WhatsApp and mail ping back on hill phones - Shoppers out in last-minute festive rush

TT, Calcutta, Sept. 26: WhatsApp messages pinged on cellphones and festive shopping began in Darjeeling today.

Internet services resumed in the hills for the first time since the June 15 agitation last night - coinciding with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung's decision to withdraw the strike.

People, too, flocked to the main market in the heart of the town to shop for dresses for the Dashain festival.

The district administrations of Darjeeling and Kalimpong had imposed the ban on Internet services, including mobile data, on June 18 after media reports that the scattered Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leadership was devising strategies for the agitation through WhatsApp.

"Since early this morning, I started receiving pending messages on my WhatsApp. It was a pleasant surprise," said Rajesh Tamang, a Darjeeling resident.

The residents of the hills had faced a lot of inconvenience following the embargo on Internet. The ban had impacted the filling up of online forms for college admissions and banking facilities. 

"The first thing I did after Internet resumed was check all my emails and reply to the important ones. This is such a relief," said a hotelier.

The businessman said he had faced major problems in filing or paying sales taxes, provident fund, professional tax and income tax returns.

"Only I know the hardship I had to face. At times, I had to go to Siliguri just to access the Internet. Sometimes, I went to vantage points to receive signals from mobile towers in Sikkim," the hotelier added.

Another Darjeeling resident said: "I could not renew my life and health policies when the Internet was shut. That was the first thing I did even though Internet speed was not very good in the morning."

With the Dashain festival having started, a large number of people thronged the streets of Chowk Bazar in Darjeeling where many shops reopened today.

The traders said there was little prodding from the administration to open shops, unlike on Sunday when the police had banged on the shutters.

"Some traders opened shops fearing their shutters would be banged again. Slowly, a lot of shops reopened today. In fact, today saw the highest number of shops reopen at Chowk Bazar," said another trader.

About 60 per cent of the shops at Chowk Bazar were open today. "There was a movement by the general public. Since the shops in my area opened, I, too, decided to up my shutters," said a shopkeeper.

Yesterday, just a handful of shops had opened in the Darjeeling market, fearing attacks on them by statehood supporters.

Senior police officers, including Darjeeling superintendent of police Akhilesh Chaturvedi, stationed themselves at Darjeeling Motor Stand till late afternoon.

Scenes were similar in Kurseong and Mirik.

"With Phulpati, which is part of the Dashain festival, just a day away, many residents seemed to have started preparing for the biggest celebration," said a businessman.

Phulpati is a unique custom of the Gorkhas in which they collect flowers, petals and other offerings like sugarcane from their homes and take them to temples to pay obeisance to goddess Durga.

The items are then wrapped in a red cloth - the colour symbolising the goddess - and carried in a decorated palanquin, which is accompanied by an ornate umbrella.