Bhutan Bibliography

Pretty excited about our trip to Bhutan this month :)

Being the nerd and the planning freak that I am, I want to know all about the history and culture of Bhutan so that I can co-relate and understand when I am there. When I started my online research, I saw one common complaint from most would-be travelers that there is a dearth of books on Bhutan... I found this to be quite untrue...

So, here is a compiled list of reading material I found online.... I can broadly categorize them into two spheres : One set of books written mostly by Western travelers who were bugged up with life, wanted to get away, came to Bhutan for a short while, fell in love with a local guy (rolling eyes) and consequently the country. The second set is written by Bhutanese authors themselves willing share their country's history, contemporary life, the gradual and inevitable foray into modernity and the experience of being dependent on neighboring countries like India for a better life. Naturally, I am more interested in the second genre, although I have my reservations about forming an opinion about life in the country based on these accounts.

The list contains the books I found about Bhutan spanning across genres, with a short description and my initial perception based on reviews, blogs and Wikipedia entries about the work and the author. Quite possibly the list is incomplete, since I have limited my research only to the online sphere. I have omitted works about which I could not find sufficient description. However this should be enough to go on, for a complete newbie to Bhutan based literature.What could also be a valuable input to understanding the country are some books on Buddhism itself. An idea about the general philosophy of Buddhism, particularly Mahayana Buddhism, which is the state religion, could come in handy.

Due to time constraints, I am going to pick just one book to read (cover to cover, every single letter, as I do generally). This list is the summary of the research I did for selecting my reading material. There is every possibility that I come off as judgmental, but isn't that what we all do while selecting a book from a shelf in a bookstore?

From Bhutan:

In His Majesty's Civil Service: And Other Contemporary Tales 

From the Kingdom of Bhutan

Author: Thomas Slocum

This is a collection of short stories about life in Bhutan. The stories range from themes of nomadic life and displacement to corruption in the contemporary society. This is right up my ally and the kind of read I am looking for.

Verdict: Hit



Seeing with the third eye: Growing up with angay in Rural Bhutan

Author: T. Sangay Wangchuk

This is a memoir from a Bhutanese citizen about growing up in Bhutan with his grandmother and aunt. Both of them have accepted the flavor of Buddhism of Bhutan as their way of life. The reviews say even though it may not be high literature, it is beautiful for its simplicity, honesty of storytelling and is adorned with line drawings and photographs. Definitely worth going for.

Verdict: Hit


The Circle of Karma 

Author: Kunzang Choden

The highlight here seems to be that it is the first novel in English from a woman writer from Bhutan. Kudos for that! However it seems to go downhill from there. It seems to be an exaggerated tale of elaborate struggles women go through in the mostly-rural Bhutan. While I completely sympathize with that, I guess the struggles are quite similar in any economically and consequentially socially backward region, even in India for that matter. Not what I am looking for at the moment.

Verdict: Miss

About Bhutan:

Beneath Blossom Rain: Discovering Bhutan on the toughest trek in the world

Author: Kevin Grange

This is about a 33-year old guy from California who seems to be at cross roads in life and wants to discover himself over the "SnowMan Trek" in Bhutan, supposedly the most difficult trek ever. I am told to expect a few interesting interactions with locals, insights about Bhutan, a romantic turn of events and more.

Verdict: Miss

 Bhutan: The Himalayan Mountain Kingdom

Author: Francois Pommaret

The author is an acclaimed authority on Bhutan. She has held various esteemed positions like the Honorary Consul of Bhutan in Paris and a consultant for UNESCO. The book in itself includes scholarly accounts of varied aspects of life in Bhutan

Verdict: Under consideration





Married to Bhutan

Author: Linda Leaming

This is a memoir with a funny take on how the american author arrives in Bhutan, struggles to survive in a city with (!) no traffic lights, to learn the langauge, traditions and way of life and (surprise of surprises)falls in love with a local artist. Although the storytelling could be engaging and the narration genuine, I am going to skip it because of the Hollywood-esque plot

Verdict: Miss


Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan

Author: Jamie Zeppa

Another memoir from a Canadian student, who steps out of a clearly-cut-out life and chooses the road less traveled. Everybody who has read the book seems to love it. However, it is still an account of the culture shock an outsider experiences, when she enters Bhutan and the process of gradually falling in love with the country. I would still go for something with more of an insider account.

