Sunday, February 20, 2011

Proud to be a Sikkimese: My passion for Sikkim



I had never thought that someday my passion for understanding Sikkim would have followers and well-wishers across the globe. Today I have friends who appreciate my small effort and thank me for helping them bring closure to a land called Sikkim and it’s really a pleasure to hear such words. Just before writing this article I had received an email from Volker from France wondering about my fascination for bringing out things about Sikkim no one ever had given a thought. 

I was looking for information with him regarding a person named Robert Godet, a Frenchman who was a writer, photographer, an adventure lover, and a family friend to the Royal family of Sikkim who had made several flights to Sikkim in his own small two-seater airplane in the 50s, probably making him the first person to fly across the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim.

There are several anecdotes and information related to Sikkim that had been less known to our people or might be forgotten in course of time and my passion lies in collecting that precious information and putting them in my blog Proud to be a Sikkimese  http://sikhim.blogspot.com/. I am sure when people go through my blog they will certainly find many articles and rare old photographs of Sikkim that may amaze them.

I had once sent a request to a website administrator in the United States to review my blog and this is what she (Kim) wrote about my blog. “…….One, often forgotten, the advantage of blogging is that one gets to see some exotic places which we never knew even existed. Sikkim is one such place in India. It’s the place that inspires, Shital Pradhan, to write his blog and he writes on average more than one post a day. Now that’s what is called truly inspirational.

I just googled "Sikkim" and the images which showed up really made me sit up in awe. No wonder it is the state that receives a high percentage of tourists visiting India. And this blog is Encyclopedia (or Wikipedia) of Sikkim, a perfect blog on one's homeland, a place which we all love, but often forget to give its due.”  I am thankful for her encouraging words and I am sure this will give me a boost and an honour that I am on my way to creating the Encyclopedia of Sikkim.

Coming to my blog Proud to be a Sikkimese, these days I am working on a few interesting topics which I am sure shall make an interesting read when it is completed. Just to give a hint…. has anyone heard about HSI Sikkim that ran from Bombay to the UK in 1918? 

Hospital Ship Sikkim was used for medical assessment of the soldiers injured during the First World War. HIS Sikkim was the world's first River Hospital Ship. How about a horse named Sikkim that still holds a record in US Derby that she won in the 60s? Interestingly the popularity of the Horse made it appear in an advertisement for Vim-Con horse vitamins.  There are many such stories in the fold and each story gives me a pleasure to go deeper to understand it.

Proud to be a Sikkimese had undergone many short expeditions trying to look for interesting and fascinating information around Sikkim. We found a tree with a girth of 52 feet; we met a man, who had seen a Yeti, we visited different historic places like a 200-year-old house that should have found its name in Sikkim Heritage and many others.

For the last four years Proud to be a Sikkimese has been part of me and my passion for Sikkim has given me an identity as a writer, as a story hunter and above all I am happy people find as inspiration on me when they go through my passion about my Sikkim. But I am happy to remain a student of Sikkim and unravel its past. 

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