Darjeeling

I miss Darjeeling! Every March, my parents and I hit the road from Kathmandu to take me to boarding school in Darjeeling. Reading the article ('Darjeeling', #222) brought back memories from those trips: eating at little restaurants along the narrow highway, the swirling mist rising up the hills, slopes green with tea bushes. It has been a long way for me from Darjeeling to Iowa but I miss the little town where I left behind many friends and, yes, foes.

Vivek Shrestha
Cedar Rapids, USA

The piece on how Darjeelingays identify with Nepal and cling to their original language and culture makes one think about the two-facedness of the establishment in Nepal. The article gloats that the loyalty of these Nepali Indians lies with Nepal ("I would never consider myself an Indian".) If Tarai Nepalis or Nepalis of Indian origin had said something like that in Nepal, they would have been denounced as being anti-national elements. It is India's liberal outlook that has allowed Nepali Indians to preserve their language and culture. It would be nice if Nepali Nepalis had a little of that quality.

N A Pityata,
Kathmandu

Thanks to Aarti Basnyat for the excellent update on Darj. Kathmandu and Darjeeling have always had a symbiotic relationship, a cultural crosspollination. The number of artisits, singers, writers and poets who have come to Kathmandu from Darjeeling, and the veneration with which Nepali writers are held in Darjeeling and Kalimpong over the decades is a strong bond. Not even the violence that has wracked and is afflicting these two places and the fact that they are located in two different nation states can tear it asunder.

Jaya Moktan,
Darjeeling