Verdict: Miss






Crystal Dragon

Author: Ann Gustafson

This is one of the few fictions available out there on the country. Its a part of a book series around a protagonist called Kerry Carlyle. True to form, the thriller seems to have exploited all the stereotypes available out there about the country. Should be a fun read. I never discount the ability of fiction to impart value without too much pretension. However not to be taken up when there is a timeline in the picture.

Verdict: Miss

So Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas

Author: Barbara Crossette

From what I glean from the reviews, this book is controversial for being pro-regime. The author seems to take a side in the geo-political scenario currently prevalent and for this, bags both praise and criticism. The anti-regime voice clearly seems to find favor with the Western world, from which the criticism is highest. The author makes a case for the right of Bhutan to retain its independent, traditional existence and the benefits of doing so versus the mindless embracing of supposed modernity over one's time tested way of living. I would definitely like to give it a go for its serious consideration of the issues faced by the current day country.

Verdict: Hit

The Raven Crown: The origins of Buddhist monarchy in Bhutan

Author: Michael Aris

This is supposed to be another pro-regime book - I am ok with that - and is supposed to read like a textbook, according to the reviews - I am not ok with that - except for the photographs depicting a lot of the royal family's history. But I suppose I will get to see some of the royal insignia firsthand. So I wont be considering this one.

Verdict: Miss

The Blessings of Bhutan


Authors: Russ Carpenter, Blyth Carpenter

Written by the husband-wife team of author-adventures, this tries to demystify Bhutan for first time travelers and should be a fun read. However I doubt if I need it since, being an Indian, some of the things that may seem mystical to Westerns are a part of day-to-day life for me. Hence I am not going to invest my time in this.

Verdict : Miss

Finally, what decided my reading material are the usual factors of ease of availability and affordability. Among the ones I wanted to read, the only two available on Filpkart were "Bhutan: The Himalayan Mountain Kingdom" and "So Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas". The former was slightly heavier on the pocket. So I am going to read about the Vanishing Buddhist Kingdom of the Himalayas. Hope the book gets delivered soon so that I can start reading straight-away. Please watch this space for a review :)

Choice

Do we really have a Choice or do we have a perception of a Choice?

I guess to answer the question, I need to define “you”…

If I define “me” as a sum total of my genes, my environment and my experiences, would that be enough?

I don’t think so!

I think I am missing a huge component…

That is me, my essence!

I did not choose that… I was born with that….

In fact I did not choose any part of me…. I was given this package…. And asked to work with it..

I don’t know my future… I can’t change my past… So what Choice do I really have?

The way I react to any situation – do I really choose that or is it a consequence of the package I was given?

In Bhagavadgita, Krishna says he is everyone… But he also says my purpose is just to perform my duty…

It’s his work to decide what I get for it in return…

So is it him doing the work or is it me?

Is this world created as a consequence of some dispassionate event and running on the rules created as a result of this event?

Or is it being run by a puppetmaster: some alien-being or the Matrix may be?

What part of my actions do I choose? I did not choose the opportunity to perform those actions and I did not choose the tools to perform those actions with…

So am I really choosing just the action? Seems preposterous to think that way…

Irrespective of what I may like to think, I cannot choose my beliefs….

I just believe… and act accordingly…

So I return to my original question: Do I really have a Choice or the perception of a Choice?

I am willing to accept both the options…..

It is extremely reassuring to think that I can choose the course of events of my life…

On the other hand, it is extremely relieving to think that I don’t have any real Choice anyway…

So win-win for me J

Book reading with Navtej Sarna and Review of "winter evenings"

Literati meet with Navtej Sarna:

I was privileged to meet Navtej Sarna at the latest Literati meet last week.

Navtej Sarna is a career diplomat with a vast experience of serving in various capacities in several countries across the globe.
He has formerly been India's ambassador to Israel.

Sounds cool, isn't it! Well, we assembled to meet Navtej Sarna, the multi-faceted writer. He started publishing his works with a novel, ventured into a spiritual translation, produced  a historical biography and has recently come out with a collection of short stories.

I was familiar with Mr.Sarna's writing from his column Second Thoughts in the Hindu Literary Review. His latest article Poems on the sand, where Mr. Sarna writes about Bedouin literature had already evoked a respect in me towards him as a scholarly writer. A glimpse of the article is here:
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/navtej_sarna/poems-on-the-sand/article4679574.ece

Meeting him in person was every bit as expected. He has a dignified presence with a mane of silver hair just
below the turban and the sober tone of someone who has seen and experienced many things.
 However the conversation was also laced plentifully with subtle humor.

