Sikkimese Women at Sunday Market in Gangtok (1967)

Sikkimese Women at Sunday Market in Gangtok (1967)

pic: ebay

Press Photo of Hope Cooke at US (1981)

Pictures of media protest rally in Gangtok

Picture from Gangtok by Prabin khaling

Vadalized office of Sikkim NOW in Gangtok

Picture from Gangtok by Prabin khaling

i voted the right person..did you?

i voted the right person....did you?

Dentam Dasai 2012

Rongli Dasai 2012

Sikkim’s Sangey Udenla at Doordarshan Television Serial “Ek Tha Rusty”

21-year-old Sangey Udenla from Gangtok has been selected for the Doordarshan Primetime Television Serial “Ek Tha Rusty” based on Ruskin Bond's famous author. Shooting for the serial will take place at Mussoorie, Dehradun. 

She is one of the findings of Sikkim Model Hunt 2012. She is a final year student of Political Science (Hons) at Daulatram College, New Delhi.

Sikkim Postal History: Those early years-iv

  [It has been a wonderful response from different places in the state, including Darjeeling District, regarding my findings on the Postal History of Sikkim. I am happy that my readers found information that they have heard less. Continuing the previous article, I share the Postal System of the British Expedition of 1888, which played an important role in turning Sikkim into what it is today.]

Geoffrey Flack, in “Sikkim Field Force 1888-89; Precursor to the Younghusband Expedition,” published in Postal Himal (No.78, 2^nd Quarter 1994) writes ……. on March 20^th 1888, Brigadier General T Graham was sent with a force of 2000 men to retake the lands of Sikkim that were invaded by the Tibetans. The Tibetans offered little resistance, crossed the Jalepla, and attacked Gnatong; the British men forced the Tibetans to drive them to the frontiers.

Brigadier General T Graham requested the extension of the telegraph line towards the Tibetan side of Jalepla, which was later sanctioned, allowing Arthur Edmund Sandbach to enter the land of Sikkim. Sandbach was a Royal Engineer to the Bengal Sappers and Miners. The arrival of Sandbach to Sikkim played an important role in the early development of Sikkim's postal systems. It was due to his letters sent from the frontiers of Sikkim and Tibet during his 11 months staying with the British Field Force that a new addition to the long-forgotten postal history of Sikkim.

Sandbach and his unit arrived in Sikkim and immediately made it to the Tibet frontier, camping at a place called “Byutan,” an unknown place name until now, east of the Jalepla frontier near the Bhutan border on November 9th, 1888. Sandbach and his unit stayed in Tibet for three weeks before returning to Gnatong on December 3rd, 1888. Along with the telegraphs, EXPERIMENTAL P.O. C-7 of the British Forces was also with Sandbach’s unit in Tibet.

EXPERIMENTAL P.O. C-7 was established at Gnatong, and it might have traveled with Sandbach’s unit to the Tibetan frontier, which cannot be denied. The website Invaluable.com states the description of an auctioned Post Card as “1889 (3 Dec.) 1/4a. brown stationery card from Private John Sullivan of the Connaught Rangers at Sikkim to Bombay, canceled with a good strike of the "experimental po/c-7" c.d.s. and with Market Bombay arrival c.d.s. alongside the contents requesting the addressee to send a catalogue to the writer at Sikkim, which is most unusual. The card had a couple of small faults, though it was a rare item of mail from this obscure military operation.”

Sandbach’s correspondence provides a great deal of information about the postal history of the Sikkim Field Force. Other remarkable cancellations received from Sandbach's correspondence used inside Sikkim are the ‘EXPERIMENTAL P.O C-3’ and ‘EXPERIMENTAL P.O C-22’.

‘EXPERIMENTAL P.O C-3’ is the rarest of the cancellations of the Sikkim Field Force of 1888-89. Only 3 covers had been found dated October 3^rd and 5^th, 1888, used most probably at Rangpo, where Sandbach had stayed on his visit. Ten covers from ‘EXPERIMENTAL P.O C-22’ had been found canceled at Rhenock Ridge. The covers were used between December 16^th, 1888, to late May 1889.

