SIKKIM OBSERVER Aug 25, 2012
Renown Sikkimese photographers honoured on World
Photography Day
(L to R) Joseph Lepcha,
Kiran Rasaily, Jigme N Kazi and Tenzing C. Tashi at the inaugural function of
World
Photography Day in Gagtok on Sunday.
Gangtok, Aug 24: The week-long World
Photography Day 2012 celebrations in Sikkim, which began here on Sunday (August 19), is dedicated to two
Sikkimese gentlemen, whose pioneering work in the field of photography in
Sikkim, has been much appreciated by those who knew them well.
For
the old Gangtokians, late Tseten Tashi (popularly known as ‘Rhenock Yap Maila’
or TTT i.e. Tse Ten Tashi)) and his son late Paljor Dorji Tashi, are well-known
figures in Sikkim.
Tenzing C. Tashi, daughter of Paljor Tashi (also
known as Penjorla) and research assistant at the Namgyal Institute of
Tibetology (NIT), Gangtok, who was present during the inaugural function,
describes her grandfather, recipient of Pema
Dorji (the highest civilian award during the Chogyal era) and former Secretary
to the Chogyal of Sikkim, as “a man much
ahead of his times.” Tenzing Tashi, who
provided all the photographs of her father and grandfather for the exhibition, says
most people remember her father as “a simple, unassuming man who was always
approachable, and ever ready to lend a helping hand.”
Organised
jointly by Vivid Kala Akademi Sikkim (VIKAS) and Journalist Union of Sikkim
(JUS), the photography exhibition, including some rare and unique photographs by
late Yap Tseten Tashi and Yap Penjorla, at the old Star Cinema Hall, New
Market, MG Marg, will conclude on August 26.
Sikkim Observer editor Jigme N Kazi, chief guest for the inaugural
function, said the photographs reflected Sikkim’s people, history and cultural
heritage.
Speaking
at the inaugural function here on August 19, VIKAS President Kiran Rasaily said
the World Photography Day in Sikkim is being organized to “honour their (Yap Tseten
Tashi and his son Yap Penjorla) pioneering contributions in the field of
photography in Sikkim.” Rasaily, who knew the duo intimately, said more
photographs of people, flora and fauna, wildlife and nature will also be
exhibited during the celebrations.
JUS
General Secretary Joseph Lepcha said, “We are helping and supporting Vivid Kala
Akademi, which is celebrating World Photography Day for the second time in Sikkim.
We hope local youths will come for the exhibition and see our past history.”
Some
of the photographs exhibited are by some local journalists, including Bijoy
Gurung, Pappu Mallick and Prabin
Khaling.
SIKKIM
People & Places
IN FOND REMEMBRANCE OF OUR
YESTERYEARS: TWO OF A KIND
By Tenzing C. Tashi
Her grandfather Yap Tse Ten Tashi, son of Rhenock Athing
Rai Sahib Kazi Sonam Dadul, was not only Secretary to the Chogyal of Sikkim but
also Sikkim’s first well-known native photographer. Tenzing C. Tashi, writer
and research assistant at the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology (NIT), says her
father Yap Paljor Dorje Tashi was basically “an IPR man” and pursued his
passion for photography with equal zeal and competence as his father.
YAP TSE TEN TASHI
‘Amongst his innumerable specimens, Tse
Ten Tashi himself is the rarest of them all’
Rhenock
Yap Tse Ten Tashi was the official photographer of the Chogyal of Sikkim and
King of Bhutan
 |
| Yap Tse Ten Tashi |
A
feisty man who captured the collective imagination of many, Rhenock Yap Tse Ten
Tashi doffed many hats: orchidologist, amateur botanist, photographer,
entrepreneur, and much-loved friend and family man.
A
scion of the Rhenock Dhakarpa family that traces its roots back to two of
Sikkim’s finest native military brains-Changzod Chothup a.k.a. General
Satrajeet for his 17 consecutive victories over marauding Gorkha armies, and
Deba Tsang Rinzin- TTT, as he liked to call himself, was above all, a
Sikkimphile.
He
served as Private Secretary to Chogyal Tashi Namgyal, Crown Prince Paljor
Namgyal and Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal. In 1963, he was conferred one of
Sikkim’s highest honours, the Pema Dorji,
in recognition of distinguished service rendered to the Sikkim Darbar.
