Sikkimese Women at Sunday Market in Gangtok (1967)

Sikkimese Women at Sunday Market in Gangtok (1967)

pic: ebay

Press Photo of Hope Cooke at US (1981)

Pictures of media protest rally in Gangtok

Picture from Gangtok by Prabin khaling

Vadalized office of Sikkim NOW in Gangtok

Picture from Gangtok by Prabin khaling

i voted the right person..did you?

i voted the right person....did you?

Dentam Dasai 2012

Rongli Dasai 2012

Sikkim’s Sangey Udenla at Doordarshan Television Serial “Ek Tha Rusty”

21-year-old Sangey Udenla from Gangtok has been selected for the Doordarshan Primetime Television Serial “Ek Tha Rusty” based on Ruskin Bond's famous author. Shooting for the serial will take place at Mussoorie, Dehradun. 

She is one of the findings of Sikkim Model Hunt 2012. She is a final year student of Political Science (Hons) at Daulatram College, New Delhi.

Sikkim Postal History: Those early years-iv

  [It has been a wonderful response from different places of the state including Darjeeling District regarding my findings on the Postal History of Sikkim. I am happy that my readers found information that they have less heard. Continuing to the previous article I here share about the Postal System of the British Expedition of 1888 that played an important in turning over of Sikkim of what it is today.]

Geoffrey Flack in “Sikkim Field Force 1888-89; Precursor to the Younghusband Expedition” published in Postal Himal (No.78, 2^nd Quarter 1994) writes ……. on March 20^th 1888 Brigadier General T Graham was sent with a force of 2000 men to retake the lands of Sikkim that was invaded by the Tibetans. The Tibetans offered little resistance, crossed the Jalepla and attacked Gnatong, The British men forced the Tibetans to drive them to the frontiers.

Brigadier General T Graham requested for the extension of the telegraph line towards the Tibetan side of Jalepla that was later sanctioned making the entry of Arthur Edmund Sandbach to the land of Sikkim. Sandbach was a Royal Engineer to the Bengal Sappers and Miners. The arrival of Sandbach to Sikkim plays an important role in the early development of postal systems in Sikkim. It was due to his letters sent from the frontiers of Sikkim and Tibet during his 11 months staying with the British Field Force that had surfaced new addition of the long-forgotten postal history of Sikkim.

Sandbach and his unit arrives at Sikkim and immediately makes it into the Tibet frontier, camping at a place called “Byutan”, an unknown place name till now east of Jalepla frontier near Bhutan border on November 9^th, 1888. Sandbach and his unit stays in Tibet for three weeks before returning to Gnatong on December 3^rd, 1888. Along with the telegraphs, EXPERIMENTAL P.O. C-7 of the British Forces was also with the Sandbach’s unit at Tibet.

EXPERIMENTAL P.O. C-7 was established at Gnatong and it might have travelled with Sandbach’s unit to the Tibetan frontier cannot be denied. The website Invaluable.com states the description of an auctioned Post Card as “1889 (3 Dec.) 1/4a. brown stationery card from Private John Sullivan of the Connaught Rangers at Sikkim to Bombay, cancelled with a good strike of the "experimental po/c-7" c.d.s. and with Market Bombay arrival c.d.s. alongside; the contents requesting the addressee to send a catalogue to the writer at Sikkim; most unusual. The card with a couple of small faults though a rare item of mail from this obscure military operation.”

Sandbach’s correspondence provides a great deal of information about the postal history of the Sikkim Field Force. Another remarkable cancellation received from the Sandbach’s correspondence used inside Sikkim are the ‘EXPERIMENTAL P.O. C-3’ and ‘EXPERIMENTAL P.O C-22’.

‘EXPERIMENTAL P.O C-3’ is the rarest of the cancellation of the Sikkim Field Force of 1888-89. Only 3 covers had been found dated October 3^rd and 5^th, 1888 used most probably at Rangpo where Sandbach had stayed on his visit. Ten covers from ‘EXPERIMENTAL P.O C-22’ had been found cancelled at Rhenock Ridge. The covers was used between December 16^th, 1888 to late May 1889.

