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A Yeør in the Life of tbe DørjeelingTeø Mønøgement TrainingCentre

Sarah Besþ*

n 4 July 2008 a large group of 20-something men ser on a concrete patio outside an ofñce suite in the busding bazaar in Darjeeling. They had been lured by an adverrisemenr for a new management-training institute. The advertisement had appeared úre day before in the locd Nepali language newspaper. Retired Indian-Nepali (or Gorkhd) tea plantation managers, supported by a host of Gorkha dignitaries hailing from the local polidcal party, West Bengal stare offices,

* Funding was provided by the Fulbrighr Hays Doctoral Dissertarion Research Ab¡oad Program, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the America¡ Council of Learned Societies, the Michigan Sociecy of Fellows, and Brown University. All erlors ere my own, 198 ranks conrinued after the takeover of plantations by Indian companies. 199 v This history of poverty a¡rd discrimination undergirds a longstanding tt) g¡ a É movement to separate Darjeeling from the state of West Bengal and form a new state of Gorkhala¡rd within the Indian union. \ Tea plantation fields and the workers within them are prominent in Ø Movement, the political symbolism and discourse of the Gorkhaland a The movement seeks both to undo the political economic inequities of s the plantation system and to vigorously counter racial stereorypes thet q portrey Nepalis in Darjeeling es exotic outsiders, rether than rightful residents. The tension between these two asPirations was palpable in the youth sitting outside the DTMTC on thet summer day. Many of the would-be sardents hailed from tea plantations. Some had worked in call centres elsewhere in India, but had returned home because they were unsatisÊed with nocnrrnal urban work. Most had Ênished high school, or even college, but had been unable to find employment.'When I talked with them outside the inauguration, students did not frame their decisions to ettend the DTMTC within the overtly political rhetoric of the Gorkhaland Movement. Rathø they described themselves as unemployed and looking for work. Management training which offered translatable, compartm e¡talízebIe, and commensurable knowledge, would land t'hem a job. A job, in turn, would enable them to become upwardly mobile citizens of India, but not necessarily of Gorkhaland. The students huddled together; nervously chatdng as official speeches inaugurating the DTMTC proceeded inside. They knew the story that the speakers would tell. They would tdk about how, on or offthe plantations, few skilled jobs were available to the growing number of young men and women with high school or college educations. The DTMTC would a¡rswer a growing call by the GJM, the leading local political parry that advocares for an independent federal state of Gorkhaland within the Indian union, to create jobs in Darjeeling for what politicians called the'educated unemployed'. With Gorkha sovereignty, qualiry local jobs would go to Gorkhas, to whom they rightfully belonged. According to the DTMTC's founders, Gorkhas, by virtue of building occupying and maintaining Darjeelingt plantation landscape for generations, possessed a¡ innate knowledge of the tea industry. This knowledge was valuable, but it needed to be honed. Training Gorkhas to be managers would also contribute to the GJM's larger polidcal project of exerting territorial 1 sovereignty over an area conüolled by capital interests that politicians See Newman & Company (1900:66_91), arrd laypeople alike identiñed as sitting in Kolk¿ta, not Darjeeling. 200 The nodon of linking subnacional recognirion to education is nor a berween the Êrst major Gorkhaland agitarion in the mid,1980s, and 20r v the second, which began in late 2OO7 .It was these young people who U) o lt¡ were often portrayed in GJM rhetoric as rhe main benefi.ciaries of terri- É torial sovereignty, but as the case of the DTMTC highlights, they were s. ú also the group perhaps most cynical about the movemenr's potential ro t^ effect change. Students had ro reconcile a spatial disjuncrure between tended to describe the o region's educated youth as wayward and in need Gorkhala¡d and management training as an educational genre. They of discipline. In rhis, rhe situation in Darjeeling is distinct from rhe had to Êgure out how to be subjects of both a place-based movemenr situation ca in other parts of India, where subnational subjecrivity and for ethnic recognition that valued territorial 6xiry, and a netional educacion have been closely linked ,2 or inNepal, where snrdent political trend in vocational and managerial training that valued mobiliry over activism is strong.3 identity. Across India, subnarional struggles have consistently been ardcu- The studentí vision of training required a suppression of polidcs, lated on the basis of underdevelopment. The newly formed sates of while the teachers' vision saw training as always alreaåy political. The Unarakhand and Telangana are good examples. In the Gorkhaland assertion that education has non-political value, as Macei Candea has Movement, however, issues of unemployment, precarity, and distribudon argued, is not simply a sþ of the aati-polidcs of the market or of of resources have consistendy raken a back sear ro rights based. on the development discourse.4 In Candeai eccounr of Corsican educarion, recognition of identiry whether ethnic, cribaf or Gorkha. As I describe teachers who identifred elsewhere as Corsican nationalisrs insisted that below the DTMTC was ¡hus an arrempr to reconcile the tension within the classroom was e non-political space. In Darjeeling by conrrast, it the movement between an aspiration of economic development and an was students who resisred the politicÞacion of education. The educated aspiration of ethnic recognition. unemployed I met at the DTMTC believed in rhe idea of Gorkhaland, For the DTMTC to be successfuf teachers and studencs arike had ro but they were less convinced of its potential to effect meaningfirl change Ênd a way ro see dremselves as borh potential managers and as proud. in their lives. GJM rhetoric couched ¿r" r¡¡r'ggle for Gorkhaland as a Gorkhas. Over dre course of the single year in which the DTMTC long-term goal that might take generations ro achieve and as a revoludon ot impos- to which youth might need to sacriÊce years of rheir lives. Managerial rhe srory training on the orher hand, oriented students ro whatJane Guyer calls in India. the near fuure.5 Across India, studenrs seeking manegemenr rraining An analysis of colonial ere rexrs aimed at would-be plantation managers chought noc in terms of distant political horizons but in rerms of rhe reveals deep-rooted rensions over how tea managemenc should Êt i.rto monthly, weekly, ar'd yezrly economic planning and personal discipline politics and over who should occupy managerial positions. I trace these required to advance through the ranls of corporate a¡d social hier- tensions into the presenr through my own ethnographic observadons archies.6 Management training was one step in planning for r-he near of the DTMTC's inauguration, its classes, and-most importantly-a futuraAt rhe DTMTC, icwas ultimately students-nor reachers-who series of charged excha'ges berween DTMTC instrucrors a¡d students. had to reconcile these temporaliries. Maintaining a distincrion berween These in-class debates underscore an abiding concern among the education and polidcs, between the near furure and t.he abstract furure, educared unemployed abou¡ those same quesrions-how managemenr mattered gready to students. The DTMTC, however, was based on a should Êr into politics and who should occupy managerial pori.iorrr. collapse of these very ideas. The students at the DTMTC were born and grew up during the years

