title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Steiner appreciated the ritual of the mass he experienced while serving as an altar boy from school age until he was ten years old, and this experience remained memorable for him as a genuinely spiritual one, contrasting with his irreligious family life. As a young adult, Steiner had no formal connection to organized religion. In 1899, he experienced what he described as a life-transforming inner encounter with the being of Christ. Steiner was then 38, and the experience of meeting Christ occurred after a tremendous inner struggle. To use Steiner's own words, the "experience culminated in my standing in the spiritual presence of the Mystery of Golgotha in a most profound and solemn festival of knowledge." His relationship to Christianity thereafter remained entirely founded upon personal experience, and thus both non-denominational and strikingly different from conventional religious forms.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Steiner describes Christ as the unique pivot and meaning of earth's evolutionary processes and human history, redeeming the Fall from Paradise. He understood the Christ as a being that unifies and inspires all religions, not belonging to a particular religious faith. To be "Christian" is, for Steiner, a search for balance between polarizing extremes and the ability to manifest love in freedom.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: In Steiner's esoteric cosmology, the spiritual development of humanity is interwoven in and inseparable from the cosmological development of the universe. Continuing the evolution that led to humanity being born out of the natural world, the Christ being brings an impulse enabling human consciousness of the forces that act creatively, but unconsciously, in nature.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Steiner's views of Christianity diverge from conventional Christian thought in key places, and include gnostic elements. However, unlike many gnostics, Steiner affirms the unique and actual physical Incarnation of Christ in Jesus at the beginning of the Christian era.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: One of the central points of divergence with conventional Christian thought is found in Steiner's views on reincarnation and karma.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Steiner also posited two different Jesus children involved in the Incarnation of the Christ: one child descended from Solomon, as described in the Gospel of Matthew; the other child from Nathan, as described in the Gospel of Luke. He references in this regard the fact that the genealogies in these two gospels list twenty-six (Luke) to forty-one (Matthew) completely different ancestors for the generations from David to Jesus.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Steiner's view of the second coming of Christ is also unusual. He suggested that this would not be a physical reappearance, but rather, meant that the Christ being would become manifest in non-physical form, in the "etheric realm" – i.e. visible to spiritual vision and apparent in community life – for increasing numbers of people, beginning around the year 1933. He emphasized that the future would require humanity to recognize this Spirit of Love in all its genuine forms, regardless of how this is named. He also warned that the traditional name, "Christ", might be used, yet the true essence of this Being of Love ignored.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: In the 1920s, Steiner was approached by Friedrich Rittelmeyer, a Lutheran pastor with a congregation in Berlin, who asked if it was possible to create a more modern form of Christianity. Soon others joined Rittelmeyer – mostly Protestant pastors and theology students, but including several Roman Catholic priests. Steiner offered counsel on renewing the spiritual potency of the sacraments while emphasizing freedom of thought and a personal relationship to religious life. He envisioned a new synthesis of Catholic and Protestant approaches to religious life, terming this "modern, Johannine Christianity".


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: The resulting movement for religious renewal became known as "The Christian Community". Its work is based on a free relationship to Christ without dogma or policies. Its priesthood, which is open to both men and women, is free to preach out of their own spiritual insights and creativity.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Steiner emphasized that the resulting movement for the renewal of Christianity was a personal gesture of help to a movement founded by Rittelmeyer and others independently of his anthroposophical work. The distinction was important to Steiner because he sought with Anthroposophy to create a scientific, not faith-based, spirituality. He recognized that for those who wished to find more traditional forms, however, a renewal of the traditional religions was also a vital need of the times.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Olav Hammer, though sharply critical of esoteric movements generally, terms Steiner "arguably the most historically and philosophically sophisticated spokesperson of the Esoteric Tradition."


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Albert Schweitzer wrote that he and Steiner had in common that they had "taken on the life mission of working for the emergence of a true culture enlivened by the ideal of humanity and to encourage people to become truly thinking beings". However, Schweitzer was not an adept of mysticism or occultism, but of Age of Enlightenment rationalism.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Anthony Storr stated about Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy: "His belief system is so eccentric, so unsupported by evidence, so manifestly bizarre, that rational skeptics are bound to consider it delusional... But, whereas Einstein's way of perceiving the world by thought became confirmed by experiment and mathematical proof, Steiner's remained intensely subjective and insusceptible of objective confirmation."


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Robert Todd Carroll has said of Steiner that "Some of his ideas on education – such as educating the handicapped in the mainstream – are worth considering, although his overall plan for developing the spirit and the soul rather than the intellect cannot be admired". Steiner's translators have pointed out that his use of "Geist" includes both mind and spirit, however, as the German term "Geist" can be translated equally properly in either way.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: The 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner's birth was marked by the first major retrospective exhibition of his art and work, 'Kosmos - Alchemy of the everyday'. Organized by Vitra Design Museum, the traveling exhibition presented many facets of Steiner's life and achievements, including his influence on architecture, furniture design, dance (Eurythmy), education, and agriculture (Biodynamic agriculture). The exhibition opened in 2011 at the Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart, Germany,


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Olav Hammer has criticized as scientism Steiner's claim to use scientific methodology to investigate spiritual phenomena that were based upon his claims of clairvoyant experience. Steiner regarded the observations of spiritual research as more dependable (and above all, consistent) than observations of physical reality. However, he did consider spiritual research to be fallible, and held the view that anyone capable of thinking logically was in a position to correct errors by spiritual researchers.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Steiner's work includes both universalist, humanist elements and racial assumptions. Due to the contrast and even contradictions between these elements, one commentator argues: "whether a given reader interprets Anthroposophy as racist or not depends upon that reader's concerns". Steiner considered that by dint of its shared language and culture, each people has a unique essence, which he called its soul or spirit. He saw race as a physical manifestation of humanity's spiritual evolution, and at times discussed race in terms of complex hierarchies that were largely derived from 19th century biology, anthropology, philosophy and theosophy. However, he consistently and explicitly subordinated race, ethnicity, gender, and indeed all hereditary factors, to individual factors in development. For Steiner, human individuality is centered in a person's unique biography, and he believed that an individual's experiences and development are not bound by a single lifetime or the qualities of the physical body.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Steiner occasionally characterized specific races, nations and ethnicities in ways that have been deemed racist by critics. This includes descriptions by him of certain races and ethnic groups as flowering, others as backward, or destined to degenerate or disappear. He presented explicitly hierarchical views of the spiritual evolution of different races, including—at times, and inconsistently—portraying the white race, European culture or Germanic culture as representing the high point of human evolution as of the early 20th century, although he did describe them as destined to be superseded by future cultures.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Throughout his life Steiner consistently emphasized the core spiritual unity of all the world's peoples and sharply criticized racial prejudice. He articulated beliefs that the individual nature of any person stands higher than any racial, ethnic, national or religious affiliation. His belief that race and ethnicity are transient and superficial, and not essential aspects of the individual, was partly rooted in his conviction that each individual reincarnates in a variety of different peoples and races over successive lives, and that each of us thus bears within him or herself the heritage of many races and peoples. Toward the end of his life, Steiner predicted that race will rapidly lose any remaining significance for future generations. In Steiner's view, culture is universal, and explicitly not ethnically based, and he vehemently criticized imperialism.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: In the context of his ethical individualism, Steiner considered "race, folk, ethnicity and gender" to be general, describable categories into which individuals may choose to fit, but from which free human beings can and will liberate themselves.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: During the years when Steiner was best known as a literary critic, he published a series of articles attacking various manifestations of antisemitism and criticizing some of the most prominent anti-Semites of the time as "barbaric" and "enemies of culture". Steiner suggested that Jewish cultural and social life had lost all contemporary relevance and promoted full assimilation of the Jewish people into the nations in which they lived. Steiner was a critic of his contemporary Theodor Herzl's goal of a Zionist state, and indeed of any ethnically determined state, as he considered ethnicity to be an outmoded basis for social life and civic identity.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Towards the end of Steiner's life and after his death, there were massive defamatory press attacks mounted on him by early Nazi Party leaders (including Adolf Hitler) and other right-wing nationalists. These criticized Steiner's thought and anthroposophy as being incompatible with Nazi racial ideology, and charged him with being influenced by his close connections with Jews and even (falsely) that he himself was Jewish.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: But the truth was that while Anthroposophists complained of bad press, they were to a surprising extent let be by the Nazi regime, "including outspokenly supportive pieces in the "Völkischer Beobachter"". Sicherheitsdienst purists argued largely in vain against Anthroposophy. According to Staudenmaier, "The prospect of unmitigated persecution was held at bay for years in a tenuous truce between pro-anthroposophical and anti-anthroposophical Nazi factions."


