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

As I listen to the news of Prince Charles of Wales, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and others getting affected by coronavirus, I am worried about my small Sikkim. More than 190 countries are fighting against this deadly virus that started in Wuhan, China, at the beginning of January. We at Sikkim are blessed that we haven’t had any positive cases till now. On March 16, the state government came forward with a prominent decision to combat this pandemic disease. At Shantinagar, Singtam   A notification was issued of closing down educational institutions along with those places of mass gathering, including gyms, cinema halls, public gatherings, government meetings, melas, casinos, pubs, religious functions, and others, until April 15, 2020. A major step was taken when Sikkim banned the entry of domestic tourists. After that, a series of notifications came to public notice in passing days, mentioning every precautionary measure and announcement. The screening of vis...

Entry is open for all the interested teams of Sikkim, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Kurseong, Dooars, Bhutan, Nepal. Organized by  Majhitar Educated Unemployed Youth Co-operative Society  for the third  successive term on the memory of Late Man Rupa Gurung. Cash Prize of Rs. 50,000 & Rs. 30,000 for Winner and Runners up respectively. The last date of entry is the  31st.July.2014 and the Final will be played on Independence Day on  15th August . For more information contact: 9775981169, 9851846643, 9851508686.

Guest Column by Manya Singh Sikkim, a northeast Indian state, revels in its seclusion and salubrious climate. Located in a very serene and slightly isolated corner of India, the state offers a tranquil gateway to holiday lovers. Encircled by the daunting Himalayas and dissected by perpetually evergreen rivers, Sikkim is soul-stirring, quiet, and extremely panoramic.  Its photogenic mountainside beauty is further heightened by the soothing presence of myriad Tibetan monasteries. The culture of this locale is also refreshing and has a haunting quality about it. Here are a few great things tourists love to see in Sikkim: 1. Monasteries: Sikkim tourism is famous for its Buddhist monasteries which adorn the length and breadth of the state. Standing atop the verdant hills, these monasteries are both spiritual and scenic. The Rumtek monastery is the most famous of them all and one of the most visited monasteries. Tourists also make it a point to visit Pemayangtse and Tashid...

from My Himachal Dharamshala : His Holiness Dalai Lama will give two-day teachings in Gangto, Sikkim (India). On the morning of December 21 he will teach on Nagarjuna’s Commentary on Bodhicitta (jangchup semdrel) & Quintessential Collection of the Mind Sadhanas from the 5th Dalai Lama’s Secret Teachings (thukdrup yangnying kundu).  On the morning of December 22 he will confer along life empowerment (tsewang) and be offered a long life ceremony. On December 23 & 24 Dalai Lama will give teachings on (Salugara, WB) Gyalsey Thokme Sangpo’s 37 Practices of A Boddhisattva (laklen sodunma) on the afternoon of December 23 and confer an Avalokiteshvera Initiation (chenresig wang) on the morning of December 24 at Sed-Gyued Monastery.

This topic was discussed in face book community  Proud to be a Sikkimese  Angela Bhutia don't know about being allowed but is still prevalent in rural parts of Sikkim if im not mistaken. Monalisa Chhetri Is it in India? I don't thnk so!! But have seen many cases where kids of about 14 yrs of age got married nd nobody did anythng bout it. And @Angela:I have seen it happen in nd around Gangtok which, I don't think,at all comes under the "so-called" rural area! Rikden Tshering Bhutia fuck no..... thr shd be tough law against it... rigorous fine or imprisonment... Angela Bhutia ook well id never heard of such cases in around gangtok so.. so weird though... thanks for the info btw~~ Dechen Dolkar Dun thnk itz prevlnt in sikkim,,,hv nva hrd uf sch a thng in rural areaz as wel, te ppl r vry awre tt chld mariage iz a punisble crime, mreovr te parntz dun wna push tr chldrn esp galz into ds atrociti lokin 4m te health perspctive.. Shirshak K...

FIRST IN SIKKIM SERIES:  To Shri Dille Singh Ghale goes the credit of being the first Forest Manager of the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim in 1905, and such was his dedication towards his duty that he did not even let off his wife for not following Forest Rules. His wife had illegally brought a head load of firewood from the forest area illegally, for which Dille Singh Ghale imposed a fine of five rupees on her. Despite the intervention of Durbar, his wife was not able to seek any help, and eventually, she paid off the fine. The incident shows how firm and sincere he was towards his duty.  It was under his direction that the classification and demarcation of forest land into three categories of Reserve Forest, Khasmal, and Gorucharan were done and notified from 1908 to 1912. The basis of scientific forest management was thus initiated by him. He is also the person behind the publication of the first Forest Manual in 1914.  About his contribution, he can eventual...

Polytrichum sp. (Rongli, East Sikkim)

Marchantia sp. (Rongli,  East Sikkim)

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.

Ok..lets see. Guess this very popular place in Sikkim?

