Kalimpong Thana gheraoed Members of GJYM and GJMM staged a dharna in Kalimpong Thana on 12th Oct in protest against non arrest of Chhewang Lepcha a Gorkha League youth wing President. GJMM alleged that Bhutia attacked Prem kr Chhetri VP of GJMM , Kalimpong Branch and the time given by the party for Bhutia's arrest was over. Copies of the Book 'Why Gorkhaland' sold by GJMM in Kalimpong Statue of Damber Singh Gurung a Gorkha League leader installed by GJMM at Damer Chowk , Kalimpong being given final touch by a painter PIX: D.K.Waiba Brushing up on hill history with the governor

Gandhi at a stall at the exhibition on Monday. (Suman Tamang) Darjeeling, Oct. 12: The Lepchas did not have any firearms to drive away marauding animals hundreds of years ago, but the community members had a solution in the suthong soat. The frame of this small indigenous weapon had a bow and arrow attached to it complete with a trigger mechanism to scare animals away. “If the animals were ferocious, we made a bigger suthong soat and there were provisions to tie a domesticated animal as bait. The weapon hardly fails to hit the target,” said Topden Lepcha, a member of the community. Sadyer long prit, a Lepcha axe, which probably had been used to skin animals, was also on display as were hundreds of items that have been forgotten even by the oldest living community members at the Cultural Heritage of Darjeeling. The exhibition jointly organised by the state information and cultural department and Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta, provided a glimpse of the history of 17 ethnic communities of the hills. Handkerchiefs were not as easily available as today but the Sunwar community had their own rumal that was woven extensively with fibres from prickly nettles — a shrub commonly found in the high altitudes. “These nettles which we call bhagua sishnu were extensively used by our community. From the small shrub our forefathers had enough patience to roll out quite thread even to make daura surawal (a traditional Gorkha dress),” said G.D. Mukhia, the secretary of Sunwar-Mukhia Sewa Samaj, Kalimpong. If nettles were for handkerchiefs, hay and dried maize leaves were used to make footwear. The Mukhias called it kusul while the Thamis knew it as punnai. The two communities shared very close style statements. The Gymkhana Hall where the three-day exhibition started today also had a food stall where the Thamis had prepared a delicacy from aacarra — a poisonous plant found in the hills. “If prepared without the method used by the Thamis, the food is life threatening,” a community member said. He was, however, willing to share how the plant had been made” poison-less”, although warning against doing it without a Thami supervision. Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who inaugurated the stall, summed up the show when he said: “You will not get a place like Darjeeling.” He said the hills must show “how an integrated community can be an ideal model community”. In his message, Gandhi said: “The administrators must provide infrastructure, law and order and development but people must not expect everything from the sarkar (government).” He expressed satisfaction with the seriousness with which the state, Centre and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha were trying to solve the Gorkhaland issue through tripartite negotiations. Panels to solve jumbo menace Alipurduar, Oct. 12: Three major reasons for elephant invasion in tea gardens of the Dooars have been identified and two committees have been formed to find solutions to the problem. A meeting attended by forest officers and estate managers at Rajabhatkhawa on Saturday discussed the elephant menace and decided to form eco clubs in the gardens to create awareness on wildlife protection. R.P. Saini, the field director of Buxa Tiger Reserve, was present at the meeting. “Three major reasons were identified for elephant depredation in the tea gardens. The labourers have a large number of cattle, which go inside forest for grazing. In the labour lines, liquor is manufactured and elephants come out of their habitat to drink it. The third reason is the illegal crop cultivation on garden land.” He said two groups would be formed to suggest measures to stop elephants from moving out of the forest. While one group is for the west division of the tiger reserve, the other is for the east. The deputy field director of the west division of the reserve and the chairman of the Dooars Branch of the Indian Tea Association will be the members of the first group. For the east, the panel will have the deputy field director of the east division of the reserve and a senior garden manager. “The groups will survey their respective areas and suggest remedies for the elephant menace,” said Saini.