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: Rudolf Hess, the adjunct Führer, was a patron of Waldorf schools. The Deputy Führer was also a staunch defender of Steiner's biodynamic agriculture.


title: Rudolf Steiner

text: The standard edition of Steiner's Collected Works constitutes about 422 volumes. This includes 44 volumes of his writings (books, essay, plays, and correspondence), over 6000 lectures, and some 80 volumes (some still in production) documenting his artistic work (architecture, drawings, paintings, graphic design, furniture design, choreography, etc.). His architectural work, particularly, has also been documented extensively outside of the Collected Works.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, to the east the Kingdom of Bhutan, to the north the Indian state of Sikkim, and farther north the Tibet Autonomous Region region of China. Bangladesh lies to the south and southeast, and most of the state of West Bengal lies to the south and southwest, connected to the Darjeeling region by a narrow tract. Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, rises to the north and is prominently visible on clear days.


title: Darjeeling

text: In the early 19th century, during East India Company rule in India, Darjeeling was identified as a potential summer retreat for British officials, soldiers and their families. The narrow mountain ridge was leased from the Kingdom of Sikkim, and eventually annexed to British India. Experimentation with growing tea on the slopes below Darjeeling was highly successful. Thousands of labourers were recruited chiefly from Nepal to clear the forests, build European-style cottages and work in the tea plantations. The widespread deforestation displaced the indigenous peoples. Residential schools were established in and around Darjeeling for the education of children of the domiciled British in India. By the late-19th century, a novel narrow-gauge mountain railway, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, was bringing summer residents into the town and carrying a freight of tea out for export to the world. After India's independence in 1947, as the British left Darjeeling, its cottages were purchased by wealthy Indians from the plains and its tea plantations by out-of-town Indian business owners and conglomerates.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling's population today is constituted largely of the descendants of the indigenous and immigrant labourers that were employed in the original development of the town. Although their common language, the Nepali language, has been given official recognition at the state and federal levels in India, the recognition has created little meaningful employment for the language's speakers nor has it increased their ability to have a significantly greater say in their political affairs. The tea industry and tourism are the mainstays of the town's economy. Deforestation in the region after India's independence has caused environmental damage, affecting the perennial springs that supply the town's water. The population of Darjeeling meanwhile has exploded over the years, and unregulated construction, traffic congestion and water shortages are common. Many young locals, educated in government schools, have taken to migrating out for the lack of jobs matching their skills. Like out-migrants from other regions of northeastern India, they have been subjected to discrimination and racism in some Indian cities.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling's culture is highly cosmopolitan—a result of diverse ethnic groups intermixing and evolving away from their historical roots. The region's indigenous cuisine is rich in fermented foods and beverages. Tourists have flocked to Darjeeling since the mid-19th century. In 1999, after an international campaign for its support, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. In 2005, Darjeeling tea was given geographical indication by the World Trade Organization as much for the protection of the brand as for the development of the region that produces it.


title: Darjeeling

text: At the time of the first British arrival, Darjeeling was known among its Lepcha inhabitants as , or the "Place of the Thunderbolt." According to the "Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place Names", Darjeeling is derived from the Tibetan or , meaning "Land of Dorje," i.e. of the thunderbolt, the weapon of the Hindu god Indra.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling lies between the Mechi and Teesta rivers in the Eastern Himalayas. In the 18th century, it was part of a boundary region that had stirred ambitions and insecurities in several South Asian states. For the greater part of the century, the Chogyal-ruler of the northern Kingdom of Sikkim had asserted possession of this territory. In the closing decades, the Gurkha kingdom of Nepal expanded eastwards to bring Darjeeling into its territory. Its army stopped short of the Teesta, beyond which at the time lay the Kingdom of Bhutan.


title: Darjeeling

text: The English East India Company began to show an interest in the Darjeeling hills in the early 19th century. At the time Darjeeling's indigenous population largely consisted of the Lepcha and Limbu peoples. The Company's interference in territorial matters began in the aftermath of its army's victory over the Gurkhas in the Anglo-Nepalese War. Fought between 1814 and 1816, the war concluded with two treaties, the Treaty of Sugauli and the Treaty of Titalia, under which Nepal was required to return the Darjeeling territory to Sikkim.


title: Darjeeling

text: In 1829, two East India Company officials, Captain George Lloyd and J. W. Grant, en route to resolving a boundary dispute between Nepal and Sikkim, passed a crescent-shaped mountain ridge which they fancied excellent for a sanitorium for the British, or a resort for sheltering and recuperating from the heat of India's plains. Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-General of India, to whom Lloyd communicated his notion, concurred, recommending a small presence of the army in addition for monitoring the frontier.


title: Darjeeling

text: Taking the ambition forward, in 1835 the East India Company negotiated the lease of a strip of land in a grant deed from the Chogyal. By the end of 1838, sappers from the army were readied for clearing the woods and construction planned in earnest after the monsoon rains. The following year, Archibald Campbell, a physician, was made "superintendent" of Darjeeling, and two public buildings, a hotel and a courthouse were raised. Soon, work had begun on bungalows that conformed to British tastes.


title: Darjeeling

text: Turning Darjeeling into a resort required many more workers than were available in the scattered local populations. The British attracted workers from the neighbouring kingdoms, chiefly from Nepal but also from Sikkim and Bhutan. They did so by offering regular wages and lodgings, a contrast to the burdensome tax and forced labour regimens common in those kingdoms at the time. Tens of thousands arrived in Darjeeling. Not long after the Darjeeling Hill Cart Road was built in Northern Bengal, connecting Siliguri at the base of the Himalayan foothills to Darjeeling.


title: Darjeeling

text: In 1833 the East India Company lost its monopoly rights in the tea trade with China. A plan was prepared for growing tea in India. Superintendent Campbell began experimentation in 1840 in Darjeeling which soon proved successful. European planters and sponsors acquired large stretches of the surrounding hillside and converted them to plantations, called "tea gardens". Existing tracks and paths in the hills were improved, renamed as roads, and connected to the Hill Cart Road. The botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker, who visited Darjeeling in the 1840s, noted that carts and pack animals on these roads were bringing fruit and produce from Nepal, wool and salt from Tibet, and labourers looking for work from just about everywhere.


title: Darjeeling

text: The labour migrations created a burgeoning hostility between the East India Company and the neighbouring Himalayan kingdoms. By 1849 the hostility came to a head. Campbell and Hooker were allegedly kidnapped. Despite the two being released without harm, the British exploited the incident to annex some of territory between the Mechi and the Teesta rivers from Sikkim.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling became a municipality in 1850. In the span of 15 years, this Himalayan tract had become a "hill station", an official retreat for British administrators in a hilly, temperate, region of India. Hill stations, such as Simla (summer capital of the British Indian Empire), Ooty (summer capital of the Madras Presidency), and Nainital (summer capital of the North-Western Provinces) were all established between 1819 and the 1840s, a period during which the rule of the East India Company had spread to the greater part of the Indian subcontinent and the British felt confident about planning them. Darjeeling later became the summer capital of the Bengal Presidency.


title: Darjeeling

text: From 1850 to 1870 the tea industry in Darjeeling grew to 56 tea gardens employing some 8,000 labourers. The tea gardens' security forces kept a close watch on the labourers and used coercion when necessary to maintain intensive production. The labourers' disparate cultural and ethnic backgrounds and the tea gardens' commonly remote locations ensured the absence of worker mobilization. By the turn of the 20th century, 100 tea gardens employed an estimated 64,000 workers, and more than five million pound sterling were invested in Darjeeling tea. The widespread deforestation caused by the tea industry drastically changed the lives of the region's forest dwellers, who were either forced to relocate to other forests or become employed in their former habitat in new colonial occupations. To the mix of the forest dwellers recruited, more labourers joined from across the Himalayas. They communicated with each other in the Nepali language. Later the language, and their customs and traditions would create the distinctive ethnicity of Darjeeling, called Indian Gorkha.


title: Darjeeling

text: By the last decades of the 19th century, large numbers of administrative officials of the imperial and British Raj provincial governments had begun to travel to hill stations during the summers. Commerce in the stations had grown as had the trade with the plains. A train service to Darjeeling was announced in 1872. By 1878 trains could take summer residents from Calcutta, the capital of the British Indian Empire, to Siliguri at the base of the Darjeeling hills. Thereafter, Tonga horse-carriages were required to cover the last stretch on the Hill Cart Road. Ascending some , the journey required stopping at "halting barracks", or stables for feeding or changing the horses. By 1880, railway tracks were being aligned along the Hill Cart Road, and the East Indian Railway Company Jamalpur Locomotive Workshop had begun to build steam locomotives for the route. Miniature steam engines made by Sharp, Stewart and Company of Manchester, were employed for pulling the train on a narrow gauge of two feet. The train service to Darjeeling was opened in July 1881. After cresting at the Ghoom railway station at above sea level, the train made a descent to Darjeeling. Darjeeling was now within a day's travel from Calcutta.


title: Darjeeling

text: Education became another aspect of Darjeeling's notability by the turn of the 20th century. After the Charter Act of 1833, which allowed unrestricted immigration, British women had begun to arrive in India in significantly more numbers than before. Hill stations became popular summer destinations for women and children as colonial physicians recommended them for improved maternal and infant health. The British soon began to consider hill stations promising sites for primary and secondary education. St Paul's, an Anglican boys' school in Calcutta, was moved to Darjeeling in 1864. The Catholic Church opened St Joseph's College for boys in Darjeeling in 1888. For girls, the Loreto Convent had already been established during Company rule; the Calcutta Christian Schools Society established the Queen's Hill School in Darjeeling in 1895. Anglo-Indians (of mixed British and Indian ancestry) were discouraged from attending the better-known schools and Indians were almost always prohibited until after World War I.


title: Darjeeling

text: In 1945, as the British Raj was drawing towards a close, the Nepalese-speaking Indian Gorkha residents of Darjeeling had not been granted rights as British Indian subjects. These residents were at the bottom of the economic ladder, and their physical appearance was now the occasional object of racism by Indians from the plains. The 1941 census had shown that the Gorkha in Darjeeling constituted 86% of the population. They made up 96% of the labour force in the tea gardens. Many had been recruited to fight for the British in Second World War. But the British had been reluctant to displease the governments of Nepal and the Kingdom of Sikkim whose feudal labour regimes many original migrants had sought to escape.


