Muted life of a Wailing People
But Pappu-Darjeeling can’t dance
Darjeeling is like Pappu. She has everything but she can’t dance. Darjeeling has a past glory. Darjeeling has a name and fame. Darjeeling has an agenda that deserves national and even international attention. Darjeeling is big. Historically, it is as big as Calcutta. It used to be the summer capital of British India. But Darjeeling can’t dance. That is precisely because it doesn’t have a big enough leadership. Not that Darjeeling ever remained starved of an oratorical show of politicians. In fact, Darjeeling created perhaps the best Gorkha orators. The rhetoric of JDS Rai, Deoprakash Rai and Subhas Ghising, albeit having become redundant to the politics of the Hills, will be remembered for many years, at least for their theatrical values. But sadly, politics here did not go beyond speechmaking. As a matter of fact, every dispensation of the political movement has merely remained restricted to speechmaking. Nothing has churned out the crux of Hill politics as yet. Politics here have failed to embody the ethos of the hill people. The game of politics has been played so far merely to actuate the immediate sentimentalism among the people to get some calls from Kolkata and New Delhi. A few air tickets to these coveted destinations and some chats with some “high level people” over tea would finally smother the fire of public tumult. The inundated Gorkha netas are tricked into feeling unduly impressed with their own idiotic political moves. Their homework is found wanting but their teachers in Kolkata and New Delhi will give them grace marks so that their political career is kept afloat. It is awfully ridiculous but it is happening pretty consistently. That is precisely because there is an utter lack of academic discourse on deep-rooted aspects that constitute the genius of hill politics. A non-academic approach backed by nonsensical theatrical rhetoric has marred the political construct. After over a century, here the Gorkhas stand desperately, attempting to define their identify defaced by their own ill-played politics.
Darjeeling’s existential struggle has induced some essentially vital aspects of a civilization. The experiential encounters with life’s deeper struggles have given Darjeeling some peculiar angles to look at life. Thus the soul of Darjeeling literature, music, drama, arts, etc has been enriched. It is needless to say that Darjeeling therefore has been more than a physical address of the Gorkha civilization. Darjeeling has indeed been the soul of it.
However, the existential struggle brings with it a ton of problems and one of them is the pressure it exerts. Under its devastatingly heavy pressure, Darjeeling moaned and groaned. But after years of moaning, they realized that Darjeeling had just moaned meaninglessly. It had unleashed an empty sigh of grief. It was not so much the lack of ways to resuscitate it as the lack of a genuine desire to vivify itself. Darjeeling pained long enough to develop oratorical skills but failed to instil life in it. It has been surviving on the pills of dead rhetoric.
A quick look at the pathetic history of hill politics will explain what I mean. Every burst of political movement in recent memories was like the new flush of tea leaves that benefited non-Darjeeling people more than anybody. “The maatoko maya” (love for the land,) the subtle slogan Subhash Ghising so successfully campaigned for, became the reigning thought in the hearts of the Hill people. He was very unwise and insincere to use his oratory prowess to infuse such heightened emotion into the issue. If he was not serious about the statehood demand he should not have created such helpless desperation. Over twelve hundred people were killed. Never in the history of a statehood demand in India were so many lives sacrificed. Many people lost their houses. Animosity and bitterness among the people belonging to GNLF and other political parties threw the neighbourhood equation out of order. Villages and towns lost their very flavour that had been deep-rooted in the post movement culture. People were willing to forgo anything for Gorkhaland. Can there be a more callous leadership that creates such a mood where people feel challenged to give their life for a cause that was meant to be aborted for some cheap bargain? The wild public passion abruptly died a premature death with the signing of the infamous accord in 1988. DGHC was a sleeping pill Darjeeling had to swallow and the rest is history. For nineteen years Darjeeling sleep walked. A quick evaluation of the Ghising age will reveal that he was a professional wailer who glamorized wailing. He taught the Gorkhas to cry stylishly and proudly about how they have been ill-treated in their own land. “Yo Darjeeling Pahar, Sabaile aafaley ko pahar…” (This poor Darjeeling Hills, forsaken by all…)- that was his style. His hackle-straitening speeches were tailored-made only to make his audience sulk. There never was a substantively strong argument in his speeches.
Darjeeling under DGHC lived a muted life. The hills that had erupted in such a loud outcry in the 86 movement suddenly lost its voice. Even the noisy Ghising became atypically silent. The only difference was the leader was silent because he was too happy to speak and the people were too unhappy to speak. The public appearances of Ghising post 88 accord were keenly watched by his people but he had nothing more to say about Gorkhaland. He became confusion personified. He spoke like a fool but he did it smartly enough to keep his audience buoyant. The hill people, like Vladimir and Estragon continued to wait for Godot who never turned up.
