Pastconnect Talks was formally launched on the 6th of March at the Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre to celebrate story telling. Hosted by OwnThe Past, Pastconnect in collaboration with Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, the event showcased authors and publications from Eastern Himalayas – Siliguri, Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Gangtok. Authors Anuradha Sharma and Sharda Chhetri were present to talk about their recently published books, while Lekha Rai spoke at length regarding different publishing houses that are engaged in the region. Chuden Kadimo, an award winning author could not be present but his book, Song of the Soil was discussed at length by the moderator Dr. Parjanya Sen and Anuradha Sharma. Subhas Babu’s (Prof Subhas Ranjan Chakraborty’s) anecdotes from his own years in Darjeeling were a welcome addition to the discussion!

 

An important initiative in bridging the centre and the periphery, conversing with authors and publishers from Darjeeling and Kalimpong, and discussing their book, the Gorkhaland movement is mostly read through a unilinear state vs people framework, but what is often missed are the complex and polyvalent identities. In the absence of a recorded archive, stories (some of which are based on real-life people and incidents) become a form of recording a peoples’ history of the region, its long struggle for self-determination and the aspirations of the different ethnic groups. the people. the place.

 

The audience was treated to a riveting account of the region’s literary efforts at addressing issues of identity, language, and their many pasts, recent and older. This is the first of a series that Pastconnect Talk plans to organize annually in which different modes and styles of storytelling will bring to attention and public knowledge, less-heard voices and untold experiences from regions and people that don’t often feature.

 

Re Parjanya Sen and Tapti Roy