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

War objects found at Tumlong Palace ruins I never wanted to be a teacher, and at the same time, I never had any options. I had always been interested in history since school, but destiny had another career for me. When I completed high school, I compromised my dream of becoming an archeologist and opted for Pure Science streams. In my early schooling days, we were taught to plant dreams, and I dreamt of becoming an archeologist. Tutankhamen, Stonehenge, El Dorado, Atlantis, Crop Circles, Incas, Mayas, ancient civilizations and many others were the only things I used to fantasize. I regularly visited forest areas in my hometown and searched for things, believing that I was an archeologist and was destined to discover them. My biggest irony of life one day I found a real plant fossil, it was a petrified fossil with an impression of a Gramineae leaf. Since 2003 I am trying to get more information of it but without any success. I completed my Pu...

updated on 22.05.2020 I am not an expert on Sikkim's history, nor am I a prolific historian; my interest in Sikkim's past makes me feel that there are various vacant spaces yet to be filled. When I reviewed different pieces of paper on Sikkim's history, I felt we knew very little about our country. Time has come, and the account of Sikkim's history should be reworked from its primary period, though we know we have inadequate resources. I am sure that capturing the early days of Sikkim (the era when we found the first settlements on this land) in 2020 isn’t as easy as it seems, but we can make an attempt. As a student of Sikkim history, I feel it is not within our perimeter to come up with the entire scene from the beginning until now at once, but we can create a room for our coming generations to carry forward those works we shall leave for them.  Today, we hold ourselves accountable to our ancestors (I am not referring to Rishley, Das, Ray, and others;...

Petrified fossil found in Sikkim BY SHITAL PRADHAN A few months back, when a fossil of blue-green algae was discovered on one of the rocks at Mamley, Namchi, I was one of the few who was very excited to take notice of the news. For me, I had found a friend for my petrified plant fossil. Has anyone ever realized the potential of finding possible fossil materials in Sikkim? The answer would undoubtedly be a tricky one. During my college days at Tadong, I asked one of my lecturers about the chances of finding fossils in Sikkim, and the prompt reply was, "It's a silly question." He added that Sikkim is a young mountain range, and there is no possibility of finding such materials in plants and animals. He made his fullest assumption, which did not affect my fanatical thoughts over my query.  My wildest imagination would have me wondering what happened to the life forms beneath the so-called Tethys, from which the Himalayan mountains evolved, or what those vigorously, wildly...

Satyajit Ray with former King and Queen of Sikkim BY SHITAL PRADHAN I never wanted to be a teacher, and at the same time, I never had any options. I had always been interested in history since school, but destiny had other careers for me. When I completed high school, I compromised my dream of becoming an archaeologist and opted for Pure Science streams simply to please my father. In my early schooling days, we were taught to plant dreams, and I dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. Tutankhamun, Stonehenge, Crop Circles, Incas, Mayas, ancient civilizations, and many others were the only things I fantasized about. I regularly visited forest areas in my hometown and searched for things, believing that I was an archeologist and was destined to discover it. Funny ways of life. One day, I found a fossil; it was a petrified fossil with an impression of a Gramineae leaf.  Since 2003, I have been trying to get more information about it without success. I completed my Pure Science...