Bhutan – through lens and pens 

Paying USD $250 per day to visit Bhutan might be a bit heavy on pockets. But that does not leave you from virtually seeing this hidden paradise. With access to Internet and advanced technology, Bhutanese are not far behind in sharing every aspect of Bhutan through pictures and stories.

Here are my five favourites who could possibly save your hard earned money (or even convince you to visit Bhutan) by showing the best of Bhutan through their lens and pens.

1. Leon Rubten

One of my favourite Bhutanese Photographers of all times – Leon Rubten is from the capital Thimphu. With pictures taken from his phones to professional camera, Leon showcases the best Bhutan has to offer. From landscape to people, architecture to festivals and pictures from all walks of daily lives – Leon has it all.

Born to the sister of the third King of Bhutan, HRH Ashi Pema Choden Wangchuck, you could see glimpses of Bhutan’s Royals on Leon’s Facebook page.

Follow Leon Rubten on Facebook to see exclusive photos of Bhutan.

2. Namgay Zam 

An award winning independent journalist, blogger, poet, radio host and a Manchester City fanatic, Namgay Zam is the best person to follow on social media if you want to get first hand stories on Bhutan. Her interests not limited to politics, music, sports, fashion – Namgay Zam’s Facebook page, twitter and blog is probably Bhutan in a nutshell.

Namgay Zam is perhaps the best modern and reasonable critic in my books. She writes articles, arguments and opinions on modern Bhutan’s social and political issues. Her versatility, knowledge and the hard work she puts into her research makes her my top recommendation.

3. Bhutan Street Fashion (BSF)

With over 37k followers on Facebook, Bhutan Street Fashion’s lens will show you the Bhutanese street life to local glam events in Bhutan.

Fusion of Bhutanese textiles with contemporary designs, local street fashion and ramps, Bhutanese film industry, behind the scenes and modern photo shoots are BSF’s territory in Bhutan.

4. Shutterbug Bhutan 

A young Bhutanese photographer, Jigme Thinley, with an intention to promote Bhutanese photography and services, created Shutterbug Bhutan in 2011.

Today, Shutterbug Bhutan has over two thousand members on its Facebook page and covers major local events happening in the country.

5. Nathalie Kelley

Who else could best describe Bhutan in pens and lens if not for the hollywood diva herself – Nathalie Kelley has written overwhelming praises for Bhutan’s natural beauty in her blog. 

Nathalie Kelley’s journey through Bhutan has been well documented in pens and lens. Her experience in Bhutan can be read in full length at http://www.natkelley.com.

5 reasons Bhutan is worth US$250 a day

One of the few countries in the world that forces its tourists to shell out USD $250 a day is Bhutan. In contrast to its neighbours like Nepal and India, where backpackers living on few dollars a day are welcomed, luxury resorts attracting high-end tourists and celebrities are more Bhutan’s style. This policy of ‘high impact low volume’ controls the number of tourists entering Bhutan and is one of many ways for Bhutan to preserve its ancient land and culture that has yet to be influenced by foreign cultures.

But who would want to pay USD $250 a day when trips to Bhutan’s next door neighbours are much cheaper?

Bhutan’s simplicity, right from the monarchs to the common people, makes you see the real deal!

Here are five reasons why Bhutan is worth that much of a dough.

1. Safest Country

The World 5 List has Bhutan on number 2 as the safest place to live or visit in the world if a world war breaks out. And why would that not be? If your stars are shining at the right time, you could probably be one of those lucky tourists to encounter the King of Bhutan taking a stroll around or cycling in the city.

Indeed Bhutan is a place you want your kids to grow up in. With a population of just over seven hundred thousand people, you can actually let your kids play and run around free. And just in case your kid loses the way, you should probably not be surprised to expect a stranger knock your front door holding your kid. Any Bhutanese will help find the way back home.

Bhutanese are known to as honest and compassionate people.

2. Last Paradise

Despite being wedged between India and China, Bhutan for centuries has maintained peace, stability and a pristine environment.