a C^¿. (21011); Ferguson (1990). 2 Singh (20t5). 5 Guy"' (2007). 3 Snellinger (2006).See 6 also Jedep Jetrery, and Jetrery (2008). SeeJeftey (2010). 202 The Right Kind of Mani Or the Ríght Kind of Trainingi In addition to ds¡¡ils abour the technical challenges oftea planting (from 203 v A cenral jusdÊcation for the founding climate a¡rd altitude, ro soils, to labour costs), rhese texts describe rhe Ø of the DTMTC was the con- t{ qualities of work witü a view to reassuring potential European planr- Êa \s ers, of rhe viabiliry of planting as a career p"th.10 Indeed, the authors

ú of these manuals frame the aspirarion to tea plandng almost exclusiveþ \J u) s in rerms of selÊcultivation and individual mobility. Authors address a range of concerns that might be prevenÈing rhe would-be [ea menagers from embarhng on e life in rea. They touch on issues ranging from how s v) to save money for a trip home, to how to read under a mosquito net,ll ro how to burn down a forest to plant tea,12 to which ethnic group's women might make the best nannies.l3 Alexa¡der McGowan, en army surgeon serving in the North-West during rhe mid-1800s, describes the arcractively low amount of up&onr capical expense thet was required for an individual to purchase, clear cut, and seed a tea plantariotr.l4 He porrreys tea plandng as:

