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

with SK Biswas, my philately mentor  2006 Ever heard of a rare occasion in philatelic history; a man from one country requesting the highest official of another country to issue a stamp on a particular individual and his appeal being made into practice. Meet Surya Kanta Biswas a professional philatelist from Berhampore, District Murshidabad, West Bengal has earned a special place in the philatelic world. It was in response to his appeal to then-President HM Ershad of Bangladesh that a postage stamp on Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore came to be depicted in Bangladesh postage for the first time. It was on May 12, 1990, he wrote a letter to the then President Ershad requesting to bring out a stamp on Gurudev to commemorate the occasion of the 150 th  anniversary of Gurudev's Birth Anniversary. He wrote Gurudev should be honoured since one of his poems “ Amar Sonar Bangla ” is Bangladesh’s national anthem. It is a rare coincidence that Rabindranath Tagore’s two poems are the nation...

Dalapchand,August 30: Members of Himali Sangh, a State Level Youth Awardees NGO from Dalapchand   has thanked and congratulated the team of Singtam Basibiyalo for the wonderful 37 th Basibiyalo. TN Poudyal, President of Himali Sangh was the ‘ Gharpatti ’ of this month’s edition. Poudyal had passed on good wishes to Mohan Pradhan ‘Neeraj’, Sansthapak of Singtam Basibiyalo for the honour he had received during the program. He further added that everyone should appreciate Mohan Pradhan’s initiatives towards preservation and promotion of literature and cultural heritage through a monthly Basibiyalo colourful program. CP Giri, former DGP of Nagaland was the chief guest of the day while Uma Baby, Actress and Producer of Nepali film ‘Ishara’ was the guest of honour. CC Bhutia, PI Singtam Police Station, Praveen Pradhan, President SPARK NGO from Singtam and Uma Baby was also honoured on the day. PS Gurung, World War II veteran was felicitated on the occasion for his service towards ...

Dalapchand, August 29 : A single day CRC meeting cum training for the Social Science Teachers and English Teachers of schools under Dalapchand SS cluster was held today at Dalapchand SS. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Shri ST Bhutia, Headmaster, Dalapchand SS. Present on the occasion were Headmasters and subject teachers of five feeder schools that included Chandaney Primary School, Deoling Primary School, Katarbotay Primary School   and Lower Dalapchand Primary School. Primary teachers and Graduate teachers of concern subjects of Dalapchand SS were also present on the day long program. Prakash Poudhyal, CRC Coordinator Dalapchand SS gave the welcome speech. During the meeting teachers placed the problems and difficulties faced while teaching. Diki Bhutia, MIS Coordinator Regu BAC, the resource person of the meeting gave valuable suggestions and ideas towards solving the problems faced by the teachers. ST Bhutia, HM Dalapchand SS in his speech thanked HRD Departmen...

Shapi, the so-called living fossil, has been an exciting subject matter for me since it was first documented in Sikkim some seventy years back. I have been looking for information on Shapi for the last couple of years but with little success.  Very little has been written about this rare animal that is regarded as older than deer, goat, and sheep. Considered a rare species and one of the most precious assets of Sikkim, this mammal was first discovered by  Ernst Schäfer, a German doctor, on an expedition in 1938 in Fimphu, North Sikkim.  I should not forget Margreth Paech from Germany, with whom I had an exchange of emails about the discovery of Shapi made by the German Expedition team led by Ernst Schaefer in 1938. She was generous enough to help me in my research by sending photographs of Shapi from the German Archives related to the Ernst Schäfer Expedition, which helped me take a glimpse of that historic discovery. I looked on the internet for information about Shapi. ...