Despite 70 percent of the Bhutanese population being Buddhist, the country has no restrictions celebrating Christmas and Dasain in honor of its Christian and Hindu citizens.

The kings and the government have always put its people first. This is the reason why Bhutan is famously known as the last paradise to live on this planet.

3. Intact culture

The word “authentic” is more overused than the word “sorry” in tourism, but Bhutan is a place that can remind you of the true meaning of cultural authenticity.

Tourism got to Bhutan less than four decades ago but the hermit kingdom has preserved its rich cultural identity throughout years of isolation.

On the streets, traditional dress remains the preferred attire and local languages Dzongka and Sharchop can be heard. Native Dzongka-style architectural features still grace every building and Buddhism colors just about every aspect of life.

4. Spicy Food

The Bhutanese will not kid when they say that chillies are their favorite vegetables! Yes, chillies are consumed as vegetables rather than adding to their curry as spices.

Proof is their fondness for emma datshi (Chilli Cheese), an insanely hot delicacy of boiled chillies and native cheese. It’s the de facto national dish, a source of cultural pride and a mainstay in every meal.

The first taste is always fiery, but get past the spice and it becomes easy to appreciate the creamy, salty, somewhat fruity flavor. Paired with native red rice, emma datshi becomes a satisfying meal.

If you worry this dish will be too hot, fear not: local chefs usually tone it down for foreign diners.

5. High end, low volume

After paying for accommodation, travel, food and a guide, $65 of that $250 goes to the government. The policy was adopted to prevent tourism destroying Bhutan’s unique Buddhist culture and traditions.

In contrast to Nepal and India, where backpackers who live on a few dollars a day are welcomed, luxury resorts are more Bhutan’s style, attracting high-end tourists and celebrities. Leonardo di Caprio, Cameron Diaz, Demi Moore, Richard Gere, Natelie Kelly and Jack Nicholson to name a few, come and go unnoticed.

It took two years for BBC’s Leslee Udwin to make a documentary that told the story of the rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandey, in Delhi.

Dekey C Gyeltshen

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In India, every twenty minutes a woman is raped. Many of these crimes go unreported. If they are reported, there is a major chance of blaming the victim herself

The rape and murder of 23-year-old medical student Jyoti Singh created headlines and sent thousands of women and men onto the streets of India’s major cities

Initially it seemed like Indians were reacting to the nature of the brutal crime committed against Jyoti. But it instantly became clear that the protests were far more than one incident alone

The protest was a result of accumulated anger towards the ways women were treated in the Indian society

Protesters believed such crime symbolized the worst elements of a society that treated women as merely as a sex symbol

The ban created a storm among online users, social activists and citizen journalists  

Joyti’s father said, “ban was not needed. For truth to be known, dirt has to come out”

The ban lead to an uproar in the Indian Parliament with many MPs opposing the ban

Defence lawyer and advocate ML Sharma gives a statement reflecting gender bias

Maker of India’s daughter requests Prime Minister Narinder Modi and every Indian to watch the documentary 

Post India’s Daughter Leslee Udwin says, Indian government should hang its head in shame 

The accused and convicts await death sentence in Tihar Jail, Delhi

Despite the ban enforced by the Indian Court, one can still view the full documentary online

 

‘India’s Daughter’: did India really have to ban it?

Dekey C Gyeltshen

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The BBC’s film about the infamous gang rape and murder of a girl opens with the fatal night in December 2012, when the 23 year-old medical student boards a bus with a male companion at a major street in Delhi’s south. The focus then switches to the furious street protests that swept India in wake of the incident.

The maker of ‘India’s Daughter’, Leslee Udwin of BBC shows intimate interviews with the parents and a close friend of the victim, defence lawyers, lawmakers, writers and social activists of India. But what gives this film a raw nerve is the interview, in the form of a conversation, with one of the accused – Mukesh Singh, the driver of the bus where the fatal attack took place.

