I want to become a Sikkim Historian

War objects found at Tumlong Palace ruins

I never wanted to be a teacher, and at the same time, I never had any options. I had always been interested in history since school, but destiny had another career for me. When I completed high school, I compromised my dream of becoming an archeologist and opted for Pure Science streams. In my early schooling days, we were taught to plant dreams, and I dreamt of becoming an archeologist. Tutankhamen, Stonehenge, El Dorado, Atlantis, Crop Circles, Incas, Mayas, ancient civilizations and many others were the only things I used to fantasize. I regularly visited forest areas in my hometown and searched for things, believing that I was an archeologist and was destined to discover them. My biggest irony of life one day I found a real plant fossil, it was a petrified fossil with an impression of a Gramineae leaf. Since 2003 I am trying to get more information of it but without any success.

I completed my Pure Science studies and opted for Botany Honours at Sikkim Government College in Tadong, Gangtok. After my dreams of being an archeologist were scattered, I could not set up goals for my life. I completed my Botany Honours, never knowing what was next! After that, I was to follow, which I had never ever given thought. I would say Lady Luck smiled at me. I joined Weekend Review Newspaper at Gangtok, and since then, there has been no looking back. Through the Weekend Review newspaper, I unfolded my fantasy of learning Sikkim. The year then was 2003.

The seed of archeology was there with me, but one incident changed my outlook toward my thoughts. It was in then Calcutta, my first visit to the metros I was surprised to find that most of the people out there never knew about Sikkim. Some thought it to be in Nepal, some in China, and others made my home state stand somewhere in Bhutan. Till then, I had never known what Sikkim was all about. Since that incident, I have been trying to study Sikkim, trying to understand what Sikkim is all about? I want to know more and more about my Sikkim, every step that played an important role in the making of Sikkim.

From archeologist to self-made Sikkim historian….I had changed the object of my life, but one thing that has remained untouched is my sincere approach towards my goal. Blogging is just a platform to make people like me understand Sikkim. What I write in this weekly column and in my blog “Proud to be a Sikkimese’ (http://sikhim.blogspot.com) is not a mere hobby of getting popular as I am said by my few friends who do not like me writing about Sikkim History. I had been told I was writing nonsense, and they believed digging the past only stinks. I am sorry for them, but I am not stopping my hunger to know about Sikkim. For each article, I go through numerous old, ragged pages of ‘fat books’ and other resources. I know my responsibilities, but my only greed lies in the fact that through my articles, I wish my younger generation learns more about our Sikkim history, which is not found anywhere else.

Rongli my birthplace

BY SHITAL PRADHAN A small hamlet in an eastern side Silent raush on its way, The old silk route, More older it look Upon which I stay, Hey that’s Rongli, Rongli my birthplace Years went by, years dried up, Yet the small village is as it was, Silent, peaceful and introvert Today’s picture of Rongli, Houses as station bogie, Looks a cradle, from Chujachen, Upon which the blue sky, As if I can touch thee, Roaring River, As the legend we hear, Still watch with glee, The terror of 1890 somewhat forgotten, Yet another terrorizing moment, 68 was the year… 1968, When sky too wasn’t pleased. That was Rongli, Rongli of the past. Playing along the Baar-Pepal tree, Hiding in the Shivalaya, Watching videos and aloft Is a decent memory, now? Sweet time in treasure, Yet when I am in Rongli, I am happy, in whither sweet. Rongli my birthplace !

India’s illegal occupation of independent Sikkim has to be reversed

Extracted from Pakistan Defence India’s “Chief Executive” in Gangtok wrote: “Sikkim’s merger was necessary for Indian national interest. And we worked to that end. Maybe if the Chogyal had been smarter and played his cards better, it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did.” It is also said that the real battle was not between the Chogyal and Kazi Lendup Dorji but between their wives. On one side was Queen Hope Cook, the American wife of the Chogyal and on the other was the Belgian wife of the Kazi, Elisa-Maria Standford. “This was a proxy war between the American and the Belgian,” says former chief minister BB Gurung. But there was a third woman involved: Indira Gandhi in New Delhi. Chogyal Palden met the 24-year-old New Yorker Hope Cook in Darjeeling in 1963 and married her. For Cook, this was a dream come true: to become the queen of an independent kingdom in Shangrila. She started taking the message of Sikkimese independence to the youth, and the allegations started flying thic...

The coinage system of Sikkim

It is more or less a forgotten part of the development process of the then-small Himalayan kingdom, Sikkim . The introduction of the coinage system in Sikkim ceased the way it started. A study of the coinage system of Sikkim sheds light on the socio-economic and political history of the then-small state. The coins of Sikkim ended the way they appeared; they came from nowhere, and finally, they got lost out in the darkness. A handful of people around Sikkim and in the districts of Darjeeling now have these rare items in their collections. The coin of Sikkim is much sought after by numismatists interested in countries that no longer exist today. Before the British invasion of the land of Sikkim, the capital revenue system was never heard. Sikkim, being an agricultural foreground, had some parts of food grains given to the king as tax. Trade was carried out where things were exchanged between individuals. This system was prevalent even in the mid-19th century; oranges were exchan...

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

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