One of the oldest Nepali Bands... The Hillians!....

... here they go!

Sursum Corda, do you have any of the Hillian's old songs bro?

Not really bro!!! I do have a DVD though which was made my Wave Magazine about Darjeeling and The Hillians has a special mention in it as they were the first band in Darjeeling...I think Mayalu is the only song that they recorded...BTW the vocalist is my father....

Let me know if you want the DVD and I wil post it to you!!

Sursum Corda, so you must be Mark uncle's son then and is Ricky your first cousin?

Nice song.

Do u know me MOksh???

Gyaneshwor church re, i used to go there too.

I think Peter Karthak has become little old now and not that interesting when i used to meet him for work, he was marketing Fulbari resort or something....

WELL HE IS 60+...I GUESS THATS OLD.....

Sure bro, send me the DVD. I will PM you my address, huncha?

Dear all Sajha members:

Greetings from Kathmandu!

I check in Sajha.com almost every morning but not the Kurakani thread which most surprisingly has me and The Hillians in the latest entries. I was informed of this by my youngest son Ratna Deep "Ricky" Karthak in Minneapolis (he asked me not to divulge his name, but I must - for truth's sake!).

I travelled in and around the USA (Kathmandu-Bangkok-Los Angeles-San Francisco and its many counties-Minneapolis/St Paul-Chicago-New York-Bangkok-Kathmandu) in late August and September and ariived in Kathmandu on Sunday Sep 23 to see Prashant Tamang of Darjeeling winning the 3rd Indian Idol competition that very night.

All of your comments are true and to the point. For more clarifications, may I add my salient points to yours:

1) The Hillians are the first commercial and popular Rock n' Roll band from Darjeeling and the first to begin the string of successful groups from Darjeeling.

2) More information is incorportaed in "In Tune With Darjeeling" - a DVD produced by Yuvakar Rajcarnikar (the true father of WAVE magazine) and Tshering Choden (she is the director at HITS FM 91.2). They together can be reached at the new publication group: Y Enterprise, Post Box 6532, Thapathali, Kathmandu. This is Yubakar's famous and historic Ram Bhandar "mithai pasal" address. Their office tel number is +977 1 4254267 and email is: info@southasiarocks.com. This info should enable you to order the informative DVD for your own pleasure.

3) In my own long series called "Late Response" published in The Kathmandu Post from early 2004 can provide all the info on me and The Hillians (Peter J. Karthak, Ranjit Gazmer, Mark Karthak, Kamal Kumar "KK" Gurung and Phurba Tshering Bhutia).

I appreciate and thank you for your interest in us and what we did in the 1960s (history to me by now!). So I provide the above information. Yes, lately, I worked for the Fulbari Spa and Resort in Pokhara, then started The Himalayan Times as one of the four founding editors. Since 2004, I've been at The Kathmandu Post, first as a night desk editor; now I'm the senior copy editor at City Post - the daily infortainment/edutainment supplement of The Kathmandu Post.

More later when I hear from all of you kind hearted well wishers and supporters. Yes, I'm 64 today, and that's "old" and "not so young" - as some of you noted, quite correctly. This fact puts us in the league of Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan and all those "old fogeys" who though are still going strong; whereas The Hillians had disbanded by 1966/67. That's why it's "history".

By the way, I believe that our famous hit "Mayalu! Mayalu! Mayalu!" (music by Ranjit, words and singing by yours truly, and the incidental music provided by Daju Louis Banks) is recorded by 1974 AD a couple of years ago. But we have no official intimation on this, nor have I ever heard of their recorded version. So there!

Many thanks for your renewed interest in The Hillians - the oldest teenagers in the world!

Sincerely yours,

Peter J. Karthak


Email: pjkarthak@gmail.com
Website (under construction): www.peterjkarthat.com
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Ladies and Gentleman, the legendary Peter Karthak is in the house!! (Please refrain from throwing your bras at the monitor ladies!!).

Growing up in Darjeeling (I did my entire schooling from the primary to ICSE level there…Am a "saamples" ko baba if you may), the Hillians are synonymous with the entire band fad that started there. They were the pioneers and though Peter dai wasn't at Darj when I was there, the myth and legend still lived on (the article on Darjeeling Bands in the Darjeeling Issue in Wave was perhaps the best edition that Wave has EVER produced!! Brought back a lotta nostalgic memories. BTW, I've personally know Tsering Choden for lil more than a decade now (since around when she first started her media gig) and I'd definitely ask her to send me the DVD here.

Thank you for visiting us here in sajha and the wonderful edition of Mayalu, Mayalu (I'd heard the 1974 version and even then I felt it just didn't do much justice to the Hillian's original version...even though Phiroze and Adrian are our boys from the hills). Please do keep posting here.

