What does it mean for Bhutan to echo across the Universe? This question kept buzzing in my head after Her Majesty the Royal Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuk expressed her vision of making the Drukyul’s literature and Arts Festival a global event not once but twice at the Bhutan Echoes 2024. However, it was more than just a call for scaling the festival in terms of participation or reach. To better appreciate the call made with such elegance and poignancy it is necessary to recall the other, and in my opinion the stronger undercurrent of the festival, sentient matter posited by the Queen Mother.
“How many of you believe in Re-incarnation?”
She implored the audience at the Auditorium of the Royal University of Bhutan on the inaugural session, (the microphone in her firm hands), with the promise that she will repeat the question at the end of her session. After the minivan ride with the Poet Pooja Nansi and her husband from the Paro International Airport to Thimphu, all curiosity of a first time visitor submerged into pure thrill of the drive along the glacial waters of the River Paro Chhu to the River Thimphu. I have never been driven on a longer road coursing across rivers than the one from Paro to Thimphu. The experience of the picturesque sights along the way to the Capital of Bhutan is an exquisite journey of healing in itself. But this drive is not enough, we are told. There is so much to Bhutan than just this drive or this scenic view.
Over the five days of stay in Thimphu, savouring not just the weather and the resplendent culture in display, I had the pleasure of visiting the flourishing coffee cafes and the restaurants offering authentic Bhutanese cuisine. Food is an essential marker of culture, and the traditional Bhutanese food is especially delicious to the Naga palate. Travellers advise sampling all sorts of food available in a city, but my instincts told me nothing of that sort. I was instead drawn to Bhutanese food from the moment my friends took us to a restaurant offering only traditional Bhutanese food. Once bitten it seems addictive and almost spiritual and I was seeking and eating only Bhutanese food every single day of my stay there. Food as culture or food as heritage is cherished equally as the clothes that spells identity for a people. There is continuity in the creative experiments with the taste buds and the agency of ingredients varies over time as per new discoveries. It is not only a skill, but a dynamic art. Reinventions happen and culinary skills are passed on from generations and I wondered whether ema datsi, the red chilli dish, or the ema kam and the hookam were consumed at Bodh Gaya or the Tibetan plateau. The taste explodes in every mouth that eats them. There are more to Bhutanese food than a page could fill. Suffice it to say that the taste remains embedded in the crevices of your food memory and you long to go back to trace the journey again.
As you walk across the capital city of Thimphu, the ancient architecture beguiles you in its splendour. Drizzling suddenly and vanishing equally quickly as it appeared the infrequent showers competes with your attention. The design flows from the very essence of the Buddhist teachings. Every prayer wheel, every sacred stupa evokes the beliefs of the Buddha. It seems as if the peace that the structures around you emanates makes it ideal for the Gross National Happiness to flourish. The tranquillity of the environs is almost divine. And this divinity was evident in all the conversations that authors, artistes, and poets had at the auditorium of the Royal University of Bhutan. Books were adequately displayed by many agencies. However, mention must be made of the Junction Bookstore of Thimphu. Its new location is like the log cabin of Henry David Thoreau and although it shifted from a prominent junction in the middle of the commercial hub to near the river, the car ride to Junction bookstore is worth a trip.
The entire festival was curated very efficiently. And I have not attended any literary festival where there was almost an obsessive attention to the management of time, followed to the dot by almost all the moderators. In the simplicity of the synchrony there was a beautiful display of the innate chorus that binds Bhutan with its spiritual heritage. Almost everyone present in the audience from the young to the old raised their hands to signal their belief in Re-incarnation. The land of the Thunder Dragon has much to offer the aesthete, the writer, the poet and its varied avatars in the 21st century. For the serene Drukyul Festival the post-covid physical event was poetry in motion. The conversations definitely continued till the evening dinners hosted by the various dignitaries of Thimphu and veered from the spiritual to the spirit-filled.
In the end the appeal to make Bhutan echo across the universe rings meaningfully in our hearts.
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