Natural Reverence: Conference in Thimphu

Protective Garuda for our Drive

I depart Taktse in the thick fog that lingers into morning after a night of torrential rains and an electrical storm lasting nearly three hours. In my mind’s eye I can still see the bolts of lightening plunging down through the wet darkness not twenty feet from the front door—sizzling jolts of pink light followed instantaneously by deafening claps of thunder. The Land of the Thunder Dragon is speaking. Our trip to Thimphu hugs the narrow winding road that snakes alongside mountain slopes dropping thousands of feet to the churning Mangdu Chuu river, as swollen now as it was at the height of the monsoon season. Everyone is commenting on how odd the weather is this year. Usually, October and November are peak tourist season in Bhutan, primarily due to the fact (or it was a fact until this year) that the weather suddenly and dramatically clears, clouds vanish into the deep blue of a sky that seems to go on and on. But not this year. This year clouds, rain, and an early cold have gripped the country so that everyone is mentioning it. My hope that I might actually see the mountains of Bhutan dissolves as we stop for lunch just short of the Pele Lha pass. An important Bhutanese minister has just finished his lunch at the restaurant, and we are invited in to eat for free. Since I have managed to get a ride with the Director of ILCS, who is also a well-known monk, we are ushered into the VIP room—a small space festooned with brocades, thangkas, and Tibetan-style rugs. It’s a bit too bad, since the main room is warm and cozy from the large bukhari stove and this one is freezing, but we sip cups of milk tea and wait until the friendly owner brings us a large serving dish filled with steaming red rice, and two more dishes—kewa datsi (potatoes, cheese, and chilies) and ema datsi (chilies and cheese). Since I have yet to describe the experience of eating ema datsi, now seems like a good time. I take a small helping of rice and a spoonful of ema datsi—a thick cheesy sauce in which large pieces of hot green or red peppers are immersed. Traditionally, one eats ema datsi with one’s hand, scooping up rice mixed with the thick sauce and depositing it into one’s mouth. So far, I’ve only had to do this once—an experience that proved to me that eating rice with one’s hands is an art form that can only be perfected over time. Otherwise, one just ends up a complete mess, with cheese, bits of rice and peppers dripping off one’s fingers. Happily, our lunch proprietress provides us with utensils. But the other thing to know about ema datsi is that it is hot, hot, hot. Bhutanese food is said to be one of the hottest (i.e. spiciest) cuisines in the world. Those peppers that make up the main part of the dish are hot peppers. I manage to eat about five or six peppers mixed in the cheese sauce before my mouth is burning so much that I almost can’t feel my lips. But it’s an interesting experience in that the spiciness of the peppers has a physiological effect on one’s whole body. One feels flushes of heat throughout the body and there is almost a sense of tingling. Now that I’ve eaten enough ema datsi to get to that particular experience, I can understand why it’s addictive. There’s almost an exhilaration to it. I wonder if this is the explanation for Bhutanese eating so quickly, almost without any talk at all—that is, they start in on the peppers and just get carried away by the sensations. I know I’m not there yet because I have to pause for long moments to let my mouth recover before I can continue. But I digress.

Poem in Concentric Circles

We finish lunch and sit for a while around the hot bukhari before piling back in the Toyota Hilux. Lopen and I chat about ethics, wondering about the transformations that can take place in a person if he or she is placed in an extreme situation. Since most of us usually have a sense of what we feel is “good” action in the world, it is interesting to speculate about the kinds of actions we might all end up performing if, for example, we were starving and unable to find “acceptable” kinds of foods. Would you eat human flesh if the choice were either that or starving to death? By the time we reach Thimphu, darkness has fallen and the chill Himalayan air forces me to put on every layer I’ve brought with me. Lopen drops me at the guesthouse where I’ve reserved a room. It’s a pleasure to walk into the warm café owned by the guesthouse. I know the owners and its lovely to see them again. Since I have not been in Thimphu for over two months, I am not sure how I will find the “big” city. But I am happy to discover it still feels warm and friendly. After a bit of catching up, I am shown to my small, wood-paneled room. I’m exhausted and the conference is starting the day after tomorrow. I turn on the electric panel heater and climb in beneath the huge heavy comforter and blankets. Slowly I get warm. Outside my window, the endless packs of dogs that roam the streets of Thimphu are gearing up for another night of interminable barking. Earplugs help to dull the noise and I am so tired after eight hours of being bounced around in the truck that I fall asleep remarkably easily for me.

