SIKKIM FROM DEBUTANTE TO THE DEITIES AS A DEBUTANTE AND A SARAH 
LAWRENCE GRADUATE (IN ORIENTAL STUDIES), HOPE COOKE HAD A CRUSH ON 
CENTRAL ASIA . HER DREAMS SEEMED TO COME ROMANTICALLY TRUE LAST 
MARCH WHEN SHE MARRIED SIKKIM'S CROWN PRINCE PALDEN THONDUP NAMGYAL IN 
A NOW-LEGENDARY CEREMONY AT THE CAPITAL CITY OF GANGTOK (TIME, MARCH 
23) . LAST WEEK, WHEN THE CROWN PRINCE'S 70-YEAR-OLD FATHER, MAHARAJAH 
SIR TASHI NAMGYAL, DIED OF CANCER IN A CALCUTTA NURSING HOME, 
HOPE AND HER HUSBAND MOUNTED THE THRONE OF THE MOUNTAIN-LOCKED HIMALAYAN 
KINGDOM . THE FORMAL CORONATION WILL TAKE PLACE AFTER ONE YEAR'S 
MOURNING, THE PRECISE DATE TO BE CALCULATED BY THE COURT ASTROLOGERS 
. PRIVATE MOUNTAIN . THE LAND WHERE HOPE WILL RULE IS 
SO SMALL THAT ITS 2,748 SQ . MI . AND 162,000 
PEOPLE COULD FIT COMFORTABLY INTO A U.S . NATIONAL PARK LIKE 
YELLOWSTONE . THE NEW MAHARAJAH PERSONALLY OWNS KANCHENJUNGA WHICH, AT 28,146 
FT., IS THE THIRD TALLEST MOUNTAIN IN THE WORLD AND PROBABLY 
THE WORLD'S MOST MAJESTIC WHEN ITS SNOWY PEAKS ARE LIT BY 
THE SUNRISE AND BORNE ALOFT ON LACY CLOUDS . SIKKIM CONTAINS 
EVERY VARIETY OF CLIMATE AND PLANT, FROM THE SUBTROPICAL THROUGH THE 
TEMPERATE TO THE ARCTIC . SNOW LEOPARDS PROWL THE HIMALAYAN SLOPES, 
PANDAS FROLIC IN THE FORESTED GORGES, CLOUDS OF BUTTERFLIES HOVER OVER 
3,000 DIFFERENT KINDS OF RHODODENDRON AND 400 TYPES OF ORCHID . 
WEDGED BETWEEN TIBET AND INDIA, SIKKIM USUALLY HAS BEEN TRIBUTARY TO 
ONE OR ANOTHER OF ITS NEIGHBORS . WHEN INDIA WON ITS 
INDEPENDENCE FROM BRITAIN IN 1947, SO DID SIKKIM . BUT TO 
THE LATE MAHARAJAH, FREEDOM BROUGHT MORE PROBLEMS THAN PROFIT . ONE 
DAY IN 1949, SEVERAL THOUSAND PEASANTS SWARMED AROUND THE BLUE AND 
WHITE ROYAL PALACE (ACTUALLY A LARGE BUNGALOW) DEMANDING AN ELECTED NATIONAL 
COUNCIL AND TAX REFORMS . TASHI SUBMITTED TO THE EXPERIMENT IN 
DEMOCRACY FOR 29 DAYS AND THEN, FEELING UNABLE TO COPE WITH 
WHAT WAS CALLED " THREATENED DISORDER, " ASKED INDIA'S NEHRU FOR 
HELP . NEHRU SENT IN TROOPS AND A DEWAN, OR POLITICAL 
OFFICER . EVER SINCE, INDIA HAS HANDLED SIKKIM'S FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND 
DEFENSE . ,ALARMED NUDE . IN RECENT YEARS, TASHI RETIRED INTO 
A PRIVATE LIFE THAT CONSISTED LARGELY OF PRAYER AND PAINTING HE 
SPECIALIZED IN MISTY SIKKIMESE LANDSCAPES, AND PAINTED ONE " VISION " 
OF THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN, WHO IS PICTURED AS A SKINNY, JET-BLACK 
ANIMAL WITH A RED FACE SCAMPERING OVER A SNOWY SUMMIT CARRYING 
A NUDE, PINK-SKINNED LADY WITH AN ALARMED EXPRESSION . TASHI CONVERSED 
WITH SPIRITS, WHO ARE PREVALENT IN SIKKIM, LOOKED OUT AT THE 
WORLD THROUGH GREEN-TINTED GLASSES, AND SEEMED FASHIONED OF GOLD, SO STIFF 
AND HEAVY WERE HIS BROCADED ROBES . THE MAHARAJAH WAS EDUCATED 
IN INDIA, IS FLUENT IN FIVE LANGUAGES INCLUDING ENGLISH, AND IS 
SAID TO BE A REINCARNATION OF HIS UNCLE, WHO WAS A 
REVERED LAMA . " AREN'T WE ALL REINCARNATIONS OF A SORT 
? ' ? HE ASKS POLITELY, EVIDENTLY IS MORE INTERESTED IN 
AGRICULTURE AND ATOMIC ENERGY THAN IN THE MIRACULOUS . HE HOPES 
THAT SIKKIM CAN EARN DOLLARS ABROAD BY ADDING COPPER TO ITS 
CURRENT EXPORTS OF CARDAMOM SEEDS, ORANGES, AND IMITATION SCOTCH WHISKY MADE 
BY A PARSI DISTILLER FROM BOMBAY . WHEN HE WAS PROCLAIMED 
MAHARAJAH LAST WEEK, PALDEN THONDUP OUTLINED A PROGRAM WORTHY OF SOCIALIST 
SCANDINAVIA, DECLARING THAT " JOINTLY AND STEADFASTLY WE SHALL REACH OUR 
GOAL OF FREEDOM FROM WANT, DISEASE AND ILLITERACY, AND USHER IN 
A WELFARE STATE SO THAT SIKKIM CAN ENJOY HER RIGHTFUL PLACE 
UNDER THE SUN . " THE NEW MAHARANI HOPE, WHO IS 
CALLED LHACHEM KUSHO (CONSORT OF THE DEITIES) BY HER SUBJECTS, INTENDS 
EVENTUALLY TO WRITE A HISTORY OF SIKKIM . IN PREPARATION, SHE 
IS LEARNING TWO OF THE NATION'S MOST IMPORTANT LANGUAGES, BHUTIA AND 
NEPALI . THE PROJECT IS DEXLAYED BY HER DUTIES TO THE 
ROYAL HOUSEHOLD OF 20 SERVANTS AND THREE AIDES-DE-CAMP SHE WILL UNDOUBTEDLY 
BE FURTHER DELAYED BY THE FACT THAT SHE EXPECTS A BABY 
THIS SPRING ONE EVENT WHOSE TIMING WILL NOT BE CONTROLLED BY 
SIKKIM'S UBIQUITOUS ASTROLOGERS . 