The hill station on Tuesday left all political turbulence behind and took part in the inauguration of the tea & tourism festival, which began amid huge fanfare in presence of several celebrities and Bollywood stars.
The festival will offer various outdoors activities like paragliding, river rafting and kayaking among the several activities. Besides, tourist will be able to participate in tea testing and dig into ethnic delicacies. Special discount for guests in all hotelsis also on offer. The festival will continue till January 5.
Zeenat Aman, the original diva of Bollywood, stole the show on the opening day of the 17-day festival organized by the district administration and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). The occasion had its share of hiccups with late start, some announcement errors and a critical electricity failure. However, the "Dum Maro Dum" girl made sure no glitches spoil the mood of the festival.
Zeenat boogied to one of her song that was played by a local band and also sang a line from Dum Maro Dum much to the elation of the crowd at Chowrastha. "It is wonderful to be among such nice and loving people. Darjeeling has remained as it was years ago," she said. And much to delight of people, Zeenat promised, "I will urge Bollywood directors to come to Darjeeling to make their films."
The festival is a brainchild of the district administration and has been organized with the support of the GJM and various NGOs. "The festival is a humble effort to refurbish Brand Darjeeling. We hope this endeavor will provide the impetus to promote tourism," said Soumitra Mohan, Darjeeling DM and president of the festival organizing committee.
North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb, who was the chief guest on the opening day, said the process of converting Darjeeling into Switzerland started with the festival. "I firmly believe that this kind of festival will boost the economy of Darjeeling in future as tea and tourism are the region's strength," he said.
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