by Andrew Duff
In 2006, as part of the package deal that included the Chinese recognition of Sikkim, the Indian and Chinese governments agreed to reopen trade through the Nathu La pass. It had been closed for more than five decades, since before the outbreak of hostilities between the two countries in the brief war of 1962.
Although the move was more symbolic than pragmatic (trade was severely limited – 29 products were allowed for export from Sikkim, and a further 15 allowed for import)11 – traders in Sikkim maintain hopes that the Nathu La might one day become a vital land trading route.*
In February 2015, the new Indian Prime Minster, Narendra Modi, announced that he had reached an agreement to allow pilgrims to use the route to travel to Mount Kailash.
Two themes continue to dominate Sikkim’s politics today: the question of Sikkim’s actual status, and the relative position of ethnic community groups.
Bhandari, the Chief Minister who beat the Kazi in the election of 1979, survived till 1994. Many never forgave him for forming an alliance with Indira Gandhi in 1981 and retreating from the strong anti-merger position he had taken in order to oust the Kazi. In 1994 he appeared on the cusp of gaining an income tax exemption for Sikkim’s citizens, but when it became clear that this would be granted initially only to the Bhutia-Lepchas (on account of their new tribal status) and not to his bedrock Nepali community, he drew back. The income tax affair left no one satisfied, opening the way for a young politician-poet of Nepali background, Pawan Chamling, who appealed more directly than before for the support of the toiling Nepalis in the south of Sikkim. He has proved a tenacious and adept politician, with an effective party network that ensures he gets the votes he needs. His Sikkim Democratic Front party have won the last four elections. In the 2009 poll, they secured all 32 seats in the Assembly. In 2014, he faced down his first serious challenge. If he lasts for the whole of this term, he will have been chief minister for a quarter of a century.
Chamling is not shy of taking on the central government on behalf of Sikkim. So much so that one local journalist chuckled that he suspected that the irony of India’s takeover in 1975 is that it probably actually loosened India’s grip on the state.
Money continues to pour into the state from the central government in New Delhi, making Sikkim far and away the greatest recipient of aid (in per capita terms). Allegations abound that this has led to a culture of corruption, particularly in relation to a number of hydroelectric schemes; there have been large-scale protests against these projects by indigenous Lepchas, who feel their sacred connection to the land has been wilfully ignored. Despite the fact that these objections have twice resulted in hunger strikes, the building continues unabated.
Sikkim’s political future is increasingly hard to disentangle from the pressure for a separate Gorkhaland in the north of West Bengal. Some in the Gorkhaland movement look longingly north at the central government subsidies that come from living in Sikkim and posit the possibility of a greater Gorkhaland encompassing Sikkim. But even the Nepalis in Sikkim are not keen on such a solution: in 2008, all holders of the Sikkim Subjects Certificate – including Nepalis – were granted income tax exemption, making getting one of these prized certificates – introduced by Thondup in 1961 – extremely worthwhile. It is a benefit that those in Sikkim now guard jealously.
Each time I return to Sikkim, I am struck by the rapid development that Gangtok and other towns in the state are undergoing. Both the central government in Delhi and the state government in Gangtok frequently boast of Sikkim as an economic success story. Chief Minister Pawan Chamling, in power for nearly two decades, has never been shy of proudly claiming that there are two pillars on which Sikkim’s success stands: hydroelectricity and tourism.
The efforts to promote tourism have borne fruit: in late 2013, Lonely Planet declared the state as the most desirable place to travel in the world in 2014. Western tourists continue to come to Sikkim, but they are vastly outnumbered by Indian ones. Largely funded by central government, Sikkim has become a mecca for India’s growing middle class. They love the central bazaar, one of the cleanest in India, with its piped music, bright lights and choice of Indian cuisine. There are still some traditional stalls lining the immaculately paved pedestrianised street, but they are dominated by the signs of wealth and success that characterise the state in the twenty-first century. Well-dressed locals hustle back and forth between the smart restaurants. Beautifully tended flowers line the central aisle, which culminates in the ubiquitous statue of Mahatma Gandhi found in towns and cities across India. Outside Gangtok, there has been a significant expansion in ‘eco-tourism’ in Sikkim, which attracts higher-spending clients. But the state’s wild beauty will also never be tamed – the trekking agencies that operate out of Darjeeling and Gangtok lead tourists into the heart of the Himalayas (albeit with the appropriate government-issued passes for the Inner Line or Restricted Access areas).
Despite some inevitable packaging of Sikkim’s Buddhist heritage, many of the hilltop monasteries still maintain the old traditions against the backdrop of the snow-capped peaks to the north, as I was reminded when I returned to Pemayangtse Monastery in February 2012, to watch the Guru Dragmar chaam dances that take place at the end of the Tibetan year.
