Manila Pradhan wins the title MTV Supermodel of The Year

10:00 AM

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Gorkhas of Sikkim

Gorkhas daughter Manila Pradhan wins the title MTV Supermodel of The Year.
Supermodel of the Year has found its winner in the gorgeous Manila Pradhan in a dazzling finale. Hailing from Sikkim, Manila took the pageant home defeating Drisha More andPriya Singh in the fight to finish on Sunday (March 15). The show that premiered on 22nd December, was panelled by Malaika Arora, Milind Soman, Masaba Gupta and Supermodel Ujjwala Raut along with Anusha Dandekar leading the way as a host. Manila was pitted against Drisha More and Priya Singh.

Gorkhas daughter Manila Pradhan wins the title MTV Supermodel of The Year. 

On winning the show Manila said, “It’s not less than a dream come true for me. One of the strongest things that I learned and would like to take away with me from this journey is to be yourself. That is your ultimate power that nobody can have. All the judges on the show and the mentors were great. But I really have a special intangible connection and a soft corner for Malaika maam and Ujjwala maam. No matter how much they shouted at me but in the end, it was for my betterment and personal growth.”

Amidst a series of daunting challenges and a bootcamp, Manila’s journey to finale wasn’t an easy one. Manila emerged victorious with a big margin in the finale photoshoot challenge that needed her to pose with the esteemed panelists.

With the judges decked up in their best attires coupled with Raja Kumari’s electrifying performance, Supermodel Of The Year culminated into a fascinating finale leaving behind a lot of learning for the contestants.

Commenting on the finale, Malaika Arora said, “What a tremendous journey this show has been. Supermodel of the Year wasn’t just about style and beauty, it was also about shedding off inhibitions and be absolutely confident in your own self. While we have one winner today, the show has given a platform to 10 gorgeous women who are sure to rule the ramp in future. Manila has been a revelation for us. Despite a tough start, she always took feedback in her stride and the results have shown. I wish her all the best for a stupendous future and hope that the learnings from the show guide her in the journey ahead.”

Via Times of India

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Single Gorkha mother of two from Nagaland wins national-level beauty pageants

5:37 PM

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gorkhas in Nagaland

Pushpa Thatal has brought laurels to the state and also for the community of Gorkhas in Nagaland by being crowned the Mrs. Exclusive Classic Beauty 40 plus, which is a national-level beauty pageant for women above 40 years of age. The event was held on September 21 in New Delhi.

Thatal, born to a Changki mother and a Nepali father, lost her husband in 2018 and lives in Dimapur with her two children.

She is the daughter of Bhopal Thatal, who retired as Registrar, Directorate of Fisheries, Nagaland, and her mother is from Changki Village.

She believed that the pageant gave her the platform to expose her talents and individuality. “It is not just about physical beauty, it is about strength and following your dreams,” said Thatal.

The mother of two runs a small school at Viola colony called Raindrops School and plans to expand further.

Thatal was thankful to Smart Life Gym that helped her during the preparation process for the talent and fitness rounds.

She will be representing the country in the International-level of the same pageant due to be held next year.(MExN)

Via dimapur247

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Legendary Singer Aruna Lama Conferred Nepal Ratna Award April 14, 2019: Legendary

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music

Nepali singer Smt. Aruna Lama (Pradhan), born in Darjeeling, was conferred the prestigious Nepal Ratna, Mahaujjwal Rashtradeep Award (Suprabal Janasewa Shree Tritiya) for her contribution to promoting Nepali music around the world. The President of Nepal, Bidya Devi Bhandari conferred the award at a special ceremony held at the Office of the President, Maharajgunj.


Born on the 9th of September, 1945 at Ghoom Pahar, Darjeeling, Aruna Lama is popularly known as the “Nightingale of the Hills”. She has rendered hundreds of Nepali songs and left an indelible mark as one of the finest Nepali singers.

The illustrious title by the Nepal government is conferred on  Nepali citizens and foreigners who make outstanding contributions to the welfare of Nepal and Nepali language and art.

Via The DC

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Apurva Tamang selected for Indian Idol 10

11:12 AM

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song

Indian Gorkha Apurva Tamang the talented singer from Mirik Darjeeling District has been selected in National TV Show Indian Idol Season 10. He has been a strong contestant of Indian Idol Junior and Zee TV sa re ga ma pa Lil Champs in the past and is capable of winning the Indian Idol season 10.

Apurva Tamang born on 24th September 1999 from Mirik, Darjeeling burst into music and entertainment scene as a child sensation, gaining fame as a phenomenal singer on Zee TV's SA RE GA MA PA 2009 L'il Champs making it to the Wild Card entry.

