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

  The Ridge in Gangtok, known for its long and narrow hilltop, is widely popular today as Ridge Park, a must-see destination for tourists. Some twenty-three years ago, while working as a news reporter for Weekend Review, I first heard of the King Edward bust at Ridge Park and the small, traditional memorial house associated with the King Edward Memorial. Since then, I have struggled to find documents to support this claim. However, I am pleased to have finally found a reference to the King Edward Memorial in the 1922 book, A Concise History of the Darjeeling District Since 1835 with a Complete Itinerary of Tours in Sikkim and the District by E. C. Dozey. While much remains unknown about the original King Edward bust, it was eventually replaced by a bust of John Claude White, which was later succeeded by a bust of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Interestingly, about ten years ago, I discovered the original bust of J.C. White sitting under a tree on the prem...

Gangtok, December 3: Sikkim Governor Om Prakash Mathur announced on Wednesday that Raj Bhavan has now been renamed as ‘Lok Bhavan’ . This change was made after a direction from the Union Home Ministry on November 25. The Governor said that the new name will be used from now onwards for all official work. He also said that this step will help make the place more open and friendly for the people, and will strengthen democratic values. Many years ago, after the Sikkim Expedition in 1888, the British government appointed John Claude White as the first Political Officer of Sikkim in 1889. He loved Sikkim and decided to build a beautiful residence there. This building later became known as Raj Bhavan. He chose the site himself and wrote about the experience in his 1909 book. After Claude White, many British officers lived and worked there, including Sir Charles Bell, Major W.L. Campbell, Lt. Colonel W.F. O’Conner, Major F.M. Bailey, Major J.L.R. Weir, Frederick Williamson, Sir Basil Go...

JC White had a significant influence on Sikkim. In his popular blog, Rajen Upadhaya, History Lecturer, Namchi Govt. College writes, “With the appointment of J C White as the Political Officer in 1889, Sikkim witnessed his self-styled Zamindari System. Several Lessee Landlords were created throughout Sikkim with untold powers to mortgage or confiscate the lands of innocent peasants, further, with the help of his Sikkimese protégés Claude White board upon a policy of obliterating the ancient economy of Sikkim. This paved the way for the birth of Kaziism, the Thikadari system, and all the other forced labors like Kuruwa, Kalobhari, Jharlangi, Theki-Bethi, Ghar-Lauri, etc.”. In 1889, JC White conducted a land survey, according to which each piece of land was leased to the interested landowners at various rates. A Labour tax of two rupees for every household was charged, along with an excise charge of two rupees for brewing grain alcohol. Auctions for the license to weigh and ta...

I had heard from old folks that there used to be a statue of JC White at the exact place where Jawaharlal Nehru's statue is today at Ridge Park near White Hall, Gangtok. Later on, during the early 70s, the statue was removed and replaced with the statue of the first Prime Minister of India. JC White's statue had gone missing until it was again found and kept at Smile Land near Ranipool. My fantasy about JC White grew with each passing day and I just wanted to know more about his persona.  John Claude White, a British engineer, was sent to Sikkim in 1887, and he peacefully handled the situation at the Sikkim–Tibet front. A year later, he was again sent to Sikkim as an Assistant Political Officer with the British Expeditionary Force. With the defeat of the Tibetans during the 1888-89 conflicts, the power of control over the small Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim came under British rule.  A new post as Political Officer of Sikkim was created, thus making John Claude White an a...

 FROM MY COLLECTION Sikhim & Bhutan: Twenty-One Years on the North-East Frontier,  1887-1908 By John Claude White