Skip to main content

Banana plant with its upright flower from Dalapchand


Few months back I had written about a banana variety I had come across at Ranipool. The banana plant I had seen had a banana flower (localy called bungaa) growing upright towards the sky from the usual found banana flowers that are grown towards the gravity.  It was a strange one for me and couple of my friends even pulled my legs for playing the banana plant photograph in the photoshop. I never could tell that the pic was true and the sorry part I don’t know how to use the photoshop software. 

Now I have found another banana plant with the similar feature with the one from Ranipool, this time at Mill dara, Dalapchand. When I was told by one of my student Sudip Rai about a banana plant with its upright flower grown in his field, I was in cloud nine. It took me around two weeks to visit his home and take the photograph of that banana plant.

The banana plant I saw at Sudip’s field was different from the one at Ranipool, shorter in height and less slender.  To my surprise I also came across another banana plant on that field that had a thick stem and tapered body towards its top. He told me they call this species ‘aaputali’. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Shapi of Sikkim: Our legacy - ii

It was my good fortune to have visited the Forest Department Office at Deorali this summer and met officials out there. I shall remain appreciative of Ongden Daju (RO) for an occasion when I bring in contact with higher officials of the Forest Department. Apart from the reason for my presence in the Forest Department Office, I kept in mind that I would have some valuable information about Shapi, a topic that has been hovering around with me for some time now.  I was very pleased with the excitement on people’s faces when they went through a couple of photographs and a video of Shapi from the Schaefer Expedition. I was taken to the ENVIS office by Ongden Daju, where I came across Rajen Pradhan, Sr. Programme Officer (ENVIS), who was kind enough to share with issues of PANDA magazine, issued by the Forest Department, Government of Sikkim, for my personal collections. My wandering heart was more than pleased to find two separate articles published in the PANDA magazine in 1993 and in...

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 ...

Young chess champions shine at the Lt. Shanker Lamichaney chess tournament 2026

The Lt. Shanker Lamichaney Chess Tournament 2026 was held on June 7, 2026, at Singtam. 40 players participated in the tournament and showed great strategic skills across five competitive rounds. In the Under-18 age category, Aarav Pradhan secured the 1st position, followed by Arnav Rai in 2nd place, and Suyog Shital Pradhan in 3rd place, with all three top achievers remaining unbeaten throughout the entire tournament. In the Under-11 age category, the top spot was claimed by Sufiyan Nasim, while Yedhant Agarwal took the 2nd position, and Palak Agarwal finished strong in 3rd position. The event was organized at Euphoria Restaurant, Singtam, in collaboration with the Knight Chess Academy Singtam. To support the young local talents of Singtam, the tournament was sponsored by the family of Lt. Shanker Lamichaney – Mrs. Devika Lamichaney (his wife) and sons – Ashish Lamichaney and Anand Lamichaney. Notably, this is the very first time a chess tournament has been hosted inside a restaurant...