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KALIMPONG: Why Nathula?Why not Jelepla? That seems to bethe question plaguing Kalimpongever since hints that trade linkswould get re-established with Tibet[China] over the high passes inSikkim. Now, with the Union Min-istry for Commerce giving Sikkimthe go ahead to start the Tibet Tradevia Nathula from this summer itself,the resentment is naturally rising.

“Kalimpong has historicallyplayed a more important role andTibet was more influenced byKalimpong rather than Sikkim,”

KARAN SHAH

states, Karma T. Pempahishey, asenior Tibetan resident of the town.

Kalimpong, which used to beknown as “mini-Tibet” was a flour-ishing trading centre. Areas like 10thMile and Topkhana were importantbusiness centres with major Tibetancolonies. The spin-offs of being atrading outpost meant a huge indi-rect source of income - from sale offodder for mules, to accommodationand transportation for traders.

The older generation here stillremember Pandu Tshang andSandhu Tshang, two legendarytrade agents. It is obvious that withconnections like these, Kalimpongis not happy being given the go-by

this time round.“Jelepla literally means the

Easy Pass. Compared to Nathula,it is a more suitable route. It remainsopen for most part of the year whileNathula would be difficult to ne-gotiate in winter. Also, the next bigmetropolitan centre, Siliguri iscloser to Kalimpong,” adds Mr.Pempahishey in support ofKalimpong again being allowed toplay a bigger role in Tibet Trade.At present, there is no mention ofKalimpong in the scheme of things.Sikkim is understandably silent onKalimpong and the policy-makersin West Bengal are expending alltheir energies trying to slip Siliguri

into the trade route.West Bengal’s indifference is

further amplified by representativesof various trade organisations inthis subdivisional hill town.

“Kolkata does not care for thehills. Nathula’s pre-eminence is alsothe fallout of the indolence oftrade organizations hereand the lack of unity be-tween them,” say mem-bers of these organi-zations. “Is it be-cause there isno properMemorandum

turn to pg 6

Why not Jelepla? asks Kalimpong

CONCOPSSTRIKEAGAIN!

DRESSED INCAMOUFLAGE

UNIFORMSAND ARMED

WITH TOYGUNS,

CONMENGET

AWAYWITH

DACOITY

GANGTOK: The next time a group of “official looking” peopledressed in camouflage uniforms and sporting mercenary crew-cutscome knocking, think twice before you allow them in. Better still,call up the nearest thana and check whether a mass raid is underwayin your area. The group outside could well be con-artists on the loosewho have followed the same modus operandi to effect two [as re-ported to the cops] dacoities in the past one year. Their latest hitcame on 9 March, when an unsuspecting family from Raley/Gerathang [on the Singtam Dikchu axis, about 24 kms from Dikchu]were left poorer by Rs. 42,000 in cash and 11 tolas of gold.

Informed sources reveal that at around 10 PM on 9 March, agroup of young boys, dressed in battle fatigues and some even carry-ing weapons [subsequent debriefing of the eye-witnesses revealedthem to be toy guns] arrived at the doorstep of one Devi PrasadGhimire. He was told that they were “troops” deployed from Rang-Rang checkpost in north Sikkim to conduct a house to house searchfor explosives stolen from the dam-site at Dikchu.

An unsuspecting Devi Prasad let them in and no sooner had theycrowded in, did he realise his folly. While the group moved aroundofficiously at first, they started behaving suspiciously the momentthey entered the main room and started asking for the keys to thealmirah. When Devi Prasad protested, the group started acting evenmore businesslike and on the threat of booking the entire family,which included two seventy-year-old grandmothers, for obstruction

a NOW REPORT

turn to pg 6

DARJEELING, March 11, 2004:The Akhil Bharatiya Gorka League[ABGL], has launched a massiveagitation regarding non-receipt ofvarious benefits that primary stu-dents are entitled to.

“Mid-day meals are irregular inhill primary schools and so are freeschool books and uniforms,” al-leged T. Sharma, sub-divisionalsecretary, ABGL.

According to Sharma, whenmid-day meals were first intro-duced, 3kgs of foodgrains werebeing distributed to each student

ABGL’sprimaryconcernsAMITAVA BANERJEE

turn to pg 3

2; NOW! ; 12 March, 2004

C M Y K

NOW!FIRST WITH THE NEWS

ED-SPACE

turn to pg 6

About three years after my mother’sdeath my father married again. Hiswork did not leave him time to cook

and wash and do the housework. He thereforetook a second wife, a Tibetan woman fromLhasa. Her name was Tshering Dolma. Hethought that this would give him comfort andthat she would look after me like a mother.

For four or five weeks she was kind to me.My father had opened a bakery. During his ab-sence my stepmother would sit waiting for buy-ers of biscuits or cakes or sweets. The wholeday long she was busy knitting socks and sweat-ers both for sale and for our own use.

In school I had begun reading the first bookof Nepali and of Tibetan, though I ran awayas often as I could. My real education was bythe games I played on the road with other boys.However, I attended school more or less, for ayear and a half. When I was twelve years old,I began to see how foolish I had been in al-ways running away from school and in wast-ing my time. My former schoolmates had be-come fluent readers of Nepali and had alsolearned to write with ease. I could do none ofthese things. But I did not even think of thatwhen I was six or seven.

As my stepmother knew that I was notgoing to school regularly she threw all thesmall housework on me, such as cleaning potsand pans, bringing water and going to themarket. Except cooking, all the other work was

given to me as if I was a servant. My fatherdid not know about this and I was afraid totell him or she would have told father I wasstaying away from school and it would havebeen worse for me.

My dear father wasnot to work much longer.He had an accident, which dam-aged his leg so that he had to goto the hospital. From that mis-erable day my stepmother be-gan to treat me in the worstmanner that ever man or boyhad to endure. When she foundherself free from her house-work and the biscuit business,

which had stopped entirely since my fatherwas in hospital, she went out, day and night,to other houses to gossip with her womanfriends and to drink chang with them. She

drank chang with them.She drank chang asfreely as others drink thewater given to man by

nature, and she certainly didnot look after me but leftme to myself. When she

came home altogetherdrunk she abused me till shebecame sober again. Some-times, she beat me in a very

cruel manner. She may havegone to see my father in hospi-

tal once or twice, but I went everymorning to ask how he felt and

to talk.Now, I have not men-

tioned my father’s habit ofeating opium from time to time for

his health. Certainly opium some-times does a little good, but it forms a

strong habit and this made him feel the

need of a daily dose to chew before his meals.So from time to time he told me to bring somefor him. I did as he told me, and often I gavehim some opium very secretly so that no onemight discover it, as there were very strict rulesin the hospital. After three weeks, by the mercyof God my father came home, with his leghealed but crippled. It was a most happy dayfor me to see him again in our home. How-ever, he always remained lame in his left legand limped. The boys in the street began tocall him afterwards the “Chinese Duck” be-cause he waggled like a duck when walking.Soon my father’s nickname became knownall over Kalimpong. Therefore my own namesoon became “Chinese duckling”. All the boyswould jeer at us and say: “Look at the Chi-nese duck and his young.”

