Kathmandu: The Hills on Friday entered the 100th day of indefinite strike, marking a dubious century that has paralysed life, crippled tourism and driven the famed Darjeeling tea industry to the brink. As the rest of the state gets ready to plunge into festivity, people in Darjeeling remain in mourning with the principal demand for a separate state still a pipe dream.
Anil Kumar Das, an employee at a department store, hasn’t received a salary since June. The store had shut down on June 15 when all establishments in the Hills closed shutters. He doesn’t know when the store will reopen and when he will get his next pay cheque but expenses continue to mount. “My brother fell ill and I had to take a Rs 50,000 loan to meet the expenses for treatment in Vellore. I want my son to be admitted to a decent English medium school once the strike lifts. But I don’t know from where I’ll get the money,” says Das.
Strangely, he doesn’t want the strike to be lifted, perhaps because he will then have to confront the stark reality that is in a state of suspended animation since mid-June. After 100 days of no work and lazing around, the strike is becoming for many in the Hills a way of life. Each day pushes the people a little more into inertia.
Not that there isn’t any action. There are the morning rallies demanding Gorkhaland. They, too, have become a norm with passion beginning to wane.
But young men and women still insist they are ready for more hardships and will see it till the end. “We have sacrificed a lot for the greater cause. Having come this far, how can we give up now?” says a college graduate.