As the Masked Dancers performed their ancient ritual to drive out evil spirits, I thought back to my first meeting with Sonam Yongda three years earlier, when he had asked me how much I knew about Sikkim. I realised there is so much more to know. I remembered too, that, but for my grandfather, I might not have discovered this story.
As I finalised this book in late 2014, I took one final trip to Sikkim, visiting Yongda in his house alongside the monastery where I had first come across the story. I set up a camera to record the interview.
As we drew towards the end of our conversation, I asked him what he would want people to remember Sikkim for. He paused to take a drink from his chang and rearranged his robe, reminding me that Buddhists believe that Padmasambhava, known as Lotus-born Buddha, identified Sikkim as a beyul, a hidden valley for Buddhists to retreat to in times of strife.
‘Lotus-born Buddha has claimed that this is his own land, and he has created it as a pure land to benefit all sentient beings, particularly the people of the world. So I hope, one day, the leaders of India would realise this, and would really respect and honour . . .’ He paused briefly, leaving the words hanging in the air. ‘And leave this land to its own way.’
At that moment the electricity failed, throwing us into darkness once more. The tiny blue LED light that I had set up for the interview cast an eerie glow over Yongda’s face.
‘OK,’ I said, as I got up, presuming that this was the end of the interview.
‘Just wait . . . the light will come,’ Yongda said.
I took my seat. There was another pause.
‘I think,’ said Yongda after a few seconds, ‘India is not happy with my statement!’
We broke into laughter. The lights flickered back on.
* Locals say that the limited list represents only a tiny percentage of the illegal trade that takes place across the porous border.
Endnotes
PROLOGUE
1.
Private conversations with Brian Smith, who was also a partner at the firm of Murton, Clarke & Murton-Neale
2.
The National Archives of the UK FCO 37/1674: Political Situation in Sikkim, fol.86, 26 August 1975
CHAPTER ONE: A BRITISH LEGACY
1.
B. Gould, The Jewel in the Lotus (Chatto & Windus, London, 1957), p. 178
2.
N. Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy (Allied Publishers Private Ltd, India, 1987), p. ix
3.
N. Rustomji, Enchanted Frontiers (OUP, London, 1971), p. 3
4.
Rustomji, Enchanted Frontiers, p. 21
5.
Rustomji, Enchanted Frontiers, pp. 28–9
6.
F. Maraini, Secret Tibet (Hutchison, London, 1952), p. 47
A. Hopkinson, memoir typed by his daughter-in-law (IOR MSS/EUR/D998/58, British Library)
8.
Hopkinson (IOR MSS/EUR/D998/58, British Library)
9.
Hopkinson (IOR MSS/EUR/D998/58, British Library)
10.
S. Cutting, The Fire Ox and Other Years (Collins, London, 1947), p. 182
11.
Rustomji, Enchanted Frontiers, p. 25
12.
Sikkim state admin report, 1932–3 (IOR V/10/1980, British Library)
13.
Hopkinson (IOR/MSS/EUR/D998/16, British Library)
14.
A. von Tunzelmann, Indian Summer (Simon & Schuster, London, 2007), p. 137
15.
A. Singh, Himalayan Triangle (British Library, London, 1988), p. 257
16.
von Tunzelmann, Indian Summer, p. 218, quoting Mountbatten correspondence
17.
Singh, Himalayan Triangle, p. 261, quoting 16 July meeting between Thondup and V. P. Menon, among others
18.
Personal interview with C. D. Rai, 2010
19.
All events concerning C. D. Rai collected in personal interviews with him in 2010
20.
Interview with C. D. Rai, 2010
21.
H. H. Risley, The Gazetteer of Sikkim (Bengal Secretariat Press, Calcutta, 1894), p. xxi
22.
L. Rose, ‘Modernizing a Traditional Administrative System’ in James Fisher (ed.), Himalayan Anthropology, pp. 216–7
23.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 27
CHAPTER TWO: UNDER THE SHADOW OF TIBET
1.
J. K. Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War (Perseus Books Group, USA, 1999), pp. 34–6
2.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 78
3.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 78
4.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 28
5.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 37
6.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 37
7.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 151
8.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 28
9.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 73
10.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, n.34, p. 344
11.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 34
12.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 85
13.
G. Patterson, Patterson of Tibet (Longriders Guild, Scotland, 2005), p. 186
14.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 106
15.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 105
16.
K. Conboy and P. Morrison, The CIA’s Secret War in Tibet (University Press of Kansas, USA, 2002), p. 21
17.
