It's true that I have hopped around announcing that I am from Kalimpong.And it's regrettable that this proud declaration has met with confused stares and careless nodding of the head.Well, most here just don't have an idea.
A typical conversation:
I am from Kalimpong.
Kalimpong?Where is that?
Oh, in Darjeeling!
Isn't Darjeeling in Rajasthan?(Someone actually said that!)
Okay.It's in West Bengal.Great.Because I thought Darjeeling was in Sikkim.
Argh!And all that hoopla back home about it being a world-famous tourist location.People here have hardly ever heard about Gorkhaland, never of Darjeeling tea and certainly not of BimalGurung and his cohorts (Never mind, pal.Most don't know who Aamir Khan is.).
So here I am: an unwilling ambassador of my embattled region.
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