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

The song "Faza Bhi Hai Jawan Jawan" from the movie Nikaah takes me to Artihang, Gangtok, where, in the eighties, my mother had her Teacher's Training at Gangtok. As a 4-5-year-old boy, this song and the Chukar mere man ko from Yarana were the only songs that used to be heard on the Radio all the time. Whenever I hear this song, faza bhi hai jawan jawan, even to this day, it takes me to that era when I was with my mother. The voice of Salma Agha makes me nostalgic. Beautifully written and even beautifully sung.  

I first heard about Horst Geerken from a gentleman, Ulrich Bihlmayer, from Tuebingen, Germany, when I was researching my first article on HAM radio of Sikkim a couple of years back. I believe the story of Ham Radio is little heard in this part of our land. As far as my information on the Ham Radio users in Sikkim, there were only two foremost users. Before becoming a part of the mighty Indian Union, Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, the last King of Sikkim, used to have a Ham Radio license under a call sign AC3PT.  The call sign normally consists of five letters. Here in AC3PT, i.e. “AC3” stands for Sikkim and “PT” specifies the person; in this case, it was Palden Thondup. Chogyal’s Radio equipment was later on held by the Indian Representatives at Sikkim after the 1975 agitation. A few years later, after Sikkim became part of India, Rajesh Verma operated a Ham station from Gangtok under a call sign VU2RVM; interestingly, here, “VUR” denotes India. During my interactions w...

BY SHITAL PRADHAN My story on AC3PT was widely appreciated, and it was something new to the people of Sikkim too. Little did I know that one person in the entire crowd was closely watching my article, and he, too, had been part of Sikkim Ham radioactivity. Meet Rajesh Verma, Director, Department of Information Technology, Government of Sikkim. Rajesh Verma is better known in Sikkim for his well-liked Guide book on Sikkim. Nevertheless, few people really know that he was also an active radio ham with a call sign VU2RVM, and he had also written a book on the radio. His book “ABC of Amateur Radio and Citizen Band” was first published in 1987. A sample of the VU2RVM QSL Card Cover of the book written by Rajesh Verma It was more of an opportunity for me to swap emails with Rajesh Verma. I shall also remain grateful to him for the book that he sent me along with his personal call sign QSL card. I am here sharing his call sign QSL card, which shows eight lucky signs of Buddhist cul...

BY SHITAL PRADHAN To the amateur radio stations in the world, he was just “AC3PT”, a name that is today counted as a deleted or dead country in the pages of Ham Radio. A "Ham" is an Amateur who receives and transmits on short waves, a fascinating hobby followed since the late 18 th century.  An amateur radio enthusiast AC3PT was very well-known among amateur radio communicators across the world. Being on the map of HAM Radio since 1963, AC3PT suddenly came to an abrupt end on April 9, 1975. “…now Indian troops storming my room…” was the last message that radio amateurs across the world last heard of AC3PT. The distressed caller was none other than Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, the last Chogyal of Sikkim State, sending his last-minute SOS across the world. When I first read about the AC3PT and the ham radio sometime back in one of the chapters of a much sought-after merger book on Sikkim, “Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim” by Sunanda K Datta-Ray I could hard...