 He started singing at a very tender age of 3 and continued to pursue his vocal training in Hindustani Classical style while at the same time keeping up with world wide trends HIP-POP and RNB. He has performed at many national and international  shows and was awarded numerous honors which include Gorkha Gaurav Samman, Nagarik Samman, Sarojini Gems Memorial etc. he has lent his voice to many regional music videos and movies including Nepali movie 'DHRUVA TARA" and continues to garner appreciation and admiration for his singing prowess wherever he perform.

He has learnt Visharad in Hindustani Classical vocal from the Institute of Prayag Sangeet Samiti AllhabadStart from 02/07/2010 to Date02/07/2017. His Genre are world music, thumri, sufi, ghazal, fusion, experimental, disco, indian classical, classic rock

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Two Darjeeling Films Made it to Toronto Nepali Film Festival (TNFF)

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film

Two Darjeeling Films Made it to Toronto Nepali Film Festival (TNFF)

Two films from Darjeeling were selected for the 9th Annual Toronto Nepali Film Festival.

The two films, one short fiction and the other documentary, titled "Jhajalko" and "Finding Life in Monochrome" are directed by Wangyal Sherpa.

"Jhajalko" narrates the story of a single mother trying to raise her son on her own after the death of her husband, whereas "Finding Life in Monochrome" is a documentary which depicts the stories of children living in Edith Wilkins, NGO, Darjeeling.

These two films are selected in top 12 films to be screened in this year's festival. For both the films, Anup Aadin Das is the DOP(Director of Photography). Also the above films are the only selection from India.

Keep up the good work Wangyal... keep the Gorkha flag flying !!

Via TheDC

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Aqui Thami's travelling library putting the spotlight on women’s books

1:19 PM

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Gorkhas in India

Meet Aqui Thami from Darjeeling, whose travelling library is putting the spotlight on women’s books

‘Sister Library’, founded by the artist and activist, is going to several cities and sparking conversations around the representation of women in literature.

Aqui Thami is an artist and activist from Darjeeling, currently based in Mumbai, who is known for work that brings together both of those worlds. She put up one hundred posters with the words, “A woman was harassed here,” or “You aren’t giving me a compliment. You’re giving me the creeps,” in places around Mumbai where she and people she knew had been harassed. She has been working in the Dharavi Art Room with the founder, Himanshu, since 2012 to provide women and children in the community with a place to express and heal themselves through art.

In Bombay Underground, they promote and publish zines – a low-cost artistic production that allows them to, in Thami’s words, “break the epistemological hierarchy.” One of her zines about periods featured women’s reflections and stories about menstruation. Her latest project is the Sister Library – a travelling library of one hundred books from Thami’s own book collection that focuses solely on women’s writing. The library will tour Mumbai, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Goa, and Cochin with accompanying talks and discussions. She spoke to Scroll.in about the role of libraries, the desire to share books and zines that took her a long time to find, and what a permanent collection of these works might look like. Excerpts from the interview:

I want to start by asking about your personal connection to libraries. Did you have access to libraries growing up? Can you tell us about a library experience that has been meaningful for you?

The project comes from an absence of spaces like these in my life. From longing to find books written by female authors at the roadside bookwallahs to fancier bookshops in the city – a variety of books, not just that token bestseller. Also, Sister Library is not a conventional library, it is an evolving and generative artwork that engages with the visual and reading culture of our times.

Underground Bookhouse (a bookshop-cum-library with books on art, culture and activism) was an experience like no other when it came to reading and writing. As an artist, activist and a scholar it was the only space that triangulated my interests. It was from this place of syncretism that I started to reflect on a possibility of a space just like that but one that celebrates women.

Is there a criteria besides female authorship for inclusion in the library? What would you say drives this curation?

It is a curated library of a hundred works by women writers, artists and zine makers. I have curated a mix of things that I really enjoyed. It came from a place of sharing. Having scouted numerous places in search of these works and knowing how difficult it is to procure them, I feel like it is only fair that I share them with everyone that thirsts for them like I did.

Is the role of a librarian a political one to you? You’re choosing to focus on women’s literature. When the size of the collection is still relatively small, every book or zine becomes a reading recommendation.

I wouldn’t call myself a librarian. Sadly, in our times libraries have become places of exclusion, not only in the sense of who might have access to these high walls and gates but also whose works are celebrated, cited and awarded as the most valid and credible.

Sister Library is more an act of reclaiming libraries – celebrating works that don’t find mention in the mainstream media and re-examining the idea of what a library could be. The fact that this project is an interactive work that will be travelling in all its DIY spirit and glory is a step towards redefining what a library could be.

At Sister Library, we will also be celebrating orality. Being an indigenous person, I feel a sense of restriction that writing has brought about amongst us. While we cannot ignore the importance of written text, I also look at it as a colonial legacy. Our libraries were our ancestors. Oral literatures were not just a cultural heritage but also a way of teaching language, rituals and knowledge.