title: Darjeeling

text: After the partition of India in 1947, Darjeeling became a part of the new province of West Bengal in the Dominion of India, and in 1950, of the state of West Bengal in the Republic of India. A British exodus from Darjeeling quickly followed. Their cottages were quickly purchased by the Indian upper classes from the plains who enrolled their children in the town's many schools. These actions created social and economic tensions with the Indian Gorkha population and further marginalised the latter. Their lack of economic development, caused by a hierarchal economic system set up by the British, continued in some respects in the immediate decades after 1947. The Indian nationalism that emerged seemed to highlight the unclear position of the Indian Nepalis in the newly independent nation. The division of India into states comprising the regions of its different spoken languages had allowed a relatively large proportion of the educated speakers of these languages to find employment in the government-owned enterprises. In the instance of the Gorkhas, the federal and state governments refused to accept their requests for their own Nepali-speaking state in the northern regions of Bengal. Eventually, the demands for autonomy were downsized to calls for the recognition of the Nepali language for official state business in Nepali-speaking regions of Bengal. This was accepted in the West Bengal Official Language Act, 1961.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling had a sizeable community of Sherpas, an ethnic group, originally from eastern Tibet whose ancestors had moved to some villages in Nepal below Mount Everest. Sherpas had come to Darjeeling in the second half of the 19th century as seasonal labourers looking for work in road-building. As mountaineering in the Himalayas had gained popularity and Nepal was closed to foreigners, many Western mountaineers and enthusiasts came to Darjeeling to plan their Himalayan expeditions. The Sherpas stood out for their exceptional physical ability as porters. These physical abilities and their fitness elicited visits to Darjeeling by European biochemists in the early 1900s. Among the most famous Sherpas who moved to Darjeeling were Ang Tharkay and Tenzing Norgay. On 29 May 1953, Tenzing and Edmund Hillary became the first two humans to stand atop Mount Everest, vaulting both to instant stardom worldwide. The prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, took Tenzing under his wing. Tenzing became the first field director of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute after it was established in Darjeeling in November 1954


title: Darjeeling

text: A trickle of immigrants from Tibet proper into Darjeeling had begun in the second half of the 19th century. Wealthy Tibetan aristocrats had sent their children to Darjeeling's schools, and some went on to settle in the Darjeeling area. After the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China in 1950–1951, many Tibetans emigrated to India, with some settling in the Darjeeling area, including the 14th Dalai Lama's older brother Gyalo Thondup. After the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the Dalai Lama himself fled to exile in India, and tens of thousands of Tibetan refugees poured in after him, with many finding refuge in the Darjeeling–Kalimpong area. A Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre was established in Darjeeling in 1959.


title: Darjeeling

text: In May 1975, the Kingdom of Sikkim to the north of Darjeeling was absorbed into the Republic of India through a referendum. A month thereafter, Sikkim, in which nearly two-thirds of the populace spoke Nepali, was made a state of India. It was not lost on the Gorkhas of the Darjeeling region that there were many more speakers of Nepali in the Gorkha districts of northern Bengal, and their calls for autonomy had borne no fruit. The Government of India, moreover, had been reluctant to recognise Nepali as an official language in the Constitution of India. Slights delivered by senior Indian leadership around this issue—Morarji Desai, a former prime minister calling Nepali a foreign language, and Vallabhbhai Patel, a former deputy prime minister, describing the Gorkhas as disloyal and entertaining "Mongoloid prejudices"—were all remembered. A decade later, during Rajiv Gandhi's prime ministership, small regions in Assam to the east of Darjeeling, which had been riven by violent ethnic separatism, were granted statehood. All these factors played into creating a militant mood among the Gorkhas for statehood and brought the Gorkhaland movement to the forefront. It led to the founding of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) under the leadership of Subhas Ghising. Agitation for a separate state in Darjeeling included violent protests, and fighting between the disparate militant groups. The agitation ceased after an agreement was reached between the government and the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF). It resulted in the establishment of an elected body in 1988, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), which received some autonomy to govern the district.


title: Darjeeling

text: In 1992, the Nepali language was recognized officially at the federal level in India by inclusion in the Indian Constitution. Though Darjeeling became peaceful, the issue of a separate state lingered. Agitation for a new state again erupted in 2008, led by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). In July 2011, a pact was signed between GJM, the state and national governments which included an elected Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), with limited autonomy within the state of West Bengal. It evoked little enthusiasm on the streets. In 2013, fresh agitation broke out in Darjeeling after Telangana, a region in southern India was granted statehood. Four years later, more agitation caused several months of violence, food shortages, and strikes in Darjeeling but resulted in the Morcha splitting into factions. In 2017, Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal chief minister, appointed a moderate Morcha politician to leadership in a reconstituted GTA, marginalizing and eventually ousting the founder of the movement, Bimal Gurung.


title: Darjeeling

text: The Darjeeling hills (formally Darjeeling Himalayan hill region) comprise parts of Darjeeling district and all of Kalimpong district; specifically, they contain: Darjeeling Sadar subdivision, Kalimpong subdivision and Kurseong subdivision. Darjeeling town lies in the Sadar subdivision. It is located at an average elevation of on the Darjeeling–Jalapahar range which runs south to north starting at Ghum (Map 1). The range is Y-shaped with its base resting at Katapahar and Jalapahar and two arms diverging north of the Observatory Hill. The north-eastern arm dips swiftly and ends in the Lebong spur, while the north-western arm slopes gently, passing through North Point, and ends in the valley near the Tukver Tea Estate. Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest peak at , which lies to the north, is the most prominent mountain visible.


title: Darjeeling

text: The Darjeeling hills have been formed by accumulations of folds, faults and tangential thrusts caused by a compression in the north–south direction as the Indian tectonic plate has subducted under the Eurasian plate. Their physical composition varies from unaltered sedimentary rocks in the southern regions to several types of metamorphic rock and some intrusive rocks in the middle and northern, suggesting upward intrusion of the earth's mantle. The collective process has sheared, folded, crushed together, fractured and jointed the rocks, reducing their strength and making them vulnerable to water percolating down their crevices and causing pore water pressure to build up. Phyllites and schists are found in the hills around Kalimpong, which lies to the east, and gneiss predominates the western regions in which Darjeeling lies.


title: Darjeeling

text: Two studies (1990 and 2019) recorded that landslides were a serious concern in the area. Most are triggered by excessive rainfall, earthquakes, and quick erosion caused by torrents. They are accelerated by extensive deforestation, defective drainage, poorly built revetments and the presence of steep slopes that have been undercut to make shelves for paths, roads, and houses. Debris flows along existing gullies can sometimes bring along large boulders and cause damage to roads; in 1968, during a catastrophic rainstorm, the Darjeeling–Siliguri road was cut in 92 places by debris flows.


title: Darjeeling

text: Teesta, the major river of the Darjeeling region, rises at from a glacier in Sikkim, and flows south, at first meeting the Rangpo river and then the Rangeet before exiting the hills and eventually joining the Brahmaputra river in Bangladesh. The flow rate of the Teesta is per second during the summer monsoon; it had had major floods in 1950 and 1968.


title: Darjeeling

text: The continual tectonic activity of Darjeeling's ancient past can be inferred from the surrounding landscape in such features as terraces that dip in their middle as a result of earlier horizontal pressure. Eroded fault scarps, or steps, observed in the landscape were caused by vertical slips in the faults below. Alluvial fans at different heights signify a succession of previous rivers that dried up and spread their silt outwards as their beds were raised by the uplift. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, Darjeeling town falls under seismic zone-IV (on a scale of I to V, in order of increasing proneness to earthquakes). A study published in 2018 found that residents of Darjeeling's outer areas, which are lower-income and lower-lying, worried about catastrophic loss during an earthquake. The April 2015 Nepal earthquake was felt in Darjeeling, and these residents feared that in the instance of a major earthquake, the unplanned upper-level construction could very well give way and tumble down on them.


title: Darjeeling

text: The average annual precipitation in Darjeeling is approximately . Eighty percent of the annual rainfall takes place between the months of June and September, due to the monsoon of South Asia. The "June–May ratio," or the percentage by which the rain increases from May to June, is 2.6 or 260%. In contrast, just 3% of the annual rainfall takes place between December and March. Darjeeling's altitude—which is greater than some other regions of the Eastern Himalayas at the same latitude (27° N), such as the Assam hills—and its rarified air causes its UV radiation levels to be correspondingly higher. Its mean monthly UV radiance is approximately 4500 microwatts per square cm per day during the peak months of May, June, and July. It is 50% higher than the Assam hills to the east, whose altitude is .


title: Darjeeling

text: From the beginning of the twentieth century, Darjeeling's average temperature has increased by 4 °C, which is twice the world's average, and the annual averages of its daily maximum and minimum temperatures have increased by greater margins. During the same period, relative humidity has decreased by 7%, and rainfall by annually. For its water the Darjeeling municipality and the surrounding hills depend to a large extent on perennial or seasonal "jhora" springs (see ), especially during the pre-monsoon months from February to May. The Senchal Lakes, two artificial reservoirs built in 1910 and 1932 in a forested high-altitude area to the southeast (see ), which are filled with water from a surrounding catchment area during the monsoon months, have a greatly reduced supply, as of 2016. Darjeeling's explosive population growth in the period 1961–2011, and extensive deforestation even within the protected catchment area for the lakes, have caused many springs to have vastly reduced yields during the dry months from February to May. Of the 26 springs that had once fed the lakes, 12 have been affected. Forests and pastures have shrunk from 78% in 1900 to 38% in 2000, and cultivated land, which contributes to soil erosion, has correspondingly increased during the same time from 20% to 44%. By 2006, land records in Darjeeling showed that foodgrain-producing farmland had decreased proportionally, caused by accelerated levels of urbanisation and by subsistence farming giving way to commercial cropping, especially of tea. In 2016, acid rain, which can be caused by air pollution and can in turn damage forests, was observed in the Eastern Himalayas; the pH value in Darjeeling was measured at 4.2. A 2022 article quoting another 2016 study reported a pH value of 5.0±0.825 in the rainwater.


title: Darjeeling

text: According to a 2014 study, the influx of the excess population in the tea plantations around Darjeeling into "marginal areas of town—on backfill, slopes, septic tanks, and jhorās (springs)—has strapped the town’s colonial-era infrastructure. Despite building codes that prohibit buildings taller than three stories, the market for cheap housing in Darjeeling inspires developers to go skyward, often as many as eight stories. Hastily built apartment houses ... are falling into the jhorās and sliding down the mountainside."


