Rows of prefab warehouses under corrugated iron sheets at Sherathang, 7 km shy of Nathula. A highway still in the making. A wary state watching what opening the borders to trade can do to its politics and demography. The big picture of Sino-Indian relations. And a cloud cover that almost every day reduces the historic pass to a zero-visibility zone.

Welcome to Silk Route II.

There is no escaping the steep sense of ambivalence that pervades Sikkim as it prepares for the historic opening of Nathula on its border with China, part of the old 563-km Silk Route from Siliguri to Tibet, closed since the 1962 war with China. The projections of the long-term benefits of border trade notwithstanding, the Pawan Chamling government has to grapple with more immediate issues back home—local political discontent, the skepticism of traders, the identity crisis of the Bhutia-Lepcha community.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade has finalised a list of 15 import and 29 export items for trade between India and China that could start by the end of this month. This, even as the immediate beneficiaries of the reopening question the planning that has gone into the reopening of the trade route and the almost laughable infrastructure that is being readied for the kick-off.

The warehouses built of prefabricated materials at Sherathang will serve as a temporary trade and exchange area for goods from China but local traders believe the structures are as inadequate as inappropriate. The rush, they feel, is only explained by a somewhat hurried politico-diplomatic rationale.

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