My father could not do anything, for hewas old and lame, but I was strong enoughto fight them alone. One day about eight boyswere playing marbles in the road near ourhouse. My friend Bersi and I made a plan tobring some nettles and caterpillars to throwamong these loafers, who had been mockingmy father. We two went to the mission forestwhere on the trunks of the trees you couldfind many caterpillars. These we collected.We also bought back nettles, which we gotwith difficulty. We plucked them with tongs,which we use to pick up burning charcoal.

Kalimpong’s Chinese Duckand His Duckling

Artist, filmmaker, keenphotographer, columnistwith internationalmagazines... It’s hard topin Twang Yang down. Bornto a Chinese father andTibetan mother, he grew up inKalimpong and worked inSikkim.NOW! serializes Twan Yang’sautobiography, Houseboy in India...

Nathula vs. JeleplaKalimpong was the gateway to Tibet which did not only launchcolonial Britain’s Central Asian ambitions into the roof of the world,but also provided Tibet with a ladder down to the supply-chainsfed by the Indian markets. When trade peaked, Kalimpong bus-tled with activity. Caravans, spies, traders of all nationalities, evenCounts from Eastern Europe sought Kalimpong out and basedthemselves here. Kalimpong was discovered by the British ad-ministrative machinery and fostered because it was the closestBritish Indian town to Tibet. Since Britain’s interests were alwaysdriven by commerce, it was only a matter of time before the trad-ers arrived here and Kalimpong boomed. Kalimpong was wherethe action was and Darjeeling still a place to convalesce. A changeof authority in Delhi did little to mellow the buzz at Kalimpong. Infact, it hummed even stronger. And then trading ties with Tibetsnapped. Kalimpong’s economy collapsed within a year and manytraders deserted it, seeking out fresher pastures elsewhere.The dejection apparent in Kalimpong over having been left outfrom the plans for resumption of Tibet Trade is thus understand-able. But much has changed in the decades since trade stopped.Most importantly, Sikkim has become a part of India. Kalimpong,as mentioned earlier was chosen because it was the closest In-dian town to Tibet. Now, it is Gangtok. In fact, Gangtok is evencloser. Nathula is also lower than Jelepla and thus expected toremain open for slightly longer. Time is at a premium in tradenowadays and this factor, when added to infrastructural advan-tages that a State capital has over a subdivision obviously tiltsthe balance in Sikkim’s favour. That said, West Bengal shouldhave lobbied for Kalimpong when negotiations were afoot toresume trade. But then, the Hills begin and end with Darjeelingfor Kolkata and Lal Kothi seems to have forgotten that it also gotKalimpong as part of the Hill Council.What Kalimpong has to do is play its strongest card - its humanresource. This town has survived the collapse of trading activityand its people are perhaps the most resourceful lot around. Evenif Kalimpong cannot become the trading hub again, it can be-come a major supplier to the chain that links India to ChineseTibet. It can also start popularising lores from its heydays andattract tourists wanting to relive the romanticism of adventurerswho passed Kalimpong’s way. Even though Nathula is open onlyfor trade and not tourism at present, people are bound to followonce goods start moving. Kalimpong’s best bet is perhaps to tar-get trade-related tourism instead of the trade itself.

neighboursNepal-India relations are animportant area of concernfor the government and

people of both countries. As thesaying goes it is only with goodfriends that you can open your heartand discuss your problems withoutthe possibility of being misunder-stood. We should try to be openwith each other and express ourconcerns and hopes in our relation-ship so that it strengthens the age-old links between the people of ourtwo nations. Nepal-India relation-ship is too important just to be leftto the whims of the bureaucracy orthe temporary bumps and swingsthat we may experience as we tryto navigate in an increasingly tur-bulent international order.

Often in our own country wehear some people defining the re-lationship between Nepal and In-dia primarily on the basis of cul-tural bonds and connections. Thisis certainly one way of looking atour relationship but it remains par-tial. Cultural proximity is no guar-antee of friendship. If we look athistory, nations that share the samecivilizations have shown no hesi-tation in wasting enormous re-sources in trying to harm each other.However, this is not to deny therelevance of cultural proximity inthe relationship between any twonations.

POLITICAL FACTOR:

As regards our basic politicalvalues, there is a broad level

of congruence that remains impor-tant in the evolution of our bilat-eral relationship. Both Nepal andIndia are democratic states thathave expressed their commitment

to a multiparty form of governmentwithin a constitutional frameworkbased on the core principle that sov-ereignty resides on the people. We,in Nepal, are in the process of in-stitutionalizing this principle withinthe framework of a constitutionalmonarchy- an institution that re-mains vital to the transformation ofour socio economic system. India’ssupport to our endeavour forms an-other pillar of a political relation-ship that is fully consistent with ournational interests. It does providean overarching political environ-ment for greater mutual trust andconfidence between the govern-ment of the two countries.

ECONOMIC FACTOR:

From an economic perspectivewe are living in unprecedented

times. Since the second half of the20th century, it has been possibleto think that nations that are poorneed not remain so in the future. InIndia the commanding heightmodel that relied on an interven-tionist government was the para-digm for development for manydecades. We know that it did notachieve the results that were ex-pected. Then there was the changeand it came after the foreign ex-

change crisis in the late 1980’s. Itwas remarkable change in the strat-egy of development that could evenbe labelled as a paradigm shift.

What makes a nation great is itsability for introspection and thewillingness and boldness to chartout a new course of action withoutlosing sight of its core values. In-dia’s economic policies during thelast decade have shown that as agreat nation its politics and leader-ship have the vision and strengthto move on a new path of actionthat seems radical and yet consist-ent with its democratic ethos andthe welfare of its people.

This is good news for Nepal.The overall economic policy frame-work of both our countries is in thesame direction minimizing chancesof conflict and friction based on di-vergence in the strategy of devel-opment. India’s shift on the highgrowth path has potential for all ofSouth Asia to be in the same band-wagon. For Nepal, land-lockednessshould no longer be viewed as aconstraint. In fact, Nepal is not alandlocked nation, but a link nationa country that has direct land linkwith two of the most dynamiceconomies of the world. There isno way that this can be a disadvan-tage. It may have been in the pastbut certainly not in the future giventhe fact that both our countries aremoving towards a more liberaltrade regime. The point to empha-size is that our economic interestsare not in conflict. A strong andprosperous Nepal is in India’s in-terest and vice versa.

