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

From my father's album : DELHI VISIT 1978      NOW     The Teen Murti Bhavan (Teen Murti House) is the former residence in New Delhi, India of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. He stayed there for 16 years until his own death on 27 May 1964. The house is named after the Teen Murti (literally "three statues") Memorial by British sculptor, Leonard Jennings, which stands on the road junction in front of its extensive grounds. The memorial comprises life-size statues of three soldiers, and was built in 1922 in the memory of the Indian soldiers from three Indian princely states, namely Jodhpur State, Hyderabad State and Mysore State who fought the World War I alongside the British 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade in Haifa, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire. (Wikipedia)

I was going through an article from the book "The British, The Bandits And The Bordermen," and there is something I could not stop myself from sharing with my readers. It is an interesting anecdote; it could have been more serious then, but I could not let off my smile from it while reading it now. The book is more of a biographical account of Border Security Force's founder-director general, K F Rustamji.  The book is based on more than 3,500 pages of Rustamji's diaries, and the articles present first-person accounts of some of the tumultuous developments, such as the partition, Chinese aggression, and the Indo-Pak war. One of the articles writes about a unique gift Jawaharlal Nehru received on his 70th birthday from Madhya Pradesh Police. The gift was nothing more than news " of the death of the dreaded dacoit Gabbar Singh, who went on to achieve cult status post-Sholay." Rustamji writes, "Gabbar Singh and his gang had been killed in a bold encount...

I have been writing about Sikkim, but I am sorry I never talked about its physical features. Once a Himalayan kingdom until 1975 and now part of a mighty Indian Union, the small state of Sikkim has seen many changes over the last 50 years. Jawaharlal Nehru and Chogyal Tashi Namgyal, the king of Sikkim, had a very warm relationship.  It was even said that Nehru wanted to spend his retired life in Sikkim, but that could not happen due to his sudden death in 1964. After Nehru's death, some of his ashes were brought to Sikkim and thrown over the sky of Gangtok, Kanchenjunga Range, and other places.  Even Chogyal Tashi Namgyal presented his paintings to Nehru, which is said to be at Anand Bhawan, the ancestral home of the Nehru family at Allahabad. But it was under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, that Sikkim was merged with India just 10 years after Nehru died.     Sikkim shares an interesting geographical boundary. Three countries...

BY SHITAL PRADHAN Today is Children's Day, better known for the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister. There is no doubt that everyone knew about the special relationship that Nehru shared with Sikkim. Nehru had preferred to spend his retirement life in Sikkim, which never happened, and if it had happened, we might never have known Sikkim could still have been an independent country till now. Nevertheless, I am here to talk about two special things about Nehru and Sikkim that few people remember or talk about. Nehru and his daughter Indira visited Sikkim twice in his life. Nehru inaugurated the world-famous Tibetology at Tadong. But the big thing, a lesser-known fact, is that after the death of Nehru, his ashes were brought to Sikkim and dispersed in the air around places like Gangtok, Pemayangste, and Kanchenjunga ranges. Another interesting fact is that we know that the Late Chogyal Tashi Namgyal was a well-known painter, but it is interesting...

BY SHITAL PRADHAN Today if i am asked what is the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to you, i do not have any second doubt and say i am very fortunate to be born in Sikkim.But my love for my Sikkim never happened in a flash point. It was the year 1996 and my first trip to Calcutta now they call it Kolkata, till then i never knew what was Sikkim really about. When i was asked about my place of origin i was too surprised to find that most of the people never had heard of Sikkim, they thought it to be part of either Nepal or Bhutan. It was with names of two Sikkim giant Danny Denzongpa and Bhaichung Bhutia i was able to relate that there is a small state of Sikkim a part of Indian union for the last 20 years. when i returned back at home i was swept off my feet, i was taken aback i never felt bad like that before and i thought within myself i never knew anything about Sikkim..how could i tell people about my Sikkim. This promoted me to learn more about Sikkim and over the years ...