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Bhutan News Service

Bhutan News Service

Conceiving new hopes in culture

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 02:54 PM PDT

Hardly anyone can believe that finally he made it after traveling nearly 2,000 miles from Denmark to Norway. The problem, though sounded tough initially, yielded fruitful upshot, which has made the entire Bhutanese diasporic community feel proud of one's culture and tradition.

Deepak Chhetri in Alta, Northern Norway, was stock-still when he heard that his father passed away in Khudunabari refugee camp. He was more haunted by the fact of having no any Purohit (Hindu priest) in the country. Chhetri, however, did not give up the hope to perform the last rituals for his deceased father in accordance with his long-practiced tradition.

Chhetri couple prays for the deceased. Photo/Dinesh Subba

The will saw a way—inviting a pundit (Hindu priest) from Denmark to Norway, which gradually turned possible. From the seventh holy day, Deepak started performing rituals with the help of the pundit in the name of the deceased though he experienced a severe gravity of the death of his father, who—if it hadn't gone other way—would have been resettled in the States in a couple of months.

"Summer celebration in Europe was a boon to me. The pundit could make his northward journey possible since he had a summer break from his language classes," Deepak smiled in a video conference call over the Skype with the writer. He did not forget to mention his gratitude to Alta Kommune (Alta Municipality) that paid for the two-way tickets for the pundit.

"I am equally obliged to all the Bhutanese who remained together sharing my sorrows both morally and financially," Deepak hinted to the support he received from his fellow countrymen.

Deepak seemed happy in a way that he could embarrass sympathy from all sides, which was most meaningful and supplementary for this holy performance.

"Can you believe that I got 15 days off from my job?" His happiness measured no bounds. "I am indebted to my sjef (boss) who duly understood me when I revealed about my culture. I will cover the nonattendance from the job working some extra days during my vacation." Deepak explains how he managed to remain home for these many days.

When asked if similar could be the case for others, Deepak lamented, "I am not very hopeful that there will be always coincidence like it happened to me. We should surely see for an alternative to this."

When this writer got connected to the apartment of Tek Bahadur Baniya in Alta upon hearing that several holy performances were underway in the residences of Bhutanese there, Bhagawat bachan (reciting of holy Bhagawat), sounds of sankha (conch) and ghanta (holy bell) and murmuring of the attendees distinctly vibrated on the ears.

Pandit Adhikari performs the rituals. Photo/Dinesh Subba

It was amazing to see that the feast was being performed in exactly the similar ways it used to be. This amazement, however, could mean very little in some of the States of the USA or Australia where these sorts of performances are scheduled in a routine. But in a place like Northern Norway, where Asian commodities are transported by every month by business trucks, managing everything is not an easy task. Furthermore, having not even a purohit from within the community is another heart-biting matter for many.

It is for the same reason that Bhutanese residents of Alta hurriedly utilized the presence and the time of Pandit Bhola Nath Adhikari who arrived to Alta to perform final rituals for Deepak's father. Dinesh Subba, who reached Alta from Western Norway, enthusiastically informed that about a dozen of such arrangements are scheduled in Alta and a near-by municipality until the Pundit's stay.

But how did it feel like getting transformed from a dense human populace to this situation and still performing the rituals bound with strict norms? "It was live," Adhikari says. "Most importantly, we can possibly do many things if the wish be," he adds. And the practice of koro-dhikuro (special confinement during mourning and a special place for performing the rituals), bedi (altar) and homadi (burning of holy rice during the performance) are in verge of extinction (?). Adhikari says that there can be some compromises as per the impulse of the time and place but a total change is yet not amicable.

Well, it could no longer remain debatable that keeping up with the tradition is uncomplicated; this gusto of Bhutanese in Norway is surely a praiseworthy effort in trying to work out a solution to an obligatory ritual such as the 'after-death performance' by the kith and kin of the deceased.

The result of the twist and turn drive of our rich culture and tradition, especially after resettlement, however, is yet to be defined. At least until today, there are enough rooms to believe that the major obligatory norms of our culture and tradition can be well preserved wherever we dwell.