[The writer is Nepal’sFinance Minister]

-courtesy Kathmandu Post

On Nepal-India Relations

PRAKASH CHANDRA LOHANI

looks into the Indo-Nepal

bond in the present times

of globalisation and

decides that the economic

interests of the neigh-

bours are not in conflict

12 March, 2004; NOW! 3

C M Y K

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GANGTOK: There’s nothingmore repulsive and nastier thanfinding a creepy, crawly maggot un-winding itself as you take in thescreaming crunchy bite of a choco-late bar. Well, how about half acreepy, crawly maggot?

We have no in-tention of playingspoilsports, but you’dagree it is better to besafe than sorry. A“Temptations” Cadbury bar a friendbought didn’t turn out to be astempting as he thought. Somethingmoving here, something waggingthere and he was ready for a lifelong austerity drive as far eatingchocolates goes.

TRY TEMPTING SOMEONE WITH THISThe bar in question was bought

a couple of weeks ago from a shopin Gangtok. There were also a cou-ple of similar complaints fromsome other consumers. Shop-own-ers say they can’t be blamed for itsince they are just retail outlets andhave nothing to do with manufac-turing or packaging or even stor-ing for that matter. The man at Uni-

versal Provisionseven went so far as tosay - when this cor-respondent ques-tioned him – that they

had dumped the old stock of choco-lates ever since the “fairies inchocolates” controversy broke out.

A visit to Krishna & Co. – thedistributors of the tempting Temp-tations and other brands of similarlytempting material in Gangtok – re-

vealed just as much. One Mr.Kailash had just this to say: “ Theold stock of chocolates have allbeen disposed off. We are now dis-tributing only the freshly packedchocolates.”

Abhijit Banerjee of Nestleadded: “ The fruit and nuts varietyis the most vulnerable. There is re-ally nothing we can do about invad-ing pests. They can easily slink intothe bars through the corners of thewrappings. Even the double foiledwrappings which the manufactur-ers have resorted to won’t be ofmuch help.”

He does, however, go on to saythat the ones with the pillow wrap-pings are totally immune to un-wanted guests. Even so, I wouldn’tgo to sleep with it.

a NOW REPORT

Wormy residents in a Temptations chocolate bought in Gangtok

rajdhani

whereas now, students get barelyone and a half kilos and that too ona “very irregular” basis.

“We have come to know that afew headmasters, who have evensigned blank vouchers, are in-volved in this scam,” contendABGL leaders.

Regarding text books, ABGLalleges that free text books, insteadof being distributed in the begin-ning of an academic session, werebeing distributed at the end, thusforcing students to buy text books.

“Girls are being provided freedresses whereas boys are not get-ting anything,” adds Sharma.

ABGL has started a widespreadpostering campaign in all the threehill subdivisions of Darjeeling,Kurseong and Kalimpong and alsoat tea gardens and block levels.Posters with messages “Nobodyhas the right to sabotage the facili-ties meant for poor primary stu-dents,” “Heads of Institutionsshould take necessary initiatives tosee to it that students get the maxi-mum benefit of facilities entitled tothem,” are splashed all over townand ABGL members assure that

they intend to continue with thecampaign.

Yesterday, a joint delegationcomprising of ABGL subdivisionalcommittee members and TarunGorkha [Youth wing of ABGL] metthe Chairman, District PrimaryBoard, Secretary [DGHC], PrimaryEducation and the DI of Schools todiscuss these issues and find out “indetail” about the facilities that pri-mary students and specially thephysically challenged students areentitled to.

“We will also be embarking on

an awareness campaign shortly toeducate the parents of the rights thattheir wards are entitled to,” addedSharma.

Meanwhile LT Rinden, Secre-tary, Primary Education, DGHC,while confirming that he hadbriefed the ABGL members on thefacilities that students were enti-tled to, commented that the com-plaints raised by ABGL were “toogeneralized.”

“I have told them that I couldlook into any specific complaintmade by them,” he told NOW!

Contd from pg1

ABGL’s primary concerns

NAMCHI: The Students Expe-rience in Inter Living [SEIL] isa voluntary effort sponsored byAkhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad [ABVP] and has beenactive for the past 35 years witha goal to strengthen national in-tegration among the youngstars through cultural exchangetours. SEIL is a mission whichaims at emotional integrationby making the youth familiar

with the threads of culturalbonds which make us one peo-ple and one nation in spite of theapparent diversity in languageand life styles.

Surat Negi, coordinator of SEILTour reveals that this year, the tourwas organised as the “BharatDarshan Anubhav - 2004.”

In this tour, 80 students fromSikkim, Darjeeling and the sevensister states of the North East par-ticipated. Of the 80 students, sev-enteen were from Sikkim and

Darjeeling. This emotional nationaltour was one month long.

Mr. Negi said that during thetour, they met several governors,chief ministers, union ministers andalso the President APJ Abul Kalamat the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

According to Mr. Negi, duringthe meeting with the President, theSikkim delegation had raised thedemand for a university in Sikkim.The students also invited the peo-ple of other states of the country tosee the natural beauty of Sikkim

Touring for National Integration

and Darjeeling.Durga Prasad Kharel, a first

year student at the Sikkim Law Col-lege, said that the tour broughthome the unity of India to him andhelped him understand what itmeans to be an Indian.

Another member of the Sikkim

delegation, Tika Thapa, a BA 2ndyear student of Government Col-lege, Namchi, said that they weretreated by the host families liketheir own children.

“I never felt that I was awayfrom my parents,” she said.

a NOW REPORT

Students on the Bharat Darshan Anubhav tour sponsored by ABVP with the UnionMinister for Parliamentary Affairs, Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi

4; NOW! ; 12 March, 2004

C M Y K

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DARJEELING, March 11, 2004:Though it was West Bengal ChiefMinister, BuddhadebBhatacharjee’s wish to attend aparty meeting at Darjeeling after aparty meeting was slated for 20March in Siliguri, this will not bepossible due to his busy schedule.Instead, the venue for the meetinghas been shifted to Kurseong.

“The CM has a flight back toKolkata at 12:30 pm on 21 Marchand therefore it will be too hecticfor him to attend a meeting inDarjeeling and then board theflight. It will also be very difficultfor party members from all over theHills to attend the meeting atDarjeeling in the early hours. Tak-ing all these aspects into considera-tion the venue has been changed toKurseong and the CM is expectedto address party cadres at 10:30am,” said Narayan Pradhan, a CPMleader from the Hills.

Immdeiately after the meeting,the CM will proceed to BagdograAirport. Party cadres are expectedto attend in large numbers from allover the hills including Darjeeling,Kurseong, Kalimpong and Mirik.

Ashok Bhattacharjee, StateMinister in Charge of Municipaland Urban Affairs and Mani Thapa,CPM candidate from the Darjeelingconstituency will be accompanyingthe CM to Kurseong.

