Rare photos of the Darjeeling police band

Darjeeling : By the end of this year, you will be able to see some rare photographs of the Darjeeling police band in their pomp performing at Chowk bazar in the 1950s and 60s.

The Darjeeling police are setting up a museum in the hill town to document the history of the force. Apart from the photographs, exhibits at the museum will include weapons used by police officers at different periods and old uniforms.

“We are poor at documenting our past and in the next few years many untold stories might get lost. So we want to do something to keep these tales alive,” said Darjeeling police chief Rajesh Subarno.

The museum will be located on the ground floor of the under-construction building opposite Capitol Cinema Hall on Ladenla Road, Darjeeling.

“We hope the museum will attract tourists visiting the town,” said a police officer.

Darjeeling police was raised in the 1830s and visitors at the museum will find a fairly detailed examination of the force’s history. For example, efforts are on to trace the origin of the insignia of the force, which consists of two khukuris, and its blue ceremonial dress.

“We have already collected old photographs, documents and uniforms from retired officers who served the force before Independence,” said the police chief.

The idea of the museum came to Subarno through the old photographs of the police band.

“Once when our band performed at Chowrastha, we decided to put up some of the old photographs at the site. This created a lot of interest among tourists and that was when we hit on the idea,” he said.

Source: The Telegraph