Bhutan-The land of Happy People

Heavily inspired by the movie ‘Lunchbox’, as most of my wisdom comes from Bollywood, I set out for Bhutan- The land of Happiness. I do not like mountains.  And it doesn’t get more mountainous than Bhutan. So I started my 10 day trip with violently throwing up all over – thanks to the gorgeous, but highly bendy road to our Thimpu Homestay.

But all the while, my mental notebook was busily scribbling two kinds of evidence - 1. On gross national happiness 2. On being carbon negative. 

Here are the initial notes from those scribbles-

1.       On gross national happiness. The people seemed very happy and constantly chewing fermented betel nut pan, Doma. I was beginning to look for a causal relationship between the two. I realised there was unemployment and everyone went to India for college. But they all came back.

All men wore the ‘gho’ and women, ‘kira’. All houses followed the Bhutanese architectural style. There were photos of the 4^th and 5^th king everywhere. I saw more photos of the royal family than those of the families that we were staying with. Everyone praised the King. Everyone strictly followed rules. Now I was beginning to wonder about how much the rule-driven culture, was influencing some of these actions.

2.       On being carbon neutral. You could see that they loved their trees – close to ¾ of their land is under them. However, everyone used Diesel cars emitting black smoke. Plastic bags and plastic utensils were widely used, and taps were often left running.

On day 2, we were cycling along the Parliament House and the King’s palace. Our guides, Sangay and Rinzin, had to point out the ‘palace’ several times till we finally saw the humble little house, with its little play pen for the baby prince. It was a little bigger and just about as grand as our Homestay! We also paused to digest the fact that the previous King had literally pushed ‘democracy’ down on the blissfully reverent Bhutanese – and somewhere, the King worshiping started making sense.

As we zipped between Thimpu and Phobjika valley, on delightfully constructed roads (mostly by our engineers), our guides told us the story of the Black-necked crane. To help these winter migrants from Tibet, live long and prosper, the government had involved the homes in the valley. The locals ensure that they do not farm in the area where the cranes breed and live – which is tough as farming is their main occupation. So, as a supplementary livelihood option, the locals are inviting tourists into their homes. And Sangay and Rinzin had thoughtfully booked us in one them.  School children perform ‘crane dances’ during a festival and the place is full of stories about these birds- a fascinating one being of them circling the Phobjika monastery thrice, when they fly in from Tibet. I was beginning to see how ‘sustainable living’ was practiced in this country.

We ate local food, watched local dances in the Paro Festival, gasped at the colours of the Rhododendron, Peach and Magnolia blossoms and sighed at the austere beauty of the Dzongs (Forts) and Lhakhangs (temples). Sangay, dispensed passionate sermons at these, and ended each with ‘if you really really believe, your wish will come true’. As we were scaling the last and mightiest Lhakhang, Taktsang, I realised the power of ‘belief’. So despite a snow storm and deep dislike for climbing, I made it to the top, with the face of Guru Padmasambhava in my mind.

With the apricot trees glistening in the setting sun, we ended our 10 day journey, with a song of love. As Sangay and Rinzin, sang their national anthem, they shut their eyes. They sang about cypress trees and the beauty of their Bhutan. I quickly shut my eyes too and saw what made this country great – the fierce pride of being a Bhutanese.