“It will mainly be a meetingwhere election strategies will be dis-cussed in detail,” informed Pradhan.Party members are also eyeing thismeeting as a major morale booster.

Incidentally, after the announce-ment of Mani Thapa’s candidature,a near feud broke out among certainranks of the CPM in the hills, dub-bing her as an “unknown face” anda candidate not from the Hills.

The uprising was however

quelled deftly by senior party lead-ers. Anil Biswas, secretary of theCPM State Committee in Siliguri,stated that no disciplinary actionwill be taken against these leadersas CPM functioned “on democraticlines and party members had everyright to express their opinion.”

He added that the problem hadbeen sorted out. After this, the CPMembarked on largescale political cam-paigning in the Hills and the plains,with rallies and public meetings.

To further apply the healingtouch, Ashok Bhattacharjee accom-panied Mani Thapa to a DYFImeeting in Darjeeling on 5 Marchwhere she was introduced byBhattacharjee as a “bridge betweenthe plains and hills.” He alsoclaimed that the entire party washappy with her candidature and thateach and everyone would back her.“CPM is a disciplined party which

BUSY SCHEDULE FORCES BUDDHADEB TO SHIFTHILL MEETING FROM DARJ TO KURSEONG

has always taught its cadres that theinterest of the party comes beforeself” he preached.

Though all this managed to quellthe internal strife, it could not stop thecrossfire from other political camps.Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League[ABGL] openly criticized Mani Thapaas a GNLF backed candidate.

“Everybody knows of the tacitunderstanding between the CPMand the GNLF. GNLF agreed to boy-cott votes to block anti-CPM votesto ensure the CPM victory givingpreconditions for Mani Thapa to bemade the CPM candidate and thatthe present DGHC Board be givenan extension,” said Madan Tamang,President, ABGL.

As the CPM kept both the con-ditions it was the turn of the GNLFto keep their part of the deal andensure the CPM victory, he added.

Ashok Bhattacharjee however

shrugged off all this as mere“propaganda mechanisms.”

“Mani Thapa was chosen as thecandidate because she is a capableleader. About the extension toDGHC’s term, since we can’t holdall three elections [Lok Sabha, Mu-nicipal and DGHC] one after theother and since the DGHC Act hasthe provision to extend the tenureof the board for 1 year, we used thisto extend it for 8 months. There isno hidden agenda or anything ille-gal behind this,” clarifiedBhattacharjee.

Meanwhile the GNLF has goneinto silence mode regarding electionand continues to abstain from clari-fying their stand on the forthcom-ing MP elections. They even ab-stained from the all party meetingwith the Darjeeling District Magis-trate to discuss the moral code ofconduct yesterday, further raisingsuspicions of a probable boycott.

from OUR CORRESPONDENT ALLEGATIONS ABOUND ON GNLF-CPM DEAL

KALIMPONG-BOUNDGROUP ASSAULTEDNAYA BAZAAR: At around 5 pm on 10 March, three passengers of avehicle were assaulted by some miscreants. Somnath Chettri, JP Guptaand Suresh Pradhan were on their way to Kalimpong after attending amarriage ceremony at Chungbong when the vehicle they were travellingin stopped to refuel at the Naya Bazaar petrol pump. There, they werereportedly accosted by one Sonam Bhutia , Bharat Gupta and two others.Apparently a heated exchange of words took place between the two groupsand subsequently the passengers were set upon by Sonam Bhutia and hisfriends. The driver, Tshering Dorjee Bhutia, was the only one who gotaway unhurt. The miscreants have been arrested.

GOVT. SPARES PINCHED!GANGTOK: On 9 March, three spare tyres belonging to three differentvehicles were reported stolen. Interestingly two of the three vehicles be-longed to the Joint Secretary, Home Department, and Joint Secretary, Pay& Accounts. The third belonged to one TR Rai. The said vehicles wereparked at Indra bye-pass near the Motor Vehicles office. An investigationis underway and sources have been deployed in and around Indra bye-pass area to trace the culprit.

SIMPLE THEFT ATTECHNOLOGY DEPTT.GANGTOK: Kalpana Chettri, accountant with the Information & Tech-nology Department was in for an unpleasant shock when she reported forwork on 4 March, last Thursday. According to her, at around noon thatday she had left her office on the first floor of the annexe building tocollect a cheque. When she returned, a bag containing Rs. 20,000, twoLIC cheques worth Rs. 8,000 each and another Rs. 282 along with hermobile phone were missing. Her personal accessories were missing, too,from her drawer. She maintains that she had properly locked her drawerand kept the keys in another drawer of the table. A written complaint wasmade on 9 March and the case is under investigation.

GANGTOK, March 11: The StateUnit of the Bharatiya Janata Partyhas refused to comment on the de-cision of the ruling Sikkim Demo-cratic Front to turn down its offerfor an alliance at the state level forthe upcoming Lok Sabha and As-sembly polls in the State.

The Sikkim BJP president, HRPradhan, while talking to NOW!,

GANGTOK, 11 March: TheSikkim Teachers Association [STA]has expressed its gratitude to theState Government and the Depart-ment of Education for fulfilling anumber of its demands which couldhave far-reaching consequences to-wards the betterment of the teach-ing community in the State.

“The measures taken by theState Government to improve thestandard of education and stream-line it are commendable. The vari-ous incentives provided by the StateGovernment for both the teachersand the students to make educationmore attractive have all contributedto the overall development of edu-cation in the State,” ML Koirala,publicity secretary, SLA, says in apress statement.

Schemes launched by the StateGovernment, such as free text-

books, free uniforms, middaymeals, scholarships, etc have allbrought significant changes in theeducation sector in the State, Mr.Koirala maintains.

“Construction of new schoolbuildings, recruitment of moreteachers, introduction of vocationaleducation and training, computereducation, sports facilities have allhelped improve the standard ofeducation in the State,” he said.

The STA has also expressed itsgratitude towards the Government forfulfilling a number of its demandsraised for the “general welfare” of theteaching community in the State.

“Persistent meetings and ap-peals placed before the governmentand the Education Department inparticular, have resulted in fulfil-ment of a number of our demands,which are significant achievementsfor us,” Mr. Koirala said.

Some of these include the fix-ing of service years limit for ad-

vancement grade for primary teach-ers and school mothers to ten yearsfrom the earlier 15 years; Graduateand Post Graduate teachers whohave B. Ed degrees and Primaryteachers with CPE [TTI] degreesare now eligible for two advanceincrements. Similarly, the StateGovernment has already given thegreen signal for reviving AdvanceWinter Salary facility and all teach-ers who have 450 days credit ontheir leave account are now entitledfor leave encashment if the creditdays exceed 450 days.