I have over 1000 books in my collection but since it is a travelling library it limits me to a certain number. I have decided on 100.

The books featured on the project’s Instagram include a lot of non-fiction, graphic novels, zines, and poetry. Could you talk to us a little about why the library is drawn to those genres, what it gains from them?
It is curated mix of fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, zines and periodicals.

I am a zinester and have been drawn towards their straightforwardness. Content is the only thing that sells a zine. How nice the paper is, how great the print is are all secondary. Since these works are produced independently, they are so very refreshing, from their themes to deconstruction of language. Zines made by women talk about things that we never really get to read about anywhere else.

Non-fiction works of women are harder to find in my experience. Historical factuality from a woman’s perspective is not considered important, but to understand and reflect on where our world stands it is important that we read non-fiction. Reading nonfiction helps unlearn and deconstruct that internalised male gaze you know we all have after years of consuming male perspectives of everything.

And I do enjoy non-fiction as much as I enjoy fiction. But because women were historically denied epistemic validity when writing non-fiction, I was moved to reading more and more non-fiction which in turn enriched my work and life processes.

I can’t ignore the relationship between women’s movement and poetry. Poetry has been medicine to me at various points in my life. I wanted to share it with the visitors of Sister Library too.

The library is set to tour from the end of April to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Goa, and Cochin with accompanying talks and discussions. Do you expect that the different personality of each of these places will affect how they interact with the library?
I cannot predict how each city will interact with the SL. I can only say that it will be constantly modified by its interaction with the people.

At the moment, the library draws from your personal book collection. If people are interested in the project and want to donate books written by women, how would they go about it?
All contributions are welcome. There have been zinesters sending their zines from all over the world, there have been authors wanting to send their books and there have been older feminists and activists who want to share books that drove them in the struggle that paved a way for us. It has been such a blessing.

At every venue, there will be a collection booth for interested people to drop their books. They could also ship books to this address in Mumbai: Art Room Foundation, Flat No 1, Shangri-La Apartments, Khandeshwari Mandir Marg, Mount Mary Steps, Bandra West, 400050.

The goal, I’ve heard you say in another interview, is to have a permanent collection if enough support and interest is generated by the tour. What would this permanent collection where people can borrow books look like?
I have dreamed of a feminist library, it’s true. It will be everything the travelling Sister Library is but in a permanent space. Open to people to come and read, as well as become members and borrow books. It will be a new place to see and understand the world – providing a unique experience to be immersed in works created by women exclusively thereby creating new narrative, providing the space to ask questions, and to look and to think about the answers. It obviously must be community-owned, volunteer-run and a safe space. It will all depend on how much funding I will be able to raise to make the permanent space happen, but ideally, it should be a big enough space for the books, zines and other publication as well as other activities such as story telling, reading circles, book clubs, and zine making. It should be accessible to people with disabilities. People can get in touch with me if they are interested in supporting Sister Library with money, space or books.

Source - Scroll.in

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Kalimpong movie Appa to feature Daya Hang Rai

8:18 AM

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movie

SNS | Kalimpong | April 24, 2018 : A young filmmaker of Kalimpong, Anmol Gurung, has scripted a movie and named it ‘Appa’ (father) where renowned actors from Nepal like Daya Hang Rai, Tulsi Ghimiray and Aruna Karki is all set to play major roles.

“The idea behind the film is to change the way our society looks at a father-son relationship,” Mr Gurung says. The shooting is scheduled to begin on 25 April at the historic Ghoom Railway Station in Darjeeling, while portions of the movie will also be shots in places like Sandakphu and Kalimpong.



“The main characters will be portrayed by Daya Hang Rai who has changed Nepali cinema’s dimensions, the legendary Tulsi Ghimiray the popular actor and filmmaker Aruna Karki,” Mr Gurung told reports here on Monday.

According to him, the shooting may wind up in 60 days, but the post-production process may take a year. “As such, we plan to release the movie on Father’s Day next year,” he said.

Mr Rai, meanwhile, said he is officially acting in India for the first time and that the story line of the film compelled him to sign it. “I was mesmerized by the story I listened to after Anmol Gurung sent it to me in an audio message format, and I did not want to miss an opportunity to work in it.

The subject is universal and people from all across the world can get connected to it,” the Nepalese actor said. Iconic filmmaker, Mr Ghimiray, who had said in the past that Nepal’s cinema and the cinema in Darjeeling Hills had a huge gap, on Monday said the standard of filmmaking here had radically gone up, with good technicians and actors fast coming up.

“Political elements often break us like people start branding us Nepal’s Nepali, Assam’s Nepali, and Burma’s Nepali,’ but art and culture always brings us together,” he said.

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