Much Regards,

Samsara


PS: I was told by a friend that Daniel (in NYC) was your brother, but damn, Sursum made it clear. Hahahha Rumors, what can one say about them!! On a more serious note, I read an article you wrote a few year ago about your NP college days and the Burmese kids still remain on my mind...I pity what ordinary citizens of Burma had to go through then and the nation's subsequent spiral into deeper terrains (Nepal is no better in this aspecttoo).

So one of the posters is actually Ricky dada!!! hahahahahahaha...I am guessing its either Moksh or cyberharke....hahahahahahahahahaha....nways now that u know who I am, I will probably have to change my username....

MY MESSAGE TO THE HILLIANS (As a fan):

It is sad that the musical legacy within the Karthaks' started and ended with the Hillians!!!...Is it possible to reunite and perform one last time during the Darjeeling Carnival....?? I would love to lend my voice!! (Just a thought !!!)

Why was i thinking that Peter Karthak and Daniel Karthak were brothers???
It would be lovely to watch the Hillians perform again .

Music, i feel, is synonymous with the Hills. I have encountered only a handful of people from Darj and its vicinities who cannot sing or play a musical instrument .

Dear all Sajhedars:

Another Namaste from Kathmandu.

My thanks to you all for your prompt and warm feedbacks, and "jai-jaikar" to Sajha.com for this common vehicle of communications for all of us.

Your earnest wishes encourage me a lot, but I'm afraid history, at least in the case of The Hillians, can't be repeated. All the five of us have been scattered all over the world since the 1970s. Only Ranjit is in the music business, for which he had to leave Kathmandu for Bombay (now Mumbai) and had the good fortune to work with RD Burman. Phurba also left Kathmandu for Darjeeling and taught at St Paul's (Samsara's "Baba" school which was the district's Oxford/Eton while most of us belonged to the Cambridge brand). I hear he's now teaching at some Gulf university. KK Gurung has been in tourism and manages the biggest travel agency in Darjeeling. Mark is also a guru of Nepali tourism and has been in Delhi for the last three years. I'm into creative literature, writing regular columns and active journalism. So I don't see any prospect of reunion at any time.

Daniel Karthak is "Danu" to all of us. He belongs to Kalimpong's Karthaks while I belong to the Darjeeling clan. Since his pastor father at Gyaneshwor Church is my cousin, Danu is my "bhatija" and bows his head to me in respect.

I landed at La Guardia Airport from Chicago and went straight to JFK for my air connection to Bangkok the next day for my flight back home. So I missed everybody in New York, including Daniel. Perhaps better luck next time. Our haste to return was due to the jampacked traffic between the Bangkok-Kathmandu-Bangkok sectors.

By the way, does anyone know about the whereabouts of one wonderful lady called Rashmi Gauchan? It was she who introduced me to Sajha.com referring to the discussions on my novel. I, however, lost her email address when my computer crashed. To me, she was a warm and helpful soul but still an unmet and unseen person to this day; and losing her address was double trouble for me. Thank you in advance for your sleuthing works on my behalf.

Warmesg regards to you all.

Yours,

Peter J. Karthak

Here we go Peter Uncle

In Tune With Darjeeling, Part- 1



Part 2



Part 3

Dear Sursum:

Whoever you are, I thank you for your kind sentiments.

However, a reunuon of The Hillians is not likely to be in the offing in any way, nor at any time in the future. And it is also quite off the mark when more than 40 years have gone by since we did our "things" in Darjeeling and the neighborhoods. That's why it's so obvious that The Hillians are not even on the invitation or remembrance list of the Darjeeling Carnival organizers. So it goes!

But thank you for your willingness to lend your voice to our aging and craoky throats. Perhaps I could sync and you could do the actual singing, what!

Meanwhile, Sursum Corda: Lift Up Your Hearts!

Warmest regards,

Peter J. Karthak

Peter Uncle, hamilai chai chatakkai Birsidine?

Dear Amazing Grace:

Tyasto ta kahan hunchha ra!? Aru kehi nabhaye pani "Ayo, gayo, maya moho; Ayena, gayena, ko ho ko ho!"

Hoinata? Ki kaso?

Warmly,

Peter J. Karthak

Thanks Peter Sir,
it was really wonderful to have you in our gathering. Hats off for your initiation......!!!

Young writers gathering at Baneshwor Cafe? Perhpas 3-4 years back


U the youngest TEENAGER

It's a bit confusing with people assuming code names for their email posting and threads. I'm Peter J Karthak and sign in and off as one. Perhaps this should be the norm, otherwise one is talking to ghosts, phantoms and shadows.

Peter J. Karthak