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

  (This article is more like a grandfather telling a story to his grandson. The story is not found in the books but borrowed from the pages of the past. It is a story of a grand old man from Bom Busty, Kalimpong, a retired Gurkha soldier, a World War II veteran, a father, a grandfather, and a great grandfather. This is the story of the late Rudramani Pradhan, who passed away on November 26, 2006. The stories were recorded during my two-day stay with him at Kalimpong Hospital.) Being a grandson to a legendary Gorkha soldier was of little importance to me until I found out that he himself was a legend of his own. I was his grandson from his second daughter, settled at Singtam, Sikkim. For two days every year on Dussehra we would visit  Aja-Aji  (Grandfather and Grandmother in Newari Language) out at Bom Busty, Kalimpong. Those early days telephones were not heard off and occasionally sending letters by  Aja  to my mother was the only means of con...

{It has been thirteen days since he left this world but for the person who knows him, his legacy remains forever. This World War II veteran was in his hundred years when he passed away at Singtam after a long-drawn-out illness. Recipient of Burma War Medal, Jammu and Kashmir Medal, Independence Medal (India), and Republic Day Award (Sikkim); Rifleman Padam Singh Gurung was indeed a pride of Singtam and we are proud that we were associated with this legend.} Popularly more recognized as Singtam Thakurbari Mandir’s Gurung Bajey, Rifleman Padam Singh Gurung claimed fame when at the tender age of 19 he joined 58 Gorkha Regiment then known as the 3rd Battalion of Second Gorkha Rifles (3/2 GR) as a rifleman.  The year then was 1941 and the WWII had already started. Gurung did his initial military training at Dehradun and later on, their unit was shifted to. Loralai, Baluchistan ( Pakistan ) for further training that suited the Burma mountainous terrains where there were to be sent....