Bokara Legendre - Crashing the Coronation

 

 

Well, a few years ago, I decided that I'd crash the coronation of Nepal, the king. And of course, I didn't mean to. I really was invited. The way I was invited was I was at a cocktail party in San Francisco, and it was given by the honorary consul general to Nepal. And he said to three of us, “Wouldn't you like to come with my wife and me to the coronation?” And we all said “Yes.” Well, I mean, my marriage was falling apart, my dog had died. My life was a mess. I thought a nice Himalayan clear mountain air and a jamboree will fix my life. It'll be perfect. So, I bought a plane ticket and an evening dress and I flew off to Kathmandu, waving goodbye to my husband. [audience laughter]

 

 And when I arrived, [audience laughter] the Kathmandu Airport had become all it was an earth road, but along it, were lots of private jets from all the dignitaries who'd visited. And I took a taxi into town and I noticed that the toes of the cows and the elephants had all been painted red, just like mine. [audience laughter] And I got to the house of the people that I was going to stay with, which had been arranged by a friend of mine in America. And I discovered that the other house guest was the queen of Bhutan. And the next morning, “I said, would you give me a ride to the coronation? Because I thought, well, my invitation will be at the gate.” But instead of doing that, he dropped me off at a big white fence, which went around a cow pasture which was masquerading as a palace garden.

 

I could see way out in the middle the tents of the coronation. I was dressed in a long-tie-dyed silk evening dress with a big skirt and gold high heeled sandals. And around my neck I had crisscrossed like a hunter's game bags, binoculars, a camera, a tape recorder. I was prepared to join the press if I couldn't get in with the princesses. [audience laughter] And so, I threw my leg over the fence. [audience laughter] And my gold sandal went into a cow patty and I slogged across that field like a soldier in enemy territory. But nothing happened and when I got to the tents, I was in the royal enclosure, so nobody did anything. But I was terribly shy and terribly worried. So, I rushed into the first tent I saw and I sat down in a chair without looking. 

 

And then I looked up and I saw that the entire tent was full of Nepalese in white dotis, black Nehru jackets, and white turbans, all men. And I looked at the person next to me and he looked at me with a horrified expression. And I bolted out of there like a flying rainbow and I went into the next tent and that one was full of people in evening dresses and the Maharajas were in gold brocade coats and everybody had on lots of jewelry. And I sat down next to a woman in a long green satin evening dressed, and she had a camera and three strands of pearls around her neck and she turned to me and she said, “Did you know the Queen's wig was eaten by a yak this morning?” [audience laughter] And I said, “I'm just glad I was accepted by the right people.” [audience laughter] 

 

And then we noticed that the photographers had all been let out of their pen and that they were rushing across the field with camera in hand and trumpets were blowing and it must be the moment of the coronation. So, I said to the lady next to me, while this is going on, “Did you know that that the king had all the stray dogs and the hippies taken away in a truck to India to clear the streets?” As we peered to see if we could see the Queen and her wig and if we could see the coronation, but we couldn't. Our vision was completely blocked. The little red tent was miles away. You couldn't see a thing. And I realized I'd flown all the way to Kathmandu and I bought my evening dress and I wasn't going to see a coronation.

 

“Oh,” said the lady next to me, “Don't worry, it's a fake coronation. And the real one happened this morning in the palace, and none of us were invited.” Well, I thought for all these dignitaries and everything, they're having a fake coronation. But anyway, afterwards I ran into my friends who had originally invited me, and they said, “Come with us, we're going to have lunch in the palace hotel garden.” So, I found myself next to a Maharaja in a gold coat. And he said, “Tonight there's going to be a party in the Yak & Yeti bar. It's going to be given by a jet setter. And, you know, Imelda Marcos is flying in her jet with a band and a lot of other jet setters.” And I said, “Well, I would love to go to that.” 

 

So, this night, the Yak & Yeti had become a chic hotel. The tables were covered with silk saris. There were bowls of flowers and tons of champagne. And Imelda's band was playing and we all danced till 3:00 AM. I even danced with the King of Sikkim. And at the end of the party, my friends had gone home and I was looking for a way to get back to Kathmandu, which was quite far and I saw an ambassador getting into his car. And I said, “I don't know what to do. How am I going to get back to Kathmandu at this hour?” And he said, “Oh, grab a cab.” [audience laughter] And there were no cabs. I mean, this was a Himalayan hamlet. 