An employment in itself agresaþle, s¡s¡iling no hard physical labou¡, bur mereþ sufÊcienr exercise for both body and mind as is essential to their hedthy preservatiory and evenrually so lucrarive as to amply repay the anxieties incidental on the earlier years; with a properry safe against the many ills that other crops are liable to, [plandng can allow] ample time for recreation, or even .,. permit a prolonged ab."n...15

Many of the earþ manuals describe European social life, including úre called tea planting. These texrs reveal social clubs a¡d domestic accommodations in the tea districts, thar apit"lis¡ accumuladory management, would allow managers to maintain a¡rd hone rheir English menners, perhaps even to a higher degree than t'hey would in England.l6 rn tlese texts, tea managemenr is described as a means of social and. To succeed, one needed not wealth, but characrer. Tea plalting was economic mobilicy. An earþ account insrrucrs: best suited for men who would âppreciate the opportunity to better To themselves not only economically but in terms of what scholars today ossessing but. a might call cultural czpitaT.rT Former tea planter Samuel Baildon's wideþ the position in il: the professions r0 (1365); tendencies, a¡e See Tea Cuhiuation Papers on Teo Factories (ß5Q; Notes on Tþa ."li to use rrat energy ( 1888); Tea Cy elopøediø (1881). -ra"", and. enterprise which are said to belong to rr the Bridsh-to such, tea plaadng offers peculiar inducements.g B"ildon (1882). L2 Teø Cultiu ation (1865 : 23). t3 Newma¡r 6c Co. (1900: 29-30). 7 Elyachar (20t2). 8 L4 McGowan (1860:37), See Sharma (2011). See also Middleton, this volums for historical detail 15 McGowa¡r (L860:T-a), and contrasrs berween Assam and Darjeeling. 16 Baildon (1882:60). e M.Go*an (1s60:33). L7 Baildon (1882: 35); Bourdieu (1984). 2M circulated Tl¡e Tea rndustry in rndiø: Reuiew oJ pla¡ters'club A Finønce and Labour, had been cloistered in spaces like the .22 By the ear\ oren- 205 and ø GuideJor capitølists and Assistønts explains:'Now v it is, of course, deth century, when the Indian tea industry was at irs pealÇ rhe nuibe, of (t) a very essenrial thing that only the right kind of men should managers tr¡ become tea a¡d assistant managers across India (nearly all of them white and male) had swelled considerably. with this expansion came a need. \ a planters o Ø in Assam

