The first thing that hits you when you land in Bhutan is how sweet the air smells. The second is the strange familiarity with the topography, and the third is how they revere monarchy. Pictures of the king are present everywhere, as badges on people’s clothes, on plates decorating restaurants and a portrait of the royal couple is the first thing you’ll see at Paro airport.
At the 7th edition of Mountain Echoes, an annual literary festival held in Bhutan, Bhutanese writers outnumber Indian writers 31-26. 14 other international writers are also part of this festival.
The festival has the royal patronage of Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, the queen mother of Bhutan, and was born out of a casual conversation between the former queen and organisers Namita Gokhale and Pavan K Varma. Seven years since then, this 3-day books, Buddhism, bands and Bhutan festival has packed a line-up of Pico Iyer, Tabu, Amitav Ghosh and the Indian rock band Indian Ocean.
The festival embodies the pace of Thimpu, the capital city of Bhutan. It’s a slow leisurely festival (a far cry from its elder sister the Jaipur Lit Fest), with one session at a time at the Royal Bhutan University. Everyone seems to know everyone else, so it just seems like a vacation friends are taking together. Media coverage, though quite well organised, doesn’t seem to be a part of the game plan.
And what a treat it is. On day one itself, I bumped into Pico Iyer and we shared an awkward smile. Though he has refused any interviews, his session on Day 2 is the most awaited of the 3- day fest, only second to the opening session – a chat with Amitav Ghosh on his book The Great Derangement: The Carbon Economy with the Ambassador of India to Bhutan Jaideep Sarkar.
The chat was followed by a whole lot of sessions, including one by His Eminence Gyalwa Dokhampa Jigme Pema Nyinjadh. It’s a big year for the locals, being exactly 400 years since Zhapdrug, the founder of Bhutan arrived here. Other prominent sessions included Graeme Simsion’s talk on The Rosie Effect, his international bestselling novel that even Bill Gates has recommended, and a talk on Brand Bhutan with Piyush Pandey and Dasho Ugen Tsechup Dorji.
We stole some time off the festival to venture out and see a local archery competition. It was a 15 round game between slightly inebriated men shooting arrows, in between sipping beers. Quite a terrifying proposition.
I love India, I’m still a student of Delhi University. I left it 6 years ago but I still have compartment papers to clear over there.Phubtsering Tashi, local tour guide and amateur archer
Till 1962, Bhutan had no official postal service. Messages were delivered by runners who travelled across the mountains and forests on foot. But once the service started, they soon released a singing stamp which is basically a mix-tape you can stick on your mail and send to a friend.
The last session of the day was a moving performance called She of the Four Names by Mita Vashisht on the poetry of the Lal Ded, a tantrik woman who lived in Kashmir some 700 years ago.
She’s a mystical poet, but for me... I think she’s my guiding spirit.Mita Vashisht
Last year, the festival witnessed 7,500 people and this year the crowd seems to have grown in number.
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