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

 from digitalgallery.nypl.org

Road blocked at Sirwani Ill-fated vehicles at Manpari Busty At Manpari Busty   landslide at Shantinagar, Singtam Affected house at Juice Factory area Affected house at Juice Factory area  People walking at the landslides Vehicle problem that hit Singtam bazaar The local coolies of Singtam have all gathered at the landslide area and they charge upto Rs 200 to cross the landslides.

By Suresh Lama Rinchenpong, West Sikkim: 24 th .08.2010: On the eve of Panglasol Festival Premiere show of Nepali Feature Film “Timro Hamro Zindagani” was successfully screened at Community Hall, Rinchenpong. Premiere show was organized by HALLOWED FALLACIOUS HARMONIOUS SOCIETY (A MUSICAL GROUP) of Rinchenpong, West Sikkim.  On this occasion Shri Tseten Tashi Bhutia, Officer in charge, Kaluk was the Chief Guest and Producer cum Actor of the film Shri Basant K. Lama as a Guest of Honour. Along with Chief Guest and Guest of Honour other high level dignitaries were present.   Nepali Feature Film “Angalo Yo Mayako” promo was also played in interval, because society will screen this movie also. Viewers had appreciated the film and the society for organizing the show and requested the society to organize such function time to time. Screening started with short speech from Shri Praveen Gurung, President of the society and one welcome song from the society band was also perf...

A beautiful insect that visited my room tonight

Gangtok: Prayas Band from Gangtok regaled Mangsila crowds with couple of hours of musical treats at 64 th I Day celebration. The four hour long late night musical show held at the premises of Mangsila SSS had more than 300 crowds encouraging the singers in every song they performed.   The lead singer of the band Prakash Sundas, a contestant of Indian Idol 5 from Sikkim went on to sing over two dozen songs in both Nepali and Hindi language. His songs had mixed theme that included patriotic, romantic, classic and latest movie songs. The other singer of the band Amit Gurung went on to sing half a dozen songs that were equally cheered by the gathered crowds. The other members of the bands were Bijay Kumar Rai, Sabin Duraa, Krishna Chettri and Sabeel Hashmi.

This vintage post cards of the 40 Maharajas of India had a surprise face of Chogyal Thutob Namgyal. source: ebay

Chief Minister Pawan Chamling being welcomed at Tshlamthang school (16-08-2010)

It surprises me that this was for the second time that a special cover was released from Sikkim and no body knew about it. This time around Special Cover on Queen’s Baton Relay was released at Gangtok but nothing more was knew and the release function was not highlighted enough.

Press Release Film production in Sikkim is going on fast pace, shooting of “Eshara”, “Letter” & “Angalo Yo Mayako” had already completed their shooting and releasing their film soon. Current Nepali Feature film “Timro Hamro Zindagani” produced by Basant K. Lama under the banner of Rani Film Production , Ranipool , East Sikkim is releasing in this August. Producer wants to show this movie from West Sikkim , because that part of Sikkim is far off from capital Gangtok . And most of the West Sikkim viewers will be left out. Production house wants any non profitable societies or clubs of West Sikkim to come forward and take a job of screening so that organization and clubs of particular sub divisions will be benefited.  Nepali Feature Film “Timro Hamro Zindagani” is screenplay and directed by renowned director of Nepali film Industry Mr. Pratap Subba his debut film was historic “Paral Ko Aago”, story of this film is written by Shri Hirdainath Lama , cinematography b...

I still remember writing an article on early man tools found in Sikkim some time back. I had wrapped in brief three separate excavations completed in different parts of Sikkim. A few years later, I saw a complete package of excavation reports of the last excavation done at Sikkim (2004) in the form of a book, which was enough to excite my tiny heart.  The book Archeological Exploration in Sikkim , written by Dr. PK Mishra , provides a report on the excavations done in 2002 and 2004 at Sikkim by the team led by Dr. Mishra from the Prehistoric Branch of the Archeological Survey of India . The book also illustrates photographs with information on early man artifacts discovered from over two dozen Neolithic sites in  North and East Sikkim.   Dr. Mishra writes that the tools recovered from Sikkim were collected from the fields under step cultivation and even from the local people who thought those were “ Chattang ko Dunga ” or the “ Vajra Dunga ” stone from heaven. I smile...

pic from Santa Banta Yuden Zongtenpa plays a key role in the movie "....and Once More" directed by the famed Amol Palekar. The film is exclusively shot in Sikkim. Yuden Zongtenpa is a student of Tashi Namgyal Academy.  Below is the extract of the review of the film that was screened in Goa Sikkimese Child Actress Grabs Hearts By Andrew Stephenson - BollySpice.com 29 Nov 2009 Trapped between Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan, the mountainous Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim, which only officially became part of India in 1975, is not known for the number of Bollywood actors it produces - but it may have found a star of the future in seven-year-old Yuden Zongtempa. Yuden steals the movie in Avartan (now "....and Once More") , currently being screened at the International Film Festival of India in Goa. Yuden, who is being raised in California where her father is an IT professional, had no problems with the dialogue as the film was shot in English.  The movie's title refers t...

I was at the ruins of Tumlong few months back where the restoration work of the Palace is going on. That was my second visit to the Chogyal's Palace of till late 1700s. Even in my first visit few sculptured artifacts were lying while more than a year later the same artifacts i had seen then were still found at that ground but one of the stone with a hole in its middle was found missing. I do not know whether the stone is moved or taken away from the site. I was looking for the photographs that i had taken of that stone in my last visit but in hundreds of CDs  went mixed up and i am happy i found it today. I believe the stone i saw was a significant one in terms of that era.

Gnathang is at an altitude of about 12000 feet. Pin Code : 737102