We started discussion of his works with his first novel, We weren't lovers like that. He mentioned
that the title was taken from Lennard Choen's song, Sisters of Mercy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBFQg7P5YKw

As he says, some stories are inside your head. Until you exorcise them, you cant write anything else.
He revealed that, for him it was a truly honest and introspective book. He had to push himself while writing
the novel that " Let me not run away from this line... Let me write it". He seemed truly pleased when
Sumeet, our host, mentioned that he sounds like Albert Camus!

We then proceeded to Zafarnama. This is the Sikh Guru Govind Singh's 18th century poem where he rebels against the betrayal of a promise from the Mughal commanders. The original work is in Persian. Mr. Sarna read for us from the book and also parts of it's English translation. He said that this was truly a labor of love since every dot in every line of the Persian print was painstakingly reviewed by the author and several other scholars who supported him in his work. Incidentally Zafarnama has also been translated into Punjabi by Navtej Sarna's father Mohinder Singh Sarna.

Then we discussed The Exile, the story of Duleep Singh, yet another victim of the British slow poison, "divide and rule". Heir to the throne of Punjab province, he was separated from his mother as a child and sent to England to live as a squire. As he grew up and started understanding about his identity, he
tried to come back to his homeland to reclaim the heirdom that was rightfully his, but failed in his endeavors.
According to Mr.Sarna, Duleep Singh is a hero for his attempts. To quote him, "Heroes are not always successful; they commit suicide, they die!".He meant to write a true story of domestic greed and British exploitation in Punjab. Based on the reviews the book received he accomplished this feat beautifully

Review of "winter evenings":

His latest work is the short story collection winter evenings (notice the small case of the title which
looks pretty on the cover).The book takes its title from the first story of the collection, which Mr.Sarna read
 to us.The cover is a beautiful winter scene which I kept going back to after each story. We were reminded of  Edgar Allan Poe's words which said that a story should be about one single theme with each sentence building towards it. That's exactly how winter evenings is. In Mr.Sarna's own words the stories are about odd characters in cold places. The only aspect linking them is the mood.

I plunged into it soon after our session. winter evenings is about loneliness. These are stories about single men, with the exception of just one in the end. These are definitely not love stories. They are not even the complete saga of a life or a big chapter out of it. They are about one single incident, which is not necessarily the defining moment of a life. The author has embellished his work with a generous description of winter.
Although the stories themselves are hardly comforting and are unlikely to leave the reader with a sense of finality, the setting is so calm that many a times I found myself about to drift into a relaxed slumber. They highlight a feeling of peace and quiet associated with winter.

Just before this book I read The Grass is Singing by Nobel laureate Doris Lessing. In Lessing's story, the unbearable heat of Africa kills a marriage, a girl's will to live and slowly but surely drives her crazy.
winter evenings stood in stark contrast to Lessing's work in terms of the mood and turned out to be a pleasant read.

Here are some quotes from the book to give an idea of the setting:

"it comes to him as if he were standing before it, from all those miles, hundreds of miles away. A yellow 
cottage with a green roof, wild rose bushes tumbling over the old stone boundary wall, just above the road a
steep cemented path leading up to an iron gate under a curved trellis, also festooned with wild roses. He can
feel the light filtering through the thick deodar cover. He can see the road, uneven after the ferocity of the
monsoon, forking before him. The lower slope will sweep away to Naldehra and beyond, while the upper one will go swiftly into the bazaar, meeting it near the liquor shop, where the monkeys trapeze on electricity wires"
From the story "Halfway home"

"Saturday was a cold blustery day, the kind of day I have begun to like as I have grown older. Such days give me the perfect excuse for not going out"
From "A Saturday lunch"

I am looking forward to reading We were not lovers like that next and I expect it to be a completely different and intense work.

Mr.Sarna concluded his talk with us techies with tips for Time Management. He said time management is about compromise and if you give something up you end up accomplishing more.
The key takeaway for me from the talk was when he said "in tough times, your strength comes from within you!"

Review of the "The Shiva Trilogy"

****This review contains spoilers. So please do not go on if you haven't read the books already****

I started reading "The Immortals of Meluha", the first book of the Shiva trilogy, when a friend highly recommended

it. Naturally my expectations were quite low because of the fact that when a book series gets that popular, it

is generally accompanied by a lot of hype. However the trilogy exceeded my expectations mostly and even proved excellent in some places. In fact, after reading the trilogy I have developed an urge to visit the Mansarovar at least once.

The first thing one should expect from the books is that they are full of fresh re-interpretation of mythology.

It could truly shock the reader in the beginning, but we get used to that and learn to roll with it.

