Proud to be a Sikkimese: Sikkim Travel, Culture & Local Heritage

I had always wanted to read the book "Time Change" written by former Gyalmo of Sikkim, Hope Cooke. Being a student of  Sikkim history and listening to the scene of the famed The Legend of April "73" Agitation in Sikkim from the queen herself was all I was expecting from the book, but so far, I had had little success in gathering the book, which I believe is out of stock in India and in abroad they ask for either PayPal or credit card which I do not have.  Nevertheless, I am glad that one of my friends from Germany was kind enough to scan me two pages from the book and send it to my mailbox. As i always say, more i share more i get..so i am sharing the two page of the book Time Change i received on my mail. Hope Cooke pic: ebay

Extracted from Pakistan Defence India’s “Chief Executive” in Gangtok wrote: “Sikkim’s merger was necessary for Indian national interest. And we worked to that end. Maybe if the Chogyal had been smarter and played his cards better, it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did.” It is also said that the real battle was not between the Chogyal and Kazi Lendup Dorji but between their wives. On one side was Queen Hope Cook, the American wife of the Chogyal and on the other was the Belgian wife of the Kazi, Elisa-Maria Standford. “This was a proxy war between the American and the Belgian,” says former chief minister BB Gurung. But there was a third woman involved: Indira Gandhi in New Delhi. Chogyal Palden met the 24-year-old New Yorker Hope Cook in Darjeeling in 1963 and married her. For Cook, this was a dream come true: to become the queen of an independent kingdom in Shangrila. She started taking the message of Sikkimese independence to the youth, and the allegations started flying thic...

From The Sunday Indian Volume 3 Issue 1 06 October-12 October 2008

I was not born when Sikkim got merged with the mighty Indian Union, but being a student of Sikkim History, all that is available to me is a rack of books by different authors and those old folks who had been part of that historical “April ‘73’ Agitation”.  When I go through the history of Sikkim, April ‘73 Agitation holds an important role, mostly as the turning point of the Independent Sikkim and the Sikkim State. The mass demonstrations against the Chogyal rule shocked the 300-year-old monarchy system and ushered in democratic rule in Sikkim.  The agitation was a result “due to big differences which ensued with the demand of repoll in one booth by Kazi Lhendup Dorji and Mr. Krishna Chandra Pradhan, as such the Chogyal had to face the people’s agitation launched by the Joint Action Committee with the tacit blessings of the Government of India. This people’s political movement spearheaded by Kazi Lhendup Dorji finally resulted in Sikkim joining the mainstream as the 22nd State...

Today holds a special place in the history of Sikkim as it was on this day that mass agitation against the Chogyal rule took off, which led to the downfall of the monarchy rule in Sikkim.  The agitation was a result “ due to serious differences which ensued with the demand of repoll in one booth by Kazi Lhendup Dorji and Mr. Krishna Chandra Pradhan, as such the Chogyal had to face the people's agitation launched by the Joint Action Committee with the tacit blessings of the Government of India.  This people's political movement, spearheaded by Kazi Lhendup Dorji, finally resulted in Sikkim joining the mainstream as the 22nd State of India in 1975 (sikkiminfo.net)". I was going through an article, " Lesson of Democracy from Sikkim, " by Carleton Cole, that recapitulates the movement of the April 73 Agitation.   Cole writes, " In April 1973, after making allegations that a round of elections had been rigged in favor of the Bhutia, thus making ethnic Nepali...