Friday, September 7, 2007:The hills are alive with the sound of music as Darjeeling celebrates the success of one of their own, Prashant Tamang, the policeman turned Indian Idol participant. Prashant came to town a couple of days ago for a performance and his admirers were in ecstasy. Both Darjeeling and neighbouring Sikkim are gearing up to vote for Prashant on Indian Idol's D-day.This hill station has never seen sights like this, a turnout in the thousands to hear the Indian Idol sing and wish him luck for the future. "We all want Prashant to win. We love Prashant," said a local. "He has the capacity and caliber and he is a good singer. He bears of the hills people and all the Gorkha people," said another local."He is a good singer. He will be the Indian idol. He is also the star of Darjeeling," said a local.Not just Darjeeling, even the neighouring state of Sikkim is rooting for Prashant, led, in fact, Chief Minister Pawan Chamling himself. The policeman turned singer's mother just cannot believe the change in Prashant's fortunes. "On Independence Day, my son used to march here as part of the celebrations. Now people are coming here to watch him. People love him. He will go far," said Rupa Tamang, Prashant's Mother.Already Darjeeling's heartthrob, Prashant endeared himself further by singing a Nepali song and then promising that, come the finals, he will do his very best to put Darjeeling on the map of Indian Idol.
