Days of any form of statehood agitation is something only a native lives through - news papers don’t justify the reports and media houses just want to sensationalize their biased view to increase their TRP ratings; but here I can say, the Gorkhaland Diaries is the most honest effort to capture and highlight the exact type of suffering and trauma faced by the people of Darjeeling Hills during the people's movement for Gorkhaland, told through the characters of Bijay and Rajen. These two characters are peas of the same pod - albeit coming from different economic backgrounds but with the same ambition.
The title as a diary is apt as the characters share their experience as they would write to a diary - personal and detailed. It all starts when Rajen hears about the attack on the “Adhyaksha” in the Saath Ghoomtea near Kurseong. He is transported back in time when he was a young college boy who participated in the “bloody struggle” of the late 1980’s. Once a member of the deadly and feared group called Gorkha Volunteer Cell (GVC), Rajen is now a disabled veteran using a walking stick.
As we delve deeper into the book, we find harrowing tales of how boys and men of this Hills' community were targeted in the name of “combing operations”, with women caught in-between the crossfire (raped and murdered as a war tactic to spread fear and bring men to their knees). Strikes, bandhs, ransacked homes, decapitated heads hung in the market, and the demand for a separate state made us look like we were committing an act of sedition.
It was disheartening to know people in the police forces were to choose between their duty and their ethics by shooting at their own people. The 1980’s agitation was brutal and life was slowly gaining normalcy after the formation of the DGHC. People were still nursing old wounds when one of our own won the Indian Idol, which further opened doors to new opposition as well as newer opportunists.
Here is when Bijay comes in. A simple lad who is a second-generation cook and caretaker from the tea garden, who gets sucked in this whirlpool, and his life changes forever. Emotions get the better of him and there are those who use it to their advantage.
It is seen how the recent 2017 agitation over the state government's decision to make Bengali the mandatory language in the region feels different now. People fought back but now through various mediums, protests offline and online. Even then, there were numerous loopholes, renewed faith put in the opportunist leader didn't go as expected. Post 2017, leaders who had a gazillion cases slapped on them walk free now, - shook hands with the ones who put them behind bars whereas the local boys like Bijay working for them are still on the run - names erased from the ration card list, cases against them and they are now stateless.
It was like Burra Sahib said “an elusive dream deep rooted - riding on popular sentiment and peoples desire where there is place for only one person at the top.”
I feel the novel portrays how our “Chinha Andolan” (fight for identity) has transitioned to fight for “Daal Bhaat Andolan” (fight for land and development) over the years. What's noteworthy about this book is the way the author has meticulously chronicled the major historical events within the plot, without giving away names, encouraging the readers do their own study alongside.
Gorkhaland Diaries was a bittersweet read for me as I have witnessed the agitation too, the fear and uncertainty that creeps in even if it is to meet our basic necessity of searching for food in the empty roads cannot be explained.
It’s as the author says “To them who lost everything, to them who still dream.”
I look forward to the day when my son’s generation gets to read and reflect on the hardships of the past in order to better understand their life and their roots. I would say even if the reader isn't from the region, I feel this book will be an asset of enlightenment.
Get your copy here.
Nikita Gurung is an ardent bibliophile, a book reviewer, a content writer and a first time mom. She likes to read stories that touch her soul and gives hope, stories that make her want to be a better person. Come and be part of her journey as she shares her love for books on reader_nikki .