Darjeeling Tea and Tourism Festival: Footballer, singer renew ties with hills - Player goes down memory lane, Indian idol asks for forgiveness

Mahesh Bhatt and his daughter Puja Bhatt in Darjeeling on Thursday. The Bhatts are in the hill town to attend the closing ceremony of the tea and tourism fest. They are also scouting for locations to shoot two films. (Above) A dance performance at the carnival on Thursday. Pictures by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Jan. 5.TT: It was a homecoming for footballer Sunil Chhetri and singer Prashant Tamang who were felicitated at the Darjeeling Tea and Tourism Festival yesterday.

While Chhetri returned to Darjeeling after more than 20 years, for Tamang it was time to rebuild the lost ties with his hometown.

The singer, who won Indian Idol 3 in 2007, had left the hills soon after bagging a Rs 1 crore contract and since then there has been a growing feeling that he has lost touch with the people who supported him.

Chhetri and Tamang were felicitated here during “Celebs Evening” as part of the fest.

The winter carnival that began on December 20 ended this evening with a display of fireworks, a laser show and a stage performance by Meiyang Chang, one of the four finalists of Indian Idol 3.

“I am extremely happy to be back among the people of my kind. I owe it to my dad as it is because of him that I have been invited here to be felicitated among some very well known people,” Chhetri told the 600-odd crowd at the Gorkha Ranga Manch Bhawan yesterday.

The footballer who plays for Mohun Bagan said his father was a student of Darjeeling Government College. “He was telling me the other day that every second kid from the place he comes from (Darjeeling) could be as good a footballer as I am given the right training and infrastructure.”

The player said he only remembered attending a school in Darjeeling that was situated down a hill.

“Sunil Chhetri seems to have attended LKG and UKG at Bethany School although he was born in Secunderabad. He has stayed in different parts of the country and attended many educational institutions because of his father’s service (in the army),” said Udaymani Pradhan, the general secretary of the organising committee.

Footballer Sunil Chhetri and singer Prashant Tamang being felicitated in Darjeeling on Wednesday. Pictures by Suman Tamang

For Prashant Tamang, who was born and brought up in Darjeeling, it was time to reconnect with the people of the hill town.

The moment Tamang took the microphone to talk to the crowd, a member of the audience stood up and asked him: “Prashant there is a feeling among the people of Darjeeling that you have forgotten the place after achieving fame. What do you have to say?”

The singer smiled and replied: “I wanted to speak on this issue even before anyone asked a question. I have built a house in Darjeeling and I stay in a rented house in Calcutta. This is a proof that I have not left Darjeeling. People talk about me being a Rs 1 crore star who has lost touch with the place (he comes from). But I guess only I know what is going on in the Rs 1 crore guy’s mind and the pain that I have to go through everyday.”

Tamang added that his mother was unwell and she was with him in Calcutta.

“I try my best to return the love that the 1 crore Nepali speaking people from across the world have given me. But I guess I have not been able to return all the love. I am trying my best. Please forgive me if I have made a mistake.”

Tamang has hardly made any public appearances in Darjeeling after winning the reality show.

“When the organisers contacted me for this programme I was in Nagaland. But I really wanted to come. I came here in a train which I boarded with my wife at midnight. As soon as this programme is over I will have to leave and catch a midnight train (back to Nagaland) today,” said the singer.

Footballers Baichung Bhutia and Shyam Thapa, filmmaker Anjan Dutta, award winning Bollywood cinematographer Binod Pradhan, archer Paril Lepcha, international bodybuilder Ganu Giri and taekwondo player Trilok Subba were also present in the event.

Everesters Jamling Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Premlata Agarwal and Nepali singer Prakriti Giri also attended the felicitation.