The landlocked, rugged and mystical Kingdom of Bhutan is an elusive country to get a handle on and proves deliciously furtive for intrepid travelers. The tiny nation in South Asia is bordered by China/Tibet, India and the Himalayas and is tantalizingly close to both Nepal and Bangladesh. Geography then, plays a significant role in Bhutan’s historic isolation and predominant worldview. The towering, glacial peaks of the mighty Himalayas have shielded and indeed, insulated the Bhutanese people for thousands of years.

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While Bhutan’s monarchy has historically tended towards protectionism, since democratic elections came to the Kingdom in 2008 a sense of openness has swept the country. Over the last decade or so, change has come fast and furious, with the introduction of mobile phone networks, Internet and satellite television. A baptism by fire immersion of Western culture and global mass media has brought with it certain predictable desires and social problems – a shift the Kingdom had sought to avoid for as long as possible.

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On the other side of the coin however, as a result of Bhutan’s new transparency, the world has caught a never-before-seen glimpse into one of the most intriguing and fascinating cultural enclaves on the planet. While Bhutan struggles to maintain millennial-old Vajrayana Buddhist and Hindu belief systems in the face of outside temptations and pressures, waves of curious and spiritually bereft tourists have come here on a quest for answers.

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From student backpackers to octogenarians, yoga gurus to Hollywood stars, a vast assortment of people from every corner of the globe has come to the Kingdom of Bhutan in greater numbers in recent years to witness the country’s now famous core principle in person: Gross National Happiness.

Though many have only become familiar with GNH since Bhutan’s new détente with the rest of the world, the concept dates back to the early 1970s and former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. The monarch took over the throne at the age of 18 and quickly led a tsunami-like succession of reforms that dragged Bhutan into the modern age and indelibly altered the mountain Kingdom forever.

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In parallel with Bhutan’s leap forward, the King avidly promoted a mission statement to justify change and modernizations that could, in theory and practice, complement the country’s Buddhist values. Thus, the four pillars of GNH were born: sustainable development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, and establishment of good governance. If it sounds idealistic, GNH definitely is – at least in contrast with the vast majority of the GDP-centric Global North.

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Yet the empirical evidence seems to suggest that in the three plus decades since Gross National Happiness became the steward policy of Bhutan, the Kingdom has indeed put citizen well-being, Buddhist detachment from desires and the environment on the forefront. The ascension of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck’s progressive young son, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, to the throne in 2006 has brought more hope and renewal to Bhutan. Indeed, the progressive Oxford graduate has sought democratic reform, rapprochement with nearby states and a vast overhaul of the Kingdom’s education system. While it remains to be seen how the country reconciles a new age of openness with a past and culture built on isolation and purposeful, inward reflection, one fact is certain: from Phuentsholing to Punakha, capital city Thimphu to the Haa Valley, Bhutan is unlike any other country in Asia.

Kolkata is a popular gateway to Bhutan by bus. The journey is approximately 18 hours and good hotels in Kolkata can provide logistics and information.

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Posted in Asia

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 16th, 2010 at 3:03 am and is filed under Asia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.