What Happened At Doka La

We can have lunch in Gangtok and dinner in Yadong,” mused Le Yucheng, the then Chinese envoy in Delhi, speaking in June 2015 at the small, muddy Tibetan mountain town of Yadong, which sits on the Chinese side of Nathu La.

- Ananth Krishnan

That summer morning, Indian and Chinese officials, with great fanfare, welcomed 40 Indian pilgrims, the first to undertake the Kailash Mansarovar yatra through a newly opened road through Nathu La—one that is two days shorter and less arduous than the older route through Lipulekh, Uttarakhand. The opening was seen as a hugely symbolic goodwill gesture and confidence-building measure, underlining that both countries could put aside their difficult boundary dispute— at least for the sake of Kailash pilgrims. But two years on, lunch in Gangtok and dinner in Yadong seems as distant a prospect as ever.