On the roads of Thimphu

While flying towards Bhutan, amidst the Himalayan range and with Everest by my side, one phrase constantly kept ringing in my mind;  ‘Bhutan is the land of Happiness’. I wondered, what is it about this country that made it such a happy place to live! The answer to which, I was soon to find out.

In Thimphu, I noticed a strange sight. All men looked alike and all women looked alike. I am not talking about the physical appearance here but that they were all dressed similarly. While all the females wore an ankle length dress, all males were clad in a knee length robe with a black pair of socks. The only difference in the clothes was in their color or texture. Such uniformity amazed me! Looking at them, you couldn’t say what part of Bhutan they belonged to or what culture they had or who was rich or poor. Nobody judged the other based on appearance. They all were one! They were only Bhutanese!

Another thing worth mentioning is this; whatever part of Bhutan I visited, I did not see a single luxury car. No Mercedes, Audis or BMWs bejewelled the roads. But what I did notice, was battery operated cars to cut down on carbon emission.

While communicating with the locals, I also discovered that in Bhutan, there is free school education and also free healthcare. All this answered the most pressing question in my mind at the moment. A country in which the expenses for education and health is taken care by the government, where people are not adorned with branded clothes or precious stones or drive luxury sedans and are content with the simple things in life. In such a country, there would be no comparisons between people, no race to success, no worldly desires ; where else will happiness go if not reside in this country!

In Thimphu, more than the natural beauty, I was taken aback by its cleanliness and well managed roads and traffic. The roads are devoid of any potholes or litter, have well-marked zebra crossings and other road symbols. And even though there are no traffic lights in the city, the vehicles are patient enough to stop at the zebra crossings for the pedestrians. The locals take utmost care not to blow horns, keeping the serenity of the place intact.

Coming from New Delhi, it was now that I felt I have landed in a foreign land!  A country such small in size with a feeble economy, has utmost regard for its culture, tradition and most importantly the rules laid down by the government, to keep the city cultured and clean. An important lesson for India to learn from its much forgotten neighbour!

My day started with visiting all the important landmarks in Thimphu. As a tourist would state it,  ‘the must visit places’.  Here goes the To do list.

Textile Museum

I paid a visit to the textile museum and saw different textures of the cloth with varied embroideries and embellishments. The prices of the dresses ranging from a few thousands to Lakhs of rupees! females were busy doing the thread work on the fabrics, with a thin stylus and magically moving their fingers in between the loom of thread. A task requiring a lot of patience, hard work and diligence. While there’s not much creativity in the dress designing, the thread work for the embroidery atop the fabric take these girls several months to finally bring out a masterpiece. No wonder the cost!

The Royalties

 

In Bhutan, the natives revere their King and the Queen and have their pictures on almost every building, shop, and hotel and even on the brooch on their dresses. So in the evening we decided to pay a visit to the palace of this mighty King. Even though we were allowed to view the palace only from the outside, we did get a chance to go to the inside of the administrative building in the royal area of Thimphu.

This is a huge complex and the building has beautiful paintings of flora and fauna and their many Gods.

Market Place

After a day spent marveling the monasteries and the royalties, we took off to explore the local market. As systematic as the city is, so is the market area. The roadside bamboo huts neatly juxtaposed, separated from the main road by a divider. Though, Bhutan doesn’t have a huge industry of its own, it mainly flaunted its handicrafts made of wool and other fabrics. Apart from this, various souvenirs include fridge magnets, keychains, mugs etc with their popular monasteries and must visit places imprinted on it. Other than eateries, bakeries and the fruits and vegetable vendors, a lot many pubs and massage parlors can also be spotted. Nevertheless, the walk through the market with the mountains by our side, was an experience I would like to have during my daily market visits!

Though in a foreign country, currency conversion was not an issue for us as Indian currency is accepted everywhere in Bhutan, with one Bhutanese currency equating to one Indian currency. Yet another reminder of our home away from home stay!

One unique thing about the shops is that these are mostly run by women. These wonder women, along with managing their shops were busy babysitting their little ones. In Bhutan, both men and women work equally, with the more masculine work done by men and the rest handled by women. The hotel in which we stayed, was exclusively managed by women. From cooking food, to taking luggage to the rooms, women employees did it all. “Bhutanese women are strong”, chuckled our guide as he saw the expression of surprise on my face. A culture that filled me with awe!