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

On June 23 rd , 2020, I received an email from Ellis Gordon, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, who wished to share an interesting story for my blog {Proud to be a Sikkimese (sikhim.blogspot.com)} about the royal silver-end caps she had in her family possession gifted by late Princes Pema Tsedeun Yapshi Pheunkhang way back around 1969. We shared a couple of emails as I wanted to know about her family and her family’s connection to the late princess. Ellis, the senior-level cyber-security engineer, said she has a pair of silver-end caps crafted for a hanging scroll that was made for her parents by the Sikkim Palace silver-smith under the order of Princess Pema Tsedeun Yapshi Pheunkhang during the late 60s. Tsedeun, as she liked to be addressed, told Ellis was a frequent dinner guest at their house in Washington D.C., USA. Tseduen, would visit his father on Capitol Hill where she was introduced to members of the US government such as Sen. Edward Kennedy.  ALSO READ - Royal...

King of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal, on the right, and his wife, American born Hope Cooke, on a visit to Washington ( November 18, 1971 ) Arthur E. Scott photograph collection

from Sikkim Express Yasoda Sharma, a resident of Gangtok, Sikkim and currently a PhD student and Adjunct Faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington, TX has been conferred the highest ranking academic award from the university. The award officially known as the Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges program will be conferred to her in the Academic Excellence day of the School of Social Work on the 16 th of April. Coming from a humble background of a business family, Yasoda had completed a Masters in Social Work from the prestigious Banaras Hindu University in the year 2001. After providing her services in various ranks in BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Sikkim Manipal Health Institute, and GATI international she got accepted to pursue PhD in Social Work at the University of Texas in the year 2006.  Yasoda has won a number of accolades for her academics and research within and outside the university. This even includes the Dea...

Gangtok, Jun 12: After conducting three survey trips in Sikkim's Kangchendzonga National Park (KNP) over the past three years, a five-member team, headed by Professor Trevor Price from the US, voiced their excitement over the possibility of finding rare bird species that have not yet been discovered. Prof Price told UNI that a recent census, concluded on June nine, showed that rare bird species like Rufus Breasted Bush Robin and Blue Fretted Blue Robin, which were globally threatened species, were found in good numbers at the KNP. ''During our census, we found that these rare bird species are common in KNP. If such birds are in good numbers in KNP, definitely there must be more other exotic species and also some amphibians that have not yet been discovered globally,'' Prof Rice said. Now named as Biosphere Reserve in Sikkim, KNP is a haven of prized Musk Deer, elusive Snow Leopard and the shy Himalayan Tharr, the Shapi of Sikkim. The KNP is one of ...