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 a pleasure to hear such words. Just before writing this article, I received an email from Volker from France wondering about my fascination with bringing out things about Sikkim that no one had ever thought about.

I was looking for information with him regarding a person named Robert Godet. He was a Frenchman, writer, photographer, adventure lover, and family friend to the Royal family of Sikkim. In the 1950s, he made several flights to Sikkim in his small two-seater airplane, probably making him the first to fly across the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim.

Several anecdotes and information about Sikkim have been less known to our people or might be forgotten over time. My passion lies in collecting that precious information and putting it in my blog, Proud to be a Sikkimese: http://sikhim.blogspot.com/. When people go through my blog, I am sure they will find many articles and rare old photographs of Sikkim that may amaze them.

I 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 exciting topics that I am sure will make an exciting read when they are completed. Just to give a hint…. has anyone heard about HSI Sikkim, which ran from Bombay to the UK in 1918?

Hospital Ship Sikkim was used to assess 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 the 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 on the fold; each gives me the pleasure of going deeper to understand them.

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

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 and a story hunter. Above all, I am happy people find inspiration in me when I go through my passion for Sikkim. But I am happy to remain a student of Sikkim and unravel its past.

History on Easter Sunday and Padari Ganga Prasad Pradhan

By Seira Tamang As noted by various scholars, Hinduism, the Nepali language, the monarchy and a rastriya itihas (a chronicle of progress in which the dark era of Rana rule is contrasted with the enlightened, progressive and modern period of Panchayat rule) formed the core of the Panchayat regime’s national culture. The formation and consolidation of this national culture have required the expunging of uncomfortable facts and stories that might raise ambiguities and questions. While the selection of what and who is and is not acknowledged to exist (or at least exist in historically important ways) in official Nepali history is complex, social scientists have begun to provide more comprehensive historical accounts of the past through oral histories and re-readings of historical documents. Such accounts reveal how ordinary people lived in the past, and offer ways to think through how ‘history’ is crafted, shaped and managed in order to reflect ‘the reality’ best suited to the status quo, ...

Pandam Garhi and its surmise

--> RUINS OF PANDAM GARHI BY SHITAL PRADHAN The stories of the legendary ruined walls at Pandam, a 16 km uphill climb from Rangpo, as I had heard from old folks a few seasons back, had ever since excited me to visit this place. Never in the pages of a history book do we come across its talk about when it was built or how it was constructed at the top of the hill? Over the years, many theories have evolved regarding its origin. Some theorists associate the fort with some Lepcha legends, while few disagree with it and have their own adage. They make us believe one of the Chogyals constructed it to stop the approaching Bhutanese army from entering Sikkim. The last theory to add up, already baffling and controversial, says it was one of the Gurkha Generals from Nepal who constructed the fort along with the Kalika Mandir, also called Nishani Mandir, just below it. With each theory making questions over my mind, I decided to have my second trek to the Pandam Garhi. I had ...

Sikkim Mahinda Thero: A national hero of Sri Lanka

Sikkim Mahinda Thero BY SHITAL PRADHAN I first heard about S Mahinda Thero in 2005 while in Kolkata when I was asked by one of the stamp dealers whether I was interested in a 20 paisa stamp of S Mahinda Thero issued by the Sri Lankan Postal Department in the early 1970s. I collected philatelic items on Buddhism, but I never understood who he was talking about. He told me, as I was from Sikkim, I might be interested to know more about the person, and he went on to add it was Sikkim Mahinda Thero, a Buddhist monk who is regarded as a national hero, a famous poet in the Sinhalese language whose poetry promoted patriotism and the revival of Buddhism to this part of the Island. He promised to send me the stamp of S Mahinda Thero from Colombo through the mail, but I have never heard from him since then. However, regarding my limited concern, it was enough to know that such a person keeps the name Sikkim with honor and pride in Sri Lanka. I had the name...

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

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