The Variety of Hindi Accents across India
Having been traveling in India for 2-3 years and exploring various corners of our country, the food, their culture, their weather, their lifestyle and many other factors while being there, it just feels amazing to be born in such a diverse country. Hindi is the most spoken language in India without a second thought, but Hindi isn’t the same everywhere where we travel. It differs from every state to state, forget about the state, we got to hear multiple accents of Hindi in our stay in Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan( the main reason was we spent the highest number of days there).
Hindi is just an example, but there are many other such examples. We boarded a train at night from Jaipur and the next evening we were in Shimla, which is actually shifting from scorching Thar Desert to chilling foothills of Himalayas within a span of 16-24 hours. This is what I meant about the diversity in India.
Sikkim – The Land of Happiness
Exploring the diversity of India, I came across one state named Sikkim, which actually is a small landlocked state in the North Eastern part of India. It is a very special state because it is surrounded by China, Nepal, Bhutan and one part of it is India. So obviously military tensions would be a usual thing here. One more challenging part of Sikkim is its terrain. It’s completely on the mountains all around, on the foothills of Himalayas.
So weather once again would be boon and bane too. It’s actually a heaven for tourists who come and go for a short visit, but for the localities out there, there are a few things which are challenging for them to lead their daily lives. Gangtok is the most developed and biggest city in Sikkim. I can call it a point of contact to the entire state and all the tourists who wish to explore remote parts of Sikkim. 
Below are some interesting geographical facts about Sikkim.
- Being the land of Buddhas, its popularly called as the Cleanest State of India and I actually found it to be true, as people out there are so responsible with this matter
- It’s the lowest populated state among all the states of India
- If you have seen the old 100 rupee note with a mountain which is the Mt Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak of the world is actually located between Nepal and Sikkim, so if you’re lucky to have a clear sky, you can have a spectacular view of this mountain from anywhere in Sikkim.
- Sikkim has 84 glaciers in total which is the largest number as compared to any other state or union territory across India. This makes the state better in the tourism sector than any other states in India.
- As mentioned before, it is the only state in India to share 3 International borders with 3 different countries.
Journey to Sikkim
During our visit to Sikkim we happened to visit Darjeeling and then headed to Gangtok for 3 days (NathuLa). I would say those 3 days were one of the best of my life. The serene beauty of nature all around(we visited in monsoon), the thick and dense clouds below us, the clean and green streets, cotton flags spreading peace, divine vibes all around the city adding it to the glory of the state, humble and polite people all around and so many such factors were just mesmerizing making me feel like staying there for much more days.
Though the place seems to be beautiful and cool for the tourists, the other side of Sikkim can be horrible sometimes for tourists and localities. If you have observed the small peck of land connecting the North Eastern states, which is actually called the Siliguri corridor, that is the place you have to reach if you wish to visit Sikkim by road. The other way is to reach by air through Bagdogra Airport in West Bengal which is close to Gangtok easily accessible by taxis. So Gangtok is at a higher altitude than Siliguri and the road to reach there runs parallel to River Teesta, around the mountains.
Difficult Roads to Sikkim
It’s not just a normal road, as there are many ravines, ditches, the road won’t be in proper condition all around the year. I have heard stories where the road gets blocked sometimes for 8-9 hours or even more during landslides, mostly during the monsoons. The distance is 112 kms but the travel time is 6-7 hours if there isn’t any disturbance of landslides during the journey. So most of the groceries, daily essentials to Gangtok and indirectly other parts of Sikkim must go through this road itself. That’s the reason why the costs are usually higher than the normal price.
The Source of Water to the Gangtok City
If you observe the aerial picture(taken from the ropeway) you can observe the entire city is on the slope itself. Then what’s the source of water for them? One would be the water from River Teesta out of Gangtok, the other main source is the small waterfalls falling around the roads. The trucks containing the containers move out of the city in search of such waterfalls and fill them with a large pipe and supply it to the cities and that’s used everywhere. That’s the reason one can see the boards to use water cautiously seen everywhere. 
Strict regulations wrt Plastics due to Landslides
Plastics are completely banned entirely in the state. So even water bottles aren’t available easily anywhere. The reason here is that, as the state is entirely on sloped areas, use of plastics would definitely affect the hold of soil leading to landslides. All the hotels, houses, buildings are built in the same manner, so landslides would affect the state brutally, so these measures are actually a must. One more thing if we speak about the sloped areas, you can see aerial distance between 2 points a very few meters, but they’re actually one above the other, so you’ve to take a large curve climbing sloppy roads during your stay there.
Also these are one of the very few areas where autos aren’t available at all in India (Darjeeling, Shimla, Manali are few other major cities I have observed). So taxis are the only option, even for small distances or intercity travel you have to rely on these taxis itself.
The Kind and Polite Localites
The local people are very polite and friendly to everyone. They are so humble and very helpful in nature. That’s the best thing about Sikkim. Also one can find lots and lots of monasteries in every street in Sikkim. Visiting them, feeling the peace and feeling the divine vibes would be something which one should never miss on their stay in Sikkim. Another strange thing not just in Sikkim, but the north eastern part of India is the early sunrises. Being night owls we used to get up at 4:30 in the morning as sun rises at around 4:45 usually and even sunset also happens early corresponding time.
Timing Issue in Sikkim and NorthEast
As IST actually passes through Allahabad which is set as the standard time followed in India, these places are initially 600+ kms East of Allahabad, thus making the difference in timings of sunrise and sunset. I’m pretty sure the timing in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is much earlier due to the large lateral distance between IST and its geographical location.
Conclusion
Just exploring the Southern and Eastern part of Sikkim, I was actually so thrilled and would say it is one of the most special states till date. I’m even planning a bike trip soon to some special remote areas in North Sikkim soon and very excited and inquisitive to check how things actually look there. Those are the remote gems of India, which aren’t explored much and that itself makes it very special destinations to inquisitive travelers like us. But without a second thought this is one of the very few places in my list which I wouldn’t mind exploring twice, thrice or even more in different seasons and temperatures.
