OF CAESURAE AND RACHNA FRIENDSHIP This Friendship cannot end … for, ideas are like a travelling caravan for, visions we shared for, books we read for, conversations we had for, dreams we dreamt … Rachna Bookstore is the piece of the moon in Gangtok. It is a cozy nook by the side of a waterfall, gazing at the mountains yonder. Inside, the warm company of books and book lovers. With the steering man of Rachna, Raman Sreshtha and wife, Sarvada, book lovers from the world over find a nest to dream, to think, to write and of course read. The smell of hot coffee from ‘Café Fiction’ wafting up, and the conversations of the readers from the ground floor makes you feel at home. Rachna, has always been a home for the elitists, creative writers, artistes and creative thinkers. It’s a haven for all kinds of intellectual chit chats, controversial issues, the university of thinking minds constructively coming together. Caesurae Collective has always been a friend and shall always be. We organized three events in Rachna. A poetry reading session with Rochelle Potkar, a Caesurae poet and writer hailing from Mumbai, and two lectures by Professor Niladri Chatterjee, from Kalyani University on Gender. Besides these collaborative events Caesurae members in Gangtok have always loved to participate in Rachna events.

The members of Sikkim Indigenous Lepcha Association (SILA) led by Tashi Lhamu Lepcha (Gen.Secretary, SILA) visited the landslide hit area at Dzongu, North Sikkim, on 14th of August, 2016, accompanied by Tshering Wangchuk Lepcha (General Secretary, Sikkim TMC). The whole area looked as if an atom bomb has been dropped. According to GREF, the landslide created a natural lake which is 300 feet deep and around 3 km in length. Around 22 houses were under water at 4th mile, Dzongu. After field inspection, they went up to Lingtem, where a relief camp was set up for the affected people. They handed over some relief to Shri Norbu Tshering Lepcha (ward Panchyat, Lingtem). The land slide area had cut off main villages like Lingtem, Tingvong, Lingza, Sakyoung and Pentong. This seriously affected the residents settled in these villages. According to SILA, Vice President Pem Tshering Lepcha, it was sad that no national media came forward to cover this deadly incident, in a proper manner. SILA members appealed to the public to come forward and help the people stranded in these villages who were cut off from the rest of the state by donating relief items and material at Relief camp 1 at Lingtem or at Passingdang. They also urged the government to rethink on the implementation of pipeline Hydel Projects inside the Dzongu region in the interest of the vulnerable indigenous Tribe. After the first visit and after witnessing the gravity of the situation, Sikkim Indigenous Lepcha Association collected a total amount of Rs 2,88,550/- in one day campaign for Humanity and Relief for Dzongu at MG MARG, Gangtok, Sikkim on 18th August 2016. Artists like Prakash Sundas (winner of North East got talent -2), Sofiyum, Tribal Rain, beat boxer Sonam Leno Lepcha and the like performed at MG MARG to raise funds for affected people by Dzongu landslide. We also would like to thank the people of Sikkim for always supporting the cause for humanity. From the total amount collected, half was given to DC North and half, to an NGO in Dzongu working for conservation of environment and Ecology. We would like to thank CAESURAE COLLECTIVE SOCIETY, OMAS, DAMC, DS, Talk Sikkim, The VOS, and Sikkim Express for supporting the event. Also, our gratitude goes to major contributor, which includes State bank of Sikkim (Football team), State Bank of India (Sikkim), Demazong Pangtoed Bas, Besthesda Christian Fellowship church, IDBI Bank (SIKKIM), The Coffee shop, Tsela traditional one stop. Apart from cash, a large number of people donated relief mater

The young members of Caesurae Collective Society in collaboration with the Shyamali Dance School, located at Howrah, organized a cultural Programme – “UTSAV”, on the 13th of October, 2016, at the Calcutta School of Music. The Programme began with Ganesha Vandana, a dance performance by the child artiste, Sannidhi Sengupta, who is only eight years old. This was followed by an Indian classical violin recital by Nandakishore Das and Surjo Sengupta. They were accompanied by Gauriprasad Nanda on the tabla. Samya Karpha, the young journalist who has made his mark on the minds of the Bengali audience at home and abroad, with his powerful elocution of Bengali poems, offered his bouquet of poetry. His recitations using the background music score in Sounak Chattopadhyay’s Indian classical and Rabindrasangeet renditions very aptly, kept the listeners rapt for a time. The “Agomani”, dance recital, choreographed by Shrimati Sushmita Sengupta Banerjee, had very young dancers, who performed delightfully. The musical evening was graced by two stellar musicians: Shri Carsten Wicke, and Shri Bhabanishankar Dasgupta. They encouraged the young performers a great deal.