SEP 21, 11 .. SIKKIM EARTHQUAKE
SOME OF YOU HAVE ASKED.. SO HERE IS YOUR ANSWER..
SIKKIM.. (its one word description.. IDYLLIC ! )
Sikkim is a teeny weeny ittsy bittsy tiny little state (of about 7,000 Sq. Km) located in the EXTREME North of India.. almost precisely DUE NORTH of Calcutta.. find Darjeeling in the North of West Bengal and then look North for Sikkim.. Gangtok is the Capital of Sikkim..
Sikkim is WEDGED in between Nepal on its Western Boundry.. and Bhutan on its Eastern Boundry.. and China (Tibet) on its Northern Boundry.. its most dominant geographic feature is a little known mountain named Kanchenjunga..
Mount Kanchenjunga peaks at 8,586 metres (translated this is 28,170 feet) and from the peak of Mount Kanchenjunga you could easily see the peak of Mount Everest to the slight North and West.. Mount Kanchenjunga was ‘summited’ on May 25th, 1955.. BUT out of respect for the Buddhist History of Sikkim.. was not peaked.. NOR has it been since.. climbers staying a few feet from the absolute peak..
AH YES.. those of you who have done their homework.. and those ‘into’ mountains.. Mount Kanchenjunga IS ONE OF THE HIGHEST IN THE WORLD.. a (literally) kissing cousin with Mount Everest..
Sikkim has about 180 pristine lakes.. and Sikkim IS A TOURIST DESTINATION for the select few tourists who KNOW THEIR STUFF.. you do NOT just happen upon Sikkim ..
RICH IN BUDDHIST HISTORY.. the legends regarding Sikkim are many..
AND.. LAST SUNDAY.. September the 18th, 2011.. at approximately 6:10PM.. this Idyllic gentle piece of planet Earth was SMASHED AND WAS RAVAGED BY AN EARTHQUAKE OF 6.8 on the Richter Scale.. a literal landslide of enormous boulders was unleashed like a snow avalanche taking every thing before it down the mountain side with.. people included.. the death toll continues to rise.. aerial photos show this enormous ‘scar’ of now baren earth on the mountain side (I don’t think the mountan was Kanchenjunga)..
FOR THREE DAYS NOW.. Monday the 19th through today Wednesday the 21st.. the earthquake has been FRONT PAGE NEWS IN CALCUTTA..
DID I FEEL THE EARTHQUAKE HERE IN CALCUTTA..
NO BECAUSE.. I was INSIDE of an earthquake (read I was inside of a Calcutta local bus) when the earthquake hit.. inside of a rocking and swaying and stopping and starting and holding-on-for-ones-dear-life bus you can’t feel much else..
MANY PEOPLE WEEP QUIETLY FOR SMALL AND FOR GENTLE SIKKIM.. Love .. Cap