Skip to main content

International Flower Festival 2008, Sikkim (in pictures)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

They wanted to kill me??

AN ENVELOPE   A PIECE OF PAPER   LIST OF ADDRESSES INSIDE THE ENVELOPE I was part of a successful newspaper at Gangtok; the weekly newspaper “Weekend Review” was then considered the third party in Sikkim after the Sikkim Democratic Front led by Pawan Chamling and Congress led by N B. Bhandari, former Chief Minister of Sikkim. I had just completed my graduation when I got a chance to join the big-wig WR team. It took me a week to decide, and I was a news reporter. Even then, my primary concern was looking for Sikkim's old history. The new job was interesting, challenging, and more of an adventure. I never knew what I would do the next day or where I would be.  I was only told to file a report to the newspaper office at Gangtok every Thursday. I was associated with the WR team for more than two years till our editor was replaced, and I found it uncomfortable to work with the new editor. His lack of journalism ethics made me leave WR. Within the fol...

The AC3PT: A story of the deleted country

BY SHITAL PRADHAN To the amateur radio stations in the world, he was just “AC3PT”, a name that is today counted as a deleted or dead country in the pages of Ham Radio. A "Ham" is an Amateur who receives and transmits on short waves, a fascinating hobby followed since the late 18 th century.  An amateur radio enthusiast AC3PT was very well-known among amateur radio communicators across the world. Being on the map of HAM Radio since 1963, AC3PT suddenly came to an abrupt end on April 9, 1975. “…now Indian troops storming my room…” was the last message that radio amateurs across the world last heard of AC3PT. The distressed caller was none other than Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, the last Chogyal of Sikkim State, sending his last-minute SOS across the world. When I first read about the AC3PT and the ham radio sometime back in one of the chapters of a much sought-after merger book on Sikkim, “Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim” by Sunanda K Datta-Ray I could hard...

JANHA BAGCHA TEESTA RANGIT

This was a national song of Sikkim sung in the Nepali language during the monarchy system. During the merger with India, the song got banned and later re-released. Two words on the 8th para, which earlier said 'Rajah rah Rani,' were replaced with "Janmah bhumi."     This song was dedicated to the King and Queen of Sikkim. The song lyrics were penned by Sanu Lama, and the music was composed by Dushyant Lama.  The song was first sung on the birth anniversary of Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal on April 4, 1970, at Gangtok by Aruna Lama, Dawa Lama, and Manikamal Chettri.    JANHA BAGCHA TEESTA RANGIT,  JAHAN KANCHENDZONGA SEER   YEHI HO HAMRO DHANA KO DESH,  TAPAWAN HO PYARO SIKKIM     INTERLUDE     PHULCHAN YEHA AANGANAI MAA,  CHAAP , GURAS, SUNAKHARI   SWARGASARI SUNDAR DESH KO  HAMRO PYARO PYARO JANMAHBHUMI     JANHA BAGCHA……     BATASHLE BOKCHAA YAHA,  TATHAGAT KO AAMAR WAANI ...