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling is a part of the Eastern Himalayan zoo-geographic zone. Flora around Darjeeling comprises sal, oak, semi-evergreen, temperate and alpine forests. Dense evergreen forests of sal and oak lie around the town, where a wide variety of rare orchids are found. The Lloyd's Botanical Garden preserves common and rare species of plants, while the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park specialises in conserving and breeding endangered Himalayan species. The town of Darjeeling and surrounding region face deforestation due to increasing demand for wood fuel and timber, as well as air pollution from increasing vehicular traffic.


title: Darjeeling

text: Forests and wildlife in the district are managed and protected by the Divisional Forest Officer of the Territorial and Wildlife wing of the West Bengal Forest Department. The fauna found in Darjeeling includes several species of ducks, teals, plovers and gulls that pass Darjeeling while migrating to and from Tibet. Small mammals found in the region include civets (such as small and large Indian civets, masked palm civet, spotted linsang and binturong), mongooses (such as Indian grey mongoose and crab-eating mongoose) and badgers (such as Burmese ferret-badger and greater hog badger). Other carnivores found in the area include Himalayan black bear and red panda. A conservation centre for red pandas opened at Darjeeling Zoo in 2014, building on a prior captive breeding program; this Species Survival Plan had about 25 red pandas by 2016. The Himalayan newt "Tylotriton verrucosus", one of two salamander species occurring in India, is found in wetlands in the vicinity. The Himalayan relict dragonfly "Epiophlebia laidlawi", one of just four species in the family Epiophlebiidae, was first described from the region.


title: Darjeeling

text: The Indian decennial census of 2011 (the last for which there is processed data) recorded the population of the Darjeeling municipality to be 118,805 individuals. Of these, 59,618 were females and 59,187 were males, yielding a gender ratio of 1007 females for every 1000 males. The population density of the municipality was 15,990 individuals per km (41,000 per square mile). The literacy rate was 93.9%—the female literacy rate was 91.3% and the male was 96.4%. Among groups whose historical disadvantages have been recognized by the Constitution of India and designated for amelioration in subsequent commissions and programmes, the scheduled tribes of Darjeeling town constituted approximately 22.4% of the population, and the scheduled castes 7.7%. The work participation rate was 34.4%. The number of people living in slums was 25,026 individuals (which was 21.1% of the population).


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling began to be an "administrative" town in independent India after being made the headquarters of Darjeeling district in 1947. During the period 1961–2011, the town's population increased at an accelerated rate (Figure 1). An "aspirational middle class" arose, comprising families of professionals in the administration, and retail and service industries.


title: Darjeeling

text: "Indian Gorkha" is a term that denotes the Nepali-speaking people of northeastern India, as distinct from the Nepali-speaking inhabitants of Nepal. As of 2016, the population of Darjeeling was predominantly Indian Gorkha. There were also smaller numbers of Lepchas, Bhutias, Tibetans, Bengalis, Marwaris and Biharis. In the 2011 census, between them they practised Hinduism (66.5%), Buddhism (23.9%), Christianity (5.1%) and Islam (3.9%). The Lepchas were considered the main indigenous community of the region; their original religion was a form of animism. The Nepali community was a complex mix of numerous castes and ethnic groups, with many roots in tribal and animist traditions. The accelerated growth of the town's population and the tightly packed living conditions in which different ethnicities mixed created syncretic cultures in Darjeeling which evolved away from their historical roots.


title: Darjeeling

text: According to a 2014 study, although the demand for labour in the tea estates surrounding Darjeeling had stayed roughly constant since 1910, the population of Nepali-speaking workers and their families in the tea estates had grown throughout. As the excess population migrated up to Darjeeling in search of jobs and housing, their cause was championed by the Gorkhaland movement in the 1980s; this had the effect of making a considerable number of non-Gorkha families leave their homes in Darjeeling.


title: Darjeeling

text: Seasonal migration out of Darjeeling has long been a local feature, especially among the lower-income groups; substantial migration among middle-class youth is a 21st-century occurrence. Many educated young people in Darjeeling have begun to migrate out because the growth of jobs in the area has not kept pace with the numbers of people with tertiary degrees. For both groups of migrants, favoured destinations fall into three groups:


title: Darjeeling

text: Those looking for eventual employment in professional careers pursue higher education. Both groups have experienced racism and economic and social discrimination in India's big cities, caused by their distinctive, more East Asian, physical appearance.


title: Darjeeling

text: The Darjeeling Municipality is one of the oldest in India, established on 1 July 1850, with ten wards. It was governed by commissioners who were nominated until 1916, then elected until 1932, and nominated again until 1947. After India's independence that year, the commissioners continued to be appointed until 1964, when the first election was held. It was overturned by a court injunction; further elections and continual interference by West Bengal's state government became the prevalent state of affairs. As of 2021, the municipality is governed by a board of councillors headed by a chairperson and a vice chairperson. The number of wards in the municipality increased to 32 in 1988. Wards represent electoral subdivisions; in 2017, 32 councillors were elected, one from each ward. The wards were reorganized and bifurcated in 2011.


title: Darjeeling

text: The area of the town (municipality) was reduced from to in 2011 after bifurcation. By 2016, the municipality was surrounded by tea gardens and forestry department land and had minimal room for expansion.


title: Darjeeling

text: In 2021 the town had approximately 22,000 households and 350 hotels and restaurants. That same year the following statistics were collected: the municipality considered wards 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, and 25 to be the core areas; most businesses, hotels, restaurants, and educational institutions were located in these wards and they were better connected to municipal electricity and water; wards 10, 15, 20 and areas of ward 30 were the most developed, whereas wards 1, 2, 13, 14, 27, 31, and 32 were the most deprived; and the latter group of wards contained 37 slums in which 23% of the population of Darjeeling resided.


title: Darjeeling

text: In 1988, the Gorkha-dominated hill areas of Darjeeling district were given an autonomous form of governance under the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC). In 2012, the DGHC was replaced by a similar body called the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). The elected members of GTA manage certain affairs of the hills, including education, industry and land revenue; they cannot legislate or levy taxes. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) held power in the municipality until March 2022, when it was defeated by the newly-formed Hamro Party.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling town is within the Darjeeling Assembly constituency that elects one member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly in state legislative elections every five years. The town is part of the Darjeeling parliamentary constituency that elects one member for the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament.


title: Darjeeling

text: A 2017 study described the Darjeeling area as entirely dependent on the production of tea and the inflow of tourists to create employment.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling tea is produced on plantations in which a few leaves on each tea bush are plucked by women. During the tea bush's dormancy period in the short winter season, it is pruned by the women to stimulate growth the following season. Unlike China, where the tea bush grew into a tree, the early British planters devised these means to monocrop tea in tightly packed hedges on vast estates. In the plantation factories, men operate machines to ferment, dry, and package the normally short-lived green tea leaves.


title: Darjeeling

text: After India's independence in 1947, many of Darjeeling's governmental and economic arrangements remained unchanged. When British planters auctioned off their estates, they were bought by Indians from the plains or corporations from elsewhere in India. Darjeeling's labour force had long consisted of workers recruited from Nepal. Mid-19th-century British ethnologists had commended Nepalese for their step farming and other forms of settled agriculture in the Himalayan foothills. They were contrasted with Darjeeling's native population of the Lepcha at the time of British annexation, who practised "shifting agriculture". Planters believed that if allotted a house and a yard in which to grow vegetables and fruit, the Nepalis would be more inclined to stay. The arrangement, which lasted during the colonial period, was formalized in independent India's Plantations Labour Act, 1951. As of 2017, workers maintain their two or three-bedroom homes which they do not own, become attached to their upkeep, and eventually hope to retire in them when an adult child who also works on the plantation inherits the house.


title: Darjeeling

text: In 2017, the average basic daily wage (that is, without employee benefits) of a Darjeeling tea garden worker was Rupees 144.60 () per day. With benefits, it was Rupees 277.10 () per day. Comparatively, Darjeeling's tea estate workers were paid less in 2017 than tea estate workers in several southern Indian states. The auction price of Darjeeling tea for 2017 was comparatively higher.


title: Darjeeling

text: A 2017 study found that some 60% of the plantation labour jobs in the Darjeeling area were held by women. The protection and economic development of the tea labour force was one of the motivations for India's enactment of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. According to a 2017 study, "India has pursued the recognition of iconic brands, not only to create market share but also to recognise the value of the GI system to encourage development in poor, rural regions with high unemployment rates. This is consistent with the broad WTO objective to encourage trade liberalisation in developing countries to reduce poverty." Darjeeling tea was given GI recognition in Europe in spite of some European Union member nations objecting to the use of the indication for blended tea. It was recognized in US Geographical Indication mark, "DARJEELING, Registration No. 1,632,726."


title: Darjeeling

text: Tea is produced in the Darjeeling hills and farther below in two different forms. Orthodox tea looks like the twisted and dried version of the green leaves on the bushes. The Darjeeling sub-division of the Darjeeling hills had 46 tea estates in 2017, producing mostly orthodox tea. This is commonly exported and is some of the world's most expensive. In the crush, tear, curl, or CTC version, which is commonly grown in the Kurseong sub-division (with 29 tea estates), and the Kalimpong (with 6), the tea leaves are mechanically manipulated, fired, and turned into tiny hard pellets that look like instant coffee. Cheaply available, and boiled with milk and sugar, when CTC tea was introduced into the Indian market in the early 1950s, it turned India into a nation of tea drinkers.


title: Darjeeling

text: The area of cultivation of Darjeeling tea increased from 16,569 hectares (in 1951) to a high of 20,065 (in 1990) and dropped to 17,820 (in 2014) according to a 2021 study. There were 99 tea estates in 1961; these increased until 1990 (when 102 were recorded) but dropped to 83 by 1995 and to 81 by 2014. The 20% drop from 1990 to 1995 was attributed in the study to India's economic liberalisation which came into force in the very early 1990s. A 2017 study similarly reported the Indian tea industry to have been adversely affected by price drops after India's economic liberalisation in the 1990s. Darjeeling tea garden owners invested their surpluses in more profitable industries elsewhere, causing a decline in productivity in the local tea industry. The Tea Board of India estimated of Darjeeling tea was produced in 2021; this constitutes about 0.5% of total produced in India.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling has two peak tourism seasons, September to November and April to May. A 2014 study suggested that domestic tourism is the foundation of the town's vacation business. The Chowrasta is a popular shopping and gathering area where a tourist might get their picture taken dressed in colourful and rustic local clothes. The tea plantations below are particularly visited by foreign tourists. Old bungalows in some plantations have been converted to deluxe lodgings in which rooms rent out dearly by any global standard. Some tourists hold dear the escape to a peaceful, unspoilt, and picturesque landscape evoked in Satyajit Ray's 1962-film "Kanchenjungha".


