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

These are some excellent photographs of the Royal family of Sikkim, i found in bbs.voc.com.

I owe this to Sikkim Express. Since the oldest daily newspaper in Sikkim, the Sikkim Express, allowed me to write a column on Sikkim's history, I have yet to look back. Over the last 20 months, I have written over 100 articles under the column "Himalayan review" that have helped me grow as a student of Sikkim History. Sometime around, I am referred by Sikkim Historian by my well-wishers, which I find very embarrassing.  The history of Sikkim is vast, and over the last half a dozen years, I have dedicated myself to understanding Sikkim, yet I feel there is still time for me to be called a Sikkim Historian. My friend tells me that to become a historian, one needs to have a will and a desire, not a degree or a certificate. But sometimes you go unnoticed when you do not have a formal qualification. I am learning, and I feel better calling myself a student of Sikkim History'. Being a Botany Honours graduate from Sikkim Government College at Tadong and being interested...

  To promote majhitar in tourism sector and to make aware to all the residence of majhitar to be clean everytime. We Majhitar people thanks to Sikkim Police Rangpo on providing us 10 jawans, Zydus - 10, Cipla - 10, Ispat Majhitar - 5 with lunch-cold drinks, GREF, Himalayan Pharmacy and many more. Suresh Lama   On the behalf of Majhitar

The Darjeeling Tract - like an island in the middle of Sikkim One of the most revealing maps of History, the Darjeeling Tract which was given to the East India Company is seen for the first time inside the true stretch of the Sikkimese Kingdom Source: beacon online

The 24 th Basibiyalo on April 18th held at Singtam felicitated Sanjay Agarwal, popular freelance journalist assonated with different newspapers in Sikkim and in Siliguri. The Chief Guest of the day, Bijoy Kumar Subba renowned writer handed over the trophy, memento and khada to the felicitating journalist. Speaking on the occasion, Bijoy Kumar Subba told that the work done by Sanjay Agarwal is significant and encouraged him to better his efforts. Basibiyalo founder Mohan Pradhan “Neeraj” addressing the gathering informed Basibiyalo had started a felicitating policy from 21 st  Basibiyalo and in 24 th Basibiyalo the felicitation is in journalism sector. He announced that though Sanjay Agarwal does not belong from Nepali community but has done lots of appreciable work in Nepali literature and in Nepali news sector from 2004.

Hill Boys’ United FC team PRESS RELEASE FROM Hill Boys United Hill Boys’ United FC, a club formed in Kolkata by a group of youths hailing from the hills of Darjeeling and Sikkim won its second match of the League stage at the prestigious Calcutta Parsee Club 5 a side Football Tournament on April 17th. Hills Boys defeated Shining Stars Club 3-2 in a hard-fought encounter. The Boys came from behind twice to earn this victory showing in the process the never say die attitude of the Youths from the hills. Shining Stars took the lead in the first half and it remained that way till halftime. But in the second half, Loden Lepcha with a stinging shot brought back the Hill Boys into the game but the equalizer was short-lived as Shining Stars again took the lead. Under Pressure Hill Boys lost momentum for a brief while but Gyaltshen Moktan struck home and brought back Hill Boys into the game for the second time. When it was appearing that the match would head for a draw. Jigme Dorjee wh...

Late Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, the last recognised King of Sikkim featured on the front page of April Issue of Talk Sikkim published from Gangtok. The article "Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal: Requiem" written by Tenzin C. Tashi and published in Talk Sikkim , the most happening monthly magazine from the state of Sikkim is the talk of the town ever since it hit the stand. The article takes the readers to the world of Palden Thondup Namgyal, late Chogyal of Sikkim. The detailed story of Chogyal’s life is beautifully penned down. The outcome of his inability to cope with the emerging voices against him that finally led Sikkim to merge with Indian Union in 1975 is excellently highlighted. But (?) when the deposed King passed away seven years after his kingdom was taken away, “However, in death, Zhungkyang ( Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal) finally had the honour denied him in his last years. A massive crowd- including his detractors, his bitter foe and one-time estat...

PRESS RELEASE FROM Hill Boys United Hill Boys United FC, the team sponsored by kolkatafootball.com and co-sponsored by Hill-Queen Travels, won its first match of the Kolkata Parsee Club 5- a side invitational Football Tournament today at Kolkata Parsee Club Maidan. They beat the Street Ballers Club of Kolkata by 3 - 0. A 21-year-old promising Hill Boys United Striker Jigmi Dorjee scored a hat trick in the match. The first half result was goalless. The 16 teams Football tournament started on the 10th where the Winner's prize money is Rs. 25,000. Being a 5-a-side game, the duration of the match was 15 minutes in each half. The team Street Ballers, which Hill Boys United defeated, was also a good side but they ran out of steam in the second half and Hill Boys took full advantage of this and scored all three goals in the second half. Saurav Rai, a Hill Boys United player missed a good chance to score in the 2nd half. Now, Hill Boys united will play against Shining Stars, K...

