Saturday, June 9, 2012

Home in a foreign land

Yesterday (Saturday 9th of June) I went for a walk up one of the mountains. The prayer flags were beautiful.


There are stray dogs everywhere, lying exhausted across the roads, defeat in their bloodshot eyes. With composition akin to a lazy cow. Not like the dogs I know back home.

Upon arrival, I am immediately struck by how utterly different life in Bhutan is to my experiences in the West. The taxi drivers invite you to dinner with their family. The burgers are put on display in plastic wrappers, pre-cooked. The air is purer than a sea breeze (and yet its thinness leaves you gasping for breath). The mountains are lined with colorful prayer flags. Just look at the buildings.

And yet it is essentially the same. The procedures of human interaction. The untidiness of a city under construction. The greyness of the sky looking down upon the valley. And with modernization, the last Shangri-La seems at times to be slowly fading away.

In Bhutan however, the mother of the genius peculiarity of Gross National Happiness, balance pervades all aspects of the development agenda. Indeed, there is little desire amongst government officials for creative destruction. The modern endeavors to complement rather than replace the past.

On my second day in Bhutan, I am invited to observe the opening meeting of the National Assembly’s Session. The recently instituted seat of democracy, the parliamentary chamber elegantly marries the routines of political liberalism with monarchical customs and the ancient rituals of the country’s Buddhist religion. The antediluvian tapestries and faint smell of incense fit comfortably by the flat screen televisions built into the walls of the assembly and the Gohs and Kiras (The Bhutanese national dress) look at ease beside suits and dresses.

Work begins on Monday, when I will get a chance to begin examining the theory and practice of GNH in detail. I wonder will it be, as I hope, a replicable model for development beyond the Himalayas.




A sign that Bhutan is entering an economic heyday, this gigantic Buddha has been constructed on the mountainside overlooking Thimphu, the capital.

2 comments:

  1. Jamie, your writing is so beautiful! Looking forward to reading more.

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  2. Jamie, I love your blog and will be following it! I'm also working in planning this summer, but for the State of Hawaii. There are many synergies between Bhutan and Hawaii, beauty and happiness being two of them. Good luck!

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