbari, that girl slogging hard in her office at Bangalore, the student eating Maggie in his hostel, that person earning his and his family’s life far away, everyone belonging to the hills except for him.

A voice suddenly breaks the silence – “Vena, khai dim na ek Mug taato.”

It’s his brother-in-law, his all weather partner and a close confidant. Dhiren doesn’t mind losing few mugs of his all precious for him. In fact, he often taunts his wife saying that her brother was the only good thing he could get from their marriage, except of course their child. A hot mug is instantly poured.

Dhaney, the brother-in-law, takes a bit of the isskus dipping it generously dipping it into the dalley ko acchar and says, “Koslai cha haw vena yo pali anta? Moh ta Doctor nai thik lagdaicha.” Dhiren’s expression changes in half a sec, as if someone had squeezed a dozen of lemons in his mouth in one go. Dhiren had no grey thoughts on this issue. He would say he would rather migrate to Bangladesh than to waste his vote on such “Doctors”.

“Yesto Doctor Engineer harulai vote dinu vanda chai mero vote ko card mula ko achhar sita haali dinchu baru”, said Dhiren, “Aru ko vote le jitera Delhi k America pugos, mero vote le chai hudaina.”

“Anta kollai diney ta? TMC lai, BJP lai ki independent candidate lai?” – asks Dhaney, slowly understanding the political frustration of the Darjeeling fellow. Dhiren shakes both his head and his hand, takes a big gulp from the mug and said, “Hudaina saalo, hudaina…. Hudai hudaina.. Na diney kosailai vote… Sabai gaari election duty laageko huncha, baru gaari khepchu, Vote chai hudaina. Aabo vote ko card chai sim card nikalnu matai chalawney.”

Dhaney quickly reminded him that something could still come up at the winter session of the parliament, to which Dhiren responded saying, “4 barsa MP rakhera chai vote awney bela ma lollipop diyera huncha kaile?”

Dhaney understands what Dhiren wanted to say. He didn’t engage any further with the topic and pours some more Raksi for both.

“Narayan Gopal ko sundim na haw vena yeso” – he says, and thus they continued with the night, enjoying the warmth of their hearth.

Pic by, Dizpo Gorkha: Dhiren enjoying the warmth of his hearth

The post Dhiren, Snowfall and the Winter in His Heart appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

“Malai thah cha, tara mo bhandina…” he says, taking a sip of his favourite Guras-ko.

After a long gap we have had the chance to sit together at that thado dokan by that terso galli, you know the one, mathi bata herda tala dekhne, tala bata herda mathi dekhne… yeah that one.

He had been missing from our usual hangout for months, one could have found a needle in a haystack hola, but Dhanraj Mams was nowhere to be found. Finally when he emerged from his hibernation, it was a tragically terrible sight to see. He refused to talk politics – his favourite subject. He had kept mum, all these months. So seeing him arrive again at Didi ko dokan, uttering the magically mysterious phrase “Malai thah cha, tara mo bhandina…” tickled the deepest sense of relief in me. Here I was sitting with my favourite Political Pundit, trying to make a sense of the politics happening in our hills.

“Ke thah cha Mams? Aso bhannos na,” I say

“Anhhaaa mo tyakkai bhandina…” says he.

I know he will come around, but for now, I play along, and ask… “Mams hana ke-ke hundai cha hau aajkal? Jojo le peleko jasto cha Dajing abo?”

He gives me a sardonically melancholic look, yeah the kind you used to get from your smarter sibling when you were unable to grasp the basics of Maths, and says, “jojo le peleko pelekai cha ta… thah chaina? Parai le sabai development gari sakyera aajkal football khelaunu ba busy cha, dekheko chainau?”

Wondering if we are talking about the same Jojo, I ask, “kosko kura garnu bhako?”

“Aaaa bhancih pani… Chairman ko kura gareko ni… sabai ko Chairman bhayera na pugera football ko committee ko pani chairman Parai ta.”

I smile, at his quip and ask, “hana Chairman hune testo rahar?

Mams says “abuiee he is a true Chairman… chair paunu hundaina… basi halcha…”

“Anta table payo bhane chai?” I ask

“Thoki halcha… haath sunning jel thokcha parai le” says Mams.

We smile, and take another sip of our drinks, while warming ourselves in the Chula ko ago. It’s nice and cozy inside and slightly smoky.

Since, I have so many questions; I don’t know where to actually begin, so I inquire… “Jojo le ta BJP lai khutta teknu dindina bhancha ta hills ma?”

“Thikai ho, bir Gorkhali ko santaan bhayera tyeti dhamki pani dinu sakena bhane ta ke Gorkhali… ramo ho,” says Mams

“But how come he never shows bravery in front of Mamata?” I wonder aloud

“Because, Mamata le tesko dhar bhachha ni ta” responds Mams as a matter-of-factly.