Sikkim Postal History: Those early years - iii

For the stamp-sized state of Sikkim, November 6, 2006, held a moment of glory and recognition in the world philately. In a group of five lakes from different parts of India, Indian Postage featured a postal stamp on Changu Lake. This Changu Lake stamp with an Rs. 5 denomination can be found among the five Himalayan Lakes of India, including Roop Kund, Sela, Tsomo Riri, and Chandra Tal. Bharati Mirchandani designed the stamp and First Day Cover, and Alka Sharma designed the cancellation. 

The stamp is printed by India Security Press in Nasik using photogravure. It was the first time in the history of Indian postage stamps that a theme from Sikkim was introduced on an Indian postage stamp. For the last few years, efforts have been made to feature individual themes from Sikkim. Along these lines, various tourist destinations, including Rumtek Monastery, Changu (Tsangu) Lake, Guru Dongmor Lake, Nathula Pass, and the cultural diversity of Sikkim, were discussed, but it was the more popular Changu (Tsangu) Lake that made history. Changu Lake has, without a doubt, been a major tourist attraction over the years. Its incomparable scenic beauty reflects the charisma of the small state of Sikkim.

Sikkim has been fighting for its presence on Indian postal stamps for over thirty years since the state joined the Indian Union. Apart from four Mt. Kanchenjunga stamps on three separate occasions (1955, 1978, and 1988), Red Panda (1955), Blood Pheasant (1963), Flora and Fauna of North East India (2006), a single illustration of Yumthang Valley in the 1982 Himalayan Flowers First Day Cover, and a handful of Sikkim Special Covers, it was a long wait for Sikkim Philately to rejoice.

Despite the fact that Sikkim first made its presence felt in the world of philately way back in 1935. This was. This was when a unique postal experiment was conducted by a man named Stephen Hector Smith in this small Himalayan kingdom. The postal experiment became popular with the name "Sikkim Rocketmail Experiment" in 1935.

Although few people know or remember it, Sikkim was home to a unique experiment in mail delivery. In fact, Sikkim was one of the very few nations in the world during the reign of Chogyal, Sikkim's king, to accomplish this ambitious achievement. Among the items sent from the rockets to the confined destinations were parcels, letters, and other items. Rocket mail was being sent across the rivers.

In fact, there are many covers that were successfully delivered that actually have the signature of the late Sir Tashi Namgyal, the Chogyal. In the book “From the diary of Stephen Smith” written by Stephen Smith relating to rocket mail experiments, it has been mentioned that the Sikkim experiment was the most successful among all the pioneering efforts in rocket mail worldwide. The five places where the experiments were conducted were Gangtok, Sarumsa, Ray, Singtam, and Rangpo.

Stephen Hector Smith, an Indian rocket mail pioneer, chose Sikkim for his experiment due to its geographical features and mountains. Sikkim is also the first country in the world to successfully dispatch a parcel containing small quantities of useful articles, such as medicine, tobacco, tea, sugar, etc., by means of a rocket. Those who helped the Sikkim Rocket experiment succeed included Chogyal Tashi Namgyal, CE Dudley, the General Secretary to the Chogyal, Tashi Dadul Densapa, the Private Secretary, Rai Sahib Faqir Chand Jali, the state engineer, and F Williamson, the British Political Officer.

There cannot be a note on the history of philately in Sikkim without mentioning the Sikkim Revenue Stamps that have been used since 1917. The oldest known cancellation on a Sikkim Revenue Stamp dates from October 8, 1928, when it was sent from Mangan B.O. to Gangtok. The central design of the stamp depicts the southeast face of Siniolchu, north of Gangtok. The photograph was taken by Hoffmann for the illustration of Claude White’s book, “Sikkim and Bhutan."