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

 My articles on Sikkim Rocketmail  1.  I found Sikkim Rocketmail Experiment 1935''s file at Archives Department 2.  Sikkim’s Rocket mail Experiment towards 75th anniversary 3.  World's 1st Parcel Rocket Dispatched was done in Sikkim in 1935 4.  A cock was lifted on air in an experiment in Sikkim in 1935

  [ 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 ...

For a stamp sized state of Sikkim, 6 th  November 2006 hold a moment of glory and recognisation in terms of world philately. Indian Postage had featured a postal stamp on Changu Lake in a group of five lakes from different part 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 Cancellation designed by Alka Sharma. The stamp is printed in photogravure process and printed at India Security Press, Nasik. It was for the first time in the history of Indian Postage, an individual theme from Sikkim got introduced in Indian postage stamp. For the last few years efforts were made on to feature individual theme from Sikkim. Along the lines various tourist destinations including Rumtek Monastery, Changu (Tsangu) Lake, Guru Dongmor Lake, Nathula Pass and cultural diversity of Sikkim were discussed but it...

I had a wonderful experience two days back at the Archives Department at Gangtok. I came across a personal file of Stephen Smith about how he proposed his 1935 Sikkim Rocketmail Experiment. The files contain letters and the process of his permission to the small kingdom of Sikkim. Right now, I am going through them, and those letters are really interesting to read. Myself with the Stephen Smith's personal file in the Archives Department In one instance, after the Sikkim Rocketmail Experiment 1935, Stephen Smith had sent three photographs of the event to Chogyal Sir Tashi Namgyal, the King of Sikkim, but for some unknown reason, those three photographs were returned back to Stephen Smith. There is a letter in the file from an American stamp collector asking the Chogyal about the items of Sikkim Rocketmail, to which the Chogyal had directed to talk straightly to Stephen Smith. A Letter from the file According to the letters in the file, two separate events were held at Sikkim...

This is a photograph of Sikkim Rocketmail Experiment 1935 that was conducted in Sikkim. I had this photograph from ebay.

With an article on Sikkim’s Rocket Mail Experiment 1935, I joined Weekend Review, noted a weekly newspaper published by Gangtok, and debuted in the print media. So the story of Sikkim's Rocket mail is, in fact, very close to me. When I first received feedback for the article on Sikkim Rocketmail in 2003, the small note read 'lost in 1935 discovered in 2003’; true to the words, the Sikkim Rocketmail Experiment in 1935 had been long lost and nowhere to be found in Sikkim itself. Today, the Western world acknowledges the great achievement of the effort of a single man, Stephen Hector Taylor-Smith, promptly called the pioneer of Indian Rocketmail. More than seven decades of the historical experiments that set forward the early days of the world airmail invention today are long forgotten in this part of the world. Forgotten is the World's first parcel dispatch over the river that was conducted at Rani Khola, near Ranipool, and one of the outstanding accomplishments in Sikkim s...

Sikkim is the first country in the world to successfully dispatch a parcel containing small quantities of useful articles, such as medicine, tobacco, tea, sugar, etc., by means of a rocket. The world's first parcel dispatch over the river was on April 10 at 3.30 pm over River Rani Khola, written as Ranikhali on the covers . CE Dudley discharged the main  rocket. The sixth firing on April 10 at 3.35 pm established a new world record when, for the first time, a parcel was carried utilizing a rocket.  The parcel included 12 items: a packet of tea, sugars, a spoon, a chief,  a  toothbrush, cigarettes, and others .   Dudley fired the parcel rocket over the river Rani Khola from Surumsa to Ray. The river was crossed when the parcel reached its destination, and Smith opened the parcel. All the articles were perfectly intact. In the missives, the word “mail” was cancelled by hand, and the word “Parcel’ was written instead. The rockets were apparently fairly crude, ...

" The first animals intentionally sent into space were fruit flies , accompanied by corn seeds aboard a U.S.-launched V2 rocket in 1947. The experiment aimed to explore the effects of radiation exposure at high altitudes. Some further V2 missions carried biological samples, including moss . Albert II, a Rhesus Monkey , became the first monkey in space on June 14, 1949, in a U.S.-launched V2, (after the failure of the original Albert's mission). Albert II died on impact after a parachute failure. Numerous monkeys of several species were flown by the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s. Monkeys were implanted with sensors to measure vital signs, and many were under anesthesia during launch." But it was September 28, 1935, a rocketmail experiment was conducted in Gangtok in which a cock was lifted in the rocket. A cock with 155 Sikkim Rocketgrams was also launched along with it. The experiment was conducted by Stephen Smith, father of Indian Rocketmail, with the ...