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling had become an important tourist destination as early as 1860. Since India's economic liberalisation in 1991, tourism in Darjeeling has become cheaper, and Darjeeling, once considered a luxury destination, has become accessible to mass tourism. A 2016 study recorded the tourist influx into Darjeeling town between 2009 and 2014 as ranging from a low of 243,255 individuals in the 2010–2011 season to a high of 488,675 in 2012–2013; the large majority were domestic tourists, with foreign tourists never comprising more than 35,000 annual visitors.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling can be reached by the narrow-gauge Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) which travels a route long from Siliguri. Pulled by steam locomotives, it moves at speeds of between and per hour. Although the service was begun in the 19th century to move humans and freight efficiently, its primary clients today are tourists who are availing themselves of the opportunity to experience the mobilities of travel of a bygone era. After an international and national campaign for its support, the railway was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in December 1999 at the 23rd Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Morocco. In "Notes on Defining the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway: World Heritage Property", Unpublished manuscript. The DHR Archive, Kurseong, 2005, K. Weise had written:


title: Darjeeling

text: The railway begins on the plains of West Bengal and soon begins climbing through a remnant of lowland jungle, including stands of teak. As the railway climbs, so the flora changes and its upper sections are dominated by enormous Himalayan pines, which in misty weather give a surreal quality to the landscape. It frequently hugs the ages of hillsides with drops, often of thousands of feet, to the plains and valleys below. Towering over the entire scene is the perennially snow-covered bulk of Kanchenjungha. ... From Kurseong the railway offers frequent views of this stupendous mountain, which by Ghoom dominates the entire landscape.


title: Darjeeling

text: In a 1999 study, it was thought the tourist influx into Darjeeling had been adversely affected by the political instability in the region, including agitations in the 1980s. According to a 2018 study, tourism in Darjeeling is limited to a small area of the town so its effect on local employment is inadequate for alleviating Darjeeling's high unemployment rate. According to the author, "The majority of the employees and almost all of the top ranking officers in West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation are Bengalis; locals generally get employed as photographers, drivers, and guides."


title: Darjeeling

text: The chief catchment area for Darjeeling municipality's water is the Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary, located approximately to the southeast, covering an area of and lying between and in altitude. Natural springs in the sanctuary, not all perennial, are the main source of the water supply. The steep slopes of the surrounding ridges (at inclines of between 20° and 48°) can lead to high surface run-off, subsequent absorption, and collection of water in partially confined spaces. Upon reaching a critical volume, this groundwater can surge out as seasonal springs. Water collected from 26 perennial and seasonal springs is routed through stone conduits to the Senchal Lakes (Map 2) constructed in 1910 and 1932. From Senchal the water is piped to the town after purification at a filtration plant in Jorebungalow. There are a combined of pipes transporting water from Senchal to Darjeeling, and a further in the water distribution system within Darjeeling. In the months before the monsoon during which water in the Senchal lakes is reduced, it is augmented by pumping water electrically from another reservoir located near Khong Khola.


title: Darjeeling

text: A 2012 report of the Darjeeling Municipality Waterworks Department stated that from the 1930s little or no maintenance had been undertaken on the water pipeline from Senchal. Engineers in the department suggested that there might be up to 35% transmission loss, and more within Darjeeling. Once in Darjeeling, the water is distributed along the colonial pattern, first serving more expensive and sought-after uphill neighbourhoods and then the low-income downhill ones, which have more restricted access to the supply. The system was designed to serve a population of up to 20,000 individuals. Between 1911 and 2011, there had been a six-fold increase in the population of the municipality, not including the large number of transients such as students, migrant workers, and tourists (see ). Increasing demand has led to a worsening shortfall in the water supply. As a result, many residents have to purchase water from private vendors who either supply it in water tankers or in hand-pushed carts; they sometimes collect the water from the local "jhora" or springs. (see ). Larger private businesses are involved in supplying households but do so at a substantially higher cost.


title: Darjeeling

text: As of 2020, every day 30 metric tonnes of solid waste are generated in Darjeeling, and during the peak tourist seasons, the amount goes up to 50 metric tonnes. Bulk waste, which is chiefly produced in residential areas, markets and hotels, is deposited in common dumping areas from which it is taken in tractor-trailers to dumping grounds. Open dumping, which is the disposal of waste in sites not designed for waste management, is commonly practiced, and has created economic and social tensions in Darjeeling.


title: Darjeeling

text: In 1897 Darjeeling became the first town in India to be supplied by hydroelectricity, which was generated at the nearby Sidrapong Hydel Power Station; it was primarily for use in street lighting and private houses. Today, electricity is supplied by the West Bengal State Electricity Board from other locations.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling has two major arterial roads: Hill Cart Road—which is a continuation of National Highway 110 connecting Siliguri at the base of the Darjeeling hills to Darjeeling—and Lebong Cart Road (see ). The average width of Darjeeling's roads in 2018 was between and . According to a Darjeeling Municipality report of 2008, a little over half (55%) of Darjeelings roads were both metalled (paved with asphalt, or bitumen) and motorable; the rest were too narrow to admit traffic whether concrete roads or unpaved. There were three parking areas that were not located on the street and 13 on-street. Illegal parking along narrow roads has created congestion for both pedestrians and wheeled transport.


title: Darjeeling

text: As of 2018, Darjeeling had no public transport system of buses. Less than one in 20 residents owned any form of vehicular transport, two-wheeled or four. For both locals and tourists motorized travel was limited to six- or eight-seater paratransit taxis that have no set routes or timetables. Passengers embark and disembark in the central shopping district of the town, making the area both congested and polluted. In 2015, in an attempt to tackle the pollution, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), which governs the district, introduced three battery-powered street-legal golf-cart-taxis on a trial basis. The taxis had cost approximately Rupees 36 lakh (or $14,670 in the 2015 exchange rate) per vehicle. Although the vehicles were factory-designed for a battery life of before requiring a recharge, their batteries were found to run out in . Chalking up the disparity to the challenges of Darjeeling's steep streets, and the lack of mechanics to correct the malfunction, the administration withdrew the vehicles from the streets in 2016.


title: Darjeeling

text: Darjeeling can be reached by motorized vehicles on National Highway 110, from Siliguri, away. Darjeeling has road connections with Bagdogra, Gangtok and Kathmandu and the neighbouring towns of Kurseong and Kalimpong. However, road and railway communications often get disrupted in the monsoons because of landslides. The nearest airport is Bagdogra Airport, located from Darjeeling.


title: Darjeeling

text: The culture of Darjeeling is diverse and includes a variety of indigenous practices and festivals; it has a regional distinctness from the rest of India. Mixing and intermarriage between ethnic groups have led to hybrid cultural forms and practices.


title: Darjeeling

text: Major festivals are Dashain (Vijayadashami), Tihar (Diwali), Holi, Lakshmi Puja, Maghe Sankranti, Losar, Buddha Jayanti, and Christmas. Tibetan Buddhism is followed by some ethnic groups such as Tibetans, Lepchas, Bhutias, Sherpas, Yolmos, Gurungs, and Tamangs; their common festivals are the Tibetan new year festival Losar, Saga Dawa and Tendong Lho Rumfaat. The Kirati ethnic group Rais, Limbus, Sunuwars and Yakkhas celebrate Udhauli and Ubhauli as their main festival.


title: Darjeeling

text: Popular Hindu deities are Durga, Kali, and Shiva; other deities with both Hindu and Buddhist influences, such as Manjushri and Macchindranāth, are popular among Newar people, and Gorakhnath, and worshipped by Gorkhas. The Mahakal Temple on Observatory Hill is a pilgrimage site for Hindu and Buddhists. Followers of Tibetan Buddhism, or Lamaism, have established several "gompa" or monasteries. Ghoom Monastery (8 km or 5 miles from the town), Bhutia Busty monastery, and Mag-Dhog Yolmowa preserve ancient Buddhist scripts. A Peace Pagoda was built in 1992 by the Japanese Buddhist organisation Nipponzan Myohoji. In the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre, Tibetan crafts like carpets, wood and leather work are displayed.


title: Darjeeling

text: The Darjeeling Initiative, a civil society movement, holds the ten-day Darjeeling Carnival; it celebrates Darjeeling Hill's musical and cultural heritage each year usually in November. A literary culture has matured in the Nepali-speaking population of the Darjeeling region; in 2013, Asit Rai, a resident and Nepali-language writer, was elected to the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour of India's National Academy of Letters.


title: Darjeeling

text: According to a 2017 study, Western music has long been popular in Darjeeling. In the "lively hippie music scene" in Kathmandu in the late 1960s, some of the earliest "Western pop performers" were from Darjeeling. The earliest Nepali-led hotel bands were from Darjeeling and many among them had played in hotels in Calcutta before. A 2004 study suggested that one possible reason for such leadership might have been that many Nepalis in Darjeeling had become Christians and were no longer bound by Hindu caste prejudices in which "musical performance is associated with low caste standing". By the early 1990s, a common middle-class western popular music culture was much in evidence among the young people of Kathmandu, Nepal and the Nepalese-speaking youth in Darjeeling.