Largely
a self-taught man, his perennial thirst for knowledge; all pervasive passion
for orchids, rhododendrons and alpine plants; and boundless energy translated
into a legendary reputation that spread beyond the borders of his native
Sikkim.
For
most travellers, a visit to TTT’s residence in Sikkim was de rigueur, the high
point of their visit. There, amidst a profusion of blooms in his roof top
orchidarium, his Rhode Island Red poultry farm in the background, Yap Tse Ten
Tashi was a suave and effortless host.
He
would proffer his guest an orchid, his trademark ‘chang’ and then, as Dean
Gaspar said,
‘he
talked, with a great personal pride, of Sikkim and the Royal Family, of
mountains and flowers and birds and butterflies and people...all, with an
imagery that captivated’.
A
man much ahead of his times, and with a bewildering plethora of interests that
ranged from bodybuilding-it is said he could bend an iron bar against the wall
with his chest!- to trying to discover a native cure for cancer, TTT was
somewhat of an enigma to most of his contemporaries.
TTT
had an intuitive understanding of plants and discovered many new species and
mutations. He used to send specimens of his discoveries to Kew Gardens where
the scientific community would minutely dissect the flower to check if it was
indeed a new species; a genuine find could be named by the finder. On the eve
of the coronation of the 12th Denjong Chogyal in 1965, TTT discovered a new
orchid, Sikkim’s 601st orchid to be precise, which he promptly named ‘Cymbidium
Eburneum var. Denjong Chogyal.’ Among others, he also named another orchid
‘Dendrobium Ashi Kesang Wangchucki’ after the Queen Mother of Bhutan.
The
American Rhododendron Society (ARS) contracted him to collect seeds of several
rhododendrons and send them to the ARS, which then used them to grow several
seedlings. Even today, rhododendrons that trace their origins back to these
seeds dot American landscapes.
The
triumvirate of Yap Tse Ten Tashi; former Chief Secretary of Sikkim, Mr.
K.C.Pradhan and Mr. Britt Smith of the ARS
pioneered conservation efforts in Sikkim, culminating ultimately in the
creation of the Khangchendzonga National Park and the Kyangnosola Alpine Plant
Sanctuary. The latter is home to Tse Ten Tashi Cave, an ornithologist’s haven.
TTT
probably started taking photographs in the wake of the German Schäfer
expedition to Tibet via Sikkim in 1938-39. His close friend, Mr.K.C.Pradhan
recollects that “TTT’s first camera was a Rolleiflex Twin-lens Reflex 2.8F TLR.
120 roll film with 16 shots. The Camera was brought by Ernst Schafer in 1938
during German Natural History Expedition.
Rai Saheb Bhim Bahadur Pradhan, then Forest
Manager and close to Schafer, was so enamored with the Camera that he struck a
bargain and exchanged with seven tiered ancestral ceremonial brass lamp. The
lamp must be either at Berlin or Chicago Museums where the Expedition’s
treasures were intercepted at high sea by the Allied Forces. He used it prolifically and TTT being family
friend used to borrow frequently. TTT was so hooked to it that the former gave
it to TTT around 1944 as by then he had lost interest in photography.”
Thus
began TTT’s long tryst with serious photography, which would see him remembered
as one of Sikkim’s first well-known native photographers, and also his
appointment as the Court Photographer to both the Chogyal of Sikkim as well as
the Druk Gyalpo, the King of Bhutan.
Interestingly,
in keeping with his impetuous character, TTT did not stick to one camera or one
brand very long. He liked to try out several cameras, and would happily lend
and borrow cameras. Although he mostly used and owned modest cameras, he had an
innate flair and produced excellent results with them.
Some
cameras made a lasting impression on TTT, such as the Hasselblad Camera ordered
in the early1960s by some Tibetan gentry. TTT delivered this beauty safely to
Tibet, but made sure he tried it out first!
He
also used the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic briefly. This commanded a cult following
among photographers, and TTT was happy to join its legions of admirers.
But
above all, Leica was TTT’s favourite. Most of his slides that he used to stock
with Magnum Photos in USA were all from Leica. TTT used to regularly send his
slides to photo-stocks, and earn a regular side- income from them, as well as
from selling fresh eggs to the Palace and the now Raj Bhavan!
