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

Thanks for the initiation by Suresh Tamang,  Councilor, Singtam Nagar Panchayat and the Power Department, Toppakhani Circle the fused street light bulbs along the National Highway - 10 bridge entering the Singtam town was repaired. The bridge now looks bright and beautiful. Pic: Durga Pradhan

Wet walls of Toppakhani Tunnel I first wrote about the water droplets dripping from the ceilings of the Toppakhani Tunnel few years back in my newspaper Himalayan Review. But i had seen no progress over the years from any where regarding the mishap that could happen if the ceilings of the Toppakhani Tunnel gets collapsed. With the recent landslides that affected the neighbouring regions of Singtam i fear the 80 year old motarable tunnel might not have a pretty sights in near future.   Broken Statue of a leopard at the tip of the Toppakhani Tunnel This time the water channel that runs over the head of the  8 decades old Toppakhani Tunnel had exploded letting huge rocks to fall on the road at the rip of the Tunnel damaging the statues of the  small park build on the other side of the road. Few of the stones that were used on the wall of the Tunnel has fallen off while the home of bats that has been living inside the dark tunnel that does not even have a lights...

My outlook towards the Heritage Management Seminar-2 Singtam’s Heritage One of the interesting topics of the day (at Two Days Seminar on Strategy for Heritage Management for Sikkim organised by the Cultural Department at Denzong Residency) I really enjoyed was about the talk on Cultural Resource Mapping of Sikkim beautifully presented before the listeners. To be serious I never knew much about this till that day. The objectives of cultural resource management are the preservation, conservation and enhancement of cultural resources. Since being a student of Sikkim History, the topic of preservation and conservation too holds an important terms in my dictionary. While going through the presentation I was talking within myself did it featured the four historical landmark of Singtam. Here I am talking about the four monuments I wish the State Government could take interest on. These includes the Old Iron Bridge (1929), Toppakhani Tunnel (late 1920s), Pre-merger Sikkim Milepost and Old H...

Singtam: An annual meeting of Singtam Newar Kalyan Sangathan was held on December 21, 2009, at Bihari Dharamsala at Singtam. A day-long function was held that discussed various topics for the betterment of the community. The new resolution passed in the meeting included a major presence of the Newari women from Singtam in the organisation towards a better society. Also included in the talks was the encouragement of the Newari language and Newari customs among the people. Newari members from Golitar, Manpari Busty, Sirwani, Toppakhani, Sang Khola, Bardang, Sawaney, Shanti Colony, Lal Bazaar, Mandir Line and Shantinagar attended the meeting. The organisation's new portfolio was also presented on the given day. The new body has TB Pradhan as the President, Saran Pradhan as Vice President, Mohan Pradhan “Neeraj” as General Secretary, BB Pradhan as Joint Secretary, Bikash Pradhan as Treasurer, Uday Pradhan as Store Secretary, Shital Pradhan and Ganesh Pradhan as Publicity Secretary, ...