The State Government has alsomade it possible for in-serviceteachers to pursue higher studieswhile still in service. Teachers cannow also go for professional edu-cation course such as B.Ed andCPE from IGNOU free of cost. TheEducation Department has alsomade provisions for transfer adjust-ments of teachers keeping in mindtheir welfare, Mr. Koirala reveals.

a NOW REPORT

STA thanks govt, deptt. for“positive measures”

said it was “too early” to commenton the breakdown in the talks on apossible alliance and seat-sharingarrangement between the BJP andthe SDF in Sikkim.

“We have intimated the BJP in-charge for Sikkim, Sunil Shastri, andvice-president Pyarelal Khandelwalon the outcome of our talks with theSDF party. We are now awaitingtheir instructions,” he said.

Yesterday, the SDF PoliticalAffairs Committee, while debating

the BJP proposal, had “unani-mously” decided against forgingany alliances at the state level whileclarifying that its support for theBJP-led NDA would continue atthe national level.

This came in the wake of opti-mistic remarks made by Mr.Khandelwal and Mr. Shastri at apress conference a day earlierwhere they expressed confidenceon forging an alliance with the rul-ing party in Sikkim.

State BJP reserves comment on SDF snuba NOW REPORT

12 March, 2004; NOW! 5

C M Y K

� NEWSSCAN

KALIMPONG: On the occasionof the 45th Tibetan National Up-rising Day, the India-Tibet Friend-ship Society based in Kalimponghas urged the Government of Indiaand “all peace loving people of theworld” to seek the release of po-litical prisoners held in Tibet andto restore human rights in Tibet.

They spoke for the freedom ofTenzin Delek Rinpoche, an influ-ential Buddhist teacher who is alsoknown for his social and religiousdevelopmental efforts.

In the year 2000 Chinese au-thorities ordered him to close aschool he had established inLithang. Over 20,000 Tibetans and

Chinese people signed a petition inhis support, but could not stop ei-ther the closure of the school or hisarrest by Chinese officials.

He was arrested on 7 April,2002 by Kangding Police DetentionCentre on charges that he had en-gaged in separatist activities andbombing. Denied visitors and legalcounsel, reports emerged that hewas beaten and tortured.

On December 2, 2002, a trialwas held in Kardze IntermediatePeople’s Court. Tenzin Delek wasgagged when he tried to defendhimself. He was later sentenced todeath and became the first Tibetanto be handed the death sentence in20 years.

Rinpoche himself asserted hisinnocence in a tape recording that

was smuggled out of Tibet whereinhe said: “Since I’m a Tibetan I havealways been sincere and devoted tothe interest and well-being of Ti-betan people. That is the real rea-son why the Chinese don’t like meand framed me. That is why theyare going to take my life eventhough I’m innocent.”

On 26 January, 2003, two Chi-nese lawyers were denied permis-sion to represent Tenzin Delek.

PT Bhutia, General Secretary,ITFC also appealed to Yashwant Sinha,Union Minister for Foreign Affairs andto Hu Juntao, President, People Repub-lic of China for the immediate releaseof Tulku Tenzin Delek.

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KALIMPONG: A group of under-privileged children fromKalimpong belonging to ITBCI-Indo-Tibet BuddhistCultural Insti-tute are all set to live the dreammany of us once had - visiting thefashion capital of the world -France. The ten children are all un-der the age of 13.

The French connection was es-tablished so that the pre-teens couldparticipate in an international chil-dren’s meet there. The Carrefour In-ternational du The’atre d’Enfants isan international children’s meet in-volving countries such as Germanyand Spain and will be hosted atValenciennes in France. It is slatedto be held from the 15 to 31 of May,later this year and is organized byJeune Theatre International and willbe presided over by Mrs. Chislane

Cong loses East

VP to SDFa NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, March 11: SikkimPradesh Congress Committee-IEast District vice-president,Manoj Rai has resigned from theparty and joined the rulingSikkim Democratic Front party.

Mr. Rai submitted his resig-nation to the SPCC president NarBahadur Bhandari here on 9March.

Speaking at a press confer-ence here today, Mr. Rai blamedthe “flawed leadership” of Mr.Bhandari and his obsession withpromoting himself and not theparty as the reasons for leavingthe Congress.

Gwizdek. JTI is a professional thea-tre Company in France directed byNathalie le Corre et PhilippeAsselin.

According to JK Bhutia, princi-pal, ITBCI, this is a totally non-com-mercial Meet. The children, he adds,are being sent to the festival “basi-cally to represent Tibetan culture”through various cultural dances suchas the Lion dance, the Yak-dance,Dopa Dodrung [literally meaning“dance with drum beat] etc.

Mr. Bhutia further reveals thatthis opportunity for the underprivi-leged children to visit foreignshores was made possible throughan ex-student of the Institute whois himself an artist. This benevo-

lent ex-student is married to aFrench lady and is settled in France.

He further stated that though thiswill be the first time the students ofITBCI will be taking an internationaltrip, various venues such as Kolkataand New Delhi have already beenvisited by them while on the trail ofsimilar performances.

“The excursion is being totallyfunded by the group from France”,he adds.

Accommodation for all thechildren has also been fixed withfive French families having agreedto accommodate two children eachin their homes.

“This is a good development forthe Tibetan society here and also for

the students of our school who willnow have an opportunity to meetand interact with people belongingto a different world. They will di-rectly interact with the people thereand therefore get to know moreabout Western society first-hand,”said Principal Mr. Bhutia.

Kesang Lepcha, a student atITBCI from Sadhu Dhara, whenapproached said she consideredherself “very lucky” and admittedshe was excited about the trip toFrance. She will be performing theRelpa dance, a devotional danceintroduced in 17th century to popu-larize Buddhist Religion and cul-ture in Tibet.What can we say but bon voyage.

Culture establishes a French Connection for ten from KpgINDO-TIBET BUDDHIST INSTITUTE TROUPE TO PERFORM

AT INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S MEET IN FRANCEfrom OUR CORRESPONDENT

from our CORRESPONDENT

India-Tibet Friendship Society seeksrelease of Tenzin Rinpoche

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6; NOW! ; 12 March, 2004

C M Y K

DEVELOPMENT �

of Understanding between the gov-ernment and the traders of this re-gion, or is it that all influential per-sonalities of this region are too laid-back and relaxed?” they ask.

However, according to LawrenceD. Sitling, former Political Agent,Government of Bhutan and an expertin Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Tibet rela-tions: “Climatically, historically, aswell as strategically, Kalimpong hasalways been an important tradingtown because of its proximity to Ne-pal, Bhutan, Tibet and Siliguri. But,I would like to announce to the citi-zens of Kalimpong that if Jelepladoes not reopen, it does not mean thatthe original historical value ofKalimpong will decline.”