 

And so, I started walking down that road and were no street lights with was nothing. It was just my gold high heels echoing on this pavement and who knows what would come out of the dark. And as I did it, I was having a bit of a think. [audience laughter] And my veneer of stiff upper lip kind of slumped and I thought, “Just what am I doing here? Do I think I'm a jet setter? Do I think I can run away from my marriage by coming to a party in Kathmandu?” And I thought, “I don't really know who I am or what I'm doing.” And the next morning I called up Jane, and her name had been given to me by a friend in New York. And Jane asked me over to lunch. She was staying at a wonderful little hotel called the Tashi Delek, which means good luck in Tibetan. It was a little yellow hotel.

 

And we sat for lunch on piles of carpets and we ate lentil soup. And I just felt so cozy and relaxed. It was like being on a river that I could just float on without thrashing. So, I rented a room in this little hotel and it cost $7 a night. And we hung our laundry on the roof. And Jane said, “Wouldn't you like to come with me on a little hike up the Himalayas to see my Lama.” Well, nobody else had asked me to do anything. [audience laughter] So, I said “Sure.” And I bought a pair of $5 sneakers and a yak wool jacket, and we got into this little tiny plane and careened through the Himalayas. It was flown by a bush pilot, and we landed in a little air. It wasn't even an airport. It was just a sort of dirt road on the side of a mountain. And we were greeted by Sir Edmund Hillary.

 

And Hillary took us to his camp. He gave us a little blue tent, and he invited us to have dinner with him. So, we sat in this tent with a Coleman lantern on the table, eating lentil soup. And he talked about how much he owed the Nepalese and how much they had done for him and how he wanted to do something for them. And he was building them a hospital on this mountain ledge for the villages nearby. And actually, we'd been in the plane flying up hospital supplies. And I thought to myself. Last night, I was at a party with Imelda Marcos, and just one flight from the Philippines, could have built 12 hospitals. And here I am with this tall, angular pillar of charm, Edmund Hillary, who is building one. And I thought, this is the other way. I'm really part of that life of luxury and pleasure and imagining that one can escape sadness and the hopelessness of life by going to a party. And here is this other way.

 

So, the next morning, we did hike up the Himalayas. Unfortunately, it took two days, and we got to this mountain fastness. [audience laughter] And we entered the monastery. It was guarded by dogs with huge spiked collars. And the wind was blowing and the prayer flags were whipping and this Lama greeted us at the gate, and he led us up a tall, tall ladder. And at the top was this little room, and it had piles of rugs around the edge and a little brazier in the middle which smoked a delicious smoke. And we lay on top of the rugs, but also under the rugs. And something about that place brought a delightful dream my way. 

Perhaps, it was the scent from the brazier, or perhaps it was the fact that there were all those minds in that monastery pushing themselves towards another level of consciousness.

 

But in this dream, I danced out of a little flower shop where three people said goodbye to me and I danced to this great symphony, which at the same time was a charming melody and I danced down a cobblestone street, and I was in tune with my life. It was, though I was a note in the universe, part of the great music of the universe. And the next morning I woke up and I said to Jane, “I think I had a dream about reincarnation. That's where I came from.” She said, “I don't think so. I think it's because you're in a Tibetan monastery.” [audience laughter] Well, I met her lama and then I left her there to do her practice. And I went down the mountain the way I'd come. 

 

And the next morning, I spent the morning on top of a temple in Kathmandu. And I was thinking about my life and I was thinking about where I was on the temple. And at the end of it, I went to see a Lama called Dudjom Rinpoche, who lived in a little tiny house on the edge of Kathmandu. And when I went in, he was just sitting on a pillow and there was another pillow for me, and we drank tea. And he told me the entire story of where I'd been that morning and what I'd thought about. And as I listened to him, I felt myself drift into a great sense of peace. I felt more welcomed and more comfortable and more at ease with my life than I'd ever been. And I thought this is like a confirmation of my dream up in the monastery. And I realized that you can escape to a party and make a gay time to try and escape from the inevitable pain of life, or you can decide to go and sit quietly with a wise man and feel that your life is really in tune. There's always the choice.