Dr. Tsewang Y. Pemba Tsering: A Tribute

KC PRADHAN

A doyen among the medical fraternity in the Hills of Darjeeling, and the first to become a doctor in western medicine from his community, is no more. A distinguished medical surgeon who made a mark not only in Darjeeling but also in faraway London and more importantly in the Kingdom of Bhutan where he was highly revered.
But he treasured most his association with Planters’ Club Hospital in Darjeeling where he was the Superintendent for many years and many sons and daughters of eminent families from Sikkim were born under his, and eminent Matron Phulmati Rai’s, able watch. He was a quite man of few words and highly dedicated in his profession.  His association with Sikkim goes back to the early 1940s when his distinguished father Rai Saheb Pemba Tsering was a prominent member in British Political Office having served as British Trade Agent first at Gartok in western Tibet and then at Yatung and finally Head of the British Mission in Lhasa - a post next only that of Political Officer in Sikkim. But the family had made Gangtok their home, living in the residence of late Tashi Tsering of Sikkim politics fame. If I remember correctly, it is now Students’ Shop. If his sister Nozenla was my kindergarten friend at Mazong House, his younger brother Tsewang was my hostel mate at the old Santosh Villa at North Point. A brilliant family which persevered and made a mark in their respective fields despite having lost their parents to the Gyangtse flood on that tumultuous night of 17 July 1954. As Nozenla writes, “My parents were washed away suddenly in Gyantse, Tibet floods of 17-7-1954. So, we were left as orphans overnight and had to fend for ourselves independently. God has been good as we managed to survive”.
Tsewang Norbu was a brilliant student with Dawa Tsering, later Foreign Minister of Bhutan, all of us staying as pals in Santosh Villa. Alas, the rickety building, our home away from home is no more. Tsewang did his civil engineering from Imperial College in London and was working in Manchester till his retirement and is now settled in the UK. His youngest sister Norden lives in Germany. Nozinla runs her own Himalayan Nursery School in Darjeeling assisted by her daughter Bunty.
Sir Basil Gould, the Political Officer of Sikkim was very fond of the family and always trying to help. He has written eloquently of Rai Saheb Pemba in his Memoir “The Lotus in the Jewel” and narrates hilariously how the task of handing over two pairs of birds (budgerigars- Australian parakeet) to the four year old HH the Dalai Lama was entrusted to him as the Dalai Lama was very fond of birds.
Dr. Pemba (as he was called and known) was an eloquent writer. His book, “My Young Days in Tibet” is an interesting read – written with simplicity and yet gives insight of Tibet and the society at large at that given time of Tibet’s glorious past.
An extract of his days at Victoria School is apt to share here:
No, unfortunately, I was not a school girl during the above years, I was fortunately or otherwise a school boy at Victoria Boys' School, rather than a stone's throw away from Dow Hill School. In those days and I suppose even now, Dow Hill was the sister school to Victoria. By that it was meant that if one was a student at Victoria and had a sister, she was expected to go to Dow Hill, and vice versa if a school girl at Dow Hill had a brother at home. It was expected that the students of the sister school never had boy friends except at Victoria, and the latter was in turn expected to maintain a mutual fidelity. Dow Hill always cheered Victoria during sports and games competitions and we did the same for our sister school when she raced against their rivals St. Helen's Convent, Kurseong. Every now and then boys having sisters in Dow Hill were allowed to visit them but these visits had a sinister or romantic purpose, for the boys served as decoys to smuggle in heart rending messages to girl friends, and for every Romeo at Victoria there was willing Juliet in Dow Hill. I remember that these episodes of gun running or rather letter running got to such a pitch that the academic staff of both the schools were concerned that such distractions would greatly harm the scholarly achievements of the two schools, and there resulted much persecution.
I have begun this article in a light vein, and even to-day Dow Hill somehow brings to mind such associations - socials where we primmed and scented ourselves and with much heart thumping and shyness took our first manly steps into the social world, dances where we clumsily put into practice the steps of the fox trot and waltz that we had rehearsed so assiduously for weeks. But of course there must have been the deep serious changes that were taking place beneath the light hearted gaiety and superficial world of our boyhood and girlhood dreams. The years 1941 - 1948 were momentous years, years of the second world war, the year of Indian Independence 1947, and the end of the British Raj. Dow Hill then was almost full with British and Anglo-Indian girls, and most of the staff were from these categories.
I particularly remember Miss Harley who was the Headmistress at that time, a large slightly grey haired Australian lady (She was a British and made Kent as her home after retirement), whose speeches during Speech Day were always something to be listened to. She ran the school extremely well and maintained a very high degree of academic and social excellence. Dow Hill used to produce some very entertaining and polished plays and concerts, and to these many British and Allied soldiers vacationing or convalescing at Darjeeling or Kurseong, used to come. Teas would be served for the troops and money collected for the Red Cross and other war societies. I remember a concert where the attire of the performing girls were a little on the scanty side, and raised eyebrows from certain prudish members of the audience, but the whole thing was done in great taste, and I am sure the troops enjoyed the show. Anyway Dow Hill was not a frumpish institution but took the lead in everything that was changing and modern.
I also remember Mrs. Siddons (I believe she lives in England now, and hope she will blush pleasantly in reading this) who was probably the most chic and fashionably dressed school teacher I have ever come across. She always managed to look social and once again chic, whenever she visited Victoria, no doubt on scholarly matters, we used to find it difficult to keep our eyes off her. She always appeared to be discussing something controversial judging from her vigorous graceful gestures and the awed manner in which her audience of young school masters listened. We of course dared not approach within hearing distance to listen.
Dow Hill was good in hockey and in the inter-school sports, she did well. Dow Hill also used to have some marvelous fetes where we ate and played with relish and then there was a concert to look forward to after the fete or better still a dance, where Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington and Victor Sylvester tunes CHARMED our hearts and feet. The jitterbug was then in fashion, and I believe the Samba was just coming in.
Dow Hill also served as a fillip to our physical efforts. We used to have a burly games master named Mr. C. J. Hill, who while we groaned agonisingly having done a score of 'dips' used to berate us with words such as 'You, chaps, should get your girl friends at Dow Hill to see you now. Never seen such a lot of weaklings in my life before'.
I also remember Dow Hill before Independence putting on a play done entirely in Bengali. This was quite a startling novelty, against Raj traditions but Dow Hill had the temerity to put it on. In such matters she took the lead amongst the English speaking hill schools. Am I wrong in thinking it was a Tagore play, Rabindranath Tagore who died in 1941, and we had a holiday that day to mourn his death?
I'm afraid this article is a bit brief, but in conclusion I must say that my memory of those days of Dow Hill is of a lively modern institution, taking the lead in many fields, giving the girls an excellent education, stressing not only the academic side of life - an institution charming, attractive, very British, but at the same time keeping up with the times, and educating the girls to face up to and live in a new India, where the British political control would be no more, but where certain British traditions would still survive to play an important role. I'm glad Dow Hill has flourished to celebrate its Centenary, and wish it well for the future, a future in which its part in the education of young ladies will continue to be vital and prominent.
Dr. T. Y. Pemba
M.B.B.S. (London) F.R.C.S.

May his soul be rest in peace.