Diary of Induced Tourism

Ok. I just got back from a 2 week long vacation to Sikkim. Not that I haven't been there before. No, I was practically brought up there. But I had always seen the place, with its gorgeous mountains and beautiful rivers, from a local perspective - and unknowingly, I had just got used to the beauty. So much so that I had almost taken it for granted. This time however, I decided to make it different. I decided to "induce" tourism in me, become a tourist per se, and then tour Sikkim. Also, the purchase of a second hand Ultra Zoom camera helped me in this decision. So off I went, to taste Sikkim Tourism.

For the most part of it, it feels amazingly awkward to be a tourist in a place you've frequented since you were a kid :) But then, feeling and acting like a tourist, with your camera lugged around your neck almost all the time - that's a different feeling altogether. I began perceiving everyday things in a new light and angle, and it actually made me realize what the tourists saw. The amazing beauty that we all just get so accustomed to and forget to revere.

I got to travel to North Sikkim - to Lachen, Lachung, Gurudongmar Lake and Yumthang valley. Then some popular places in Gangtok - places I'd been to since I was a kid I now discovered with a new found interest. I finally travelled to visit Samduptse and "Chaar Dhaam" in South Sikkim. And also a glimpse of Namchi, the district headquarters of South Sikkim.

Although I had plans of visiting Darjeeling, that plan was spoilt thanks to the Gorkhaland agitation in Siliguri. But no worries, next time I hope to visit Darjeeling as the capital of Gorkhaland.

I managed to take in a few mementos with me of the beautiful places, which I was fortunate enough to witness, as photographs. I have uploaded them to my Picasa album. Do go through them. Not that I'm being paid by Sikkim Tourism Ministry to promote Sikkim, but then I sincerely wish that you make at least one trip to these places in your lifetime. It's all totally worth it. And these are the words of a tourist, albeit induced, and not a man who was brought up in Sikkim.

I have edited, painstakingly added descriptions and titles to some chosen photographs and uploaded them to Flickr. You can find them in my Flickr Photostream.