As
TTT found it taxing to send his slides and photographs all the way to Mumbai to
get them developed, he set up Sikkim’s first photographic studio, Tse Ten Tashi
& Co, with his own bathroom at home doubling up as its darkroom! TTT also
opened a branch of Tse Ten Tashi & Co in Kalimpong near Jetmull Bhojraj’s
establishment.
The
Gangtok photo studio or the ‘Parkhang’(Tibetan:studio) as it came to be
popularly known, made passport photographs including ID for Tibetan refugees,
studio portraits and sold photographs taken by TTT. It also sold postcards
based on his photographs.
He
trained a number of photographers and dark room technicians, including Rinchen
Lepcha and Twan Yang. Yap Tse Ten Tashi himself made several movies on Tibet,
of which only a few survive today. The fate of a cine-movie that he took of His
Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama’s flight from Tibet and apparently sold to someone
abroad remains unknown.
TTT
was fully aware that he was recording history through his photographs,
commenting that one day, his photographs would be invaluable testimonials of
history. At one time, he had an exhaustive collection of photographs taken in
Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. Sadly, not much remains of his collection today.
While a few photographs nestle in family albums, the major bulk of his
collection is lost forever. Many of the photographs in the retrospective on
display here were sourced from abroad.
A
jovial, gregarious and extremely vital personality, Yap Tse Ten Tashi had
several friends and admirers. Nari Rustomji, Dewan of Sikkim aptly summarized
him as,
‘Amongst
his innumerable specimens, Tse Ten himself is the rarest of them all - a truly,
truly precious bloom, radiating, through all the seasons, fragrance, beauty,
humour, scholarship and- greatest of them all - compassion.’
Perhaps
it is only fitting that Yap Tse Ten Tashi chose to name his residence in
Gangtok bazaar ‘Light of Sikkim Building’.
YAP PALJOR DORJI TASHI
‘The height of greatness is not how tall
you stand, but how much you stoop to shake the smallest hand’
Yap
Penjorla not only inherited his father’s love for photography but had the gift
of being able to relate to anyone from any strata of society
 |
| Yap Paljor Dorji Tashi |
The
eldest son of Yap Tse Ten Tashi, Yap Penjorla not only inherited his father’s
love for photography but also exhibited the same easy charm of his father.
The
Rhenock family having traditionally rendered consummate service to the Darbar,
it seemed only natural for a young Penjorla to join the Palace in 1966 as the Aide-de-camp to Chogyal Palden Thondup
Namgyal. Conscientious and loyal, he quickly rose to the post of Deputy
Secretary to the Chogyal.
As
Sikkim made the transition from Himalayan kingdom to 22nd state of India in
1974-75, Penjorla also made the personal transition as Deputy Secretary in the
Home Department. In 1975, the Department of Tourism was created and he served
as the first Deputy Director. In 1979, the State Government created the
Protocol Division of the Home Department; he was chosen to helm it as Joint
Secretary. He also served as the first Director of the Information and Public
Relations Department. He held several posts in his long innings in the State
administration until his voluntary retirement as Secretary to the Government in
1997.
But
Penjorla always considered himself, in his own words, ‘An IPR man’. IPR was the
Department that he could identify with most, and which most people associated
him with. He was happy to be able to continue to explore his passion for
photography, and to meld it with his official duties. He was the one who
introduced the first aerial photography shots for the annual IPR calendar;
strapped into his seat but dangling precariously out of a helicopter, he
captured frame after frame of Sikkim’s natural beauty from his dangerous
vantage point.
An
affable man, Penjorla established a formidable reputation as a man of great
integrity and greater humility, earning himself the sobriquet of ‘Buddha
Bhagwan.’ He exemplified the idiom, “The height of greatness is not how tall
you stand, but how much you stoop to shake the smallest hand.”
His
friends, contemporaries and most especially his subordinates from various
Departments remember him as a simple, unassuming man who was always
approachable, and ever ready to lend a helping hand. He had the gift of being
able to relate to anyone from any strata of society, a trait that was to win
him many loyal friends who still speak of him with much love and respect.
A former colleague at IPR, late Mr. Pemba
Thondupla, wrote of him: ‘We, in IPR Department, learnt a lot and benefited
immensely from his wise counsel. Yap Penjorla himself was so however so modest
and unpretentious that he can honestly be termed humility personified. He
always passed on the credit of good work to others and took the blame on
himself. Generous, sympathetic and courteous, he went out of his way to help
his subordinate staff with whom he often merrily shared his snacks and jokes.
