Darjeeling:
The indefinite bandh in Darjeeling has forced several students to leave numerous boarding schools in the hills. But many of them from - Bhutan, Thailand and even Spain - have had to stay back as parents could not come and take them away in the two day relaxation between bandhs called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which is demanding the separate state of Gorkhaland.
St Joseph's at North Point, one of best known schools in Darjeeling, is one of the few that has not shut down entirely. However, normal school is suspended. The day scholars, nearly 700 of them, are not coming. Of 520 boarders, 150, who live in Kolkata or Sikkim, have left. Those who live far away couldn't go. Of 520 boarders, 320 are international students.
Tenzin Diukda Wangchuk, a class 7 student from Bhutan, doesn't seem to mind at all. "It's like a holiday in school," he says.
His classmate, Sambrant Piakurel, from Nepal, says, "It is fun out here. I am alone at home. Here, I have many friends."
However, seniors, who have board exams coming up, are worried.
"We won't be able to complete our syllabus on time. Our teacher had planned to finish it in October so that we got a month's time for revision but that's not going to happen," says Devarth Dixit, a Class 12 student from Nepal.
His friend, Yash Jogani, says, "Right now it might seem like fun. But later on we will realize we did miss a lot of classes."
If the bandh continues, many are planning to go home and take tuitions to prepare for their board exams.
Principal Father Santy Mathew says, "If the bandh continues beyond 15th August, I will have to do something for them. I can send the junior students home somehow but the senior students need help to prepare for their exams."
The other big worry for the principal is, the school will turn 125 years old this October and big celebrations are planned. Hundreds of alumni are supposed to come, as well as the President. If the bandh continues, all that will be disrupted.
"Mainly because of the uncertainty we are finding it very difficult to plan anything," he says.
It is a sentiment most of Darjeeling shares.