title: Darjeeling

text: Football is the most popular sport in Darjeeling; the annual Gold Cup tournament was once a favourite event in the hills. An improvised form of ball made of rubber bands is often used for playing in the steep streets, and is known as Chungi.


title: Darjeeling

text: Colonial architecture is exemplified in Darjeeling by cottages, Gothic churches, Planters' Club, the Raj Bhawan and various educational institutions.


title: Darjeeling

text: The traditional dietary culture of the town of Darjeeling has much in common with that of the Darjeeling hills, though urbanisation has affected the food habits throughout the region. A mug of tea with milk, with or without sugar, is traditionally the first drink of the day. Butter tea, made from compressed tea leaves, butter, water, milk and salt is a popular delicacy. The staple diet is eaten twice a day. The food in these regions is less spicy, cooked with either little or no oil, and semi-boiled. The first meal is eaten in the morning with cooked rice, dal, cooked vegetables mixed with potatoes, some fermented meat or milk products—dahi, or yoghurt; mohi, which is spicy buttermilk; and "chhurpi", a kind of hard cheese made from cow or yak milk—and pickles commonly called bhat-dal-tharkari-achar. The second meal is dinner in the early evening, which consists of the same bhat-dal-tharkari-achar. Bhutia and Lepcha usually eat thukpa noodles in soup.


title: Darjeeling

text: Traditionally, the people of the region have preferred cooked rice as the staple; however, roti made of wheat is also popular, mostly among the urban population. Cooked ground maize is sometimes eaten as staple food mostly in rural areas, where it might be eaten with mohi and gundruk, a fermented vegetable. Goyang, another fermented food, is made from the leaves of a local wild plant, abundantly available during the monsoon. The leaves are fermented for a month and then consumed for several months afterwards. Boiled with yak meat or beef to make a hearty thukpa soup, it is commonly prepared in Sherpa homes though seldom sold.


title: Darjeeling

text: Some ethnic foods have cultural value in festivals. Celebration of festivals with the consumption of sel roti, a fermented cereal-based fried doughnut-like confectionery, is a custom of the Gorkha. Dahi, a fermented milk product, is consumed as a savoury addition to daily diets. It is also used by the Gorkha to make a paste with rice and food colour for applying to the foreheads of the younger members of the family by their elders during festivals and marriages. Alcoholic drinks can have a similar dual purpose; in addition to being consumed directly they are offered to gods and in the veneration of the dead. In some communities, they have been employed in spirit possession rituals.


title: Darjeeling

text: Some Brahmin Gorkhas are vegetarians. Non-vegetarians eat chicken, mutton, buffalo, and pork. Beef is taboo to a majority of the Gorkha except for Tamang and Sherpa. Newar prefers buffalo meat. About two-thirds of people prepare ethnic fermented foods at home for consumption. Cooking is usually done by women. Traditionally members of the family sit together on bamboo mats in the kitchen, and meals are served by the female members of the family and then usually eaten by hand, though chopsticks made of bamboo are commonly used by the Bhutia and Tibetans. Plates are made of brass or have a thin layer of brass.


title: Darjeeling

text: Popular alcoholic beverages sold in Darjeeling town include "tongba", "Jnaard" (pronounced as Jaar) and "chhaang", variations of a local beer made from fermenting finger millet. A popular food in Darjeeling is the "momo", a steamed dumpling containing pork, beef, chicken or vegetables (cabbage or potatoes) cooked in a doughy wrapping and served with watery soup. Wai-Wai, originally a product of Nepal, is a packaged snack consisting of noodles which are eaten either dry or in soup form.


title: Darjeeling

text: A study conducted between 2012 and 2014 observed that the elite schools established in Darjeeling during the late 19th century for the education of British children were offering English-medium instruction of high quality to Indian children. The Jesuit boys' school, St Joseph's (usually called North Point), the Anglican boarding school for boys, St Paul's, and the Catholic girls' school Loreto Convent (see ) were attracting students from faraway places, including Burma and Thailand. North Point and Loreto had established colleges, St. Joseph's College and Loreto College (now Southfield College); these along with the Darjeeling Government College, a co-educational college founded in 1948, made up the three colleges of Darjeeling. All were affiliated to University of North Bengal in Siliguri. The same study suggested that the private schools were no longer catering only to children of the affluent. Some lower-middle-class families in Darjeeling were sending their children to North Point and Loreto, despite their high fees, in order to give them better future opportunities. By 2014, colleges had increased the enrollment of students from rural backgrounds. In fields such as engineering and computer science, the local colleges, however, were less able to offer the professional training or career placement facilities of India's growth centres, which had caused some students to leave Darjeeling after high school.


title: Darjeeling

text: In the Darjeeling municipality in 2003–2004, there were 16,015 students in primary schools, 5169 in higher-secondary schools, and 3,825 in colleges and universities. According to a 2013 study, few students attended college for there seemed little scope for realizing "middle-class aspirations in Darjeeling through educational credentials". It noted that the fees in the better-funded private colleges, although affordable for the upper-level government officials or successful businesspersons, were too high for the lower-middle-classes in town. This put pressure on the only affordable college, the government college in the town's centre. It was lower-priced but poorly funded, with broken windows, leaking roofs, and absent teachers, causing the students to feel neglected and affecting their attendance. The teachers for their part were unable to meet the extra demands placed on them.


title: Darjeeling

text: A 2022 study noted that among the population of Darjeeling that lives in slums (comprising 11.72% of the town's population as per the 2011 census), 13% had finished primary school but had gone no further, 45% had finished high school (grade 10) but no further, 13% had finished higher-secondary (grade 10+2), and 10% had been to college. A 2018 study reported that the water crisis in the Darjeeling town has especially affected adolescent girl students who go to government schools. Many do not have access to hygiene facilities such as toilets and bathrooms, either in their homes or at school, particularly for hygiene management during menstruation. The study found that most toilets in government schools were not usable and that no government schools had "proper sanitary facilities for girls. There is no system of water in the toilets and no arrangement for cleaning the toilets daily." It stated that many girls don't drink water during the day for fear of having to use the school toilets.