Real game of democracy begins now

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 06:36 PM PDT

The Government of Bhutan successfully conducted elections to the local governments on June 27, 2011. A total of 2,185 candidates contested and 1,104 candidates were elected to the offices of Gups, Mangmis, Tshogpas, Thromde Thuemis. Overall voter turnout was recorded at 56 percent.

Democracy was instituted in Bhutan with the promulgation of the Constitution on July 18, 2008. The newly formed Government declared that local government elections would be held immediately. But the “immediately" elections to the local governments took over three years.

One of the objectives of the Druk National Congress was to introduce democracy at the grassroots level, to educate, bring awareness and ingrain in each and every citizen of the country, the policies that affects their lives. My arrest in India in 1997 restricted my "active" involvement in the grassroots democracy education and at the same time presented different priorities for my party colleagues during this period. DNC is satisfied and happy to witness the local government elections.

Prior to the elections, we have raised genuine concerns over the delimitation of the districts for the local government elections. There was an imbalanced distribution of gewogs/gups in the districts, in proportion to their size and population. For example, according to electorate statistics of 2008, Wangdue Phodrang in the west with an electorate population of 14,807 has been delimited for 15 gups/gewogs, while Samtse in the south with an electorate population of 34,958 also has 15 gups/gewogs. Trashigang in the east, with an electorate population of 29,080, has 15 gups as well. We are apprehensive that development activities in larger districts could be handicapped, if funds are allocated to districts based merely on the number of gewogs under it. Our concerns were not heeded; we but expect that the Government will address these concerns in due course of time. The Government must also review the remuneration of local leaders. They shoulder heavy responsibility and remuneration must reflect their responsibilities.

The formation of local governments is one of the important features of democratization.  People at the grass root get to understand their role in a democratic society. Now, people at local level will get to know more closely of Government policies, besides their involvement in the decision making process. In spite of optimism, it could be end up being a red herring. Last three year of "democracy" warns us that decisions and policies are still initiated at top rather than bottom. Majority of the Bhutanese are still unaware of the changes taking place in polity of the country and citizens are still unable to come out of their fear-psychosis shell. To expect an overnight shift in Government policies under the prevailing situation will be naïve. I however hope that the recently elected grassroots leaders will be resolute and firm in their stand in discharging their democratic duties.

The Local Government Act stipulated that candidates must be apolitical. As of now only the elections have concluded. The real challenge lies ahead. The apolitical credentials of local leaders will be put to the test in the 2013 General Elections. There we will have our answer.

Democracy in Bhutan is young. The institutionalization of a vibrant democracy takes time. I hope the people's whole hearty participation in democracy at the grassroots level will educate and ingrain a democratic culture in our citizens. It is however, sad that a large majority of Bhutanese exiles were not able to participate in the election. We hope it will be different in 2013.

The writer is President of Druk National Congress.

Bhanu Jayanti observed in Adelaide

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 06:23 PM PDT

It was far from their country. Life is mechanical and people rarely get time to talk in their language. Still, love and affection to mother tongue remain alive among Nepali speaking community in Adelaide, Australia.

Enthusiasm seen during the 198th Bhanu Jayanti celebration here vividly reflected this affection among Nepalese and Bhutanese community in Australia. And in majority, subject matter of the creations was their land of birth.

The celebration was jointly organised by Bhutanese Association in South Australia (BASA) and International Nepali Literary Society (INLS) Australia chapter. This was the first time two community joined hands to remember the first poet of Nepali literature – the string to bind them together.

Over 60 people from the two communities attended the function and 16 people recited their creations. Raju Upadhyaya's poem was judged the top among them. Upadhyaya now will be participating in the international Nepali poem recitation competition later this month hosted by the INLS Headquarter coinciding with the second international literary festival in London.

Narayan Bhattarai was judged second and Indukesh Pandey as third. Sagarmatha restaurant, run by Deepak Bista, sponsored prizes for the winners. All participating members were awarded with certificates.

Young and old all participated the celebration. The gathering not only saw literature lovers but political and human rights activists as well. Additionally, two awards announced on the occasion. Mahabir INLS Award carrying NRs 10,000 and Adhikari Sahitya Puraskar carrying cash prize of NRs 7,500 will be awarded on Laxmi Janati to books and articles published by Nepalis living outside of Nepal.