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

  [ It has been a wonderful response from different places in the state, including Darjeeling District, regarding my findings on the Postal History of Sikkim. I am happy that my readers found information that they have heard less. Continuing the previous article, I share the Postal System of the British Expedition of 1888, which played an important role in turning Sikkim into what it is today.] Geoffrey Flack, in “ Sikkim Field Force 1888-89; Precursor to the Younghusband Expedition,” published in Postal Himal (No.78, 2 nd Quarter 1994) writes ……. on March 20 th 1888, Brigadier General T Graham was sent with a force of 2000 men to retake the lands of Sikkim that were invaded by the Tibetans. The Tibetans offered little resistance, crossed the Jalepla, and attacked Gnatong; the British men forced the Tibetans to drive them to the frontiers. Brigadier General T Graham requested the extension of the telegraph line towards the Tibetan side of Jalepla, which was later sancti...

For the stamp-sized state of Sikkim, November 6, 2006, held a moment of glory and recognition in the world philately. In a group of five lakes from different parts of India, Indian Postage featured a postal stamp on Changu Lake. This Changu Lake stamp with an Rs. 5 denomination can be found among the five Himalayan Lakes of India, including Roop Kund, Sela, Tsomo Riri, and Chandra Tal. Bharati Mirchandani designed the stamp and First Day Cover, and Alka Sharma designed the cancellation.  The stamp is printed by India Security Press in Nasik using photogravure. It was the first time in the history of Indian postage stamps that a theme from Sikkim was introduced on an Indian postage stamp. For the last few years, efforts have been made to feature individual themes from Sikkim. Along these lines, various tourist destinations, including Rumtek Monastery, Changu (Tsangu) Lake, Guru Dongmor Lake, Nathula Pass, and the cultural diversity of Sikkim, were discussed, but it was ...

[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 ...

Postal envelope showing the Rangpo cancellation of 1909 Last year I read in one of the daily newspapers from Gangtok mentioning the heritage status to be given to the Rangpo Post Office for being the second oldest post office in Sikkim. Truly, it is an appreciating gesture but how correct is it to give the year of establishment as 1927. I rushed through other newspapers that carried the story but I did not find any changes in the year of establishment. Surprisingly, being related to philately I felt I need to provide some input about Sikkim's Postal History. So how about this, I have a scan of postal envelopes with a clear postal cancellation of Rangpo that reads 9 October 1909. So it makes a clear picture that Rangpo Post Office was set up prior to 1909.   On a similar account, I read in the newspapers about Rhenock making a bid for the first post office in Sikkim. I am not so sure about the old post offices; here I am talking about the houses in which the post office was se...