Sikkim Postal History: Those early years - iii

For the stamp-sized state of Sikkim, November 6, 2006, held a moment of glory and recognition in terms of world philately. In a group of five lakes from different parts of India, Indian Postage featured a postal stamp on Changu Lake. This Changu Lake stamp with a Rs. 5 denomination can be found among the five Himalayan Lakes of India, including Roop Kund, Sela, Tsomo Riri, and Chandra Tal. Bharati Mirchandani designed the stamp and First Day Cover, and Alka Sharma designed the cancellation. 

The stamp is printed by India Security Press in Nasik using the photogravure process. It was the first time in the history of Indian postage stamps that a theme from Sikkim was introduced on an Indian postage stamp. For the last few years, efforts were made to feature individual themes from Sikkim. Along these lines, various tourist destinations, including Rumtek Monastery, Changu (Tsangu) Lake, Guru Dongmor Lake, Nathula Pass, and the cultural diversity of Sikkim, were discussed, but it was the more popular Changu (Tsangu) Lake that made history. Changu Lake has without a doubt been a major tourist attraction over the years. Its incomparable scenic beauty reflects the charisma of the small state of Sikkim.

Sikkim has been fighting for its presence on Indian postal stamps for more than thirty years since the state joined the Indian Union. Apart from four Mt. Kanchenjunga stamps on three separate occasions (1955, 1978, and 1988), Red Panda (1955), Blood Pheasant (1963), Flora and Fauna of North East India (2006), a single illustration of Yumthang valley in the 1982 Himalayan Flowers First Day Cover, and a handful of Sikkim Special Covers, it was a long wait for Sikkim Philately to rejoice.

Despite the fact that Sikkim first made its presence felt in the world of philately way back in 1935. This was. This was when, in this small Himalayan kingdom, a unique postal experiment was conducted by a man named Stephen Hector Smith. The postal experiment got popular with the name "Sikkim Rocketmail Experiment" in 1935.

Although few people know or remember it, Sikkim was home to a unique experiment in mail delivery. In fact, Sikkim was one of the very few nations in the world during the reign of Chogyal, Sikkim's king, to accomplish this ambitious achievement. Among the items sent from the rockets to the confined destinations were parcels, letters, and other items. Rocket mail was being sent across the rivers.

In fact, there are many covers that were successfully delivered that actually have the signature of the late Sir Tashi Namgyal, the Chogyal. In the book “From the diary of Stephen Smith” written by Stephen Smith relating to rocket mail experiments, it has been mentioned that the Sikkim experiment was the most successful among all the pioneering efforts in rocket mail the world over. The five places where the experiments were conducted were Gangtok, Sarumsa, Ray, Singtam, and Rangpo.

Stephen Hector Smith, an Indian rocket mail pioneer, chose Sikkim for his experiment due to its geographical features and mountains. Sikkim is also the first country in the world to successfully dispatch by means of a rocket, a parcel containing small quantities of such useful articles as medicine, tobacco, tea, sugar, etc. Those who helped the Sikkim Rocket experiment succeed included Chogyal Tashi Namgyal, CE Dudley, the General Secretary to the Chogyal, Tashi Dadul Densapa, the Private Secretary, Rai Sahib Faqir Chand Jali, the state engineer, and F Williamson, the British Political Officer.

There cannot be a note on the history of philately in Sikkim without mentioning the Sikkim Revenue Stamps that have been in use since 1917. The oldest known cancellation on a Sikkim Revenue Stamp dates from October 8, 1928, when it was sent from Mangan B.O. to Gangtok. The central design of the stamp depicts the southeast face of Siniolchu, north of Gangtok. The photograph was taken by Hoffmann for the illustration of Claude White’s book, “Sikkim and Bhutan."