Road to Perdition: Kunphenling Tibetan Settlement

The bond of true love and comradeship envisage in my mind when I think about my childhood days. Two places that vividly crop up right into my mind are Sodra (carpet factory) and Changkhang (liquor shop). Sodra was the place where most of the women engaged in weaving carpet. When you enter Sodra, the first thing you notice could be the sound of chewing gum popping all over the places and mumbling sound of Tibetan and Nepali language mixing together "so teka yo" is the one. 

Sodra: Carpet factory

Changkhang was the place where most of the men including my father register their present after getting discharged from manual labor in the evening; they spent their time imbibing Chang (Tibetan beer brewed by millet). One big wooden bowl of Chang cost Rs 5 and it takes 2 to 3 hours to finish depending on the person who is drinking. Indeed, Sodra and Changkhang were places where all the Settlement related gossips were manufactured. 

Chang: Tibetan beer

These older folks who took refuge to the chewing gum and Chang had invested so much of their labors and energies to create a beautiful Kunphenling Tibetan Settlement; which is in the southern part of Sikkim.

We were told that school and college days could be the most memorable moments of our life to be remembered, however, for me, my childhood days were the golden period of my life, though those were the days with no electricity, no modern amenities, no proper sewage system, yet bowling with socks made cricket ball, helping our neighbors to plant potatoes, going for a morning walk with a cattle etc. were the moments that always enliven my monotonous life.

 

Panoramic view of Kunpheling Tibetan Settlement

It soothes my edgy mind when I leave my memories to disperse onto those olden trajectories. During our childhood days, every child looks like a superman in the rainy season, as we covered the upper part of our body by the piece of plastic that tied around our neck to confront the downpour, however, drenching the lower part. Those of muttering sounds of frogs in the nights were the common lullaby for children, which were more melodious than Justine Beiber if you follow the right tune. Leeches were considered as our offspring who suck our blood considering it as the non-veg soup.

Chulham: Rubber boot

Whether it was to play football, challenging rain or celebrating some big occasion, one thing that is common with every child was CHULHAM (Rubber boot); everyone wore unless it becomes the victim of few patches. The children who were bit flamboyant in nature used to wear either blue or red Chulham, as black being most common to all. 

Pittu

After school, every child used to engage themselves with the environmental friendly games, for instance; “Pittu”, which was generally considered the game of a girl. Boys usually engaged with the game called “Chor Police”, where you had to qualify several test in front of your seniors to become a police Hawaldar. Most popular game of all was football, which was played with the betting of small card featuring the picture of wrestling stars.

Tetteree (Tamarind) was the luxurious thing that every child had dreamed to buy. One whole pack of Tetteree cost Rs. 2, which contains 30 small pieces of Tetteree inside. No child had ever wanted that to finish easily, it was eaten mostly on Sunday morning at army’s common room while watching television of an ancient Indian epic called "Mahabarata".

Allu dam

While in school, the most enjoyable moment was when our parents gave Rs. 1 to buy Allu Dam or Channa for lunch. Every child walked head up high when they have Allu Dam and Channa on their shapeless steel plate, and they wait proudly in the queue for their turn to come. Cook, Apo Dorjee and late Apo Yeshi Sherap knew exactly how to place Daal Baath on the one side of the plate without disturbing Allu Dam and Channa on the other.

The most adventurous moment was to collect firewood from the nearby jungle during winter break. Forest Babus, who patrolled the forest quite often, were considered some kind of terrorist. I still remember the time when we dropped the firewood from our back and ran like a hell when we saw forest babus coming on the way.

Mainam hill

The greenery plants and morning dew of spring season were an extra ingredient on the scenic beauty of our settlement. The foggy summer that sometimes wrapped up every portion of Settlement had kept experience us of heavenly environment. So tranquilizing was the autumn’s evening sun, retiring towards its dwelling place and gradually collecting its rays that were laid towards every corner of the settlement. The panoramic view of snowy blanket wore by the Mainam hill during winter had kept people to set their wood furnace and its chimney in the home. Ah! Such were the beauty of our settlement. We were bonded so close with the nature that has helped us to nurture our inner values.

In childhood, being a grown-up seems to be filled with freedom and wonder, yet when we attain our adulthood, we look back, misty-eyed at the moments we shared with our friends and family. Today, we might have settled with good job with handsome salaries, yet, we hardly meet our childhood friends in this digitized world, everyone inhabits with their family in a varied place, chasing their dreams. There isn't those pure gestures and closeness even if you end up meeting any of them. 

Though we cannot blame the flowing trend of our life which led us to settle in a different direction, yet those childhood reminiscences that we have inherited are the only thing that successfully consoled our minds even in this bewildering world. 

Today, we hardly see our children playing outside with their friends, they spent whole of their time on internet, video games and television etc., which has ruined their physical health and make them technologically dependent which further resulted them of being arrogant and selfish. In Korea, parents and schools have initiated a compulsory school children tour to the village side of their country as they believe nurturing their children with the nature could help them to be more social and happy. 

Today, we may no longer run around, jump when we are feeling down, but we do possess a treasure trove of those natural games to pass onto our children to make their childhoods as joyous as our own, and most importantly that would help our children to immerse completely with the nature and be a better human being, otherwise, this materialistic world will deprived the golden times of their childhood. 

Our parents have had shed so much of their energies and labors to make Kunphenling one of the most beautiful and peaceful settlement, now is the time for us to pass those inherited values to the coming generation so that they too can remember the games of Pittu and Chor Police, which would further save them from leading their lives towards perdition.