Members of Morning Health Club at Chowrastha on Tuesday. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Jan. 1: A group of old men braved the cold winter morning and celebrated their “birthdays” en masse at Chowrastha today to teach the younger generations a lesson in the joys of sharing.

At 7am, around 30 of them could be seen at the busy junction, laughing and joking among themselves and distributing tea, laddoos, samosas, jalebis and chocolates to the few people who had risen as early as them.

Most of the town was still recovering from last night’s New Year Eve celebrations.

“Nowadays, people don’t have time to share their happiness with their friends. This is why we all decided to celebrate our birthday en masse, irrespective of our actual dates of birth, and welcomed the entire town to join us,” said Debi Prasad Agarawal (52).

Agarawal’s birthday is on June 4, but he along with people like Ashok Pal (54) is of the firm belief that nothing is worth more than being happy, together.

“We have formed an informal club, called Morning Health Club. In the past three years, our membership has grown to about 500, of whom about 67 are very regular in coming out for the morning walk,” said Tshering Dorjee (63). The club does not have any office bearers.

The members, most of whom are retired professionals, also share a fierce love for their town. The club has already planted about 11,000 saplings in the area around the Mall and the members are regularly seen cleaning the roads around Chowrastha. “Every month, we collect Rs 10 from each member to fund these projects,” said Dorjee.

Their most important project, of course, is the fight against encroachments. Already illegal constructions around Darjeeling Mall have all but blocked out the view of the majestic peaks of the Himalayas.

“Only yesterday, we stopped two constructions in the Mall area that were being extended beyond the plan sanctioned by the civic body,” said Dorjee.

The members do not believe in pushing the authorities to get their job done. “We started shouting at the owners and soon a huge crowd turned up and all were in favour of us. The construction people were forced to stop their work,” said Dorjee.

In the past, the members have stopped work on three buildings near the Mall that were flouting civic norms. Recently, they also floated a more organised body, Darjeeling Environment Conservation Awareness Programme.