“Gorkhaland bhayo bhane sungur le pani nuniya chamal khanchha ra sabko gharma swimming pool hunchha”
‘Fatsung’ is a Lepcha word, one of the languages of Nepal which means ‘the story of the land’. It is written by the popular Nepali writer Chuden Kabimo. He has written about the struggle of Nepali youngsters who are living in Darjiling, India. Since Darjiling was Nepali land in ancient times there are many Nepali inhabitants. This novel is the collection of the stories of those youngsters who lost their lives for the sake of their caste, land, and identity.
As I already mentioned that it is a collection of stories of struggle. I think you are expecting all the stories of the characters of this novel. However, I think it is dishonorable for the book to summarize all the stories on one or two pages because each of the stories is powerful and meaningful. So, I am going to summarize the story of the main character of this novel, Norden.
Norden was born in Darjeeling. When he was a very young child, his father left home and never returned. So, he can’t remember even his father’s face. He always tries to find his father in a dream but he never appears. He involves in Gorkhaland at an early age.
There was a time when the entire Gorkha Community was haunted by identity crisis on the one hand and on the other hand, suffered years of discrimination, deprivation, oppression, and exploitation. There was devoid of roads, electricity, schools, and hospitals and a difficult period of hunger and starvation half the year. At that type of difficult time, “Gorkhaland bhayo bhane sungur le pani nuniya chamal khanchha ra sabko gharma swimming pool hunchha” which means “if there is Gorkhland, then pigs also eat rice and there will be swimming pool in every house” in the English language. It is a kind of big dream of all villagers. Since almost villagers were uneducated, they also took Gorkhaland as only one solution of reducing poverty and save their identity.
There were many groups in Gorkhaland. As we know, everything has a dark side and a light side. Similarly, the group of Norden was the light side that they worked hard and they didn’t harm innocent people and national resources. Besides, there was a team named NB that they were dark side because they used to destroy forests, villages, kill innocent people, and also they used to drink, enjoy with beautiful women in the name of Gorkhaland. Some of them were taking Gorkhaland as an opportunity of being powerful and dangerous. However, Norden was a real and strong fighter and dreamer of Gorkhaland.
Norden fell in love with a beautiful woman Rippandi while working for Gorkhaland. She get pregnant with him unexpectedly without marriage. It is unfair to get pregnant without marriage in Nepali society. Someone should accept and marry that type of woman immediately. So, Norden marries her and sends his home.
Since he was like a protester, there were many enemies with him. Police had taken Gorkhaland as Terrorism. So, they were searching for them. They had to face also their opposite team NB. Sometimes, there would be some kind of war between them. They used to kill each other. That’s why their life was in danger. However, the team of Norden was stubborn even to sacrifice their life for Gorkhaland.
Many villagers had already become martyrs for Gorkhaland. NB team was becoming dangerous and also police were searching for them. One day, the team of Norden fall in danger. They ran as they could. Norden’s leg gets fractured while running. However, he keeps running and then never returns like his father.