Not wanting to waste my opportunity further, I ask him the question that has been rankling in the minds of all Gorkhas “So who will be our next MP?”

“Aghee dekhin tyai ta bhaneko bhanich… Malai thah cha, tara mo bhandina… timi le dhyan-nai dindainau.”

I know, Mams will have the most inside of the information, based on factual rumors. So when he says, he know, it means HE KNOWS… but adamant as he is, he won’t tell it straight, so I have to wriggle it out of him. He may be better, but I am good.

Using my deductive analysis, I feel it could be one of the non-resident-Darjeelingey. It seems most likely. People are tired of imported MP candidates, so this time around, it is more than certain that we will be using a home-grown-but-tested-outside model. We have plenty of those, sharing their esteemed gyaan on Facebook and other such highly intellectual places. But who among them all?

The same lot, that forcefully enforced a jhandaless, netaless agitation in Jantar Mantar last year, seem to be busy cat-clawing each other these days. So I try to ensnare Mams, “Delhi tira ko activist haru ho ki…”

Mams bursts into a genuinely happy laugh. The kind you get from people, when you slip on a banana peel and fall.

“Timi ta mora manche bhaneko ta Gadha po ho kyo? Cannibal haru chai timro hune wala neta?” says he, still shaking with deep inner laughter.

A little hurt, and a lot angry, I want to yell at him, but curiosity gets the better of me, and all I could blurt out was… “ko cannibal? ke bhannu bhako?”

“Hana Delhi tira ko cannibal haru ko kura gareko… when the Gorkhaland agitation started, they had a common enemy, NO NOT BENGAL, but Aftero (the difficult one)… so all of them, like a pack of rabid wild dogs, piled on him and attacked him mercilessly, till Bengal’s biggest enemy was silenced… once he was out of the way, they began to believe that they were God’s Greatest Gift to Gorkhas… they had tasted the blood-of-fame… but the claim to fame, would eventually go to just ONE and not everyone… So after silencing Aftero, now they are at each other’s throat. In their bid to display to their Chema that they are the most rabid and fanatical, so that they be granted with more funds and perhaps some power… they are also displaying their cannibal beura for the whole world to see… and anyone who sees a leader in them are morons of the first order,” ranted Mams.

I wasn’t prepared for an insight so clear into the activist lot, but like always, I was thankful, Mams was there to guide me.

“So it will be one of the three Doctors?” I asked hopefully.

“There are only two,” said Mams

“Only two, what?” asked I

“Doctors” he said.

Huh… “But the sansar-ma-sabai-bhanda-besi-gyaani-ra-janne-manche pani Doctor, CT scan-ko-paisa-jaduwala-le-kharayo-harako-jasto-harai-dine pani Doctor, anta jaa-payo-tyai-gayera-jasto-payo-tyestai-organization-kholdai-hirne pani Doctor, haina?” I asked.

“Tyo last ko jaa-payo-tyai-gayera-jasto-payo-tyestai-organization-kholdai-hirne chai Compounder khali ho… tyesko PhD chaina… kesko Doctor tyo?” said Mams

But that was not the point, “which among these three”? I asked

“None” said Mams

“Tyo dui jana Delhi basne haru ma ek jana le chai Congress ko ticket paunu aateko cha, tyesle Congress ko Manifesto Committee join gareko cha harey… arko le chai Tamang Development Board ko ticket paunu aateko cha… ra arko chai press lai paisa dindai, yo manche le abo TMC ko ticket paunu aateko cha, bhandai khabar fijaudai cha… tara kasailem jitdaina” says Mams confidently

“Why not ?” I ask

“Cuz deep down they too are cannibal, they will also end up devouring each other… just wait and watch… give it a month or two…” he explains.

With a sad expression on his face he adds, “tragically bhanich, no one today among these lot are talking about Gorkhaland, have you ever wondered why? Have you even asked yourself these, why do these same people travel from one organiztaion to the next to the next… at whose behest are they doing so? what is their motive in forming so many organizations, comprising of the very same people in each and every one of them? The same group of persons who vociferously opposed 6th Schedule Status for our hills back in 2006-07, are today championing it, why? whose benefit are they serving? who are they concerned about – our community, or their own self interest, or the interest of their masters? We have turned into such a rotten society, because even our alleged intellectuals and activists are FOR SALE… their conscience, their feelings, their stand – every thing is flexible… their loyalty is to the highest bidder… do they really deserve to represent us?? ponder over it.”

“If not them, then who”? I ask

“Malai thah cha, tara mo bhandina…” says he, and abruptly gets up and leaves.

The MP Race

The post “MALAI THAH CHA, TARA MO BHANDINA…” appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.