Screening of India’s Daughter, in any form in India, was banned by the Delhi court because the film “appeared to encourage and incite violence against women”.

Moments after its release in the United Kingdom and the United States of America, India’s Daughter was released online. This not only took India by storm, but also caused a rage among online global citizens.

Horrific details of the incident angered not only Indian women but drew global attention. The only person clam was Mukesh. Sitting on a stool in the prison cell – where he is awaiting a death sentence – Singh lays the blame for that incident entirely on the victim, making derogatory comments about women and their place in the Indian society.

Did the ban make any sense?

Times of India on April 15, 2015 reported that the Indian government’s standing counsel Monika Arora, opposed a petition filed by a law student seeking lifting of ban on telecasting the BBC film.

“This film provided a platform for the convict to use the media to further his own case, especially when his appeal to conviction is subjudice. They also provide encouragement to anti-social elements who indulge in violent acts compromising law and order,” Arora said while referring to an affidavit filed by the Ministry in the court.

Is this argument strong enough to bypass the issue of communication freedom in the world’s largest democracy? No!

The Indian government made a blunder by ‘banning’ a film that portrayed a global issue. The real issue of government banning ‘India’s daughter’ is not because the film posed national threat. It’s not because the film demeaned Indian culture or tradition. It is solely because the permission to shoot the film was granted by the previous government. It is a serious case of political powerhouse getting back.

But the government should have been smart enough not to ‘ban’ a film in today’s techno-advanced world. This ban does not make sense. It only ‘back-fires’.

On March 5, 2015, Shekar Gupta, a senior Indian journalist tweeted, “Frankly, Govt of India best promoter of rape docu. I woke up in Johannesburg and waiter with bed-tea says he saw it on YouTube last night”.

Weather it’s a publicity stunt of the Indian government to gain global attention; or cultural propaganda of the superpowers to defame India, ‘India’s Daughter’ caught global attention on the Internet and the ban backfired.

Bigger issues than the convict

While the Indian government focuses on the convict and defence lawyers using media as their platform to argue their case, I see much bigger issues in this film.

Why did this one particular rape and violence against an Indian woman become so high profile that India got caught on global camera? Why did thousands of other similar cases (some even more severe than this) go un-noticed and unreported?

This is where the bigger issue of accumulated anger pops up. Leslee should have made this film much earlier. “But the mass protest after this particular incident gave birth to the very idea of this film,” Leslee says in an interview with NDTV India.

This particular street protest not only swept India. It swept the global world. I personally felt that India finally stood up against violence against women. Violence against women is a growing global issue. This film actually glorifies India, Indians and their gut. I don’t understand why the Indian government failed to skip this bigger picture while posing a ban. The Indian government should have in fact made this film compulsory for all to view.

Woman empowerment

Another reason why banning this film was a blunder? It degrades the very essence of women empowerment.

‘India’s daughter’ explores both the cultural and historical aspects of Indian society. It explores the ways in which Indian culture, history, policies and processes at national and international level shape media structures. It explores how a political economy-inspired approach can be used to understand both media dominance and resistance.

‘India’s daughter’ is the key to understanding the mentality of majority of men – in India and around the world.

Indian Member of Parliament, Javed Akthar argues that banning this film is a failed attempt by the Indian government to cover up men like Mukesh. He rightly says that every Indian, in fact everyone around the world, should see this film because men like Mukesh do exist. And the world has the right to know that Indian men are no exception.

The comment made the two defence lawyers of the convicts is another main reason why this film should not be banned. Without an inch of remorse, one of the lawyers says that, “India has a beautiful culture and women do not have a place in our society.”

Isn’t this lawyer making a mockery of women empowerment and Indian culture as a whole? Is it fair that an educated Indian lawyer speak of Indian women in this regard? This is the very reason why I say that banning the film is a blunder. And I totally agree with MP Javed Akthar when he said that instead of banning this film, everyone should watch it.

Freedom of speech?

