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

This article, published in the "Now" weekly newspaper from Gangtok, is a memorable one for me. It was 2003, and I was working as a reporter in Weekend Review, a reputed weekly newspaper from Gangtok. In one of the assignments, I visited Kopchay, a small hamlet, on the way to Rongli, where a man was supposedly reincarnated as Lord Vishnu's avatar and performed miracles, curing illness beyond medical limitations. I was at Kopchay by 10 am that day, and looking at the queue with around a couple of thousand followers, I thought I couldn't chat with the person. Yet I went to the registration counter and took out my journalist Identity Card, and immediately I found myself just at the door of the so-called " Kopchay-Baba ". As I was about to enter the closed door from inside, a person from behind took my camera and my handbag, I was led to enter the room with an empty hand. As I entered the room, I could see the man in jagged and torn trousers with a stinkin...

{This article was released when Prashant Tamang first arrived at Darjeeling during the Indian Idol competition} BY NAMO DIXIT for Explore Sikkim The Journey of Thousand Miles begins with One Step’- this saying has turned into reality with the victory of Prashant Tamang as the third Indian Idol. This simple young lad hailing from Queen of Hills- Darjeeling, would not have even thought in his wildest dream that he would one day bestow so much of respect, pride of belongingness and above all a totally different identity to the people he belonged to. Fate fortunately had a secret blessing for Prashant which even his near and dear ones were unaware of a blessing in disguise followed him which eventually took him to the platform of Indian Idol on Sony Entertainment Television thus making him the winner of the title. Every ill fated blotch on his life and every bad remark he received in his life till now has proved to be a blessing in disguise which he accepted with silenc...