However, the mysterious Godot did come. Or so it seemed. The suppressed public aspiration once again erupted with Bimal Gurung in the helm of leadership in 2007. Darjeeling came alive again. GJMM was born and riding on its popularity, the leader said all that could be said under the sky of the Hills. As was feared the movement died a premature death. It died off as quickly as it started. Mamata Banerjee first used some sweets to silence the chirpy Hill boys. When the boys were just dreaming about enjoying the sweets, Telangana played spoilsport. The boys were forced to become chirpy again. However, Didi was not going to tolerate it anymore. These little tantrums could hardly deter the queen of tantrums. The sweet Didi suddenly showed her “rough and tough” avatar and the boys were soon kneeling outside her office holding their ears. Thus the Gorkhaland demand once again was put on the cold back burner. Our poor Pappu failed to dance again. Ye Hamara Pappu Pass Kab Hoga?
The double-crossed Hill people have no one to confide in, no words to express their anguish in and nowhere to complain to. Arun Lama had perhaps sung their last song many years ago, “pohor saal khusi phatda / jatan gari mann le taalen, / tehi saal maya phaatyo, / teshlai pani maan le taalen, / yespali ta maan nai phatyo, / ke le siune ke le taale ho? (When the happiness was torn last year, [I] inspirited myself to stitch it carefully, the same year was my love torn, [I] inspirited once again to stitch it. But this time my very soul is torn, what to stitch it or sew it with?) Their trust is smashed beyond repair. They are crying tears of blood. But they are not permitted to cry aloud.
On a serious note, do the leaders in Darjeeling, Kolkata and New Delhi really not know that this circuitous phenomenon can eventually go out of control? Every dispensation of Hill leadership can be outsmarted but with every outsmarted leadership the public frustration will only get worse. Nothing can be more dangerous than a growing frustration! If Pappu learns to dance eventually it’s fine! It will be a happy end to a long drawn-out play. But if Pappu transmutes into Diljale Shaka, the play will then demand a rather nasty narrative. Every true Indian movie buff wants a “happily ever after” kind of end. Will the Darjeeling story end that happy way?
“As a matter of fact, every dispensation of the political movement has merely remained restricted to speechmaking. Nothing has churned out the crux of Hill politics as yet. Politics here have failed to embody the ethos of the hill people. The game of politics has been played so far merely to actuate the immediate sentimentalism among the people to get some calls from Kolkata and New Delhi.”
jiwanr@gmail.com
Darjeeling Times
But Pappu-Darjeeling can’t dance
Darjeeling is like Pappu. She has everything but she can’t dance. Darjeeling has a past glory. Darjeeling has a name and fame. Darjeeling has an agenda that deserves national and even international attention. Darjeeling is big. Historically, it is as big as Calcutta. It used to be the summer capital of British India. But Darjeeling can’t dance. That is precisely because it doesn’t have a big enough leadership. Not that Darjeeling ever remained starved of an oratorical show of politicians. In fact, Darjeeling created perhaps the best Gorkha orators. The rhetoric of JDS Rai, Deoprakash Rai and Subhas Ghising, albeit having become redundant to the politics of the Hills, will be remembered for many years, at least for their theatrical values. But sadly, politics here did not go beyond speechmaking. As a matter of fact, every dispensation of the political movement has merely remained restricted to speechmaking. Nothing has churned out the crux of Hill politics as yet. Politics here have failed to embody the ethos of the hill people. The game of politics has been played so far merely to actuate the immediate sentimentalism among the people to get some calls from Kolkata and New Delhi. A few air tickets to these coveted destinations and some chats with some “high level people” over tea would finally smother the fire of public tumult. The inundated Gorkha netas are tricked into feeling unduly impressed with their own idiotic political moves. Their homework is found wanting but their teachers in Kolkata and New Delhi will give them grace marks so that their political career is kept afloat. It is awfully ridiculous but it is happening pretty consistently. That is precisely because there is an utter lack of academic discourse on deep-rooted aspects that constitute the genius of hill politics. A non-academic approach backed by nonsensical theatrical rhetoric has marred the political construct. After over a century, here the Gorkhas stand desperately, attempting to define their identify defaced by their own ill-played politics.
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| Gorkha Janmukti Morcha activists celebrate their victory in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration election, |
Darjeeling’s existential struggle has induced some essentially vital aspects of a civilization. The experiential encounters with life’s deeper struggles have given Darjeeling some peculiar angles to look at life. Thus the soul of Darjeeling literature, music, drama, arts, etc has been enriched. It is needless to say that Darjeeling therefore has been more than a physical address of the Gorkha civilization. Darjeeling has indeed been the soul of it.
However, the existential struggle brings with it a ton of problems and one of them is the pressure it exerts. Under its devastatingly heavy pressure, Darjeeling moaned and groaned. But after years of moaning, they realized that Darjeeling had just moaned meaninglessly. It had unleashed an empty sigh of grief. It was not so much the lack of ways to resuscitate it as the lack of a genuine desire to vivify itself. Darjeeling pained long enough to develop oratorical skills but failed to instil life in it. It has been surviving on the pills of dead rhetoric.