Media and communication is integral to Indian democratic society. In fact communication is an essential key globally. Its role extends beyond its traditional duty to inform, educate and entertain. It fosters conditions whereby general public can make informed decision based on factual reporting and providing relevant contents. However, Indian government and Indian court makes it difficult for Indian media to function adequately.

One foreign filmmaker captures a global issue in India, appreciates the way the whole nation stood up for this accumulated anger by protesting on the streets, makes a documentary only to get it banned by political control.

Government officials argue that the film portrayed India in a negative light, with a possibility of losing financial investments and national revenue. But the global configuration of the film going viral on Internet despite the ban enforced by political control backfired the Indian government because the film was never ‘a conspiracy to defame India’. It was a voice communicating internationally, amplifying a global issue.

While some members of parliament decried the legal and ethical implications of the filmmaker’s interviewing the convict while court proceedings were still underway, some said the snippets of the interviews incited further violence against women. But many politicians, feminist leaders, and celebrities opposed the ban.

Despite a ban enforced by political powerhouse, ‘India’s Daughter’ went viral online and several private screening on projectors were initiated by individuals. While the interview and facts in the film speak for themselves, the title of the film posed more pointed questions.

Was ‘India’s Daughter’ actually posing a threat to India’s national sovereignty? I would say the film was stabilizing popular sentiments, shaping public opinion, and helping the government to implement social management. The film, in the first place, should have never been banned.

BHUTAN… a nation protected by phallus

Dekey C Gyeltshen

Apart from the stunning scenery, graphic and colourful images of penises adorn the walls of every Bhutanese building.

The total populate of about seven hundred thousand people, Buddhists of this world’s last Mahayana nation and the youngest democracy have a unique devotion to the most unusual of objects: the phallus.

The phallus is an essential and intregel part of Bhutan’s unique culture and traditional values. Painted on the walls of almost every house, hanging from the eaves of traditional Bhutanese roofs and in more recent times seen stuck to vehicles and refrigerators.

Like every other young hard-working Bhutanese men, 29-year-old Jimmy currently living in Melbourne, dreams of building a house in the capital city of Thimphu he could call his home. His only dream for now has a huge red phallus painted on the front entrance wall. “This is how everyone is welcomed in the tiny Himalayan kingdom, and this is how I intend to uphold our ancient belief of driving away ill luck,” Jimmy says.

Today, young Bhutanese like Jimmy are minorities who tries his to uphold the age-old belief of this “scandalous” yet powerful image offering protection from evil and protecting those who live inside the house.

Divine madman

The phallus has its origin in Chimi Lhakhang, the monastery built-in the honour of Lama Drukpa Kinley. Also known as the Divine Madman, stories about his drinking and womanizing abound in the kingdom and his shrine draws visitors from across and out of the country.

Chimi Lhakhang is one of the most visited tourist sites in Bhutan. Tourists find it hard to believe when their tour guide narrates them this peculiar story. But when they visit Chimi Lhakhang and see it for themselves, they find no complaints but absolute amazement.

Legend has it that Drukpa Kinley would hit errant demons over the head with his penis to subdue them and turn them into protective deities. Till date it is believed that praying at this monastery can bless a childless woman with children.

Today, several wooden penises are kept in the monastery.

The longest, a brown wooden one with a silver handle, is the most auspicious – it is considered a religious relic and is used for blessing the devout.

The presiding monk says Drukpa Kinley brought it with him when he arrived in Bhutan from Tibet about 500 years ago.

The age-old good omen

Bhutanese hire local professional artists to paint the perfect bright red phallus right next to the traditional wooden window of the ancient Bhutanese house.

A Bhutanese student, Karma Gyeltshen pursuing his Masters in Melbourne, recalls his traditional village house in the remote East of Bhutan. “When I was a little boy my grandfather used to tell me that the phallus drawn on the entrance wall of our house was to protect everyone who lived inside that house”.

