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

Picture from Gangtok by Prabin khaling

Picture from Gangtok by Prabin khaling

I owe this to Sikkim Express. Since the oldest daily newspaper in Sikkim, the Sikkim Express, allowed me to write a column on Sikkim's history, I have yet to look back. Over the last 20 months, I have written over 100 articles under the column "Himalayan review" that have helped me grow as a student of Sikkim History. Sometime around, I am referred by Sikkim Historian by my well-wishers, which I find very embarrassing.  The history of Sikkim is vast, and over the last half a dozen years, I have dedicated myself to understanding Sikkim, yet I feel there is still time for me to be called a Sikkim Historian. My friend tells me that to become a historian, one needs to have a will and a desire, not a degree or a certificate. But sometimes you go unnoticed when you do not have a formal qualification. I am learning, and I feel better calling myself a student of Sikkim History'. Being a Botany Honours graduate from Sikkim Government College at Tadong and being interested...

This article, published in the "Now" weekly newspaper from Gangtok, is a memorable one for me. It was 2003, and I was working as a reporter in Weekend Review, a reputed weekly newspaper from Gangtok. In one of the assignments, I visited Kopchay, a small hamlet, on the way to Rongli, where a man was supposedly reincarnated as Lord Vishnu's avatar and performed miracles, curing illness beyond medical limitations. I was at Kopchay by 10 am that day, and looking at the queue with around a couple of thousand followers, I thought I couldn't chat with the person. Yet I went to the registration counter and took out my journalist Identity Card, and immediately I found myself just at the door of the so-called " Kopchay-Baba ". As I was about to enter the closed door from inside, a person from behind took my camera and my handbag, I was led to enter the room with an empty hand. As I entered the room, I could see the man in jagged and torn trousers with a stinkin...