Darjeeling, Fall, 2009: For a second year in a row, a cultural pantomime (read compulsory ethnic wear) was enacted in the Darjeeling Hills. Only this year, the response was not as resounding as the previous one and apart from a few, most people chose to go about with clothes they have grown up wearing and are most comfortable with: Pants, shirts, sarees and kurtas. When the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha (GJMM) made it mandatory for all hill people to wear ethnic wear for a month last year, with a majority of the population being Gorkha, the daura suruwal and the gunyeu cholo became hot import items and subjects of much-heated discussion.
With the history of the Darjeeling Hills itself mired in controversy, mostly written by outsiders, and conveniently amended, to suit narrow selfish interests, and the Gorkha community comprising many ethnicities and classes, the term ‘ethnic’ can have many connotations, none very clear. History is a double-edged sword and sadly in the Asian subcontinent, particularly for the Gorkha community in India, it has often proved a liability than an asset. Experts quote lines from the Mahabharata that refer to the Kiratas to prove that the Gorkha community is autochthonous to the region and not recent settlers as suggested by certain vested interest groups. Thus, the history of the Gorkhas go back thousands of years and yet, sadly, the community’s present identity is based on annals written, and narrow boundaries drawn, by a selfish colonial administration barely a 100 or so years ago.
The drive has to continue, the goal of Gorkhaland has to be achieved, but the spirit of the land should not be strangled to death as collateral damage.
The Gorkha community being a heterogeneous one, the term ethnic can not only be confusing, but more importantly, divisive. So, the cultural oneness intended by the GJMM through its ethnic wear diktat may have in fact proved sectarian, showcasing what otherwise is a big homogenous whole as separate distinct ethnic factions. This possible divide apart, the bigger question is about what comprises ethnic wear in the Hills? The Kiratas in the primitive past, as mentioned in the Mahabharata, were forest dwellers. If anyone from that community were to draw into that glorious past to choose an ethnic wear today, it would put many into a quandary. With a history that spans multiple millennia, how far back can one go to decide where one’s roots are, and what truly is ethnic? Trousers may be a comparatively recent adoption, but even the more acceptable daura suruwal has in recent times been seen in neighboring Nepal as an attire propagated and imposed by the Khas community and not truly representative of the Nepali people.
There may be no clear answer to what comprises ethnic wear in the Hills, and each may choose her/his own if s/he decides to wear one. The biggest issue however is the ‘diktat’. For an average Indian, there isn’t very much mahan about her/his Bharat except the rights promised by the constitution. Take away a person’s right to choose and the idea of ‘mera Bharat mahan’ swiftly dissipates. Giving in to the arbitrary diktats being issued by the GJMM in the name of Gorkhaland, the Hill people are essentially giving up what constitutes the basis of being an Indian citizen and the essence of living in the world’s biggest democracy: Freedom.
With diktats, the thin line between right and wrong, logical and illogical often fade away. It was amply demonstrated this year when the Gorkhaland Police (GLP) intervened into normal, accepted gestures like couples holding hands, and intruded into personal space by stopping people from smoking at Chowrastha. The very people who wore their ethnic attires with pride last year, heeding the GJMM’s diktat, then raised wary eyes. Most people then had refused to see and accept the fact that the voices of dissent raised were not expressing their ire based on looks or culture, but because it was an infringement of a person’s right to choose, guaranteed by the Indian constitution. What is happening now, to the consternation of many, is a fallout of having meekly bowed down to a diktat that had no logical connection to, nor has had any noticeable impact on, the ongoing agitation for a separate state of Gorkhaland within the Indian union. People now seem to be taking notice of the infringement only because their own personal spaces appear under threat.
Morality and culture reside in a deep grey realm, and it is accepted in general, in this part of the world, that they do not mix well with politics. Realistically speaking, there are no Gandhis around in current political line-ups, with each being forced to compromise due to political compulsions and considerations, and the so-called swachchha-chhabi is only a mirage. Movements and agitations are thus conducted much better without a social or moral tinge to them. An outfit like the GJMM may try and fight the rot in the prevalent political and administrative system, but a society is best left to evolve and adapt rather than have ‘cultural revolutions’ imposed on it. Moral and cultural diktats very often have a darker shadow that what meets the eye: Far-reaching repercussions that can decay the very fiber holding a community and society together.
The Darjeeling Hills of late have gone dry. The GJMM has issued yet another diktat banning the sale of liquor in the Hills. Liquor sales being a major source of excise revenue, it was a logical move at arm-twisting the Central and State governments prior to the tripartite talks scheduled for December 21, 2009 at Darjeeling. What made the move a questionable one was the social justification offered of the move being motivated by ‘samaj sudhar’. Gorkhaland being a critical and up-hill battle ahead, why this social distraction at this important juncture? The GJMM leadership has been insisting on talks at a political level, so, why does it meddle with morality and culture when admittedly it is a political movement?
Gorkhaland is a legitimate demand and the GJMM to its credit has managed to rouse up the Hills for yet another movement despite the disappointment and let down of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. It has made admirable progress in furthering the cause of the Indian Gorkha, but instances like a senior leader, and a member of the Bar, defending arbitrary GLP manifests, and others, threatening against any criticism or dissent from public platforms, show that something is amiss.
People in the Darjeeling Hills take pride in their education, their music, their fashion, their secular nature, their hospitality and their liberal upbringing. This is the Hill Culture that has driven an endless horde of admirers to the Hills each year. This is the culture worth saving, showcasing, emulating and propagating. Brand Darjeeling is facing extermination today and the current leadership with its myopic vision is to blame. The drive has to continue, the goal of Gorkhaland has to be achieved, but the spirit of the land should not be strangled to death as collateral damage.
The GJMM with its so-called ‘Gandhigiri’ is very different from the Gorkha National Liberation Front. The Hill towns sport a different color, the cadres have a different bearing and the leaders speak a different rhetoric. The Darjeeling Hills are indeed different today. It is a pity though, despite the initial promise, the GJMM has managed to be different and yet has failed to be the difference.
cash0612@yahoo.com
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