The excitation to witness the longest solar eclipse of this century thrilled the people of Singtam today. The natural phenomenon that hide the sun for little over a minute past 6.30 am this morning had an awe-inspiring experience for people out here. Since the crack of dawn people had been enthusiastically waiting for the early morning extravaganza. Late night shower did try to let down the expectations of the thousands out here but it was not to be. The event was looked upon with curiosity, fun and some even feared. For few days, news of the sighting of this rare instance had been the talk of the town. The picture perfect shadows of the different positions of the eclipse were not visible due to heavy clouds but people did observe the early morning shroud into darkness. The vehicles moving in the National Highway were also noticed moving with their ‘head lights’ on during that point in time. Speaking to SE , Indira Rizaal told that she was in high spirits just to come across such r...

Titanic Park at Gangtok Originally uploaded by himalayanreview The Titanic Park at the heart of Gangtok got its name in early 2000 when in one of the article published in Weekend Review newspaper had it mentioned of a small newly renovated park that looked like a Titanic ship board. The naming of the park also coincided with the fact that during those day the film Titanic was being screened in the cinema hall at Gangtok.

I have been writing about Sikkim, but I am sorry I never talked about its physical features. Once a Himalayan kingdom until 1975 and now part of a mighty Indian Union, the small state of Sikkim has seen many changes over the last 50 years. Jawaharlal Nehru and Chogyal Tashi Namgyal, the king of Sikkim, had a very warm relationship.  It was even said that Nehru wanted to spend his retired life in Sikkim, but that could not happen due to his sudden death in 1964. After Nehru's death, some of his ashes were brought to Sikkim and thrown over the sky of Gangtok, Kanchenjunga Range, and other places.  Even Chogyal Tashi Namgyal presented his paintings to Nehru, which is said to be at Anand Bhawan, the ancestral home of the Nehru family at Allahabad. But it was under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, that Sikkim was merged with India just 10 years after Nehru died.     Sikkim shares an interesting geographical boundary. Three countries...

This is how my blog was reviewed at freesubmitnow.blogspot Sikkim: A beautiful Himalayan State in India One, often forgotten, advantage of blogging is that one gets to see some exotic places which we never knew ever existed. Sikkim is one such place in India. Its the place which inspires, Shital Pradhan , to write his blog and he writes average more than one post a day. Now thats what is called truely inspirational. I just googled "Sikkim" and the images which showed up really made me sit-up in awe. No wonder it the state recieves high percentage of tourism visiting India. And this blog is Encyclopedia (or Wikipedia) of Sikkim. A perfect blog on one's homeland, a place which we all love, but often forget to give its due.

SNT, as Sikkim Nationalised Transport, is popularly known as the backbone of Sikkim's rich, old heritage and transportation history. When I came across the article “A review of Nationalised Road Transport in Sikkim (1944-1969)” written by L.H Hartnett, the then General Manager of Sikkim Nationalised Transport, published in the Silver Jubilee magazine of SNT in 1969, I found some excellent preview of the early days of the Sikkim state transport system that was to change the scenario of Sikkim transportation within the next fifty years. It would take a while to complete the review of the Sikkim Nationalised Transport over the last six decades, but I would be more precise in bringing to mind the early days that completed the establishment of today’s SNT. People boarding the Sikkim Transport Service Bus at Deorali (the late 50s) The year was 1944; when the rest of the world was engaged in the disastrous Second World War, a department called the Truck Department run by the Governmen...

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...

Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal at TNA School photographs shared by Vicky Palzor Lepcha

from Indianexpress For the first time, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) will be conferred eight Shaurya Chakras, the country’s third highest non-combatant gallantry award, posthumously for brave action by its personnel in Afghanistan, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Kashmir. While the awards were announced on the Republic Day honours list, the medals will be conferred by President Pratibha Patil at an investiture ceremony on Thursday. The list of awardees includes, for the first time in the five decade history of the organisation, a Bar to the Shaurya Chakra that will be given to BRO’s dozer operator Zalim Singh for having won the same award twice over. Zalim Singh was killed in April last year while clearing a strategic road in north Sikkim for a column of tanks. Two Shaurya Chakras have been awarded to men of the road construction project in Afghanistan — Superintendent Mahendra Pratap Singh and mason C Govindaswamy who died in a suicide bomb attack by Taliban militants . Assistant Executiv...

View Full Album Towards the Nathula Border between India and China at Kupup , just opposite the famed Baba Harbhajan Singh Mandir , there is a Cafe 13000 , probably the highest cafeteria along with a gift shop just attached to it any one could had ever imagined at such height. The taste of coffee gives you the pleasure and the serene beauty of the surrounding sets the moment for which Sikkim is renowned across the world. Well this cafeteria did not excited me the most until i came across a rare "thing" that i had never ever come across in so far. Inside this unique surrounding in one of its corner lie three flags out of which one did really capitulated my attention. I had gone through different books on Sikkim history where the Sikkim National Flag was primly noticed in any state festive or in any occasions where the guest of honour was of royal family of Sikkim. But to see the Sikkim National Flag just in front of you and touching it, a breeze of pride r...

Yesterday late night i too was among those who succeeded in putting off the forest fire at Chujachen, Rongli. Though no news of human casualties was recorded but the late evening forest fire within 6-7 hours destroyed zinger crops and other crops in this village.