There was not an iota of vanity in him.’
It
is difficult to ascertain when exactly Penjorla started his tryst with
photography, but as he was one of the very first subjects of his father’s
photography while he was still in diapers, he was exposed to photography at a
very early age. He cut his teeth on the other aspects of photography while
helping at his father’s Tse Ten Tashi & Co. studio. Photography was such an
integral part of his father’s life that it was only a natural corollary that
Penjorla should also gravitate towards it.
One
of the earliest cameras he inherited from his father was a Mamiya, of Japanese
make. A close friend, Mr. Babulal Malu of Panorama, recollects that it was a
Sekor Super 23, with 120 mm format.
Later,
while dabbling with mid-format cameras, Penjorla enjoyed the developments of
the 70s and 80s, which saw major battles between the major Japanese SLR brands:
Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Minolta and Olympus. Cameras were no longer heavy,
all-metal and manual brutes; the invention of the IC resulted in much sleeker
beauties with electronic automation and compact, lightweight bodies.
Originally,
like most other photographers, Penjorla was enamoured of Nikon SLRs. This ruled
the professional SLR market, with its dual advantages of solid quality and
worksmanship. Among other Nikon models, he used a Nikon F1 for a long time, and
extolled its virtues.
In
the late 1970s, Penjorla was particularly taken in by his Canon AE-1, a 35 mm
SLR film camera for use with interchangeable lenses. This historic camera was
the first microprocessor-equipped SLR and notched up sales of over one million
units, due to a successful marketing strategy. The various manual controls and
accessories, combined with the lightweight body and unbeatable price, appealed
to Penjorla who went on to own many other Canon cameras.
Like
his father, he liked to own and try out a series of modest cameras and zoom
lenses. He briefly flirted with other brands like Pentax, Minolta and Olympus
but continued to be an A1 and F1 man for the longest time ever, despite owning
a more sophisticated Canon EOS Rebel. He was well-conversant with the
intricacies of owning and using a SLR, and his conversations were often
peppered with terms like ‘aperture/ thyristor/Nikkor zoom/shutter speed’ at a
point of time when there were very few aficionados of photography in Sikkim.
With
regard to his photography, he was essentially a purist. He mostly liked to work
with 35mm Ektachrome transparencies. He preferred the challenge of manual
focus, fixing his own lens, and setting the aperture and shutter speed manually
for the perfect frame. Although he sometimes enjoyed the relative ease of
autofocus, and fixed lens, he held that too much technology killed the real art
of photography. He also preferred black and white film, saying that colours
detracted from the essence of shape and form.
When
the first digital cameras came out, beyond a cursory onceover, he had no real
interest in what was being heralded as the new dawn of photography. He was old
school; he enjoyed the setting up of a shot, the taking of the shot and yes,
the delicious anticipation that marked the wait for a roll of film to be
developed and printed.
As
a photographer too, Penjorla was more inspired by the simple beauty of things.
Mountains were a particular favourite. He would wake up early and spend hours
waiting for dawn to break over Mt. Khangchenzonga, and capture the changing
silhouettes of the mountain in a series of mostly 36 exposures. Although there
was no digital imaging those days, he would carefully overlap his photographs
on each other and stick them together to produce the entire Khangchendzonga
range. He also loved to shoot portraits, and would often be spotted cajoling
someone with a particularly expressive face to pose for his lens.
At
first glance, his photographs are deceptively ordinary. A more introspective
examination reveals how his lens manages to capture the extraordinary beauty of
seemingly very ordinary every day events. His photos transcend the obvious to
explore and reveal to the viewer the finer, more subtle nuances of
relationships, events and just being.
He
was a prolific photographer, and loved to document events and milestones. He
built up a huge collection of photographs that encompass mountains, chortens,
monasteries, landscapes, flora, fauna, festivals, the Royal Family and always,
his people portraits. These are being worked into a currently under-production
coffee-table book on Sikkim called ‘Hiatus
in the Himalayas’, which is, in a nutshell, one man’s lens, his daughter’s
words.
His
soul was his window to the world and his lens captured that essential goodness.
