Proud to be a Sikkimese: Sikkim Travel, Culture & Local Heritage

From chennaivision Sikkim has a unique electoral college for Sangha (monasteries) seat whereby only Buddihst Lamas and Nuns have the right to elect one representative in the 32-member Assembly. The Lamas and Nuns can cast ballot from their respective Assembly segments in general booth but have a separate ballot box for Sangha seat. -X- Women take pride in Sikkim’s elections in electing the 8th Assembly as some 1,43,154 electors of the total 3,00,584 are females. Of them a record 56 are nuns, which showed women are not far from taking lead role in propagating Buddhism in this erstwhile Chogyal kingdom. -X- Chujachen constituency in east Sikkim has the highest number of voters in a constituency at 12,902. The lowest is at Lachen-Mangan, a tribal Bhutia seat north Sikkim with 5699 voters. -X- The polling station with the largest number of voters is Arithang-Old Secretariat room No 1 with 1206 voters in east Sikkim. The lowest number of voters is in 127 polling station at Poklok-Kamr...

It had been for sometime now that i had been watching the State Government of Sikkim's website being attacked by virus. For over a month no one had ever dare to give it a watch and check it. Everyone seem busy with election campaign!!

The stage was set for the Yuvraj of Indian Politics at Palzor Stadium, Gangtok. Like many others, I was in a queue at the stadium's entrance gate under the scorching summer sun. With crowds rushing up like ants, the scenario everywhere was much different from what  usually happens in Sikkim politics.  I could hear national integration songs being scored up loudly on microphones as if I was about to witness a National festival, much like Independence Day or Republic Day. Among the crowd, I was holding a small handbag with an umbrella inside, as rainfall is unpredictable in this part of the region these days. Congress supporters of all ages from every corner of the state had gathered. With all the hushing and pushing, I made my way to the security personnel who were checking every individual entering the stadium. I had my bag in front of me, and as I was ready to open the zip of my bag, I was told to keep aside the bag before entering the stadium. I showed them it was only an um...

I still remember it was in the early 90s when The Great Khali then he was only Dilip Singh visited Gangtok, and I believe I have that newspaper from Sikkim Express that carried an article on this giant man on their front page but in the racks of over thousand newspaper in my collection, it is somewhere hidden. There were talks then about how he was put inside the van with the second seat of the van being removed and replaced with smaller muurah (local sitting item). We were still in the final years of the schooling session and we too rushed to watch him at the Developmental Area, where he was at one of the hotels. Source: Satya Prakash Last week when I was crossing over one of the eateries at Tadong, I came across a frame being hung on the wall where it was written "The Great Khali at Gangtok", I just clicked the pic for myself. More than a decade later we never knew that giant personality would rock the WWE arena and make a name for himself in the world ...

Finally i had the copy of the manifesto of the two major parties of the Sikkim Assembly Election. Well i would be more than pleased if someone could help me get the other parties manifesto for my small collection. Sikkim Democratic Party Sikkim Pradesh Congress

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 ...

As always when I come across stories related to Sikkim history my feet have no boundaries. I had heard about a small war memorial at Gnathang along the Sikkim-Tibet border a few years back but due to unavoidable circumstances, I was not able to visit that place. So when I set foot at Gnathang this March I was very excited. Well, there is a War Memorial in Gnathang but more than that a neglected one. Despite its historic importance, I believe it has lost its existence. The dry overgrown grasses and the broken nameplates of the memorial speak of the negligence. World history remembers the event as the Sikkim Expedition in 1888. There are around 15 graveyards in the War Memorial of those soldiers representing the British Expeditionary Force that fought a war against the Tibetan Army in 1888 at Gnathang. The British Force stayed at this remote mountainous corner between 1888 to 1895 and the memorial reflects the determination and grit of those people most of whom were in their mid-20s and ...

Source:The Life and Times of a Plantsman in the Sikkim Himalayas

I wanted someone to write on the book Don't Ask Any Old Bloke For Directions but never found any, the book is something i too wish to read and for some time had been hanging around my fantasy. Out here in Singtam, i do not find people wasting time flipping around quality books only flashy magazines rocks here. It was a sudden meeting with my former senior colleague Serah Basnet of Weekend Review days all thanks to the beautiful Facebook that she send me a link from a page published in The Hindu which might be of interest to many. In earlier post i had shared a similar review on the very book written in one of the web page which to me wasn't a pleasing reading still i gave a try, at least some one would come up with a better review. But i believe like me they might not had gone through it or could be they did not find my post worth commenting. Out of no where i found a comment from some Anonymous. I would love to share his/her view straightly... "i enjoyed the book imme...

These are the latest photographs of the Rongli Dam Disaster especially for the blog readers. According to the latest news, five dead body had been recovered and send for post mortum at Singtam Hospital. Photo by : Pranay Pradhan, Rongli

With an article on Sikkim’s Rocket Mail Experiment 1935, I joined Weekend Review, noted a weekly newspaper published by Gangtok, and debuted in the print media. So the story of Sikkim's Rocket mail is, in fact, very close to me. When I first received feedback for the article on Sikkim Rocketmail in 2003, the small note read 'lost in 1935 discovered in 2003’; true to the words, the Sikkim Rocketmail Experiment in 1935 had been long lost and nowhere to be found in Sikkim itself. Today, the Western world acknowledges the great achievement of the effort of a single man, Stephen Hector Taylor-Smith, promptly called the pioneer of Indian Rocketmail. More than seven decades of the historical experiments that set forward the early days of the world airmail invention today are long forgotten in this part of the world. Forgotten is the World's first parcel dispatch over the river that was conducted at Rani Khola, near Ranipool, and one of the outstanding accomplishments in Sikkim s...

from livemint.com A ride from Kerala to Sikkim ought to be a meaty travelogue. Sadly, this one falls short Dilip D’Souza From Ladakh, P.G. Tenzing decides to “push my luck and reach Manali, normally a two-day journey, in one day”. That’s how he begins Chapter 17, and its end comes two pages later, when Tenzing writes: “It had taken me 16 hours of hard riding but it had been worth every crazy minute.” In some ways, that sentence captures this little book. I read it and felt like writing Tenzing a one-line letter: “Won’t you please tell us about those crazy minutes?” Because he doesn’t. In those two pages he mentions—only mentions—a yak herder intent on talking while Tenzing pees, the man’s butter-tea, and an overturned bike. Also something made Tenzing cry copiously, but he won’t say what. I wanted to like this book. I’m not a biker, but I’ve spent time with the breed. I simply love the ro...

From The Sunday Indian Volume 3 Issue 1 06 October-12 October 2008

shared by Bishal Rai 'Kirath' 9873320866 Bhuwan Basnett, a young boy from Darjeeling met with an accident on his way back from Agra towards Delhi. Two of his friends died on the spot and Bhuwan is seriously injured and Bhuwan’s condition is very critical. Doctors have operated his thigh and possibly his bone marrow needs to be replaced. His, head is seriously damaged and doctors are working on the same. Bhuwan has a beautiful four years old daughter and is married for almost six years. The estimate cost, as of today for his medical bill has crossed four lakh. Bhuwan urgently requires some financial help from all of us as his condition is very critical. To help Bhuwan please contact Mr. Tilak Chettri (Uncle) at +91-98714 65 279 Mr. Niraj Chhetri (Uncle) at +91-98109 61 227 Ms. Srijana Sharma (Sister) +91 99100 14949 Alternatively, the bank account numbers are as follows: Niraj Chhetri Account number: 00 2901 5265 25 ICI...

These are some of my world wide bank note collection. I also exchange with others.