In the midst of modernization and thousands of miles away from home, Karma still believes that the phallus protects his folks back home.

“The phallus ward off the evil eye. When people envy me or say something bad about me or my family, it takes away the sting,” Karma adds.

Modernization has its infinite effects on young Bhutanese, but traditional values are still dear to them.

Modern day phallus

Today, the belief that the phallus can bring good luck is still very much alive in modern-day Bhutanese society. Besides finding paintings of phallus on the outside walls of houses, one can also see carved wooden phalluses hung in people’s homes as well as outside, at the four corners of the eaves. The wooden phalluses are also placed in the middle of farming fields to act as scarecrows. Stones are carefully craved in the shape of phallus.

During the annual religious festival known as tsechu, the atsaras (masked clowns) decorate their headgear with phallus painted cloth and dance with their holy whips and wooden phalluses. It is a common sight to see young Bhutanese rushing to get a glimpse of these atsaras in undying hope of cleansing their sins.

The phallus is also used in an interesting ritual performed as part of house warming ceremonies for new homes. Baskets of wooden phalluses are placed at the four corners of the eaves of the house and one inside the house. The owner of the house hires groups of men and women to help raise the basket to the roof. In the process, the men and women sing phallic songs and get free alcohol from the homeowner.

Artistic inspiration from the phallus 

“Bhutan’s phallic worship is getting a second look. The age-old tradition is being reconsidered — to preserve its rich narratives, as artistic inspiration and as a tool for religious belief. In fact, the phallic symbol is suddenly again in vogue, contrary to the popular belief that modern Bhutanese are discomfited by the graphic paintings of an erect penis,” writes Tara Limbu, a Bhutanese journalist for The Huffington Post.

A young Bhutanese female author has written a new book, “Phallus: Crazy Wisdom from Bhutan”, a local Bhutanese filmmaker is working on a film that explores phallic culture and a young Bhutanese artist has carved a provocative phallus with dragon.

“I not only saw phalluses of all kinds — from one village to the other — but I found the stories behind its symbolism equally intriguing,” said the author, Karma Choden. “It is like a new art form is found. We are now giving our own spin to spirituality, culture and ritual.

Karma says Bhutanese can be creative when it comes to phallic paintings and carvings: “All kinds of phalluses have recently emerged … some smiling, some angry, and some downright obscene,” she writes in her book.

Bhutanese filmmaker Tashi Gyeltshen will be exploring the idea of phallus in his next film, “The Red Phallus.” “Phallus is the object and idea that creates and destroys; it is about life and death, the duality of existence,” he said.

Are tourists offended?

Penises of various sizes, color, and embellishments painted on houses or suspended from rooftops are the first glimpse any tourist can get after landing in the country’s only airport in Paro.

Some have ribbons tied around them like holiday presents, while others are coiled by daunting dragons. A few even have eyes. They typically feature hairy testicles, from the neatly trimmed to full-on Yeti-style. And, of course, all are fully erect.

While Bhutan tops many travel wish lists – thanks to its almost utopic reputation as “the last Shangri La” and a place where the government measures success in “Gross National Happiness” instead of gross domestic product – only a fraction can afford such a trip paying a high tariff rate of $250 USD per day.

In the past few year influx of tourists have drastically increased.

That’s potentially bad news for penis worship because some worry the influx of tourists to this isolated Buddhist oasis is already weakening the essence of Bhutan — namely its relationship with the omnipresent phallus.

The decline of the phallus is especially evident in “urban Bhutan,” a term locals insist is not an oxymoron.

The debate weather tourists are offended by these free phallus display; or weather they pay huge tariff in order to witness this most unique culture, can go on. But if you think worshiping the phallus is just a myth and what you just read is a fictional piece, then you might want to visit the last Sangri La and witness it yourself – first hand!

In Canberra today, Prime Minister Tony Abbott launched a new environmental initiative in conjunction with the Greens and the Australian Conservation party designed to better inform rural Australians about the benefits of wind farming.