Proud to be a Sikkimese: My homage to my Sikkim-i

My fascination with Sikkim History started in early 2003 after I completed my graduation from Sikkim Government College, Tadong where I joined the famed newspaper Weekend Review at Gangtok and since then there is no looking back for me. Over the last seven years I am fortunate to have my articles published in reputed newspapers and magazines of Sikkim and few from North Bengal too. My query to know more about the Sikkim’s past made me visit different corners of the state. Visiting those sacred places I find myself blessed to have born to this place, a heaven on earth.

Blogging for me started in 2005; as a result “Proud to be a Sikkimese” was born. Proud to be a Sikkimese is my homage to my Sikkim and contains collection of articles and essays I had written over the years more prominently about Sikkim History. The technology of Internet has helped writers like share my work with people across the globe and it gives a pleasure of satisfaction to know that my articles have helped people understand about Sikkim’s past. Over more than one lakh people across the globe have gone though my blog and I am happy, my small effort has paid off. Every day I get more than 300 visitors who go through my blog.

On numerous occasions I have received mails from people to whom I never know and it is nice when they congratulate me for the work on Sikkim’s past I do through my blog Proud to be a Sikkimese. Over the last one year I have exchange mails or messages with the unbelievable personalities (atleast to me!!) involved with Sikkim History in Prince Palden and Hope Leezum Namgyal (Son and Daughter of Late Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal), Claire M Jordan (Grand Daughter of Elisa Maria, wife of LD Kazi), Horst Geerken and Ulrich Bihlmayer (with whom Late Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal talked at HAM about Political unrest of merger), author like Sunanda K Dutta-Ray and the list continues with many unsung heroes of Sikkim History who have helped popularize my blog.

Today my blog Proud to be a Sikkimese has given me an identity as a student of Sikkim History and is well read and followed as I am told by my readers! I have always believed in sharing information, more I share more I learn about my Sikkim was my motive behind which I started my blog Proud to be a Sikkimese. I am delighted I have succeeded in my goal and I shall ever remain grateful towards people who have helped me build an encyclopedia of Sikkim. Proud to be a Sikkimese is the next Wikipedia of Sikkim where you get familiar with parts of Sikkim History that have long lost their existence to the wheel of clock. Also found in my blog are articles on genuine Sikkim, ones that has never been published elsewhere. The complete stories of Sikkim Rocket Mail Experiment 1935, Ham Radio of Late Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, the first map of Sikkim along with rare classic photographs of Sikkim are only found in my blog.

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 ...

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 legend of April "73" Agitation in Sikkim

I was not born when Sikkim got merged with the mighty Indian Union, but being a student of Sikkim History, all that is available to me is a rack of books by different authors and those old folks who had been part of that historical “April ‘73’ Agitation”. When I go through the history of Sikkim, April ‘73 Agitation holds an important role, mostly as the turning point of the Independent Sikkim and the Sikkim State. The mass demonstrations against the Chogyal rule shocked the 300-year-old monarchy system and ushered in democratic rule in Sikkim. The agitation was a result “due to big differences which ensued with the demand of repoll in one booth by Kazi Lhendup Dorji and Mr. Krishna Chandra Pradhan, as such the Chogyal had to face the people’s agitation launched by the Joint Action Committee with the tacit blessings of the Government of India. This people’s political movement spearheaded by Kazi Lhendup Dorji finally resulted in Sikkim joining the mainstream as the 22nd State...

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

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