PHYSICIAN SONAM WANGYAL'S BOOK PACKS HILL TALES & MORE.. Consult this doc

 Sonam B Wangyal (extreme left) at the book launch in Darjeeling 

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 13 Nov 2019, Darjeeling: Sonam B. Wangyal is a physician of repute but the doctor has again used his nimble hands to prise open Darjeeling stories "before the sweep of time swabs them forever".

Did you know that hockey was pretty popular in Kalimpong but tournaments were formally abandoned in 1920 because the two rival teams used hockey sticks and the match finally culminated in a full-scale battle? And, very few know that Dhirendranath Sinha, engineer with Darjeeling municipality had slapped an Englishman, at the turn of the 20th century when he was taunted for choosing khadi wear during the Swadeshi movement.

How about this tidbit? "When the Tindharia Railway Worskhop commenced, all the carpenters engaged there were Chinese, 250 of them, and all the iron smithies were Nepalis".

Some unknown, some forgotten and some simply hi- larious anecdotes have been preserved for posterity by the doctor in his latest book, Darjeeling Stories, Sahibs, Natives & Oddballs.

The book, Wangyal's fourth, was released in Dar- jeeling on Sunday by Noreen Dunne, a retired professor of St. Joseph's College (North Point).

The story of Noreen's father, Charlie Dunne, conservancy superintendent, Dar- jeeling municipality, also features in the book.

"I wrote this book because of Dr. Kumar Pradhan, (noted writer and historian)," said the doctor. Wangal said Pradhan encouraged him to write stories of common people.

Apart from practising in Jaigaon, on the Bhutan border, for 35 years, the Darjeeling-born Wangyal has also worked under the UNDP in the Kingdom of Lesotho and South Sudan as the Chief of the Level One Clinic, Bentiu Country.

"During my visit to Africa, there was a common refrain that as long as a lion does not write its story, the history will always be of the hunter. History should be written by us and it is time to start....this is a small effort," said Wangyal..