title: Darjeeling

text: Most tea plantations make no more than lower primary school instruction available on site. As a result, tea garden workers have typically had fewer opportunities for education. As of 2022, a little over a third of the female workforce and half the male were educated up to grade 8. The workers attributed this to their tea garden's remoteness and lack of means in the family during their childhood. Some families have raised chickens or livestock or opened a corner shop to make more money; their children have gone to nearby towns to study in private schools in which the medium of instruction is English, which is thought to offer better career opportunities. The Nepali language was accepted as a teaching language in all primary schools with a Nepali-speaking majority in the Darjeeling district in 1935.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian Borges da Silva (born 9 August 1988), known as Willian, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Fulham.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian started his career at Corinthians, before joining Shakhtar Donetsk in August 2007 for a fee of €14million. In his six years at the club, he won honours including four Ukrainian Premier League titles and the UEFA Cup in 2009. In 2013, he briefly signed for Anzhi Makhachkala before joining Chelsea for £30million, winning the Premier League and League Cup in his second season in England.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian made his debut for Brazil in 2011 and has since represented his country at the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups, as well as the 2015 Copa América, the Copa América Centenario, and the 2019 Copa América, a tournament Brazil won on home soil.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian started playing futsal at 6 years old in his hometown Ribeirão Pires. In 1998 he joined the Corinthians youth system. In 2005, aged 17, he was already part of the squad that won the Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior. He was also among the Corinthians loanees that briefly played for Grêmio Mauaense in the 2005 Campeonato Paulista Série A3.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: In 2007, Willian started playing for the Corinthians first team, where he wore the number 10. He made five league appearances during his first season with the senior side as Corinthians finished mid-table. His breakthrough came with Corinthians in the following campaign, featuring in 11 league matches, scoring twice, and made 29 appearances in all competitions for the club. Although they were 13th when Willian was sold, they ended up finishing 17th in the Série A and were relegated for the first time in club history.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 23 August 2007, Willian signed a five-year contract with Shakhtar Donetsk for a transfer fee of €14million. Willian's debut for the club came in a 2–1 league victory over Chornomorets Odesa on 15 September. He came on as a 57th-minute substitute, replacing fellow Brazilian Jádson. His first goal for the club came on 31 October in a 4–1 victory over Arsenal Kyiv in the Ukrainian Cup. He made his European debut in a 3–0 Champions League defeat to Italian side A.C. Milan on 6 November, coming on as a 73rd minute replacement for Răzvan Raț. He ended his first season with 31 total appearances, 28 of which came in the league, he scored 3 league goals. He helped Shakhtar to a Vyshcha Liha and Ukrainian Cup double. They won the league by three points over Dynamo Kyiv and also beat them 2–0 in the 2008 Ukrainian Cup Final.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: He played in the Super Cup penalty shoot-out victory over Dynamo Kyiv on 15 July, being replaced by Brandão after 46 minutes. On 27 August, he scored a goal in a 3–1 victory over Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League. On 1 November, he scored his first league goal for Shakhtar in a 3–1 win against Zorya Luhansk. On 16 November, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Dynamo Kyiv. He scored the goal of the match in a 1–0 victory against Chornomorets Odesa on 25 April.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian played in Shakhtar's UEFA Cup Final 2–1 extra time victory against Werder Bremen, helping Shakhtar to lift the last UEFA Cup title before it was rebranded as the UEFA Europa League. He made 52 appearances in the 2008–09 season, scoring eight goals. He appeared in all but one league match, scoring five goals, and also netted a goal in a Ukrainian Cup round of 16 tie against Zakarpattia Uzhhorod, which Shakhtar won 4–1.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian's first goal of the season came in a 6–1 Ukrainian Cup round of 32 victory against Dniester Ovidiopol on 15 August. He made an appearance in Shakhtar's 1–0 extra time defeat to Spanish side Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup on 28 August, being replaced by Julius Aghahowa in the 90th minute of the match. On 17 September, he netted the second goal in a 4–1 win against Belgian side Club Brugge in a group stage match in the Europa League. He ended the season with 7 goals in 39 appearances, including 22 appearances and five goals in the league. He helped Shakhtar to victory in the Ukrainian Premier League. They finished the league with 77 points, six ahead of nearest rivals Dynamo Kyiv.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian started the season with a goal in Shakhtar's emphatic 7–1 victory against Tavriya Simferopol in the Super Cup on 4 July. He followed that up on 10 July with the second goal in the first league match of the season, a 2–0 victory over Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih. On 15 August, he netted the only goal in a 1–0 victory against Karpaty Lviv, scoring in first half stoppage time. He also scored the only goal in a 1–0 win against Illichivets Mariupol on 29 August. On 8 March, he scored two goals in a Champions League last 16 tie against Roma, with Shakhtar winning 3–0 on the night and progressing to the quarter-final after winning 6–2 on aggregate. He played in the 2–0 victory over Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukrainian Cup Final on 25 May, being replaced by Alex Teixeira after 77 minutes. He ended the season with eight goals from 43 appearances, including 23 league appearances and three league goals. Shakhtar retained their league title with a score of 72 points, seven points ahead of second placed team, Dynamo Kyiv. They added the Ukrainian Cup and Super Cup titles to clinch a domestic treble.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: The following season, Willian played the full 90 minutes in the Super Cup match against Dynamo Kyiv on 5 July, however Shakhtar lost the match 3–1. On 19 October, he scored the opening goal in a 2–2 draw with Zenit Saint Petersburg in the Champions League. He scored the second goal in a 2–1 win over Illichivets Mariupol on 10 March. On 6 May, he played the full match in a 2–1 extra time victory against Metalurh Donetsk in the Ukrainian Cup Final. He finished the season with six goals, five in the league, from 37 appearances, 27 of which came in the league. Shakhtar secured the Ukrainian Premier League title for the third year in a row and the Ukrainian Cup title for a second time in a row.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Shakhtar opened the season with a 2–0 win against Metalurh Donetsk in the Super Cup, however Willian failed to make the squad for the match. He had to wait until the fourth league match of the season, on 6 August, before making his first appearance of the season in a 4–0 win against Volyn Lutsk. He replaced goalscorer Alex Teixeira after 46 minutes. On 19 August, he scored his first goal and made two assists in a comprehensive 5–1 victory against Chornomorets Odesa. Willian scored both of Shakhtar's goals in their 3–2 loss against European champions Chelsea in the group stage of the Champions League on 7 November.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 31 January 2013, Willian moved to Anzhi Makhachkala for a fee thought to be in the region of €35million. He originally chose to wear the number 10, however due to UEFA restrictions that states a player must wear a number used in the Champions League for the remainder of the season, he was forced to wear the number 88 he had chosen at Shakhtar. After moving to Russia, Willian said he was happy to join Anzhi and wished Shakhtar Donetsk great success in the future. On his debut, Willian sustained an injury against Newcastle United in a Europa League match. He scored his only Anzhi goal on 14 April 2013 in a 3–0 victory against Volga Nizhny Novgorod.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: In August 2013, following financial restructuring, Anzhi chose to transfer their whole squad, including recent signing Willian.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 25 August 2013, English Premier League club Chelsea agreed a deal to sign Willian for a fee of £30million, subject to a work permit hearing on 28 August 2013. The deal was made official on 28 August 2013 and Willian signed a five-year contract, receiving the number 22 shirt. Although regulations usually state that non-EU players must be regular internationals, Willian was given a work permit despite only having two caps at the time, as an FA panel deemed that if he were not a Brazilian, he would have been a regular international and therefore would have had more caps.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Prior to signing for Chelsea, Willian had attracted interest from Chelsea's London rivals Tottenham. He completed a medical at Tottenham before meeting with Chelsea, which caused confusion as to which club he would sign for. Willian claims Chelsea was his first preference, and he would have only signed with Tottenham if the deal with Chelsea fell through.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian made his debut on 18 September against Basel in the Champions League in a 2–1 home defeat. After featuring in wins against Swindon Town and Steaua București in the League Cup and Champions League respectively, he made his league debut on 6 October away to Norwich City, and scored in a 3–1 win. He scored his second Chelsea goal on 1 January 2014 in a 3–0 victory at Southampton. On 27 April 2014, Willian scored in Chelsea's 2–0 away victory against Liverpool.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian scored his first goal of the new Premier League season in a 3–0 win over Aston Villa on 27 September. On 25 November, he scored his first Champions League goal for the club in a group stage match against Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: In extra time in a League Cup semi-final against Liverpool on 28 January 2015, he took the free-kick which was headed in by Branislav Ivanović to put Chelsea into the final. On 1 March, Willian was selected to start against Tottenham in the 2015 League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, a match which Chelsea won 2–0 to win the trophy for the fifth time.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian ended the 2014–15 season having appeared in 36 of Chelsea's 38 league matches as the club won its fifth league title.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 16 September, Willian scored directly from a free kick to open the scoring as Chelsea defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv in the club's first game of the Champions League group stage. He went on to score from free kicks in the team's next three matches; Premier League matches against Newcastle United and Southampton and a 2–1 loss at Porto in the Champions League. On 4 November, Willian scored his fifth free-kick of the season to give Chelsea a 2–1 win over Dynamo Kyiv, and 20 days later he recorded a sixth in a 4–0 triumph at Maccabi, making him Europe's top free-kick scorer of the season.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 9 December, Willian scored his fifth Champions League goal of the season in a 2–0 victory over Porto in Chelsea's final group match, ensuring the team qualified for the knockout stage as group winners. He was subsequently named by UEFA as one of the top XI players of the Champions' League group stage.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 13 May 2016, Willian was named Chelsea's Fans' Player of the Year and Players' Player of the Year for 2015–16.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 12 July 2016, Willian signed a new four-year contract. On 27 August 2016, he scored his first goal of the season in a 3–0 win over newly promoted Burnley.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 22 April 2017, Willian scored twice in Chelsea's 4–2 FA Cup semi-final victory over rivals Tottenham at Wembley Stadium.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On his 200th appearance for Chelsea, Willian scored twice and won two penalties as the Blues beat Qarabağ 4–0 at Baku National Stadium on 22 November. The win guaranteed the team progression into the knockout stages of the Champions League. In his next appearance, Willian came off the bench to score his first Premier League goal of the season, to rescue a point for Chelsea in a 1–1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian scored his first goal of the season, coming off the bench to complete a 4–1 come-from-behind win at home to Cardiff City on 15 September. Prior to this, he had won a penalty that Eden Hazard converted for his hat trick. On 27 January, Willian, on his 550th club appearance, netted a brace in a 3–0 home win against Sheffield Wednesday in the fourth round of the FA Cup. The first goal was his 50th for Chelsea.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: In August 2019, Willian became Chelsea's new number 10 for 2019–20 season, taking over from Eden Hazard. He scored his first goal of the season in a 2–0 home league win over Brighton & Hove Albion on 28 September. In the next fixture, Willian scored the winning goal on his 300th Chelsea appearance, a 2–1 away win against Lille in the Champions League. He scored a double to beat Tottenham 2–0 away from home on 22 December.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian scored twice in a 2–3 league defeat to West Ham United on 1 July 2020. In doing so, Willian became the first player to score a Premier League goal in every calendar month. He scored in his third consecutive game from the penalty spot in Chelsea's next league match, a 3–0 win over Watford; the goal meant Willian had scored nine league goals which was his highest league total in a Chelsea shirt.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 14 August 2020, Willian signed for Premier League club Arsenal on a three-year contract. On 12 September, Willian made his debut for the club against Fulham, recording two assists, as Arsenal won 3–0. On 28 February 2021, Willian registered an assist in a 3–1 win over Leicester City in the Premier League, which was his first goal/assist contribution in the league for Arsenal since November 2020. On 9 May, Willian scored his only goal for Arsenal in a 3–1 home league win over West Bromwich Albion, sealing the Baggies' relegation to the EFL Championship.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Just after a year at the club, which Willian described as "the worst time that he had lived as a professional", on 30 August 2021, Arsenal announced he had left the club by mutual consent and confirmed that Willian was set to re-join his boyhood club, Corinthians.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 30 August 2021, Corinthians announced the return of Willian to the club on a deal running until December 2023. He rescinded his contract in mid-August 2022 after complaining about virtual threats during his last months in the club.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 1 September 2022, Willian signed for Fulham on a one-year contract. Willian scored his first official goal for the club on the 23rd of October in a match against Leeds United F.C.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: As a member of the under-20 Brazil team, Willian made his debut in the 2007 South American Youth Championship against Chile on 7 January 2007, which Brazil went on to win. In 2007, he was also selected for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, but Brazil were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Spain.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 10 November 2011, Willian made his senior debut for Brazil in a friendly match against Gabon. On 16 November 2013, he scored his first international goal in a 5–0 win over Honduras in Miami, Florida.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 7 May 2014, Willian was selected as part of the 23-man squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He came on at half-time in extra time of the round of 16 match against Chile in Belo Horizonte for his Chelsea teammate Oscar, and took a penalty in the shootout which he put wide of the goal, although Brazil nonetheless advanced.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: At the 2015 Copa América, Willian assisted Roberto Firmino's decisive goal in the 2–1 win over Venezuela in Santiago, a result which sent Brazil into the quarterfinals as group winners.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 5 May 2016, he was named by Brazil manager Dunga among the 23-man list for the Copa América Centenario to be held in the United States.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: A fast, agile, and technically gifted player, Willian is known for his quick feet, acceleration, and explosive style of play, which allows him to dribble past opponents at speed whilst keeping close control of the ball which is typically a Brazilian style, he has also been known to pull off feints and tricks, such as the elastico, in order to confuse and beat defenders. He primarily plays as a winger, and his high stamina, vision and creativity enables him to link-up play between the deeper midfielders and the forwards, and create goalscoring chances. During the 2015–16 season, while at Chelsea, he showed his prowess at direct free-kicks, with almost all his goals coming from set pieces. He improved the statistics of his attacking game due to which he was called Chelsea's top performer of the season.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: Willian is Afro-Brazilian and is married to Vanessa Martins. They have twin daughters, Valentina and Manuella. Like many Brazilian footballers, Willian is a devout Christian.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: On 13 October 2016, Willian's mother, Dona Zezé, died at the age of 57. During the game against the Premier League champions, Leicester City, his teammates Diego Costa and Eden Hazard dedicated their goals to Willian and his mother. Along with his teammates, his manager, Antonio Conte, also dedicated their victory to Willian and his family.


