Gangtok, Sikkim, India
Gangtok
Gangtok, Sikkim
What is it? Small town masquerading as state capital; starting point for some great treks
Where is it? Sikkim
When do I go? March to May, October to November
For how long? One day and then move on; Sikkim awaits you
STD Code: 03592
Once upon a time, there were only cheap liquor bars in Gangtok. Tourists had a tough time finding a place that wasn’t swinging. Yet Gangtok had a certain illusive beauty – a gaucheness that was becoming. Today it’s all different. The bars are still in place but concrete is beginning to swamp the whole town. Hotels, restaurants, residential buildings, Gangtok is now coming into its own. Unfortunately. So should you come here just for the cheap booze and ugly facades? Yes, yes, yes. The concrete has a crazy way of making sense after a while. You begin to respect the way the city has been built around its topography rather than the other way around. You enjoy a city where few people seem tetchy or wretched. And this is a wonderful place to begin exploring the mountains around, to make expeditions to Tsomgo Lake and Nathula Pass, to the Rumtek monastery and so much else. Eat a momo or a mandarin fish, buy a Sikkimese music cassette (may take some looking) and go walking. Twenty minutes on the National Highway and you’re out in the mountains with a mist licking greedily at your face, pine cones crunching under your feet and your calf muscles beginning to tingle.
About Gangtok
History
Sikkim was originally home to the Lepchas, a tribal people who were foragers and cultivators. Today, the Lepchas traditional lifestyle has been severely limited because of the migrants from Tibet and Nepal. The migration began in the 15th century to escape strife between the Gelukpa and the Nyingmapa order. In Sikkim, three lamas from the Nyingmapa order consecrated the first chogyal, or king in 1642 at Yuksom, which became the capital of the kingdom.
Eventually the Lepchas formed an alliance with the migrants. The kingdom of Sikkim went on to include the present state, as well as part of eastern Nepal, the Chumbi valley (now in Tibet), Ha valley (now in Bhutan), and the terai foothills down to the plains of India including Darjeeling and Kalimpong.
Between 1717 and 1734, a series of wars with the Bhutanese resulted in the kingdom losing territory; later on more land was lost when the Gurkhas invaded from Nepal. In the course of this invasion, the Gurkhas came into conflict with the British East India Company, and the wars between the two finally ended in the Gurkhas ceding all the Sikkimese territory they held to the British. In exchange, the kingdom had to accept British control over all disputes between Sikkim and its neighbours.
The British continued to intervene in the region, persuading the chogyal to cede the Darjeeling area to them, eventually declaring Sikkim a protectorate in 1861. The Tibetans, who had continued to maintain that Sikkim was part of their territory invaded in retaliation in 1888. But the British defeated the invaders, and consolidated their hold over the region.
They began to encourage migration from Nepal, which continued right upto the 1960s. After India gained Independence, there was a popular movement in Sikkim for a more democratic form of government. As a result, the chogyal asked the Indian government to take over the administration, and retired to New York. In a referendum in 1975, over 90 per cent of the electorate voted in favour of union with India, and Sikkim became India’s 22nd state.
East India Company:
A group of British traders established a private company in 1600 AD called the English East India Company. At the time this mercantile organisation may not have imagined that it would play such a major role in the South Asian region and change the face of the entire sub-continent. The reigning English monarch gave the company a special charter to initiate trade with countries in the east. The industrial revolution was still a few years away and the intentions of the company were still innocent.
Sir Thomas Roe was sent in 1615 to the court of Emperor Jehangir who succeeded in securing trading rights at Surat, and later the company also set up centres at Agra and Ahmedabad.
In 1661, King Charles II got the island of Bombay (Mumbai) as dowry from the King of Portugal and in 1668 he leased it to the English East India Company, for an annual rent of 10 pounds. In Surat and Ahmedabad the company set up factories which were little enclaves in the city where their offices functioned. Many of their valuable records and documents are still preserved in government archives.
The company also acquired land on the East Coast from the Raja of Chandragiri where they set up a fortified trading center known as Fort St. George. This later became Madras (Chennai). Three villages on the banks of the river Hooghly in Bengal became the site for Fort William, which later bloomed into the magnificent city of Calcutta (Kolkata). In this way, the company established a firm foothold in the sub-continent and inspired the British government to initiate their political agenda.
However the establishment of the East India Company had another dimension to it. Company officers adapted themselves to the tropical climate, food and people. Some of them even inter-married and created the Anglo-Indian community that subsequently played a vital cultural role during colonialism. For many officers, the company gave them a chance to experience a standard of living, which would have been impossible to achieve in England.
The company also developed an army indicating a keener interest in the politics of the region and very soon began looking for territories to capture. Many wars were fought with local kings and other rivals. The most important being the French East India Company which had developed centres in Surat, Masulipattam, Pondicherry and Chandernagore. Both of them were trying to establish a commercial supremacy and fought three major wars in Karnataka. But in 1760 the French were defeated at the battle of Wandiwash. With this the English company, now synonymous with the British government for the natives, established its supremacy as a major commercial power.
They lived in special areas of cities known as Residencies. They were enclosed fortified areas where officers, their wives, children and servants lived aristocratic lives.
However all this ended in the 1857 war of independence referred by the company as the “Mutiny”. Fed up with the naked desire of the British to violate trading etiquette and forcefully establish political control, many royal states got together. In the `rebellion’ which took place within the company army in Meerut and other towns, thousands of company officers and their families were killed. What followed was an equally violent attack by the British government and it strengthened their interest in India. They disbanded the company and established direct rule.
The industrial revolution was well under way and India soon became the most important colony to feed the mother country with raw material and markets.
Geography
Gangtok sits on a ridge overlooking the Ranipul river. National Highway 31A goes up the hill. The bus station is at the north end of town, while M G road branches off the highway at an intersection. The tourist office is located at this intersection although entry is from the M G road side. All the main facilities including hotels, restaurants, and the Foreigners Registration office are located either on or around the national highway, a 20 minute-walk from beginning to end. M G road leads to Naya bazaar, which is the local market.
It’s difficult to get lost but if you want to protect against that unlikely eventuality, buy yourself a Gangtok Map, quite a beautiful thing, and great value for money at just Rs 35.
Climate
The rains fall between June and September. The best time to visit is from March to May, and from October to November. The nights can get nippy throughout the year so bring along some woollies. Also rainwear because the rains don’t work by calendars and there may be showers even in late October or in early May.
Location of Gangtok
For more information on the following topics, please see our Gangtok travel guide below:
- Getting there
- Getting around
- Sights & Sounds
- Excursions
- Accommodation
- Eating Out
- Shopping
- Useful Information
- Survival Guide
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Gangtok, Sikkim Known as the “Switzerland of the East”, Gangtok would be easily one of the most cleanest cities you would ever come across, highly organized and beautifully maintained.
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