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

Bermoik Tshlamthang is half hour drive from Singtam. This silent village holds a special place in the historical legacy of Sikkim. Here lies a century year old three storey traditional nepali house that has witnessed the transformation of the small Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim to the democratic state of mighty Indian Union. Gopi Chandra Subba, the present day owner of the house had told that he had bought this house from Bishnu Chandra Sapkota in 1969. He said that an elderly local from Bermoik at his ripe age of 95 who is still alive had said that he had heard about this house in his childhood, which makes this house as old as 160 years, told Subba. The specialty of this heritage house is that no nails had been used during its construction. The materials then used were mud and wood. Some 8 years back Culture Department had given a grant of Rs 50000 and during 18/7 Sikkim Earthquake they did received a grant of Rs. 30000.

I am doing a study on the possibility of a volcano in Sikkim and I firmly believe there are many chances that we can provide evidence that volcanic eruption had been a part of Sikkim in the dim past. The so-called legends that Tendong Gonpa is on the base of a dead volcano are often heard and read but so far nothing more has been examined. In my study I find three specific areas where soil testing and further examination are to be done, these places are Mt Tendong, the hills of Samdruptse and finally my own Mt Shital. Mt Shital is better known as Foong Dara and I have heard people saying that there is a small pond on the top of the hill and one needs to have an hour uphill walk through the forest to reach its top. The pond story is really exciting at least for me. I have right now little information about the hills of Samdruptse but I go by the studies done on this mountain by geologists as an ample chance of a volcano possibility. Mt Tendong is a legendary timepiece in Sikkim history,...