But business, point out former

GANGTOK: Almost nine croreVajra Guru recitations have beencompleted at Enchey SangaRapdenling Gumba in the last month.

The recitations, which startedon 6 February, are now on the vergeof completion. It is hoped that theproceedings will be completedwithin the next few days. The VajraGuru Mantra recitation is to seekthe blessings of Guru Rimpoche toovercome evil forces that may con-front humanity. It will safeguard

Contd from pg1

The caterpillars we put in a hand-kerchief and took secretly near theboys. Among them was one whowas the worst and was always jeer-ing at my father by calling him“duck”. I quietly dropped the cat-erpillar from the handkerchief intohis neck. It began to sting him, andhe began to cry for help from hismother. We two friends, Bersi andmyself, then gripped the nettlesfirmly with handkerchiefs roundthe stems and went for the boys. Wesaid: “If you boys say that again,then we will do this again to you;so remember, do not call duckanymore.”

To be continued

Contd from pg2

Tibet traders here, has to be muchmore immediate and there is needfor some collective action on seek-ing a role for Kalimpong in the newtrade route.

Monila De, a columnist andsenior resident of the town believesthat the Centre has shown moresympathy to Sikkim thanKalimpong.

“Maybe the West Bengal govern-ment did not play its cards at the righttime. It should be more positive inits attitude towards Kalimpong in thefuture,” she contends.

Even while the older residentslike her hope that the central gov-ernment will see the sense of it allat some point, the younger genera-tion knows that Kalimpong’s dayin the sun as far as trading with Ti-bet go has gone down for all times.

Why not Jelepla? Kpg’sChineseDuck...

of justice, locked them all up in-side one room.

With no prying eyes to disturbthem, they went around “search-ing” the entire house and left onlyafter they had found somethingthat satisfied them - Rs. 42,000 incash and 11 tolas of gold. Thegroup decamped and it was onlymuch later that Devi Prasad couldescape the locked room and dis-cover the dacoity.

Upon checking with securitypersonnel in the area, he learnt thatthere was no raid in progress andunderstood that he had beenconned. Interestingly, this is not thefirst time that this modus operandihas been carried out with successin the region. In June last year, afamily was similarly looted byyouth posing as cops on a raid atMannzang Jogi Dara about 6 kmsfrom Lingmoo bazaar across theriver from Gerathang. There couldhave been other attempts, but none

have been reported thus far. Whatmakes the case even more intrigu-ing is that the gang-members seemto work hard on their act. Whenthey claimed to be on the search forstolen explosives, they knew DeviPrasad would buy the story becausethe area has been abuzz for the pasttwo months with rumours of sucha theft. This is also perhaps a leadto the location of gang memberssince not too many people outsidethe Singtam-Dikchu axis are awareof the rumoured theft.

As things stand, a case has beenregistered under sections 170, 392and 32 of Indian Penal Code against“unknown persons.” Although sen-ior police officials maintain that thecase is being investigated, they ad-mit no breakthroughs have beenmade as yet. Although the gang isnot expected to target urban locali-ties, those living in remote ruralblocks are advised to be wary ofheavy footfalls and loud knocks bymen in uniform - they could be fromthe other side of the law.

Con-Cops Strike...Contd from pg1

NAMCHI: A training programmeon HIV/ AIDS was held for nodalteachers and peer educators at Li-brary Hall, Namchi General Hos-pital, from 8-11 March. The pro-gramme was a part of the SchoolAIDS Education Scheme undersouth district.

Organized by Dhrishti, aNamchi based NGO, the pro-gramme was supported by SikkimState AIDS Control Society.

This is the second time that this

GANGTOK: Sikkim’s history, orat least a part of it will now betaught in schools in the State. Be-ginning with class III from this year,it will progressively march tohigher classes from the next ses-sion onwards.

The decision to introducestudents to a study of their ownland was taken at the Educa-tional Conference of heads ofschools held in September lastyear. A resolution was passed onthe inclusion of chapters on his-tory of Sikkim in Social Studiestextbooks with effect from thissession. This is the first time af-ter almost 29 years of followingthe Indian educational systemthat students here will study thehistory of their land.

Dr. MP Kharel, Head of His-

tory Department, Sikkim Govern-ment College, who helped preparethe relevant chapters, says that hehad always rued the absence ofSikkim’s history from the schoolsyllabus here and always wanted toget it included.

SAGAR CHETTRI

Five chapters in the book, En-vironmental Studies-1 for class III,have been devoted to Sikkim. Cli-mate, plants and animals, peopleand the culture of the state, occu-pation of the people, transport andcommunication and districts and

towns of Sikkim make for thefirst introduction to school kidsof their own land.

“This textbook is dedicatedto the children of Sikkim withthe hope that it would serve itspurpose. It is the first attempt ofits kind in our state,” reads theforeword by Secretary, Educa-tion Department.

Even though it has begunonly at the class III level, it ishoped that the initiative will trig-ger a greater interest inSikkimese history among thestudents and is followed up withprogressive books with more de-tails in higher classes.

Sikkim history returns toschool books

training of educators is being held.Nineteen schools had participatedin the first programme while theremaining six schools took part thistime around.

The main aim of the trainingwas to spread awareness and in-crease knowledge among educatorsfor subsequent education of stu-dents about HIV/AIDS and STDs.The trainees will now spread themessage that they have imbibed invarious schools. Funds for this havebeen allocated under School LevelActivity by the Sikkim State AIDSControl Society.

PURAN TAMANG

Peer educators briefed on AIDS

humanity against diseases, humansufferings, natural calamities, com-munal disturbances, war and otherevils, claim the organisers.

The Duchi of Enchey Gonpaand the Enchey Tsechu Tsogpa hasexpressed gratitude to all the devo-tees who have contributed and par-ticipated in the proceedings. It hasalso requested all devotees to con-tinue extending their support till theconclusion of the recitation. The or-ganisers propose to conduct a “KhaWang” as done last year on the con-cluding day. The date will be an-nounced later.

a NOW REPORT

NINE CRORE VAJRA GURURECITATIONS DONE, ENCHEYPREPARES FOR KHA WANG

GANGTOK, 11 March: SikkimFootball Association [SFA] is send-ing a 20-member football team un-der chief coach Thupden Rapgyalto represent Sikkim in the 2nd Dr.T. Ao - Doner Football Tournamentfor North Eastern Region to be heldat Imphal, Manipur.

The tourney is slated to be heldfrom 15 March and will continuetill 28 March, 2004. The team willleave Gangtok on 13 March.

Sikkim has been slated inGroup A along with states like As-sam, Mizoram, Nagaland and SAI

[Blue]. In Group B are the states ofManipur, Meghalaya, Tripura,Arunachal Pradesh and SAI [Red].

The tournament will be playedon a league cum knock-out basis.Sikkim XI play their first match on16 March, next Tuesday.

