Democracy in Darjeeling / George Thadathil

Coming all the way from Kerala to Darjeeling, the author immersed himself in the local society and over time became fluent in the Nepali dialect spoken in Darjeeling and conversant with the history and culture of the people of this region. He is not just a Catholic priest, but also a religious thinker, philosopher and an academic leader par excellence. He is ready to listen to other voices and learn from them with the typical Salesian smile that shows warmth rather than attitude, desire to accept the Others rather than brow-beat them. He believes in syncretism rather than superiority of one religion or culture over others and this belief runs through most chapters included in this book…

What I liked most in this collection of articles is the author’s take on the issues in hand. There is some kind of freshness in his approach, in his reading of the available literature, in his effort to find solutions to the issues that have engaged the people of Darjeeling. Be the issue of their identity or the state of their educational institutions, which is one of the reasons why Darjeeling has been famous for. Unlike some scholars, he raises his voice against majoritarianism of any kind, whether it is about the Hindus in India, Gorkhas in Darjeeling or the Khasis in Shillong, as he thinks that it is one of the biggest obstacles to democracy. He is otherwise positive and imaginative about how to keep democracy alive and sees a lot of hope in the role of educational institutions which, according to him, ultimately help in democratizing civil society…

I think it is a must read for the students of history, anthropology, sociology, linguistics and philosophy interested in the study of democracy or the hills we call “Darjeeling”.