H. Harrer, Beyond Seven Years in Tibet: My Life Before, During and After (Labyrinth Press, UK, 2007), p. 145
18.
Conboy and Morrison, The CIA’s Secret War in Tibet, p. 22
19.
Maraini, Secret Tibet, pp. 48–51 passim
20.
Maraini, Secret Tibet, p. 220
21.
A. Balicki-Denjongpa, ‘Princess Pema Tseuden of Sikkim (1924–2008)’ in Bulletin of Tibetology, (Vol. 44, No. 1 & 2, 2008), p. 197
22.
Conboy and Morrison, The CIA’s Secret War in Tibet, p. 24
23.
Conboy and Morrison, The CIA’s Secret War in Tibet, p. 25
24.
Rustomji, Enchanted Frontiers, p. 143
25.
Rustomji, Enchanted Frontiers, p.152
26.
Patterson, Patterson of Tibet, pp. 214–15
27.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 48
28.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 39
29.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 38
30.
Rustomji, Enchanted Frontiers, p. 145
31.
J. Sack, Report from Practically Nowhere (Authors Guild Backinprint.com, 2000) p. 231
32.
Rustomji, Enchanted Frontiers, p. 148
33.
A. Pant, Mandala: An Awakening (Orient Longman, Bombay, 1978), pp. 60–2
34.
Sack, Report from Practically Nowhere, pp. 217–18
35.
Sack, Report from Practically Nowhere, p. 219
36.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 42
37.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 54
38.
See M. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet Volume 3, 1955–57: The Storm Clouds Descend (Univ. of California Press, 2014), for the full debrief report
39.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 52
40.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 134
41.
S. K. Datta-Ray, Smash and Grab: The Annexation of Sikkim (Tranquebar Press, Delhi, India, 2013), p. 141; Patterson, Patterson of Tibet, pp. 163–4; Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 171
42.
Conboy and Morrison, The CIA’s Secret War in Tibet, p. 30
43.
M. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet Volume 2, The Calm Before the Storm, 1951–1955 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), p. 349
44.
Conboy and Morrison, The CIA’s Secret War in Tibet, p. 46
45.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 115
46.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 69
47.
J. Avedon, In Exile from the Land of the Snows (Harper Perennial, UK, 1994), p. 48
48.
M. Dunham, Buddha’s Warriors (Penguin India, 2005), pp. 202–3
49.
Roger McCarthy, quoted in Dunham, Buddha’s Warriors, p. 205
50.
Dunham, Buddha’s Warriors, p. 314
51.
Dunham, Buddha’s Warriors, p. 298
52.
Dunham, Buddha’s Warriors, p. 304
53.
Rustomji, Enchanted Frontiers, p. 254
54.
‘Sikkim: Land of the Uphill Devils’, Time, 12 January 1959
CHAPTER THREE: WHERE THERE’S HOPE
1.
‘To be a Princess’, McCall’s magazine, September 1963, p. 162
2.
H. Cooke, Time Change: An Autobiography (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1980), p. 72
3.
I first contacted Hope Cooke for an interview in May 2010. She agreed, but only on the basis that she would provide me with ‘cultural context’. We arranged to meet in New York. Two weeks later she emailed me to say that she had spoken to her children and they had reminded her that she had said she would never speak about her time in Sikkim, beyond her autobiography, Time Change. Shortly before publication she got back in touch via Martha Hamilton, with whom she was in regular contact. All the details of her earlier life are taken from Time Change, and from an article in McCall’s magazine, published in September 1963
4.
Cooke, Time Change, p. 18
5.
‘To be a Princess’, McCall’s, p. 166
6.
Cooke, Time Change, p. 72
7.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 176
8.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 188, p. 194, p. 205
9.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 181
10.
Various sources have helped in putting together a picture of the Kazini’s life. These include Datta-Ray, Smash and Grab, pp. 144–6; M. Shedden, Orwell: The Authorized Biography (HarperCollins, 1991), pp. 109–10; and extensive research printed on the internet by Claire Jordan, who claim
s descent from the Kazini, available at http://members.madasafish.com/~cj_whitehound/family/Ethel_Maud_Shirran_b1904.htm, retrieved 11 January 2012
11.
Knaus, Orphans of the Cold War, p. 134
12.
‘To be a Princess’, McCall’s, p. 163
13.
‘To be a Princess’, McCall’s, p. 163
14.
Cooke, Time Change, p. 89
15.
Cooke, Time Change, pp. 88–9
16.
‘To be a Princess’, McCall’s, p. 164
17.
Cooke, Time Change, p. 84
18.
Cooke, Time Change, p. 87–8
19.
Rustomji, A Himalayan Tragedy, p. 58
20.
