Professional Documents
Culture Documents
POST script
MAY 27, 2012
SEVEN SISTERS
NELit review
FIFTH WALL
UDDIPANA GOSWAMI
Literary Editor
Happiness qualified
HE relationship between the Northeast and its neighbouring Bhutan has always been a close one, not just because of geographic proximity. Ethnologists tell us that many of our tribes, when migrating into our region from the mountains beyond, passed through Bhutan. Our kings and theirs had cordial relations in the past for the most part. Economically also, we have been codependent although after the redrawing of boundaries in the colonial period, old trade routes nearly vanished and formerrelationships became fractured. Of course, for the people of our region living in the areas adjoining Bhutan, very little has changed. Bhutanese and Indian currencies are accepted on both sides of the border for a few kilometres inland. One can as easily cross the internationalborder and travel a considerable distance without passports. The differences become more conspicuous as one moves away from the border but then borders always accentuate divergence even as they themselves remain situated at the meeting point. One of the most palpable distinctions between the two close neighbours can be drawn in terms of perception. Whereas the Northeast is popularly shunned by people from outside the region as violent and volatile, Bhutan is perceived as tranquil and peaceful. It continues to grow as a favoured destination for tourists and adventurers, even writers. The mountains of Bhutan were echoing last week with the words of many writers from the country itself and from India and elsewhere. Mountain Echoes is a literary festival that is held every year in the happiest kingdom on earth after all, its monarch declared Gross National Happiness (GNH) tobe a better indicator of the countrys overall well-being than any of the other widely used indices. Our lead feature this week, however, does not play to this perception. Kunzang Choden speaks of social realities in Bhutan and the plight of women, especially, of women who would be writers. Lisa Napoli who came to Bhutan in search of happiness like many do from the West, also finds that an uncritical acceptance of this image is unfair to a society in transition. We review her book. The untiring efforts of the countrys monarchs though, have ensured a high level of contentment among the people of Bhutan. That is more than people anywhere in India (and not just in the Northeast) could ever experience given the nature of our ruling classes. An extract from Karma Singye Dorjis book reflects the affection the people of Bhutan have for their rulers as a result.T
FRONTIS PIECE
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THE silence of women in our literary world is a powerful silence, not to be shattered, but to be heard. Only after listening to this silence should Bhutanese women proceed towards self-realisation and self-definition as writers
not all women stayed bound by their silence. Even as women conformed to the societal norms of femininity of demure domesticity and silent acceptance of their world, they dreamed of ways to break away from the world as defined by mens understanding of its realities. They expressed their thoughts, feelings, and joys and pains through the oral tradition. Womens creative energies found expression in the exquisite textiles they wove, the pottery they crafted, the songs they sang, the verses (tsangmo) they composed and the stories they told. These stories, born out of their experience, were passed down to their daughters so they could relate to and comprehend the world they lived in. Most importantly, women heard each other and shared their experiences, thereby encouraging each other. But womens perception of themselves as being bound by illiteracy and social immobility is clearly verbalised in a popular folk verse which is often heard in the villages of Bhutan: Among the rhododendrons high The bird Kesang Drolma resides Despite her bounteous thoughts Among the rhododendrons she must abide This verse refers to the fate of the women who must reside within the confines of their natal space (rhododendrons grow within limited altitudes), even though their thoughts are unlimited. The importance of oral tradition in illiterate societies cannot be overemphasised. While this tradition provided a powerful means of expression of intellectual and creative thoughts, it was also a way to perpetuate underlying social discrimination. Thus, women in our folk tales were often portrayed as voiceless victims or scheming and malicious corruptors of the social norms. Worse still, they were depicted as witches to be feared, hated and condemned. A common folk belief that every ninth woman had the potential of being a demon was perpetuated through imagery in stories. There was usually a woman behind the ghost fires (sondre mey) that lit up a whole area on dark nights. Women with prominent incisors could be possible flesh-