he.is the right kind of man for such a life.l9 He fills one enrire chapter Such mobile managers were rhe target audience for chis second wave $ with descriptions of his own abiliry q to occupy his mind,,w;thout all of tea planting texts. while earlier texrs by the likes of McGowan and mediums of resource for occupying leisure that I might possess- Baildon were dominated by burning d.own musical insrrumenrs, painc-boxes, drawing marerials, etc,.20 forests and reading under m oftea planting Baildon's purpose here is to hedge against rhe romanticism that can manuals took on a more sci rea cultivarion a manager could techniques-including pruning planting fertlfizer application, and pesr e was posred, but management-not only explicit but also commensurable across spaca23 would need to be They are Êlled with lists a¡d charts of an array of procedural .À..r.r, travelled, such a life would be sporadic. Even more sporadic would be regarding numbers (from remperature Êgures to wages), timings (for trips back home ro Europe. Considering this, he explains:.One fact pruning planting and plucking), and inputs (of urea fercilizerc, fttige- should receive the earnesr considerarion , primarily, of all persons think- tion, and labour time).24 Many of these texts were wriften by experts who had done agro- nomic research, most notably at the quasi-governmenral rea Research Association (TRA), the main arm of which is located inJorhat, Assam. Still in existence roday, the TRA has been conducting field experi- institutions and practices rhar came to defrne British social life under ments on tea cultivarion for over 100 years.25 The TRAIs research and the Raj. Tea management in colonial India was about economic mobir- publications aim to suppoft managers as they move from posr ro posr ity. A pre-existing appreciation for the vim¡es of music, manners, and art was a prerequisite n to rhe social clubs and houses that provided a By rh.late 1880s, dre enrrqrreneurial land acquisition that McGowan facsimile of English life in rhe rea districts. It was in setrings Like the and early writers describe gave way ro a corporate planation landscape (complere Darjeeling Planrers'Club, chat upwardly mobile young managers could with social clubs, golf courses, and sprawling managert bungalows). With this demonstrate their manners and share knowledge about the technical shift, the entrepreneurial planter became integrated inro a hierarchical manage- and economic process of growing rea, It was in clubs and house parties ment structure in which there was a manager (often referred to as a planter) and that tacir knowledge changed hands. one or meny (depending on a planration size) assistant managers. This model of orgaaization persists. Today, there As the industry grew in the years leading up to Indiaa Independence are 87 plantarions in Darjeeling and each plantation has a head ma'ager and a number of assistant managers, who oversee in L947, a new wave of rea planting books came to the market. This larer the Êeld office, or factory (or subsecdons ofthese on a larger plantation). group of books aimed to unveil and codify the ma'agerial secrets that 23 These later books can actually be divided into rwo categories. In addition to technical how-to ¡1¡1¡¡¡ls, â series of memoirs written by retired planters were published. The purpose ofthese books was less to inspire new planters than to 18 Baildon (1882 39). capitarze on British readcrs'desires for nostalgic tales oflife under the Raj. see: re Beildon (1882:39). Fraser (1935); Longley (7969); Hetherington (799Ð; Ramsden (1945). 20 Baildon (L8BLa\. 2a See Bald ( 1903); Johnso n (1953); Ukers ( 193 5). 21 25 B"ildon (1882 a!. Beneqee (7993); Hajra (2001); Singh (2005). 