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

Bael tree Bael fruit Since many centuries Bael ( Aegle marmelos )   fruit, commonly known as wood apple has been an integral part of Newari culture. Bael fruit is considered to be a sacred tree and also used for its medicinal purposes. In one of its kind rare rituals, young Newari girls between 4 to 11 years are married to a bael fruit. Here the bael fruit resembles lord Shiva. It is only after this bael biwaha or the ihi, she is allowed to marry to any person in her later years. It is a customary that the every newari girls should perform this ritual before her adolescence. Till the fruit remains un-cracked the girl shall never have to undergo widowhood even after his husband’s death.  

  This was something strange for me but more than that very excited when i first saw this particular species while going to Gangtok today. There was a jam of vehicles where the army vehicle had collided with a Bolero near Sikkim University. Our vehicle was in the queue near Ranipool LPG storage where i came across this banana species planted in-front of a nearby residence. I had never come across such banana with its flower and fruits growing upward. I searched at internet about this strange species, there was nothing exactly i could find but this species finds close resemblance with musa ornata, a banana species of Indian origin,

A few months back, I read an article on a cannonball tree in a Science Reporter magazine and came across something like that in front of me. I had never expected it to happen so soon. I was off to the jungle of Chisopani, Singtam, along with my father and Naresh, a helper, to repair our household water pipes. As usual, my camera was with me. I carried my camera along with me. Who knows what awaits you? All the way, with a nip of moments, I was clicking off photographs of the wild nature. Our small self-made water tank lies near the stream that flows all from Saang. I was clearing off the dry leaves and the dead twigs that had fallen into the tank. My father and Naresh were working on the other side of the water pipes. Suddenly, I was attracted by the broken cup-shaped fruits on the ground and some pieces scattered over the tank. As I looked up at the nearby trees, I was spellbound. I could see a few more round structures attached to the tree trunk. As I moved to the other side of the r...