Both the semi-finals will beplayed on 26 March and the finalis scheduled for 28 March.

While releasing the names ofthe State team to the media, SFAsecretary, Menla Ethenpa, said that

out of 40 probables, 20 playershave been shortlisted to participatein the tournament. These probableswere undergoing coaching campfor the last one month under theChief Coach at TNA Ground aswell as in Old Guards Ground.

Mr. Ethenpa further said thatthe upcoming tourney is beingviewed as a warm-up for theSikkim team as it prepares for theSantosh Trophy likely to be heldsometime in April 2004.

SPORTS/SOCCER

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12 March, 2004; NOW! 7

C M Y K

� NATIONWIDE

As the general election nears,the Congress, Bharatiya

Janata Party and many other politi-cal outfits have paraded a galaxy ofstars that they say subscribe to theirideologies and would campaign forthem. So on the one hand you havean Asrani, Celina Jaitley, NamrataShirodkar, Zeenat Aman and SharadKapoor professing their admirationfor the Congress, and on the other,Yukta Mookhey, Hema Malini,Sudha Chandran, Suresh Oberoi,

Jeetendra, Poonam Dhillion, etcrooting for the ‘Lotus’ party

But what really is it that makesthem hit the election trail?

According to Mid Day, it ismammon. The Mumbai tabloidspoke to a cross-section of moviestars and TV personalities who saidpolitical parties approached themwith big bucks.

Muscleman Sunil Shetty toldthe tabloid he had been offered Rs10 lakh per day through his secre-

KS Sharma, chief executive officer of Prasar Bharati, has ac-

cused Ten Sports, which has the ex-clusive overseas telecast rights forthe India-Pakistan cricket series, ofmaking “unreasonable demands”and trying to make a killing by forc-ing Doordarshan into paying threetimes the money invested by TenSports to bag the telecast rights.

According to reports, thesports channel procured the tel-ecasting rights from the PakistanCricket Board for U$8 million butare asking Doordarshan to pay upU$25 million to share these rightswith them. K S Sharma, as the re-port goes, initially offered $4 mil-lion which was later revised to $6million.

In a bid to sort out the matterso that viewers all over the countryget to watch the matches, Sharmahad a meeting with ChrisMcDonald, the Ten Sports chief in

India, on Sunday in Mumbai andoffered to carry the same advertise-ments which are carried by themprovided they [Ten Sports] agreedto part with some of the moneyfrom the advertisement revenue.

Chris McDonald has nowflown to New Delhi to make a lastditch effort to reach some under-standing with the Prasar Bharatiafter the Madras High court had in-dicated during the hearing in a pub-lic interest liti-gation that theGovernment ofIndia shouldconsider bring-ing an ordinance in case there is nounderstanding reached between thetwo television Houses

If the High Court directs thegovernment to come up with an or-dinance and force Ten Sports toshare telecast signals with PrasarBharati, then DD would not be pay-

ing anything to Ten Sports.Information and Broadcasting

Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad onWednesday met Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee to update himon the developments. PrasarBharati chief executive K S Sarmaalso met senior PMO officials.

Officials admitted that if thetelecast of the series was blackedout, it could damage the image ofthe ruling National Democratic Al-

liance govern-ment ahead ofthe general elec-tions startingnext month.

Such a situation could force thegovernment to bring in an Ordi-nance making it mandatory for thechannel to share its feed withDoordarshan.

In order to avoid such crises infuture, the government is consid-ering an ordinance [depending

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ACTORS SAY PARTIES OFFERED THEM MONEYMONEY FOR

STARStary. “Parties who pay you moneythink they can make you jump totheir tune,” he said.

Actor Ashutosh Rana said hehad been approached more thanonce. “I have been offered astro-nomical sums from several nationaland regional parties to canvass forthem,” he said.

“There is an ongoing storm andpoliticians have suddenly discoverednewfound love for celebrities. Actorsare getting more offers from politi-cal parties than films,” he added.

Also in demand are TV stars.Shweta Kwatra, star of soap KahaniGhar Ghar Kii and Kkusum, told thepaper that her rate card was more thanone lakh a day. “The parties have ap-proached me directly to campaign.”

Often the payment is made incash. “This is to siphon off the

black money and can come fromeither parties directly or from in-dustrialists; also this is one way toevade EC scrutiny,” a star wishinganonymity told the tabloid.

Manoj Bajpai said, “I have beenapproached but I have always re-fused in the first stage of negotia-tion itself.

“It is unfortunate that sundrystars with no knowledge of groundrealities have chosen to enter thepolitical fray.”

Mysterious

Naga sadhus

congregate

in Junagadh

They are feared due to their mat-ted hair and their unusual ap-

pearance. And their role in the spiritualworld is always shrouded in mystery.

The Naga baba [naked warriormendicant] belongs to a sect that hasno material bonding, lives a rigorouslife and performs rituals to appeaseLord Shiva - the divine destroyer.

They are mostly smeared withash, carry traditional weapons likethe trident, smoke cannabis or hash-ish and can perform incredible featsand yoga asanas.

These sadhus every year flockfrom various parts of the countryto the foot of the Girnar mountainat Junagadh district in Gujarat tocelebrate Mahashivratri and takethe much awaited dip at the famousMrigi Kund [pond] at the LordShiva temple.

Many perform yagnas [offer-ings] like the Mrityunjay Yagna,which is believed to have powersto bring back the dead.

Legend has it that three sadhusout of many who take a dip at theMrigi Kund vanish into the waters.

Unfazed by the changing times,however, the Naga sadhus believein the spiritual powers of the kund.According to a legend Lord Shivahimself had taken bath here and thewater, which has sulphur, is a signof his divine presence.

Gopalgiri, a Naga sadhu fromHimachal who has been visitingJunagadh for past 20 years, says themystery surrounding the kund is oneof the most known ones. “Legendalso has it that there is a secret tunnelunder water from where they go toanother place,” Gopalgiri said.

“No ordinary man can try tounearth this secret route by tryingto take a dip. Only a true sadhu candetect it and go past it if his callinghas arrived,” he added with caution.

Unperturbed by changing timesthe Naga sadhus maintain that it isdue to their extreme penance underharsh conditions that they are ableto ward off many evils in the world.

Nagas like Acharya Lalchadi Girifrom Uttaranchal say they are drawnto the Mahashivratri celebrations bythe mystical power of Lord Shiva.

TEN SPORTS DEMANDS U$25 MILLION FROM DD TOSHARE INDO-PAK SERIES TELECAST RIGHTS

OFF-FIELDSLEDGING

upon the Madras High Court rul-ing] that will make it mandatoryfor any channel operating in thecountry to share feed of events ofnational interest with the statebroadcaster.