A quick look at the pathetic history of hill politics will explain what I mean. Every burst of political movement in recent memories was like the new flush of tea leaves that benefited non-Darjeeling people more than anybody. “The maatoko maya” (love for the land,) the subtle slogan Subhash Ghising so successfully campaigned for, became the reigning thought in the hearts of the Hill people. He was very unwise and insincere to use his oratory prowess to infuse such heightened emotion into the issue. If he was not serious about the statehood demand he should not have created such helpless desperation. Over twelve hundred people were killed. Never in the history of a statehood demand in India were so many lives sacrificed. Many people lost their houses. Animosity and bitterness among the people belonging to GNLF and other political parties threw the neighbourhood equation out of order. Villages and towns lost their very flavour that had been deep-rooted in the post movement culture. People were willing to forgo anything for Gorkhaland. Can there be a more callous leadership that creates such a mood where people feel challenged to give their life for a cause that was meant to be aborted for some cheap bargain? The wild public passion abruptly died a premature death with the signing of the infamous accord in 1988. DGHC was a sleeping pill Darjeeling had to swallow and the rest is history. For nineteen years Darjeeling sleep walked. A quick evaluation of the Ghising age will reveal that he was a professional wailer who glamorized wailing. He taught the Gorkhas to cry stylishly and proudly about how they have been ill-treated in their own land. “Yo Darjeeling Pahar, Sabaile aafaley ko pahar…” (This poor Darjeeling Hills, forsaken by all…)- that was his style. His hackle-straitening speeches were tailored-made only to make his audience sulk. There never was a substantively strong argument in his speeches.
Darjeeling under DGHC lived a muted life. The hills that had erupted in such a loud outcry in the 86 movement suddenly lost its voice. Even the noisy Ghising became atypically silent. The only difference was the leader was silent because he was too happy to speak and the people were too unhappy to speak. The public appearances of Ghising post 88 accord were keenly watched by his people but he had nothing more to say about Gorkhaland. He became confusion personified. He spoke like a fool but he did it smartly enough to keep his audience buoyant. The hill people, like Vladimir and Estragon continued to wait for Godot who never turned up.
However, the mysterious Godot did come. Or so it seemed. The suppressed public aspiration once again erupted with Bimal Gurung in the helm of leadership in 2007. Darjeeling came alive again. GJMM was born and riding on its popularity, the leader said all that could be said under the sky of the Hills. As was feared the movement died a premature death. It died off as quickly as it started. Mamata Banerjee first used some sweets to silence the chirpy Hill boys. When the boys were just dreaming about enjoying the sweets, Telangana played spoilsport. The boys were forced to become chirpy again. However, Didi was not going to tolerate it anymore. These little tantrums could hardly deter the queen of tantrums. The sweet Didi suddenly showed her “rough and tough” avatar and the boys were soon kneeling outside her office holding their ears. Thus the Gorkhaland demand once again was put on the cold back burner. Our poor Pappu failed to dance again. Ye Hamara Pappu Pass Kab Hoga?
The double-crossed Hill people have no one to confide in, no words to express their anguish in and nowhere to complain to. Arun Lama had perhaps sung their last song many years ago, “pohor saal khusi phatda / jatan gari mann le taalen, / tehi saal maya phaatyo, / teshlai pani maan le taalen, / yespali ta maan nai phatyo, / ke le siune ke le taale ho? (When the happiness was torn last year, [I] inspirited myself to stitch it carefully, the same year was my love torn, [I] inspirited once again to stitch it. But this time my very soul is torn, what to stitch it or sew it with?) Their trust is smashed beyond repair. They are crying tears of blood. But they are not permitted to cry aloud.
On a serious note, do the leaders in Darjeeling, Kolkata and New Delhi really not know that this circuitous phenomenon can eventually go out of control? Every dispensation of Hill leadership can be outsmarted but with every outsmarted leadership the public frustration will only get worse. Nothing can be more dangerous than a growing frustration! If Pappu learns to dance eventually it’s fine! It will be a happy end to a long drawn-out play. But if Pappu transmutes into Diljale Shaka, the play will then demand a rather nasty narrative. Every true Indian movie buff wants a “happily ever after” kind of end. Will the Darjeeling story end that happy way?
“As a matter of fact, every dispensation of the political movement has merely remained restricted to speechmaking. Nothing has churned out the crux of Hill politics as yet. Politics here have failed to embody the ethos of the hill people. The game of politics has been played so far merely to actuate the immediate sentimentalism among the people to get some calls from Kolkata and New Delhi.”
jiwanr@gmail.com
Darjeeling Times
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