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...
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