FIRSTLY SOMETHING ABOUT SIKKIM;
Perched between Nepal in the west, Bhutan in the east, and Tibet(China ) in the north, Darjeeling (West Bengal) in the south - Sikkim is 7096 square miles in area and contains Mount khanchendzong, the third highest peak in the world. Formerly a kingdom, since 1975 it has been a tiny land-locked state of India. Sikkim, with its rich biodiversity, has 150 lakes rangi
ng in altitude from 200 meters to almost 8000 meters. A mountainous region in eastern Himalayas has 600 species of birds, or about half the population found in India. Sikkim has 4000 species of flowering plants, making it a botanist's paradise. It has 558 species of orchids, and 39 species of Rhododendrons and around 600 species of Butterflies. Sikkim is rich in avifauna and considered to be a bird watchers' paradise. Its avian population extends to almost 550 species within an altitudinal variation of 200 meters to close to 6000 meters. Three ethnic communities-Bhutias, Lepchas and the Nepalese intermingling lives in harmony through out the culture and environment rich Sikkim. Population goes up to 5,76,000 spread across 7096 Sq. Culturally & environmentally rich Sikkim offers varieties of ethnic faces in their own costumes, traditions and cultures. People are both Hindus and Buddhist with some population of neo Christians. Mountains and lakes are worshipped by the large section of the population. Hindu & Buddhist dominant population, sizeable nature worshippers still practice traditional way of religion and healing. The climate varies between the tropical heat of the valleys and the alpine cold of the snowy regions. The altitudinal zone of vegetation range in tropical, sub tropical, temperate to alpine. Some places, just in a matter of one hour topography changes from hot low lying area to severe cold alpine zone. In some accessible tourists spots, snow lasts till the end of June in some high places. Sikkim is considered a hot spot of biodiversity in the Eastern Himalaya. MEANING OF PARADISE;
Paradise is the term for a place of timeless harmony. The Abrahamic faiths associate paradise with the Garden of Eden, that is, the perfect state of the world prior to the fall from grace, and the perfect state that will be restored in the World to Come. Paradisaical notions are cross-cultural, often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and idleness. Paradise is often described as a "higher place", the holiest place, in contrast to this world, or underworlds such as Hell. In eschatological contexts, paradise is imagined as an abode of the virtuous dead. In Christian and Islamic understanding, Heaven is a paradisaical relief, evident for example in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus tells a penitent criminal crucified alongside him that they will be together in paradise. In old Egyptian beliefs, the other world is Aaru, the reed-fields of ideal hunting and fishing grounds where the dead lived after judgment. For the Celts, it was the Fortunate Isle of Mag Mell. For the classical Greeks, the Elysian fields was a paradisaical land of plenty where the heroic and righteous dead hoped to spend eternity. The Vedic Indians held that the physical body was destroyed by fire but recreated and reunited in the Third Heaven in a state of bliss. In the Zoroastrian Avesta, the "Best Existence" and the "House of Song" are places of the righteous dead. On the other hand, in cosmological contexts 'paradise' describes the world before it was tainted by evil.