The concept that impressed me to begin with was Shiva being an immigrant from Tibet. It provided an air of 

reality and validation to the entire plot. The Shivaganas being his own tribe also added to the fact. This 

re-imagination of the Shivaleela is bold and imaginative. Sati and Parvathi being the same person was truly 

innovative and gave the story a whole new flavour. The elaborate buidling of the central theme i.e., the 

cultural difference between the Suryavanshis and Chandravanshis was filled with refreshing new ideas. The 

expression of these differences in mindset through their archtirecture and attire was only natural, yet brilliant.

However what didn't sit well with me were the inconsistencies in timing and language. The author uses contemporary Hindi and Sanskrit interchangeably all over the place so much that it made me squirm. If we stayed true to the timelines of the story, both the languages couldn't have been in the same shape and form that we see them in, today. The random derivation of terms was unconvincing for me.

Added to it, the liberties taken with the original story were not always easy to digest. For instance,

Sati being a Vikarma or Ganesh being a Naga. However if we look at the series as a fresh fiction only adapting characters from the existing mythology and not as a retelling of the mythology itself, then it is easier to accept it as a good read.

For me, the quality of the stories steadily declined with "The Secret of the Nagas". The fact that 

Brihaspati was alive was extremely guessable. It was no secret at all. Nor were the identieis of Ganesh and

Kali, allthough I liked their character sketches.

The last book, "The Return of the Vayuputras" was interesting only after Sati's battle near Devarigi. The pace was really slow till then. I am sure everybody expected the series to end with an epic battle with a major role played by the Vayuputra's when they read the title. To be fair, the concept surrounding Pariha and explanation for Ahuras and Daevas was truly interesting. However, the conclusion to Shiva's encounter with the Vayuputras felt utterly half baked. It din't do justice to all the hype built around it. The ending was too sad and totally disappointing. Of course, it can be thought of as fitting with the theme of all the characters being only human. but even humans can deal with tragedies in very graceful ways. That too, Shiva being Shiva, I expected 

him to find peace at some point of time and was utterly disappointed when it dint' happen.

Similarly the part about Somras being evil. Although central to the whole plot, the Somras is not an active

threat. Its not fair to call it evil. It reminded me the idiom, "One man's meat is another man's poison". 

Although I liked the part about the Somras being the Halahal, I really could not understand what turned the

lead antagonist, Brighu against it after all in the end! 

What salvaged the book for me was the chapter "The Final Kill". The way the author has narrated

Sati's battle against the tribe of Aten shows that he is not paying mere lip service to a woman's strength like

millions all over the world. He actually considers her a true warrior and a brilliant strategist, who stays 

extremely smart even under immense pressure. He shows her to be capable of tolerating extraordinary physical injuries and keep fighting. I consider this to be a true homage to the womankind.

For me, the highest point about the trilogy was that although the author wildly reimagined the stories, he 

stayed true to the basic spirit of each character. Shiva was truly the "Bholenath", the God who has the ability

to suck poision out of anyone with his open heart;Sati, the extremely principled epitome of a lady; Ganesh, the

brilliant strategist, yet a mama's boy at heart; Karthik, the ruthless warrior and Kali, the Godess of wrath.

I consider this to be the success of the Amish's work.

I have added some pictures from the trilogy's trailers. They give me the feeling that the story might be much better suited for the visual media. 

My Review:

Rating:           

4 (5 highest - 1 lowest)

I recommend it for: 

The fluidity of story telling/Interesting fantasy and mythology based plot/ hollywoodesque

                            romance, action and dream sequences

Impressive One-Liners: 

- dharmah matih udgritah - dharma is what well judged by your mind; 

                                  think closely about dharma and your mind will tell you what is right

  - One cannot allow a bad deed to arrest the wheel of karma

- Being faithful to our path will lead to consequences both good as well as evil, for that is the way of the

universe.

Next work of the same author on my wishlist: 

since there are none, I would probably go back to the Rig Veda

to start understanding Amish's inspiration

The "Parlour" Story

                Vanity!.... That dear constant companion of most women… and many a man…. Let’s focus on women for the day… After all, we are the ones who go out of our way to satiate the Gods of vanity… Thereby laughing, living and learning in the process… Who among us hasn’t had endless trips to the tailor to get just the right stitch and the right pattern for our clothes… Who among us hasn’t spent many a hot afternoon scouring the roads of Jayanagar and Commercial Street, trying to find just the right matching-set for our sari’s and dresses, to look perfect just for one evening….and finally who among us hasn’t poured many a weekends’ time and energy on beauty parlors!!

