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"Face in the Crowd," a series published in Sikkim NOW!, set out to bring readers closer to the people they might recognize but not truly know—ordinary individuals with familiar faces and unique stories.

A translation of SHIVA KUMAR RAI’s “Tibbatko Hullaak-path”

The cobblers of Gangtok, mostly from Bihar, have been quietly serving the city for decades. Despite witnessing Sikkim’s transformation, their own lives have changed little—marked by sacrifice, resilience, and pride in their craft.

Kul Bahadur Limboo, fondly known as "Sidhrau Budo," has been running his stall at Lall Bazaar since its inception in 1957, making him its oldest shopkeeper. A self-made man who started as a vegetable vendor at MG Marg, he later switched to selling Sidhra for its longevity.

Despite the rise of malls in Gangtok, the cobblers' row near Lall Bazaar remains a poignant reminder of simpler times. A revisit after 14 years reveals stories of resilience, fading traditions, and generational shifts. With dwindling customers and changing habits, their trade quietly endures, anchored by memory, skill, and community ties.

There is the data, and then there are the realities on ground. In Sikkim’s case, both point towards a perceptible change in weather patterns which are being felt most acutely in the farms and fields. The sixth installment of the Spotlight series delves into how climate change is changing the haats in Sikkim and how the experts and the farmers see and explain it…

The first protest against hydel projects in Sikkim was launched in 1995 when Sonam Paljor Denzongpa sat on a hunger strike for 28 days demanding the scrapping of the Rathong Chu hydel project in West Sikkim. Twelve years later, Dawa Lepcha along with Tenzing Lepcha sat on a 63-day hunger strike also demanding the scrapping of hydel projects, but this time in North Sikkim.

A hut by the roadside at Tibet road, with no signboard or any indication of an eatery inside, is where Nagina Sahu has been selling Aloo-Chewra for more than 50 years now.

The journey from 50KW in 1927, 30MW in 1994, to 2,200MWs in 2018

“Development” comes at a cost, which is why calls are so often made to “contribute” and “sacrifice”for the nation-building process. Not all costs are, however, tangible. There is a lot that is lost which cannot be easily quantified or compensated. And then there are costs which are not even projected.