This first set of discussions will feature writings from Eastern Himalayas, especially North Bengal. We will be discussing two texts- a fiction and a nonfiction – with two authors and a publisher.

Books

Song of the Soil (Faatsung), originally written in Nepali by Chuden Kabimo, recalls the first stirrings of the Gorkhaland movement in 1986. Centred on the life of an individual, it weaves together personal memories with the larger political context. It lays bare sufferings and silenced voices of ordinary people whose stories have been deliberately obfuscated in the accounts of both the state and those who had been resisting it.

Ganju Lama, Sikkim’s Hero in War and Peace, is a non-fiction work in English by Anuradha Sharma. It is about a war hero who fought in the Second World War and was decorated with the highest bravery award by the British government. It is the first such book in English coming out of North Bengal and Sikkim—a biography—aimed at young adult readers.

The discussions will also aim to foreground recent literary efforts in the region and pry open accounts that have for long papered over differences of local identities, experiences and histories. These writings alert us to the active acts of marginalising and erasing people and their many pasts.

Publisher

We also take this opportunity to present Foothills Publishing, a new publishing house founded by Lekha Rai to bring “untold stories from the Eastern Himalayas to a wider readership.” Ganju Lama, Sikkim’s Hero in War and Peace, is one of a series of biographies of important, yet relatively unknown or unsung heroes from the region.

The Publisher and Authors

A former faculty member of Sikkim Manipal University and SRM University, Sikkim, Lekha Rai is also the owner of Café The Twins’, a much-loved book café in Salbari, Siliguri, and a certified storyteller. She has been running a story space called “Kathaghar-Nurturing the Young through Stories,” for the past four years.

Chuden Kabimo is a Nepali writer based in Kalimpong. He has authored three books-1986, Fatsung and Urmal. He won the Yuva Puraskar of Sahitya Academy for 1986. Fatsung was translated into English as Song of the Soil and was shortlisted for the JCB prize. His latest Urmal won the prestigious Madan Puraskar, the highest award for books written in Nepali. Together, Song of the Soil and Urmal underline Kabimo’s distinct voice and bring to notice an archive of memories of resistance and belonging.

Anuradha Sharma is an independent journalist in Siliguri who writes widely about the region and its people. She had earlier worked with The Telegraph and The Economic Times in Kolkata. Currently, she contributes to Reporters Without Borders, as an India Correspondent. She is collaborating with Lekha Rai and the Foothills Publishing.

Sponsor:

Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, is an association of eminent intellectuals and dynamic researchers working on policies and concerns regarding peace, conflict resolution, human rights and democracy. With a focus on East and North East of India, scholars of CRG are engaged in studies that include issues relating to internal displacement, borders, boundaries, partitions and the larger question of forced migration.

Date: 7th March 2026

Place: Jadunath Bhavan Museum & Resource Centre, 10, Lake Terrace, Kolkata

Time : TBA

Speakers Soundbites

https://youtube.com/@pastconnectownthepast?si=E2FhekKDR4bl1aFY