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

[I had been collecting stamps for the last six years but it was only after I got into the postal history of Sikkim, the name philately had a new meaning to me. I looked for more information and talked with many of my acquaintances across India, the USA, and Germany in regard to the early days of Sikkim's Postal History. The more I went deeper, the more information was coming out and to my surprise, the first picture of Sikkim’s Postal History went much ahead to 1861.] An envelope carried by a runner from Yatung to Rawalpindi through Sikkim in 1861 Nick Rhodes in his “ Notes on Postal History of Sikkim (1888-1947)”  mentions a rare philatelic postal envelope that was sent from Yatong on March 5 th,  1861 presumably carried by a military runner. The mail had reached Darjeeling (via Sikkim) that had its cancellation B68 and dispatched with a red Darjeeling Dispatch mark on March 9 th .    The envelope also had a postal mark of Meerut and Rawalpindi. Though no mail ...

with SK Biswas, my philately mentor  2006 Ever heard of a rare occasion in philatelic history; a man from one country requesting the highest official of another country to issue a stamp on a particular individual and his appeal being made into practice. Meet Surya Kanta Biswas a professional philatelist from Berhampore, District Murshidabad, West Bengal has earned a special place in the philatelic world. It was in response to his appeal to then-President HM Ershad of Bangladesh that a postage stamp on Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore came to be depicted in Bangladesh postage for the first time. It was on May 12, 1990, he wrote a letter to the then President Ershad requesting to bring out a stamp on Gurudev to commemorate the occasion of the 150 th  anniversary of Gurudev's Birth Anniversary. He wrote Gurudev should be honoured since one of his poems “ Amar Sonar Bangla ” is Bangladesh’s national anthem. It is a rare coincidence that Rabindranath Tagore’s two poems are the nation...

I won two bronze medals along with another bronze for Sristikaa's Bronze medal New Delhi : Roshan Prasad became the first Sikkimese to receive a Silver Medal in a National Philatelic Exhibition. He received Silver for his three-frame exhibit on “Cricket” at Stamps of India National Exhibition held at Okhla, New Delhi. Sikkim went on to win four more Bronze medals at the Exhibition. Dipok Dey handing me the medal Shital Pradhan won two bronze medals for his single exhibit on “Sikkim through Philately” and on the literary competition section for his article on Sikkim Rocket mail Experiment published at Talk Sikkim, a monthly magazine from Gangtok. Deepen Pradhan won for his single exhibit on “Pre Independence Stamps of India” while Sristikaa Pradhan, the only girl entry from Sikkim won a bronze for her single frame collection on “Buddha” at the Youth category. Deepen Pradhan with his Bronze Medal Ganesh Padhan, President of Sikkim Philatelic Club along with Shital Pradhan ...

TNA School at Gangtok in 2005 hosted the Palbheu Stamp Exhibition that saw participants from far places like Cooch Bihar, Berhampore, Gangarampur, Siliguri, Darjeeling, and Jalpaiguri. V Rama Roa, the Governor of Sikkim inaugurated the function with the release of a special cover. It was me who won the gold medal in the senior category and also the Post Master General Trophy for the best philatelist in the exhibition. Ganesh Pradhan stood second in the senior category.

My philatelic collection of Darjeeling Toy Train

I was just surfing an eBay auction website, and there I came across some material related to Hope Cook, the former queen of Sikkim on sale. There is an autographed photograph of former queen Hope Cook, her letter and an envelope in which it was sent to the USA. The three materials cost you 300 dollars. The heading of the items says: HOPE COOKE NAMGYAL AUTOGRAPH, Queen consort of SIKKIM ONE-OF-A-KIND PIECE, VERY RARE, THIS COUNTRY IS GONE! Just read the last line that says...."This country is gone". Sikkim is no longer an independent country now so it is more often referred as a dead country. The further description says: PHOTOGRAPH: 4-1/2" X 6" MEASUREMENTS, BLACK AND WHITE IN EXCELLENT CONDITION AND SIGNED IN BLUE INK PEN, "HOPE NAMGYAL" LETTERHEAD: 8-1/4" X 6" THE PALACE, GANGTOK, SIKKIM, DATED 15TH SEPTEMBER 1969 AND SIGNED SINCERELY HOPE NAMGYAL, "GYALMO OF SIKKIM ENVELOPE: 8-1/4" X 6-3/8" WITH 13 STAMPS FROM INDIA...

Very little is known about the postal history of Sikkim. Though post offices in Sikkim started in  1888 in  Dulapchin (now Dalapchand), near Rongli and meager information has been established so far. For a stamp-sized state of Sikkim, 6 th  November 2006 held a moment of glory and recognition in terms of world philately. Indian Postage featured a postal stamp on Changu Lake in a group of five lakes from different parts of India. The Changu Lake stamp with Rs 5 denomination features among the five Himalayan Lakes of India that include Roop Kund, Sela, Tsomo Riri, and Chandra Tal. The stamp and First Day Cover had been designed by Bharati Mirchandani and the Cancellation was designed by Alka Sharma. The stamp is printed in the photogravure process and printed at India Security Press, Nasik. The arrow shows Changu Lake stamp in First Day Cover cancellation (2006) It was for the first time in the history of Indian Postage, an individual theme from Sikkim got introduced i...

An envelope posted to Tibet from Sikkim (1961)

This time around Kolkata i found a registered cover from Darjeeling...what interested me the most the letter was send from Greenland Tea Company.

FIRST SPECIAL COVER OF SIKKIM PHILATELIC EXHIBITION 1982 INVITATION CARD OF SIKKIM PHILATELIC EXHIBITION 2002 NEWSPAPER CLIPPING OF SIKKIM PHILATELIC EXHIBITION 2002 SPECIAL COVER OF SIKKIM PHILATELIC EXHIBITION 2002 BY SHITAL PRADHAN The philately exhibition held at White Hall in 2002 was special in many senses, Sikkim was witnessing such an exhibition after twenty years of gap. An interesting incident happened on the inaugural speech by John Samuel, Post Master General for North Bengal and Sikkim. Samuel announced that such an event was held in this tiny state for the first time and he had to re-correct his words when two of the special covers on display were from the first philatelic exhibition held at Gangtok in 1982. This exhibition also brought the stamps collectors of the state for the first time. Dipok Dey, the only Asian stamp designer to design United Nations Stamp was also at his maiden Sikkim visit. Sikkim Philatelist has grown since then. Two of the winner R...