Storytelling: Sharing local and international experience
Monday, November 14th, 2011A travel writers meet in the wilderness setting of North Bengal dedicated o the cause of local empowerment and to all who have completed 50 years of travel writing.
Date: 10thDecember, 2011, Venue: Chamakdangi Forest Village (20 kms From Siliguri), off Sevoke Road
NCT or Noam, Chel and Teesta represents an area, which is the natural and cultural diversity between the hills and the plains in North Bengal, with areas which were important trade transit centres of the historical to recent past. The Haats or weekly markets then played an important role and the routes connecting them were important. Two such Haats which were famous are Matigara and Oodlabari, which were further connected to the legendary Silk route terminating or starting at Kalimpong. The route from Matigara or even the Darjeeling hills went through the Sukna-Sevoke forests, presently Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary and stood at this village of Chamakdangi, west bank of Teesta. From here all travellers had to cross by boat, elephants etc, depending on the water depth and status of travellers. Chamakdangi then was a mixed village of several different communities, was helped to settle here by the King of Jalpaiguri. Crossing to the Eastern bank we then meet an area, which has been formed by the meeting of several rivers to Teesta River, called Gajoldoba, surrounded by the Royal Baikanthapur Forests. These rivers like Leesh, Gheesh, Chel come from the mountains, separating the villages on the high ridges known as Bagrakot, Chuikhim. Yelbong, Barbot, Manabari etc with Oodlabari at the centre. Hence, as natural corridor these non notified Forest areas connects Neora Valley National Park with Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary.
There are several such biological corridors all over Asia, some of them active and some lost with time and several on the verge of extinction. Responsible Tourism Initiatives have in the recent years helped to maintain such corridors with the help of the local residential communities of the area by giving them meaningful livelihood, bringing them out of isolation and confirming more commitment from the local communities in conservation. There is a trend of supporting such initiatives through new forms of travel programs like voluntourism, CSR programs, participatory tourism etc. This trend is being very heavily reflected in travel guides, travel columns, travel magazines, travel programs in televisions and most media being used for travel promotion. Hence, this travel writers’ meet, where veteran International travel writers like Stefan Loose and local like Gouri Shankar Bhattacharya are expected to attend and share their experiences. This meet in the wilderness setting of North Bengal will certainly help to make travel writing and documentation more rooted to the cause of local empowerment. This meet is being dedicated to all who have completed 50 years of travel writing.