206 highJevel civil serva¡ts, professors, politicians, a¡d business owners in 207 v Darjeeling. They also included rhe DTMTC's staff of teachers. One .t) rr¡ was a retired factory manager who would teach classes É on bookkeeping. Another was still employed as a factory manager ar a remore plantadon \ ú on t-he eastern side of the Teesta and would teach classes abour manu; e democratizing trend. tt) facturing whle he was on extended sick leave. A third was a retired Êeld manager who would lecture on plantbiology and pests, including how to deal with blights and properly manage pesticide application. The princi- U) pal was a retired assistant manager who had run a small, remote garden on the Nepal border. In addidon to leadíng the DTMTC, he ofFered a class on pruning and planting tea bushes. In his opening speech, the principal described the origins and objec- dves of the DTMTC. FIe gave a scathing critique of rhe current state of Dag'eeling's tea plantations before explaining how he and his colleagues intended to fix it: or_technical skill, they also crþted space for managemenr to become a focal point for the operations of ethno-nationarism. The DTMTc, The reason why we are starting such a tea managemenr institure in whose curriculum was modelled on those of other rechnical training Darjeeling is out of necessity, because since 1820 ,.. the planting and institutes, was also designed as e spâce for the culdvarion and celebral cultivating has been done by our ancesrors only. But our people a¡e sdll tion of ethnic identiry. A key tenet of the DTMTC's charter was rhat labourers, arrd they [non-Nepalis] are sdll occupfng the executive posts. the right kind of man for Darjeeling planrations must arso be a Gorkha Today most of our [Nepali] young brothers and sisters are educated. man. Turning now ro erhnographic marerial, I will show how colonial they are all competent ... If we open such an inscinrte here, then tûese ideas about culrural capitaT,modern nodons of technicar proÊciency, and, kinds of youths will get an oppom-rniry. an emerging ethnic consciousness intersected in Darjeeling The audience was sympathetic. The DTMTC's princþal a¡d the other Inauguratingthe DTMTC teachers had all succeeded in becoming assistanr menegers (cbota sabibs flitde sahibs]), but none of them had managed to reach the rank of head It was a rare sunny morning in the midsr of the monsoon. Attendees manager (bunø sabib [big sahib]). of the DTMTCT inaugural ceremony milled around a rooftop pario, Sdll the DTMTC'S steff were all inordinately successfrrl. When I enjoying rhe unusually dry condidons. Among those assembl"d *"r. interviewed them later, I asked how they had been rained. They each several prominent GJM leaders, whom I had come to recognize from insisted that they had made it imo the management ranks rhrough dis- party rallies and meetings, as well as a slew of suited men lhad never cipline and ha¡d work. There wes a posting. They applied for it. They got it. In awaythen,the teachers were impþng that t-hey were the right kind of men for management jobs. They had honed skills in speaking dq>ortment, and manners that allowed them to overcome the systematic racial discrimination that kept mosr other Nepalis out of the management ranks. When these men were seeking employment in the 1970s A minute turned into over two hours. with everyone seated around. and 1980s, tea rnanagemenr insrirures did not exist. They had learned a small conference table, rhe DTMTC'S principal welcomed and intro- how to manege plantations by exploidng personal connecrions and eco- duced the honoured guesrs. These included Gorkhas who had become nomic capital to work themselves into rhe spaces where tacit knowledge 208 sense of when to prune, when to plucþ and when ro epply fertilizer; they 209 also had a¡r intimate undersranding of the plight of .tv planarion workers. t¡t This understanding would be a trait rhat only Gorkha managers would a have. The DTMTC, she maintained, was a vehicle for blending politics \ ú with ethical values. at While this bureaucrar saw the DTMTC es a means of keeping o Gorkha youth on Darjeeling plantations, not all of the dignitaries who Ë spoke at the inaugural event sha¡ed this vision of the spadal bound- €

