Darjeeling, an Indian district in the Himalayan foothills, is home to some of the world's best tea. It is also home to 600,000 Gurkhas, an ethnic group that has feelings of second-class citizenship. They have mobilized under the % leadership of the Gurkha National Liberation Front to seek an autonomous state within India.
To reinforce these de- mands, G.N.L.F. Leader Subash Ghising has ordered strikes and violent protests that have led to 19 deaths this summer and huge losses in the tea industry. Says he: "We will lay down our lives but not give up our demands for a separate land...