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

GANGTOK, May 11: Sikkim’s Prashant Rasaily lost the ticket to Hollywood by a whisker. The extremely talented young filmmaker was beaten in the finals of Gateway, a reality show aired on the Sony Pix television channel, by Bejoy Nambiar from Mumbai. The final episode, which was aired today, had its tense moments when films of both the finalists were scrutinised by the jury. While most of the jury members liked Prashant’s filmmaking techniques, especially his camera work and editing, Bejoy ultimately won the title on the basis of his strong script. ‘Gateway,’ conceptualised by Hollywood producer Ashok Amritraj, featured 18 contestants from all across India who competed intensively over several weeks to get a chance to direct a Hollywood film produced by Amritraj’...

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Baichung Bhutia receives the Padma Shri award from President Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Vijay Lokapally  NEW DELHI : From a nondescript field in Pakyoung, east Sikkim, to the Ashoka Hall in Rashtrapati Bhawan to receive the Padma Shri award, it has been an eventful journey for this pocket dynamo of Indian football. Baichung Bhutia is a glowing icon of a sport that has a truly universal appeal. At 32, he is not that swift as he used to be. But he is as crafty, as focused, as motivated, and as humble as ever. Ask him why the game is languishing in his country, Bhutia ponders for a while but refrains from speaking his mind. His inner self is in turmoil. He wants to fight but appears helpless. “We need good infrastructure, a sound administrative system, an effective development programme,” is his simple response. Same old story ...

The youngest Vice-Chancellor of Sikkim University is on a drive to reformulate the varsity’s syllabus and restructure administrative policies so that there will be no dearth of wherewithal in making the varsity chapter an international success, writes DB Rai Professor Mahendra P Lama, the vice chancellor of Sikkim University, is the first youngest VC of any Indian University. He was a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, and now he is keen to reform Sikkim University so as to give it world-class repute. He wishes the university to work in terms of an institutional dynamism so that it would attract students from the northeast states as well as Nepal, Bangladesh and South West China. Referring to the vision of the chief minister Pawan Chamling and prime minister Manmohan Singh, Professor Lama said, the leaders have the vision to construct a supreme University in this region, so that there will be no dearth of wherewithal in making the varsity chapter an international success. E...

SILIGURI, May 8: The Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha would soon approach the Sikkim chief minister Mr. Pawan Kumar Chamling, and the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), to seek help in the ongoing Gorkhaland agitation in the Darjeeling Hills, the GJMM president Mr. Bimal Gurung said today. “We would send a formal letter to the Sikkim chief minister and the SDF, seeking help for the Gorkhaland agitation. The letter would be dispatched in the next two days,” Mr. Gurung said. Vowing to carry forward the agitation until the statehood goal was achieved, the GJMM president also urged the Gorkhas living across the various states to join in the Gorkhaland struggle. “This is our last fight for realizing the separate statehood demand, which would eventually establish our identity in India. Hence, we urge upon all the Gorkhas ~ those serving in the police, the Army anywhere in India, to come forward and join the struggle at least for once,” he said. Mr. Gurung reiterated that the whole of Darjeeling di...

http://beacononline.wordpress.com/page/2/ Dear Friends, Greetings from Darjeeling! It is with great satisfaction and pleasure that I inform you that Fallen Cicada 2 - Unwritten History of Darjeeling Hills was released in Darjeeling by Dr. Lakhi Devi Sundas. Released during a ‘writers’ enclave’ organised for the first time in Darjeeling, Dr. Lakhi Devi Sundas remarked that when she released Fallen Cicada - First Edition, on the 23rd of December 2003, she had declared that the book would do extremely well. The book went on to become a bestseller and sold out 3,000 copies during the first year of its sell. She hoped that Fallen Cicada 2 - Unwritten History of Darjeeling Hills released for the first time in Digital Format did even better and spread the love of Darjeeling Hills across the world. She also remarked that digital conversion of books was the right move and more and more books both in Nepali and English should be converted digitally and marketed through out the world. She expr...

SOURCE: HIMALAYAN DARAPN

Sikkim Amateur Taekwondo Association’s Mira Chettri, d/o Shri. Gopal Singh Chettri of Pachey, Pakyong won a Bronze Medal in the 18th Assian Taekwondo Championship held from 26th to 29th April, 2008 at Zinju, China. Mira is trained by Trilok Subba, Chief Coach, Dawa Tamang and Jyoti Pradhan, Coaches of SATA. She has won one gold and three silver medals in the North-East India Games. She won a silver medal in National Championship, Chennai 2006. She also won a gold medal in the National Games, held at Guwahati, Assam in February 2006. She represented India in the 18th Senior World Taekwondo Championship in China, 2007. Mira made the country proud winning a bronze medal in the 18th Asian championship recently. She defeated Philippines in first fight. She defeated Japan in the second fight and Macao, China, in the quarter final. In the semi final, she lost to world’s strongest opponent South Korea for only one point to be satisfied with a bronze medal. Mr. Y.B.Thapa, President of SATA is v...

SHIVADEEP RAI Gangtok: “Sikkim would be ten times better than now if education and knowledge are infused in the society”, said Prof. Dr. Mahendra P Lama, Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University. He was addressing the gathering as the chief guest at the one-day orientation programme at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Regional Centre at 5th Mile on May 7. He said education is the core significant factor of the present time and Sikkim is one of the fast growing states and best in the field of education in the entire nation. He underlined the base of education saying, “reading habit is the most fundamental factor for education”. He said people of the hills enjoy everything like playing games, listening music, and watching movies. But one thing they do not enjoy is reading. “People feel hesitant and bothered about buying books and reading it though they do not feel the same ...

GANGTOK, May 07: Sikkim Amateur Taekwondo Association’s (SATA) Mira Chettri, d/o Gopal Singh Chettri of Pachey, Pakyong in east Sikkim has won a Bronze Medal in the 18th Asian Taekwondo Championship held from April 26 to 29 at Zinju, China. Mira is trained by SATA’s chief coach Trilok Subba and coaches Dawa Tamang and Jyoti Pradhan. A gold medallist in the national games, Mira defeated Philippines in the first fight and Japan in the second fight. She also defeated Macao, China in the quarter final. In the semi final, she lost with the world’s strongest opponent South Korea with only one point and finally satisfied with a Bronze Medal (Light Weight category). A press release issued by the organising secretary of SATA Trilok Subba, the president of SATA YB Thapa ...

SILIGURI, May 7: The demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland received a much needed shot in the arm with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) renewing its commitments towards achieving this long-standing aspiration of the people of the Darjeeling Hills. GJM president Bimal Gurung revived the demand for Gorkhaland at a massive public rally held at the Indira Gandhi maiden here today, which was attended by over three lakhs supporters from all over the Darjeeling Hills and the Dooars area. Yesterday, the Morcha had officially revived the demand for a separate Gorkhaland by sending a memorandum to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. In the memorandum, the GJM said that the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council that...