I have been srying from the beginning that even if you do the training 28 Cand. (2011). there can be no guarantee ofajob. Nobody can guaranree ajob. But there 2e See Bagchi (2072); Mddleton (ZOI5); Sarlar (2013, 2016); Shneiderman is one thing And that is that we are puccing forth a sincere effort. A¡d our (2015); Wenner (2073,2075) for discussíons of recognition in the context of boys bere-and not boys from somewbere else-have co get placemenr. Darjeeling polidcs. Maybe it will be quick or slow; this is what we have to do. 2L4 what was sþiÊcant for the teacher was the physical locarion of pointedly:'What if the political party changes.-'. The principal cut him 215 the DTMTC. He was adamant thar v the ,.t of trlirri.,g Gorkha men off¡'No metter what political party comes in, the garden will still be (t to be rnanagers here at Roy Vlla, in the heart o çc of D.r;""elings colonial there The garden is always there. And what can be said about political Êa centre, was of paramount importaace. while the student's hipotheticar parties/ Another student interjected:'Sír, ít can be søid that the political scenario concerned one man! c career, measurable in th. _""1L-, months, party cennot influence anythingJ To which the principal rçlied: o and years .t of salaried service to a company, the principal,s counter- 'We hypothetical approach reached for a jir..rr. have to convince ever7ona.., A person Êom a place is supposed to be more rime Àorizon.30 No \s one knew exacdy when Gorkhas wourd be granted their sçarate employed in the same place. We can tell owners to put our people in the srara q) From one temporal perspeccive, tea garden, We can say tlrat drey have to put 80 per cent of our people in dee srudents were affiliared with a sysrem of the tea garden. If we cannot Êght against them, then we will be the sup- management training in which cerdficates were passports for economic and geographical ^"ffili"t presser øzd we will be the suppressed.... We have to face this, because it is mobiliry. From rhe other, they w"." d. and we are with a social our mother a¡d father working not doing anything for them. movemenr in which grounding oneself in p1"." both -r, an We do not do anything even when we have the ability to do something. ethical and a political srance. 'But sir, chere has to be an afiliationl one smd.ent pleaded. In this exchangø a generational divide berween shrdents and teachers is this thing called afiliation/ .What The principal asked. became a divide about the role of politics in education. The student saw like this. Say you are __'It's afiìliated with Assam [Agricultural political a6liadon as ineffective at best, while the teacher saw a suppres- Universiry]. If we are affiliated with Assam, [then] øe h"u"io comply sion of polidcs in the classroom as tanternount to a betrayal of mothers with their terms and condirions. we would. have to .,r., or, .11." and fathers. according to their syllabus. wehaveto work according to tbeirholidays. The principal con6ded:A studentjust cerne to me a¡d said:"Sir, I got But our main problem is here, in Darjeeling. In tñ" t.a. g"rd"rrs of ajob in the call centre, so I am goingl" He paused.'Do you understandi Darjeeling.' It is because he has no conÊdence in his futurei He continued: As long as che GJM srayed in power, a¡r a6liadon to rhe parry might be beneÊcial, but rhe srudenrs had seen one politician p".ry,'S,rUIrf, When boys like you have been trained, you have to revolt. You have to "rra Ghisingh and rhe GNLE ousted. Th.y *".. far from.o.rÊd".rt bring revoludon,.,, You cantjust wait and think about whether you ere the longeviry of the "boo. going to get ajob.I am fully dependent upon you. If you all become slack- GJM. As the GJM intensiÊed its campaign for a separare ers and think that you will not get a job and lose hopø then you will state rhroughout 2008 and2009, DTMTC teachers ãoubled down on rheir be nowhere. You all should have guts. You all are being trained. The tea desire to be linked to the parcy. over trre same period., the estates are bere and,we have to get the outsiders out. With this determi- GJM backracked on concrere development schemes tit" tt otl¿tc it can happen. in fevour " nation of mind, if you study ha¡{ then of more symbolic projects, such as month_long cultural pro- grammes: performances of Gorkha-ness in d¿¡rce and rorr! of This shut down the discussion momentarily. The principal porrrayed " -"ro, proving to the resr of India rhat Darjeering and ", its p"opl" -"r" difFerent employment in a 6¿11 6snçs-underwritten by training in English pronun- and rhus deserved their own ,t"t",31 ciation and perhaps a degree from an a.ffiliated university-as surrender. A A couple of weeks later, during rhe height of the monrhJong puja young marr's concern for a near future of steady pay cheques and marginal celebrations in Chowrasta, when townspeople were required. ro wear economic gains was at the same time a lacJ<. of faith in dre promises of a traditional dress, (døura suruwøI end chaubindi chori),.-.tod"rrt mq¡s.lis¡ant future of territorial sovereþty.32 The principal concinued: ".k"d