title: Willian (footballer, born 1988)

text: In 2018, Willian and his teammate David Luiz acquired Babbo, an Italian restaurant located in Mayfair, London.


title: Christopher Cross

text: Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert; May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas.


title: Christopher Cross

text: He won five Grammy Awards for his eponymous debut album released in 1979. The singles "Sailing" (1980), and "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (from the 1981 film "Arthur") peaked at number one on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100. "Sailing" earned three Grammys in 1981, while "Arthur's Theme" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981 (with co-composers Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen).


title: Christopher Cross

text: Geppert, bassist Andy Salmon and keyboardist Rob Meurer met in San Antonio when they were still teens. Geppert and Salmon became bandmates in Flash, with Geppert on guitar. Together, they formed Christopher Cross as a band and moved to Austin, where they added drummer Tommy Taylor. There, they played covers for cash while recording demo versions of original songs at Austin's Pecan Street Studios, which they shopped to record labels. Though they considered themselves a band, Warner Bros. signed Christopher Cross as a solo artist in early 1979.


title: Christopher Cross

text: Although best known for his vocals and songwriting, Cross is also a skilled guitarist. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker of Steely Dan invited Cross to play on their albums, but Cross declined. Cross also substituted for Richie Blackmore during a Deep Purple concert in 1970 when Blackmore fell ill.


title: Christopher Cross

text: Cross released his self-titled debut album, "Christopher Cross", on Dec. 27, 1979. "Billboard" Hot 100 top 20 hits from this album included "Ride Like the Wind" (featuring backing vocals by Michael McDonald), "Sailing", "Never Be the Same" and "Say You'll Be Mine" (featuring backing vocals by Nicolette Larson). "Ride Like the Wind" hit number two on the U.S. Hot 100, while "Sailing" topped the chart for one week. "Never Be The Same" went number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. Cross, the album and the song "Sailing" were nominated for six Grammy Awards in 1981 and won five. Cross was the first artist in Grammy history to win all four general field awards in a single ceremony, bringing home Record of the Year ("Sailing"), Album of the Year ("Christopher Cross"), Song of the Year ("Sailing") and Best New Artist at the 23rd Annual Grammy Awards. This feat was not replicated for 39 years, until Billie Eilish won all four awards at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020. In addition, "Sailing" won for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s). "Christopher Cross" has been certified platinum five times in the U.S., selling over 5 million copies.


title: Christopher Cross

text: Later in 1981, Cross released "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)", co-written by Burt Bacharach, which was the main theme for the 1981 film "Arthur". The song won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981, and was nominated for three Grammys, but did not win. In the U.S., it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the Hot Adult Contemporary charts in October 1981, remaining at the top of the Hot 100 for three weeks while it also was a top-ten hit in several other countries. The song became the second and last American number-one hit by Christopher Cross.


title: Christopher Cross

text: Cross's second album, "Another Page" (1983), produced "All Right", "No Time for Talk", and "Think of Laura". "All Right" was used by CBS Sports for its highlights montage following the 1983 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, while "Think of Laura" is used as a reference to characters on the soap opera "General Hospital". Cross allowed ABC to use his song in this context; however, he has stated that he wrote "Think of Laura" not in reference to the television characters, but to celebrate the life of Denison University college student Laura Carter who was killed when she was struck by a stray bullet. "Another Page" sold well, getting Gold certification. He also co-wrote and sang the song "A Chance For Heaven" for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.


title: Christopher Cross

text: After 1984, Cross's star quickly dimmed. As music television channel MTV grew to dominate the mainstream music scene in the United States, Cross's style of music proved to be a bad fit for the network, and Cross's brand of adult contemporary music declined in popularity.


title: Christopher Cross

text: Cross's next two albums, 1985's "Every Turn of the World" and 1988's "Back of My Mind" did not produce any top 40 hits or reach Gold or Platinum status.


title: Christopher Cross

text: He did, however, place the song "Swept Away" in the TV show "Growing Pains". It was used during a video montage while Kirk Cameron's character Mike fell in love with a local girl while vacationing with the family in Hawaii.


title: Christopher Cross

text: Cross made three more albums in the 1990s, and although some of his releases gained critical response, he was not able to attract the mass audience he once enjoyed. After his decline in fame in the mid-1980s, he toured and opened for various acts during the 1990s.


title: Christopher Cross

text: The year 2002 saw the release of the "Very Best of..." album, and in 2007 he completed a Christmas album titled "A Christopher Cross Christmas". In 2008, Cross recorded a new acoustic album of his hits titled "The Cafe Carlyle Sessions".


title: Christopher Cross

text: In 2013, he released "A Night in Paris", a 2-CD live album he recorded and filmed in April 2012 at the Theatre Le Trianon in Paris, France.


title: Christopher Cross

text: In 2017, he played a concert in his hometown, at the Tobin Center, San Antonio, Texas. In 2018, he joined with other musicians in Austin to form the band Freedonia.


title: Christopher Cross

text: In late 2019, Cross toured with Todd Rundgren, Jason Scheff, Micky Dolenz and Joey Molland of Badfinger in celebration of the Beatles' "White Album" on the "It Was Fifty Years Ago Today – A Tribute to the Beatles' White Album". Cross performed "Sailing" and "Ride Like the Wind".


title: Christopher Cross

text: Since 2018, Cross has been playing in a band called Freedonia. They have 2 full length albums: "Freedonia" and "Firefly" and an EP titled "Bring Back The Dinosaurs".


title: Christopher Cross

text: One common feature of Cross's album covers is the appearance of a flamingo. According to Cross, there is no meaning behind this other than the painting chosen for his first album cover featured the bird, which has been used as a motif ever since.


title: Christopher Cross

text: A self-described "Army brat", Cross is the son of a U.S. Army pediatrician stationed at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., in the mid-1950s, acting as physician for President Dwight Eisenhower's grandchildren. He attended Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio and graduated in 1969. He was involved in football and track and field.


title: Christopher Cross

text: Cross was married to Roseanne Harrison from 1973 until the couple divorced in 1982. His 1988 marriage to Jan Bunch ended in a 2007 divorce.


title: Christopher Cross

text: On April 3, 2020, Cross confirmed through his Facebook page that he had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, and was ill, but was recovering. Cross later reported on Twitter that he has lost the use of his legs, but his doctors have told him he should fully recover. Physicians told him his COVID-19 disease triggered an episode of Guillain–Barré syndrome that caused the nerves in his legs to stop functioning properly.


title: Smriti Irani

text: Smriti Zubin Irani ("née" Malhotra; born 23 March 1976) is an Indian politician and a former television actress and producer. She is a Minister in Union Cabinet of India since May 2019 currently administrating the Ministries of Women and Child Development and the first Non-Muslim to serve as the Minister of Minority Affairs. A prominent leader within the Bharatiya Janata Party, she is a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha, representing Amethi, Uttar Pradesh.


title: Smriti Irani

text: In the 2019 Indian general election, she defeated Rahul Gandhi — the country's principal opposition leader and the president of Indian National Congress — to win the Amethi seat. Previously the Amethi constituency had been represented by the members of the Gandhi family for the last four decades. Earlier in 2011, Irani had become a member of the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat.


title: Smriti Irani

text: Irani was the youngest minister in the 2019 Council of Ministers, when she was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister in May 2019 at the age of 43. Having a diverse family background, Irani can speak in several Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, and Punjabi; as her paternal family has a Punjabi and Maharashtrian heritage, while her maternal family has a Bengali heritage.


title: Smriti Irani

text: She was born as Smriti Malhotra, the daughter of a half-Punjabi, half-Maharashtrian Hindu father, Ajay Kumar Malhotra, and a Bengali Hindu mother, Shibani née Bagchi. She is the oldest of three sisters. She has been a part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from childhood, her grandfather was an RSS swayamsevak and her mother was a member of Jana Sangh.


title: Smriti Irani

text: Smriti was educated at the Holy Child Auxilium School, New Delhi, which is run by Catholic nuns. Later, she enrolled in School of Open Learning at University of Delhi. In 2019, she revealed that she had written her first year B.Com. exams from that institution, but had not completed the three-year degree course.


title: Smriti Irani

text: In 2001, Smriti married a Parsi businessman, Zubin Irani. In October the same year, the couple had their first child, a son named Zohr. In September 2003, the couple had their second child, a daughter named Zoish. Smriti is also a stepmother to Shanelle who is Zubin Irani's daughter from his previous marriage to Mona Irani, a coordinator and former beauty contestant.


title: Smriti Irani

text: In 2018, responding to queries about her faith, she stated that she is a practicing Hindu married to a practicing Zoroastrian, and that wearing sindoor is her belief as a Hindu.