                My earliest memories of the parlor are from my childhood when I used to accompany my mom when she went to get her eyebrows shaped. I remember those experiences as a combination of curiosity at being in a completely different environment from the rest of my life and terror because my mom’s eyes always filled with tears at the end of the ordeal. I couldn’t really figure it out, since although she was tearful, her face lacked the expression of pain which usually accompanies the tears.

                I started to make sense of it all only in college when I went for eyebrow shaping for my own. Slowly I started discovering various other options available like facials and head massages. They gave me a sense that this whole ordeal can be associated with pleasure too. When I finally discovered pedicures, dipping my feet in the hot water, ah! That was Nirvana!

                Years later, by the time I started working in Bangalore, I had gotten used to the feeling of utter relaxation offered by these places and had come to love the experience. However, in Bangalore, I discovered the ugly side to the story. Marketing was roaring wherever I stepped in. There were always members of the staff urging me to go for just one more service, just the next expensive product; turning the supposedly relaxed afternoon into one filled with  constant pushy chatter. The worst part of it was, the tool used for marketing was one’s own insecurities about one’s self-image. The women would point out of the worst part of one’s features and suggest, “don’t you think it’s worth paying a little more money so that it becomes a little more bearable for people to look at you?”  I started cringing at their meanness and dreading what was supposed to be my afternoon of relaxation. To top it all, at the end of the ordeal, when I asked hubby how I looked, he gave a standard “Very nice”, unsure of what has changed at all! Exasperated, I was on the verge of losing my faith on the whole thing.

                                Then one day it finally happened. I met her in my favorite place, Boutic in Shimoga, which has double the cleanliness and half the prices of Bangalore. She was beautiful in a green salwar which was their uniform, wearing a small speck of a matching green bindi and had beautiful burgundy-streaked hair. She started pedicuring my feet with perfect systematicism. The absolute lack of marketing from her end was disconcerting for me. It didn’t take me long to realize it was because she couldn’t speak… She made my wheatish-complexioned feet shine ! I didn’t pity her for her job for attending to other people’s damaged self-images - by this time I had learnt that these women hold immense power; they can make you feel guilty about your tanned skin or frizzy hair and make you go for procedures costing a few thousand bucks! – I asked for a magazine instead. When I said “Thank you” on receiving it she flashed me one of the prettiest smiles I have ever seen. In the middle of my screaming in agony and her enjoying the bittersweet feeling of plucking my eyebrows, we bonded. I came out of there with a politically incorrect but definite conclusion that the world would be a much better place if more people couldn’t speak ;)

Review of "One Day"

     After a long time, I read something from the genre of rom-com, at the behest of my new-found book club iBrowse. I must admit that it was refreshing and fun experience.

    "One Day" by David Nicholls tells the story of two friends who share a love which is always  masked in the confines of friendship. Its the kind of romance possible only if there is an intense attraction and affection in both the parties, but one of them doesn't want to commit. While such a relationship can be really fun with  a lot of mixed signals and the hope an unattainable love as a reward, it can stretch unproductively for years, with no conclusion whatsoever in sight.

    In the plot of the novel, Dexter, the boy, is the one who is too busy having "fun" to be in love. He always wants to avoid reality for a little longer by travelling the world like only the rich can. Where-as, Emma, the girl, is left behind to face reality all on her own. Being the smart woman that Emma is, expressing her intellect through being-funny, her beloved's laughter is extremely gratifying for her. His laughter makes her feel better. But that isn't enough. She needs to gain back her self-respect before demanding love.

  Working her way through odd-jobs, will Emma claim her place in the real world? Will Dexter finally acknowledge his love and return? That's for the reader to learn.

  For me the highlight of the book were the one-liners like "You can't throw away years of your life because it makes a funny anecdote" or "saying yes would be like caving in, and Emma knew from novels that you should never cave in to marriage", which embellish the story. Through them the author establishes himself as the "king of the contemporary". The low point was the tragedy at the end. It made the story, which had the potential for being very close to the long, hard struggles of real life, seem banal and trivial in comparison to a single, abrupt event. To me, the story was beautiful even without the introduction of unnecessary drama.

  However, I liked the way the ending was handled. It made me reminisce the moment I fell in love. For this, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

My Review:
                                                Rating :  4 ( out of 5, 5 being the highest )
                                      I recommend: For a fresh contemporary look on love and friendship
Next work of the author on my wishlist:  "Starter for Ten" for another interesting story