Whether therè is e certlÊcate, or not ... Take treining from here as your 30 Goy". (2OOZ). cerrificate That is afrEetion, because you ere the son of t.he soil, arrd you 31 S.e B.sky (20t3); . Golay (2006). See also Chemi (2016); Middleton (2015); Shneiderman (2015), for a discussion as it relates to sr/SC polidcal acdon 32 Guy.' (2007). 2t6 In ... the tea gardens in Training meent not mobilicy but stability-what the bureaucrat at 2r7 tea gørden..., Are we v so the inauguration referred to as an ethical investment in Darjeeling's U) ee' I cannot do that' You have plantations. Training was a form of collecdve solidariry and territorial Êa to give it to yourself. control. Among some students and teachers involved with the DTMTC, \J Ø recognidon came in the form of accredited cerciÊcates. As economic a¡rd o geographical passports, certiÊcates would permit the advancement of t-he G Gorkhaland cause by permitcing more trained Gorkhas to worþ in more € ca) The principal paused as the srudenrs murmured and shifted in their places, wit{r higher degrees of responsibility. Among others involved witlr chairs. Then conrinued:'so you should alr give me a decisior¡ shourd this the DTMTC, it was the institution, not its certiÊcates, which must be institurion be an independent one or should it be supported by the local tecognized. From this point of view, the DTMTC would only succeed university/ if those outside Darjeeling recognized the capacity and right of Gorkha people to devise their own homegrown forms of training. -sOæ Uldmately, the story of the DTMTC provides e more general les- son about the problem of occupatiou in Darjeeling. Management is an In this way, the principal left rhe decision about rhe DTMTC's fare occupation in several senses. Management is about 6lling and control- and its ultimate purpose in the ha¡rds of the students. soon, he had his ling physical and institutional space. The post of manager is one t-hat answer. After tlre f råe srudents came back individuals c¿¡ Êll interchaageably, but it is also a location in political to class. Some of economy, berween labour and capital. It is a location on e plantation. neither manageri :ïï:ïä*:,.ïîå'^-" The promise of a comfortable bungalow and membership in a social club once lured men from Europe, just as it now lures young Nepali men raised in plantation villages. Finally, menegement is the institurion thar enables the occupation of space by corporations and states. Tea plantation management positions in Darjeeling continue to be Êlled by those whom Gorkha activists consider to be outsiders. Although management that were part of the GJM's culural progremmes .I¡ 2013, the state is occupational in all these senses, it has tended to be somewhat immune governmenr, having re-exefted conrrol over t-he buitding facfütated. from politics. It is hard to imagine management as a position &om which the turnover of Roy Villa to the Ramakrishna Mission. Ri th" dme of ro take political acdon or as an institution through which to assert politi- writing the Ramakrishna Mission runs skills developmenr projects and. cal beliefs. Management remains lergely a funcdon of politics rather language classes our of the building much as ir does on its m¡i cempus than a set ofpolitical actions in itseH. in Kolkata. Over its short lifespan, the DTMTC thrust management and sub- As I have argued here, the srory of rhe DTMTCT rise and fall illus- narional politics into an awkward relationship. In India, the idea of trates fundamental contradicrions embedded in rwo conceprs rhat are menagement is both bigger and smaller than the Gorkhala¡d Movement, central to the Gorkhala¡d Movement: deveropmenr a¡rd iecognition. or eny movement for territorial sovereþty. Management i5 bigger in In the discussions abour the purpose and operadons of rhe Otl¿tC, that it pulls young people away from their homelands, luring them to other states and other countries with promises of individual mobiliry, underwritten by certiÊcates and affiliations. Management is smaller in the sense that its economic appeal-the offices, t-he houses, the salary, ual improvement. Among older GJM acdvists, including rhe DTMTC,s and the pedt bourgeois social clubs-is individual rather than collecdve. teachers founders, a¡d development indexed ,o^ohirrg different. The recent rise of management craining centres in India, predicated on 2t8 unmasking the acit knowledge once housed in guilds and. sociar crubs, changes litde about this individual appeal. v L;f" m"rrag"^".rt b.r.á Ø on tlre right kind of gender, rece, tc or charactet, management based on É uaini economic mobiliry thror.rgh geographical flexib c ased commitrrr"rra.3, In this ã^y,"^^o go ment undermining u) subnational movements. In the end, the DTMTC put students in a double-bind, be¡¡¡een train_ ing and tacir knowledge, berween deveropment and recognirion, and between economy and identity. Tho"gh rhe DTMTC wasïtimately a failure, the srory of how its snrdenrs faced this bind can provid.e irrrþh.. into the articulation of Darjeeling politics wirh both lrrdi"', .oloi"[y rooted plantation economy a¡d its liberrl;-;¡¡g rrarional economy. 70 Connection amidstDisconnection

Wøter Social Structures, -StruggJes, ønd Geogrøpbies of Exclusion in Darjeeling

Georgina Drew and Roshan P. Rei*

t must be a relief for tourists visiring Darjeeling in the heat of the Indian summer to ease into the cooler temperatures of the former hill station. The lush green mountain landscape, fed by monsoon

* Georgina Drew a¡rd Roshan P. Rai extend their grarirude to the samaj members ofJawahar Busry, Mul Dara" and Ma¡galpuri.We tha¡k them for their generosity and inspirational stewardship, as well as for welcoming us into their homes. We are also gratefi:l to the Darjeeling Municipality, especially the Water Works Department, whose staff enabled us to get insights into the complex dynamics of water management in Darjeeling. Lakpa Tamaag of úre Universiry of Calcutta, deq>ened our work with his demarcarion a¡rd mapping of springs in 33 Elyachar (2OIZ). Daq'eeling. Georgina also acknowledges tûe suppon of the Australian Research Council (DE160101178).