The government will list theevents or type of events for whichprivate broadcasters will have toshare feed. This condition will bebrought in either as an ordinance oras part of the registration agreementfor channels operating in India.

130 killed in

Madrid train

blasts

A string of explosions tookplace on Madrid’s railway net-

work at the height of morning rushhour on Thursday killing, accordingto latest reports, at least 130 peopleand wounding more than 400.

Three explosions hit separatetrains along the southern part of thetrain network at Santa Eugenia, ElPozo and Atocha stations.

The most deadly blast happenedon a train entering Madrid’s mainAtocha station, killing 29 peoplethere, the broadcaster quoted InteriorMinister Angel Acebes as saying.

Three bombs, planted in plas-tic bags in the front, middle andrear cars, hit the train, arrivingfrom the eastern Madrid suburb ofAlcala de Henares, Spanish radioSER reported.

Spain’s government blamedBasque separatist group ETA. Gov-ernment spokesman EduardoZaplana dubbed it a “criminal gangof killers”.

The attacks came barely threedays ahead of the Spanish generalelection.

8; NOW! ; 12 March, 2004

C M Y K

Published by Lt. Col. (retd) P. Dorjee and printed at Darpan Publications Pvt. Ltd, Siliguri. Editor: Pema Wangchuk. Executive Editor: Mita ZulcaNow! Near Ayurvedic Clinic, Gairi Gaon, Tadong. East Sikkim. ph: 03592 270949 email: sikkimnow@rediffmail.com

THEFINALONE �

GANGTOK: At a time when theoverwhelming demands of the 21stCentury lifestyles have slowlystarted to take its toll on the emo-tional, physically and spiritual well-being of the people, stress and hy-pertension have almost becomeoccupational hazards of living inthe present times. Finding an effec-tive way to find that peace and sol-ace with oneself and reconnect withthe Higher Being is almost impos-sible to find. And, if an alternativecomes by, which not only offersemotional and spiritual balance, butalso a healthy mind and body in

GANGTOK: Shreya Kiran, a class VI student of Tashi Namgyal Acad-emy has won this month’s Baker’s Café Talk of the Town Contest byguessing correctly the number of ‘churpis’ kept in a jar. Shreya, guessedthe exact number of 335 churpis! A 5 pound chocolate cake was pre-sented to her by Subhas Chettri, Manager, Baker’s Café. Very happy aboutwinning the cake, she said, “What can be a better gift for my mother onher birthday than this cake, the whole family can enjoy this together.”

tune with the Higher Being, it istruly a blessing. That alternativehealing method could be Reiki.

So, what really is Reiki?“Reiki is a natural system of

healing. It means the universal spir-itual wisdom or consciousness andlife force energy which is used toheal the body, mind and soul,” saysDr. Supriya Bhatnagar, a ReikiMaster and a Naturopath.

“The wisdom that comes di-rectly from the Higher Self whichis all-knowing. It understands eachperson completely, his problemsand difficulties and knows how toheal them. Reiki heals one physi-cally, emotionally, mentally andspiritually, offering solutions tomost known diseases and maintainsone’s connection with God,” sheexplains.

This ancient form of healingdeals with the life force, known toIndians as Prana and to the Chineseas Chi. When this life force is highand free-flowing, it animates thebody, the emotions and thoughts.When disrupted, it can cause a host

of illnesses and negative karma.This energy force is present in allbeings and can be accumulated andguided by the mind.

Dr. Bhatnagar, an Army wifebased here at Libing, has been prac-tising Reiki for the last seven years.Over the years, she has been healingpeople, especially orphans and hasbeen successfully releasing the heal-ing powers of this ancient techniqueto many with chronic problems. Shehas also been diligently spreadingawareness on Reiki all along.

Based here for the last one andhalf years, this low-profile lady hasbeen healing the locals with chronicdisease and has also been involvedin charitable work with various or-phanages here. Belonging to theUsui lineage of Reiki practice, Dr.Bharatnagar is also a qualifiednaturopath who has successfullycombined the technique of Reikiwith naturopathy.

Her initiation into Reiki was ledby her own physical problems shewas suffering seven years ago.

“At that time, I was chronically

ill, was fighting obesity and wassuffering from a slipped disc. Thedoctors suggested surgery whichcould have been fatal. Just then, myfather suggested that I try out theReiki therapy. I went to a ReikiMaster in Pune. Frankly, I was a bitskeptical in the beginning butwithin three days of Reiki healing,my slipped vertebra moved back toits original place and I was cured,”she says.

This convinced her enough tolearn more about Reiki and its heal-ing powers. Soon, she found a Mas-ter who initiated her. Since then,there has been no looking back.

While the benefits of Reiki aremanifold, one cannot learn Reikihealing by merely reading books.

“One needs to be initiated by aReiki Master to be able to heal selfand others,” she says, while add-ing that the attunement process is asacred and secret one, passed only

from Master to pupil.Her Reiki Master also intro-

duced her to naturopathy. Throughnaturopathy, she was able to suc-cessfully fight the battle of thebulge and is now herself a quali-fied naturopath and is a consultantfor weight management pro-grammes as well.

Dr. Bhatnagar is actively in-volved in spreading awareness onReiki here through seminars and willsoon start initiation classes as well.

“Reiki helps in neutralizing thenegative karmic fields, which arethe cause of many illnesses. Reikibrings the body and mind back inharmony,” she says, adding, “Theworld at present needs love andharmony more than ever before.”

[Those interested in Reiki,Naturopath, Herbalife and Weight

Management Programme cancontact Dr. Supriya Bhatnagar at

98320-55121]

Dr. Supriya Bhatnagar

REIKI, TO GET THE RHYTHM BACKSARIKAH ATREYA speaks to a Reiki Master and tries to

understand this ancient art of healing

GANGTOK: Hotel Anola at New Market here re-launched its res-taurant with a new look and an all-new management. And it’s all inthe family. According to Deki Wangdak, who will be running therestaurant with Penjor, her youngest brother-in-law, the main USPof the restaurant will be the food cooked by speciality chef TsheringMachen, who also happens to be her father-in-law. Marchenla is awell-known chef specializing in Chinese and Tibetan cuisine.

Much in demand for catering at marriages and official functions,he now brings to Anola his experience and talent. Penjor, who hasinherited his father’s cooking skills, will contribute with inputs es-pecially in kitchen items catering to the younger generation.

The restaurant, which reopened on 1 March, is already seeingcustomers return for more. Mandarin fish, Roast pork and otherChinese dishes vie for attention with ever-popular momos, gyathukand shya phaleys.

“We want to introduce more Tibetan dishes in the future andwith such an experienced chef with us, we are confident that allthose who come here will enjoy their meals thoroughly,” says aconfident Deki.

New look & tastesat Anola

TNA STUDENT GUESSES THE NUMBER OF CHURPIS RIGHT