(Tenzin C. Tashi, Namgyal Institute of
Tibetology (NIT), Gangtok, tinatashi@gmail.com)
Drop Nyati, Todari from forest panel:
SIBLAC
By Tseten Tashi Bhutia
Gangtok, Aug 24: You must be aware that the appointment of K.P.Nyati
and N.P Todaria in the Forest Advisory Committee has become a subject of
national controversy. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest itself has violated
environmental norms while according its clearance to many hydro power projects
in Sikkim in the past.
For
instance, the 97 MW Tashiding Hydro Power Project in West Sikkim and 300 MW
Panan Hydro Power Project in North Sikkim received the clearance from MoEF
without having referred the matter to National Board of Wild Life violating the
Supreme Court Order.
Both
these HPPs fall within the 10 kms radius from the boundary of
Khang-chen-Ddong-nga National Park. As such, the MoEF should have scrapped these
projects on the ground that they have violated environmental laws. But the MoEF
granted clearance simply to promote the business interest of private companies
involved in these projects.
SIBLAC
(Sikkim Bhutia-Lepcha Apex Committee) seriously apprehends that appointment of
Nyati and Todaria in the Forest Advisory Committee has been made purely to
promote the business interest of multi-national companies engaged in
hydro-power and mining industry. With this considered opinion, SIBLAC decided
to endorse the views of South Asian Network on Dams, River and People (SANDRP)
and 49 other NGOs from all across India to cancel the appointment of Nyati and
Todaria in the Forest Advisory Committee. (Tseten Tashi Bhutia is Convenor of
Sikkim Bhutia-Lepcha Apex Committee – SIBLAC)
Chief Secy visits North Sikkim, assures
people on reconstruction work
 |
| Sikkim Chief Secretary Karma Gyatso |
Mangan, August 24: Chief Secretary Karma Gyatso said till the date the
State Government has received only Rs. 200 crore out of the Rs. 1,000 crore
promised by the Central Government as earthquake relief fund.
Gyatso,
who is on a two-day tour of North Sikkim, assured that Chungthang would be
become a model town and a gateway to North Sikkim. He assured the people that
the government would do its best to restore assets damaged during last year’s
devastating earthquake.
Already
Rs 2 crore has been sanctioned for reconstruction of Chungthang monastery,
Secretary, Ecclesiastical Department, said. Gyatso, who patiently listened to
problems and grievances of the people during a public meeting here, was
accompanied by several secretaries and officials during his tour.
The
Chief Secretary urged the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to extend “full
support” toward restoration work, an IPR release said.
The
Chief Secretary along with the Chief Engineer BRO also visited Khedoom where
landslides have totally damaged the road connecting Chungthang with Lachung.
REC to give additional Rs 995-cr loan
for Teesta III hydro project
New Delhi, Aug 24: Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) will extend
an additional loan of Rs 995 crore to the 1,200-MW Teesta III hydro project in
Sikkim whose overall cost has escalated to more than Rs 8,500 crore.
With
the additional amount, State-run REC's total lending to the project would be Rs
3,095 crore, sources said.
Teesta
III project has seen substantial cost overruns due to delays on account of
natural calamities as well as legal hurdles, PTI reported.
Sources
said the cost overrun is about Rs 2,700 crore. The additional term loan of Rs
995 crore would include Rs 851crore senior debt. Originally, REC was to lend Rs
2,100 crore for the project, they added.
The
fresh amount has been sanctioned since the project cost has jumped to Rs 8,581
crore from Rs 5,700 crore estimated earlier.
Earlier
this week, REC communicated to project developer Teesta Urja about its decision
to sanction the additional loan, sources said.
As
per the original schedule, the project was to come up in September 2012. Now,
it is anticipated to be fully operational by December next year. About 70 per
cent of work has been completed.
The
run of the river project was awarded by the Sikkim government to Teesta Urja
Ltd on BOOT (build-own-operate- transfer) basis.
An
earthquake last year and differences between Teesta Urja Ltd and Sikkim government
have also led to delays in implementation of Teesta III.
Last
month, power trading solutions provider PTC India, that holds 11 per cent
stake, had said the project is expected to be commissioned in December 2013.
Singapore-based
Asian Genco Pte holds 50.1 per cent stake in Teesta III while Sikkim government
and Athena Projects has 26 per cent and 11 per cent shareholding, respectively.
The
plant, which would supply power to Sikkim and Haryana, among others, would have
six units of 200 MW each.
Editorial
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