The Confluence Collective

14/08/2026

“Good-Bye Pakistan” — Abbottabad, 1947
Photo: Ritika Gautam / TCC Photo Archive

On India’s Independence Day, this photograph offers a poignant glimpse into the human cost of Partition- and how borders drawn on maps can suddenly reshape the lives of ordinary people.

In 1947, the 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force) was based in Abbottabad, where the regiment had been stationed for nearly 89 years. With Partition, Abbottabad became part of Pakistan, and the regiment was given only about two weeks’ notice to leave. A garrison that had been home for generations of soldiers suddenly lay across a new international border. (British Empire⁠)

Among those pictured is Bom Bahadur Gautam (left) of Kalimpong, sharing a drink with two fellow soldiers beneath a handwritten sign that simply reads: “Good-Bye Pakistan.”

The 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles was one of the six original Gurkha regiments transferred to the Indian Army after Independence. In 1950, following the establishment of the Republic, its royal designation was dropped and it became the 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force).

Beyond the military history, this is a deeply human photograph: three soldiers saying goodbye to a place that had been part of their lives, as an entire subcontinent was being divided.

For communities along the Himalayan frontier, the history of borders is particularly personal. Our communities have lived across changing political boundaries for generations, long before many of today’s borders existed. Yet even today, people from our region are sometimes treated as outsiders, immigrants, or told that we do not look “Indian” enough.

The irony is simple: the borders changed, but the people did not.

Partition reminds us how quickly political boundaries can redefine belonging, turning neighbours into foreigners and familiar places into foreign lands.

On Independence Day, this photograph reminds us not only of the freedom we inherited, but also of the violence, displacement and divisions that accompanied it - and of the responsibility to build a country where belonging is not something anyone has to prove.

Happy Independence Day.

31/07/2026

As the whole world waits anxiously for news of the fate of the 10 climbers currently missing on Broad Peak in the Karakoram mountain range, we share this clip from our exhibition, “Father Has No Roof Over His Head.”

In this talk, Pema reflects on the contrasting ways in which local communities and European explorers have perceived and understood the mountain—two very different relationships with the same landscape.

He also speaks about Ang Tshering Sherpa, a local porter who began his mountain journey with the 1924 Everest Expedition, but never climbed to the summit of Everest because of his religious beliefs. His story reminds us that, for some, a mountain was never simply a summit to be conquered. There were boundaries, beliefs, and a deeper understanding of what the mountain represented.

Today, as families wait, hoping for news that may never come, Broad Peak reminds us once again of the immense beauty, power, and unforgiving nature of the mountains.

Perhaps this is also a moment to pause and think about how we approach these mountains. For many local communities, mountains are not simply places to conquer or summits to be claimed. They are living landscapes—sacred, powerful, unpredictable, and deeply woven into the lives, beliefs, and stories of the people who have lived alongside them for generations.

The mountains will always be there. But those who venture into them do not always return.

Perhaps that is the lesson we sometimes forget: the mountain does not owe us a summit.

May we never lose sight of humility, respect, and the immense power of the mountains.

Our thoughts are with the climbers, their families, their loved ones, and everyone waiting for them tonight.

Full talk link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veu2_ZmDlt8

27/07/2026

Shaheed Diwas – 27 July

Growing up, many of us born after the late 1980s inherited the history of the Gorkhaland movement not through personal experience, but through the stories of our parents and elders—stories of fear, sacrifice, uncertainty, and loss. We heard about curfews, protests, police firing, and lives forever changed, yet very few of us ever saw the photographs that documented those years.

Over the years, families and friends have entrusted The Confluence Collective (TCC) with their invaluable photographs from the Gorkhaland movement. Slowly, image by image, we are building an archive that ensures this chapter of our history is preserved with authenticity, dignity, and respect.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of these photographs is that many were not taken by professional photojournalists. They were captured by local people who were themselves participants in the movement ordinary individuals who, amidst uncertainty and conflict, recognised the importance of documenting the events unfolding around them. Without knowing it, they created a priceless visual record that would one day help future generations understand one of the most significant chapters in the history of the Darjeeling Hills. Their cameras became silent witnesses to history, preserving moments that words alone could never fully capture.

Today, we bow our heads in remembrance of all those who laid down their lives during the Gorkhaland movement and of the countless families who continue to live with the pain of their loss.

The first observance of Shaheed Diwas (Martyrs’ Day) was held in Kalimpong on 27 July 1987, a year after the tragic events of 27 July 1986, when a peaceful protest turned violent after police opened fire on demonstrators. At least 17 people lost their lives in what came to be remembered as the Kalimpong Massacre, often referred to as the Second Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.

Led by Subhash Ghising and the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), the movement sought greater autonomy and recognition of the Gorkha identity. The years of agitation culminated in the signing of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) Accord on 22 August 1988. A few weeks later, on 2 October 1988, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the historic surrender of arms marked the end of the armed phase of the movement and became one of the defining moments in the political history of the Darjeeling Hills.

The struggle, however, did not end in 1988. The Hills witnessed further phases of the Gorkhaland movement in 2008 and 2017, once again leaving families grieving and reminding us that the human cost of political conflict is always borne by ordinary people.

For most of the year, these stories remain in the background. Yet every 27th of July, the Hills pause to remember—not only the martyrs, but also the mothers, fathers, children, spouses, and families who have carried this grief in silence for decades.

As we commemorate Shaheed Diwas, we also reaffirm the importance of preserving our collective memory. History cannot survive through oral narratives alone. Photographs, letters, newspapers, and personal archives are invaluable records of who we were, what we endured, and how our society evolved. By digitising these fragile archives today, we ensure that the sacrifices, struggles, and stories of the Gorkhaland movement remain accessible for researchers, students, and future generations.