eating demons (sha za khondroma) and women with goiters could be ghosts that had water to put out the fire and devour the victims. Seeing the social conditions in which women lived in the past, I tried in my novel, The Circle of Karma, not to depict the protagonist as a voiceless victim who accepts all societal norms that women in those times were expected to live by. The protagonist understands her condition as a woman but rises above it looking for opportunities and making choices. Even now, as I write, mostly about women, I try to remember this. I want women to take control of their own lives and make decisions and stand by them. The Bhutanese womens entrance into the field of literature is new. It is even newer for them to be classed as women writers. The change began in the late 1950s, when education was made accessible to all. Despite equal educational opportunity for men and women, the cultural belief persisted that if girls went to school it was enough if she could recognise the letters and write her own name. Even in my own experience, I was advised by my caring relatives and well-wishers that as a woman I did not have to continue my education beyond the primary level. Consequently such attitudes made women take longer to reach the same level of literary competence as men. However, there has been a change in the perception of womens education and today women are breaking down stereotypes and beginning to write in Bhutanese (Dzongkha) and English. While working womens professional and academic/written works cannot be overlooked, so far the best-known literary works have been in English. Her Majesty, the Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, who has published two books, leads the way for women writers in Bhutan. She writes with eloquence and dignity documenting well-researched works that are a charming blend of her personal voice and the historical and socio-cultural realities of Bhutan. To mention a few other literary contributors: Tashi Pem, the author of Ordinary Stories, writes in a gentle style, combining lyrical prose and poetry that vibrates with depth and purity; naturalist Rebecca Pradhan has written books on nature with understanding and passion; Kinley Wangmo, one of the pioneers in documenting folk stories, published a collection of folktales in the mid-1990s, followed by Dechen Dolkars collection of her grandmothers stories. The latest addition to folk literature is the book by Jigme Zangmo with illustrations by herself. Teenager Pema Euden, the youngest female writer, wrote her first book using contemporary style and language and that must have appealed to young readers. Bhutanese popular beliefs were collected and brought out by Karma Pedey in the form of a book, The Broken Saddle and Other Popular Bhutanese Beliefs. She brings to life many oral beliefs in precise prose with remarkable sensitivity. Women writers have not just produced creative works of fiction, they have also compiled comprehensive facts on Bhutan,
as Lily Wangchuk did in a recent and very popular guidebook. Women are definitely venturing into the literary field. Should women writers proceed without looking back as if there was no past at all? The silence of women in our literary world is a powerful silence, not to be shattered, but to be heard. Only after listening to this silence should Bhutanese women proceed towards self-realisation and self-definition as writers. Bhutan considers itself fortunate that it has never been a colony of any country. Nevertheless, in the spheres of language and literature, there is dominance of English literature and Western thought. In the initial years of education for all (late 1950s and early 1960s) many had to study outside our country for lack of schools in Bhutan. For logical reasons, English was chosen as the medium of instruction in our educational institutions. So, many writers prefer to write in English. We cannot simply sweep away our personal histories, nor can we deny the influence of Anglo-Indian culture on our literary thoughts, idiom and style. For example, many of my contemporaries who have studied in India for as long as 12-15 years are more comfortable writing in English. Should women join the mainstream of Bhutanese writers, or carve out a niche for themselves as women writers? We are fortunate in that we have entered the literary scene at a time when the beliefs suggesting sexual polarity in intelligence and personality-characteristics have been examined and rejected by researchers in the fields of science, medicine and psychology. We do not have to look far for commonalities of experience; Bhutanese women can look back through the history of Indian women writers and empathise with them because of obvious historical and socio-cultural affinities. There are hardly any women writings in Sanskrit, because it was a language of religion. Similarly there are no writings by Bhutanese women in Choeyked, also a language of religion, which was essentially a male domain. Yet, it is inspiring, especially to Buddhist writers, to learn that the earliest known anthology of womens literary works in India, or possibly anywhere in the world, took shape when songs composed by senior Buddhist nuns laid the foundation for the Therigatha. The themes of the nuns songs find immediate relevance to womens lives today as they speak of freedom from kitchen drudgery. Women writers can share and build on their experiences everywhere, especially in this part of the world. We can contribute towards the volume of womens writing. Whatever form or language we write in, we should honour those who have spoken in silence. While we uphold our cultural heritage, we should not be frightened into holding ourselves back from deepening our insights, widening our horizons, seizing our awakenings and forging our intellectual path. T
Author of The Circle Of Karma, Tales In Colour and Other Stories, Aunty Mouse and Room In Your Heart, Kunzang Choden writes on Bhutanese oral traditions, folklore and women.