My outlook towards the Heritage Management Seminar-3 Visit to the Ruined Royal Palace at Tumlong  The second day of the Two Days Seminar on Strategy for Heritage Management for Sikkim organized by the Cultural Department gave us an opportunity to visit the ruined Royal Palace at Tumlong. I had earlier been to that place couple of years back but still, I believed I should go to it since I had a few questions in my mind after I had seen an old sketch from a European Journal while surfing at internet on Tumlong. The sketch provided the scene of the Palace from a distant place where a road with two chorten on its upper side is shown while a single chorten lower than the road along with few huts like dwelling place and few people around was clearly framed of that period of ancient Sikkim. It is believed that when Campbell and Hooker were captured they were kept in those hut-like. I talked about the Tumlong sketch with a few of the officials during our short meetings. The o...

from Sikkim Express Yasoda Sharma, a resident of Gangtok, Sikkim and currently a PhD student and Adjunct Faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington, TX has been conferred the highest ranking academic award from the university. The award officially known as the Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges program will be conferred to her in the Academic Excellence day of the School of Social Work on the 16 th of April. Coming from a humble background of a business family, Yasoda had completed a Masters in Social Work from the prestigious Banaras Hindu University in the year 2001. After providing her services in various ranks in BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Sikkim Manipal Health Institute, and GATI international she got accepted to pursue PhD in Social Work at the University of Texas in the year 2006.  Yasoda has won a number of accolades for her academics and research within and outside the university. This even includes the Dea...

Prashant Tamang being felicitated by Dhiraj Pradhan (BDO) Regu BAC Sangharsh NGO celebrated its Annual Sangharsh Felicitation 2010 with the felicitation of six members of the underproduction Nepali movie “Angalo Yo Maya Ko” produced from Sikkim along with four other local personalities from Rongli Sub-Division on the night of April 10.  The felicitated group included Indian Idol 3 winner Prashant Tamang, who is also the lead actor of the movie “Angalo Yo Maya Ko” followed by Vinod Sereng (Director), Kishore Dungmali Rai (Producer), Yubraj Rai (Cinematographer), Praja Pradhan (Assistant Director cum Bungee Jumper) and Mahendra Gurung (Actor).  Prashant Tamang entertaining the Rongli crowds From the local felicitators, Bhanu Gurung was honoured for his contribution towards ‘Music’, Ganesh Pradhan in ‘Arts and Culture’ for his Ram Gauri Sangralaya at Rhenock while Shital Pradhan received the felicitation for bringing out articles on ‘History of Sikkim’ at Sikkim Expres...

Music in his principle is universal and above caste, creed, and culture.  He is a pioneer of Singtam’s Nepali Rock Music and has been a popular face in every musical entertainment since his school days. Meet Gangaa Mukhia, he is the talk of the town with his debut album “Aakarshan”, a Nepali rock music album, recorded at the studio in Mumbai. Aakarshan got raving reviews from his admirers that he is set to come up with its music video very shortly.  The music album was officially released on the occasion of the final of the Nachiyo Babari, the dance reality show held at Paljor Stadium at Gangtok through the hand of Dr. Pawan Chamling, the Chief Minister of Sikkim. A special stage show for this album is all set to hit the town of Guwahati in Assam in the coming months. Born and brought up at Singtam, Gangaa Mukhia today runs a musical class at his residence at Shantinagar, below PWD Office.  More than two dozen music enthusiasts had undergone vocal classes under his guida...

My outlook towards the Heritage Management Seminar-2 Singtam’s Heritage One of the interesting topics of the day (at Two Days Seminar on Strategy for Heritage Management for Sikkim organised by the Cultural Department at Denzong Residency) I really enjoyed was about the talk on Cultural Resource Mapping of Sikkim beautifully presented before the listeners. To be serious I never knew much about this till that day. The objectives of cultural resource management are the preservation, conservation and enhancement of cultural resources. Since being a student of Sikkim History, the topic of preservation and conservation too holds an important terms in my dictionary. While going through the presentation I was talking within myself did it featured the four historical landmark of Singtam. Here I am talking about the four monuments I wish the State Government could take interest on. These includes the Old Iron Bridge (1929), Toppakhani Tunnel (late 1920s), Pre-merger Sikkim Milepost and Old H...

It is really nice to hear about the assured assistance of the Chief Minister of Sikkim in Priyanka Tiwari's death mystery. According to the news published in Voice of Sikkim, the deceased father K. Tiwari had a meeting with the Chief Minister on Thursday and placed all the related documents. CM had assured to take the matter seriously to the Central Home Ministry and also seek for CBI investigation.   Chief Minister further told that our Sikkimese youths who are studying and working across the country and outside the country will be fully escorted by whatever lawful means. Treating this incident as most unlikely for Sikkim, the Priyanka Tiwari case will be justified thoroughly, he said. Talking to the media over the phone the deceased father said that to date no autopsy report is being prepared which should have been done within a couple of days by investigating the body. He also claimed that while enquiring about the status either the officer’s phone gets disconnected...