In no other places of the world is the void so richly coloured, the mosaic so splendidly peopled as in Sikkim, a state in north eastern India. If its monks and monasteries and tales of masked dances are a common thread running through its stirring history, Sikkim's synchronization also lie in its peace loving Lepchas, Bhutias and Nepalese, the way in which festivals are celebrated amid snow clad peaks, the manner in which they drape themselves in colours and ornament their bodies and their homes. From an independent kingdom to a robust state of India, the world of the Sikkimese under the benign shadow of Mt Khangchendzonga, the third highest mountain in the world and and revered by them as the guardian deity is still a Shangri-La where Hindu and Buddhist shrimes dot the sacred groves.