We remember. We honour. We preserve.

30/06/2026

What Old Photographs Taught Me about Memory, Privilege, and the Histories We Keep - Rahul Pradhan

While working to digitise and preserve one family’s album at the TCC Photo Archive, Rahul Pradhan realised the absence of another—his own.

What began as the careful work of scanning photographs and recording metadata gradually became a personal reflection on memory, privilege, and the histories we inherit and those we don’t. And this is what we’ve always hoped the TCC Photo Archive can be. Not simply a repository of photographs, but a space where the work of preservation becomes a way of uncovering both the stories and silences that shape our collective histories.

Drawing on memories of his mother’s childhood in Soureni Basti, Rahul reflects on what archival absences can reveal about inequality, access, and whose lives are remembered.

During my time at the Confluence Collective, those boxes became part of my everyday work. I spent my days scanning photographs, documenting details, and helping preserve family collections. The work was methodical, almost quiet. Yet somewhere between metadata and memories, I realised I wasn't simply...

25/06/2026

We received two reviews of Shape of Momo, a film that has resonated with so many of us from the Hills and beyond.

Shivani Khati turns her attention to the film’s broader themes of gender, homecoming, and adulthood, while foregrounding class—another enduring concern in the Hills that, like patriarchy, is rarely addressed directly. Her review is attentive to the subtle yet powerful visual cues through which director Tribeny Rai explores these themes, highlighting the depth and nuance of her filmmaking.

Pema Gyalchen Tamang reflects on the muted yet pervasive patriarchy of the region through the figure of Gyan ( Rahul Nawach Mukhia). Writing from the discomfort of his own experiences, he grapples with the “privilege and conditioning” that the character brings to the surface. Gyan is a finely constructed fictional figure, but Pema reminds us just how familiar he feels—someone we continue to encounter in everyday life in the Hills.

https://www.theconfluencecollective.com/post/an-unsteady-shape-of-home-adulthood-at-the-intersection-of-class-and-gender-in-the-film-shape-of-m

https://www.theconfluencecollective.com/post/mla-ko-chora-in-shape-of-momo-what-a-likeable-man-reveals-about-patriarchy

Watching Shape of Momo felt like discovering a forgotten piece of clothing from your teenage years, stowed away in the back of your cupboard. That strange mix of disappointment and relief that growing out of things is not always a loss. The film grapples with the messiness of adulthood foregrounded....

28/05/2026

Call for Applications | Writing With Images

As young creatives and writers, The Pomelo, The Confluence Collective and Buddha Pada understand the need to support and nourish the artists, writers and creative individuals who are keen on experimenting with different mediums. Given that engagement with images, in incredibly diverse forms, is burgeoning in the region, we are also keen on supporting more writings about these processes.

Thus, this workshop aims to support your writing as well as give you a space that acts as a sounding board for the things you want to create and write about.

Who?
This workshop is for artists, writers and researchers who are interested in working across images and textual mediums. This workshop will be ideal for someone already working on a project which they would want to publish as an essay with both visual and an accompanying textual narrative.

You can apply as an individual or a duo of writer and image-maker. You can either choose to write about images that you’ve created or any personal images such as family photographs, on existing practices (preferably of artists from the Himalayan region) or select a specific archival collection (again preferably related to the Himalayan region).

*This workshop is open for all, but individuals from the Eastern Himalayan region and North East will be prioritised.

Apply now - https://www.theconfluencecollective.com/writing-with-images
Last Day to Apply - 7 June, 2026

As young creatives and writers, The Pomelo, The Confluence Collective and Buddha Pada understand the need to support and nourish the artists, writers and creative individuals who are keen on experimenting with different mediums. Given that engagement with images, in incredibly diverse forms, is burg...

15/04/2026

Have old photographs?
Get them digitised with The Confluence Collective.
As we expand our digital photo archive to Sikkim, we invite you to share your albums and help preserve memories for the future.
Old family albums are more than just collections of photographs they are living records of memory, identity, and heritage. Each image carries stories that connect generations and reflect the cultural fabric of its time.
But these fragile archives are at risk. Photographs fade, edges wear away, and details disappear taking irreplaceable memories with them.

How to contribute https://www.theconfluencecollective.com/contribute

07/04/2026

Have old photographs? Get them digitised with The Confluence Collective.
As we expand our digital photo archive to Sikkim, we invite you to share your albums and help preserve memories for the future.
Old family albums are more than just collections of photographs they are living records of memory, identity, and heritage. Each image carries stories that connect generations and reflect the cultural fabric of its time.
But these fragile archives are at risk. Photographs fade, edges wear away, and details disappear taking irreplaceable memories with them.

How to contribute https://www.theconfluencecollective.com/contribute

19/03/2026

बाउको धुरी छैन (Father Has No Roof Over His Head) - A Look Back

04/03/2026

Poem - Appa and Photography by Lungmying Lepcha
In our latest blog post, Lungmying Lepcha – A Daughter Understanding Her Father Through Photography, we reflect on memory, inheritance, and the quiet language of images.
It begins with self-doubt questioning the urge to make photographs. Slowly, it becomes a realisation: perhaps this impulse is inherited. Not as perfected skill, but as instinct as a way of holding on to life, to family, to fleeting moments.

Read the full piece.
https://www.theconfluencecollective.com/post/appa-and-photography

Call for Submissions
The Confluence Collective is now accepting blog submissions. We invite original works that explore personal experiences, as well as social, political, and cultural realities connected to the Sikkim–Darjeeling Himalayas. Our blog seeks to bring together diverse voices and perspectives to build a shared narrative of this region.
To submit your work, please email us at [email protected].