Tinkitam is a small town in Namchi,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The town is located 45 minutes from the district headquarters Namchi. The town is being promoted as a tourist destination. Mount

Kanchenjanga Kangchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and ...

is near the town. The local area contains rare species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

s and Paphiopedilum Faireanum and other orchids of the

Cypripedioideae Cypripedioideae is a subfamily of orchids commonly known as lady's slipper orchids, lady slipper orchids or slipper orchids. Cypripedioideae includes the genera ''Cypripedium, Mexipedium, Paphiopedilum, Phragmipedium'' and '' Selenipedium''. ...

genus, also called "lady's slipper". Most orchids near this village are terrestrial, blooming in October and November. Nearby are the

Temi Tea Garden The Temi Tea Garden () in Temi, established in 1969 by the erstwhile King Palden Thondup Namgyal the last ruler of Sikkim, is located in Namchi in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim. It is the only tea garden in Sikkim and is considered on ...

s, the only

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

estate of

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

. Tinkitam offers a view of a dormant

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

that one can come across during the trek from

Damthang Damthang is a town in Haa District in western Bhutan. It is located in the Ha Valley, 11 km from the Ha town and 75 km from the Paro Airport. Damthang is the location of the Royal Bhutan Army's China-focused base to protect disputed pasture la ...

to Tendong National Park. The economy of this town mainly concerns its

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...

plantations. Locals are mostly of

Bhutia The Bhutias (exonym; Nepali: भुटिया, "People from Tibet") or Drejongpas (endonym; , THL: dre-jong pa, "People of the Rice Valley") are a Tibetan ethnic group native to the Indian state of Sikkim who speak Drejongke, a Tibetic ...

and Nepali ancestry. Nepali is the predominant language. The town has a temperate climate.

Notable people

Tinkitam was the birthplace of Indian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

captain Baichung Bhutia. Many members of his family continue to live in the village. It is also the birthplace of the first female IAS officer from South Sikkim who is an Economic (Hons) graduate from St.Stephens (Delhi University), Tshering Yangden Bhutia. It is also the birthplace of Norbu Dadul Bhutia who was the first elected Zilla Adhyakshya of South Sikkim after the State of Sikkim enacted the Sikkim Panchayat Act in 1993.

References

External links

* ''Tinkitam's Little Buddha''; Deepak Sharma; ''

Mumbai Mirror The ''Mumbai Mirror'' is an Indian English-language newspaper published in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Launched in 2005 as a compact daily newspaper, its coverage focused on city specific local news and civic issues concerning education, healthcare an ...

''; pg 10; Sunday, 27 November 2005. Cities and towns in Namchi district {{sikkim-geo-stub