A society in transition
RAHUL JAIN
HUTAN has of late hit the headlines in the global media because of the much-publicised marriage of its young Oxford-educated king, Jigme Khesar Namgyal, to a commoner, Jetsun Pema an Asian version of Prince Williams marriage to Kate Middleton, minus, of course, the massive media coverage that the latter enjoyed. These days, it has become an obsession, and a fashion, to talk of Gross National Happiness (GNH) in relation to Bhutan. It is a concept that owes its origin to the previous king of the Himalayan nation and father of the present incumbent, King Jigme Singe Wangchuk. The former king thought GNH to be a better reflection of the overall well-being of his countrymen than the universally accepted GDP measurement with or without the purchasing power parity concept. Lisa Napolis book Radio Shangri-La is also conceptualised around the same theme and offers an excellent overview of what the Orient still craves for and what the Occident is looking forward to. Sadly, neither is available in the right degree to the craving souls of humanity. This non-fiction account is premised around the setting up of Kuzoo FM, a radio service which is new to the Himalayan kingdom, where television was allowed in 1999 and Internet made its debut in 2006, leavened with reflections. Being a journalist has helped Lisa in observing events around her with acuity. In one sense, the book is autobiographical and in another, reportage, but then one needs to give in to the journalist in the writer. It is a juxtaposition of Bhutan, a country just stepping into modernisation and democracy shepherded by its Oxford-educated king, and the 24x7 fastpaced life of an American back home. Though the title of the book depicts Bhutan as the happiest kingdom on
CLOSE READING
RADIO SHANGRI-LA
Lisa Napoli Random House Publishers, 2011 `399, 309 pages Paperback/Travel
advanced countries are repeating the mistake with regularity, the developing and the least developed ones are failing to draw lessons from that. The bottom line then is that happiness remains a chimera as one finds it neither in the serene and picturesque Buddhist kingdom nor in the crass materialism of advanced countries. However, it would be a mistake to assume that this is an occidental perspective of an oriental kingdom. In patches, of course, it is true that the author is trying to understand the whys and hows of the native. But she soon gets over it and shows herself throughout the book as a student of different cultures, one who is always at loggerheads with her own identity and self. The author feels that happiness as an idea is being sold even as the newly educated youths a small but increasing percentage in a country of 6.5 lakh people are transfixed between modernity and tradition, and
earth, the reality stands out in sharp contrast. For the record, a recently published report in a Bhutanese daily (another novelty in the country, since it was only in 2006 that Bhutan allowed two private newspapers to start publishing) said that farmers in the country spent more time in courts than on their farms. Agriculture is still the mainstay of the majority of Bhutanese. The story has two protagonists, both swirling in a vortex of despair. One is a woman nearing 40, based in Los Angeles, trying to find the meaning of her life and/or feed meaning into it. The
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HAPPINESS remains a chimera, for one finds it neither in the serene and picturesque Buddhist kingdom nor in the crass materialism of advanced countries
other is a Bhutanese young woman in her early 20s, working in an FM radio station and seeking to enjoy life in the fast lane, one punctuated by love and affection. The book is timely and relevant in the sense that the Euro zone crisis, or rather, the global economic slowdown, has just driven home the point of happiness or its absence in materialism. Sadly, if the
in most cases, opting for the former. The other persistent theme in the book is Bhutans reluctant transition from monarchy to democracy, which understandably is a time-consuming process. Bhutan, for the record, went to polls in 2009 to bring about a democratic form of governance. But monarchy is still in the political blood of the Bhutanese. The transition to democracy, the role of all forms of media, the public perception of the transition to elected government induced and introduced by the King, and the general misconception and ignorance of the land-locked kingdom form the backdrop of the plot. Scaffolding and land movers, like they dot Indian cities, are changing the landscape of Bhutan where urbanisation is taking place at a rate of knots. During the last decade Bhutans urban population has grown fourfold. Radio ShangriLa is also a commentary on the socioeconomic status of the Bhutanese society and its new-found worldliness. The author, however, also juxtaposes the ruling class misgivings about luxury on the domestic front with the governments policy of welcoming high-net-worth tourists in order to help preserve the serenity of the land: a fact that the nations first elected prime minister, Jigmey Thinley, discussed with the reviewer during his visit to Guwahati. The GNH concept of Bhutan has also been studied by Japan and other European countries, though not many in the USA have even heard of the country some 105 years after the world first saw traces of it through the much-maligned campaign by British General Younghusband through the photographs of General John Claude White, the commander of the Indian empire, which were first published in a National Geographic issue in 1914. Overall, this is a good book for those who want to understand Bhutanese society, its politics, its society, its economy and its transition to democracy, although, as the author warns, Bhutan is not a checklist kind of vacation on which you hit the hot spots, not an easy place, not a luxurious place to adore. It has many flaws and it is rife with contradiction. T