RTC Lhakang and Campus at Nightfall

The next morning I am up early with my computer working through my power-point presentation (let it be known that I officially hate power-point presentations) for the conference sponsored by the Royal University of Bhutan entitled “Insights from PhD Journeys”—the first conference of its kind in Bhutan. I am delighted that I’ve been asked to present on my research, but a bit concerned that my isolation in Taktse has kept me from doing as much research as I might like. I notice that after the keynote speaker, I am the first presenter. I wonder how much this has to do with the fact that I am from Harvard University and I pray I don’t embarrass myself too much. While it will be nice to get my presentation out of the way and relax, it would be better to be able to watch others first and get some sense of what to both do and not do! There are 29 presentations in all—a lot to get through in only two days. The conference itself is being held at RTC—Royal Thimphu College—the only privately funded college in Bhutan where students must pay tuition. RTC is newly built and operational in the last three years. As my friend Sonam drives me up into the mountains to the campus, I am struck by how different the Thimphu landscape seems now that winter has come. While the sky is still mostly cloud covered, rays of sunlight stream down through the trees with a sharp golden light that is echoed in the yellow leaves. Deep green pine forests look calm and peaceful with their needled floors in the silence and the wind. The air is crisp and cold. By the time we reach RTC, we are far above Thimphu and can look back down the valley to where the Buddha Dordenma perches on a promontory overlooking the rapidly growing city. It’s a lovely campus complete with luxurious faculty and student housing and even a large temple building for cultural performances. I am staying with my friend Rachael, who is teaching at the college. After letting myself into her apartment, I make a cup of tea and await her return from classes. I don’t have long to wait before she arrives and we eat pizza I’ve brought from Thimphu as well as a lentil orange soup she made. As I lie down to sleep beneath the thickest comforter I’ve yet seen in Bhutan I notice that the stars are gleaming outside my window like a river of diamonds. The clouds have finally cleared off and the moon is down. I drift off to sleep beneath billions of flaming jewels in the perfect silence of the Himalayan night.

The conference opens with a speech by the Vice Chancellor of RUB on a new policy being developed by the government of Bhutan to move the country toward becoming a repository of knowledge—a knowledge-based state. In light of this, the kind of work being done by PhD students in Bhutan is essential. Then there is a speech by the RUB director of research concerning the purpose of this “faculty research meet,” which is to provide a discursive forum for RUB faculty and international scholars to share experiences, insights and perspectives from their research projects. This event is the first of its kind in Bhutan, but it is anticipated to be an annual event. It, along with an annual student research “meet” and other research activities are designed to build research capacity and to enhance research at RUB and in the country. I listen to both these speeches with interest since I have been so isolated at Taktse that these developments are unknown to me. I realize that I am participating in the first of these events to take place in Bhutan, and this seems quite auspicious. Our group sits in a circle around a large table. The shades are drawn over the windows, which is a shame considering that the day has dawned absolutely clear and high white snow peaks are visible across the valley, but necessary in order to view the power-point presentations. Multiple electric panel heaters are plugged in around the edges of the room, but in spite of their valiant efforts, its quite cold and I’m glad that I am wearing long underwear beneath my long kira skirt and multiple layers under my tego and wangchu.

Participants of the 2011 RUB Faculty Research Meet

The keynote speaker for the first day is Professor Janet Schofield who is currently one of the main developers of RTC and a tenured professor at the University of Pittsburg in Psychology as well as being a Senior Scientist there. I met Janet back over the summer and feel a strong bond with her and her husband Doug, who are two of the loveliest people. True to form, Janet’s address focuses on the practical necessities of doing research, such as—formulating an important research question; fitting the methodology used to the question; planning carefully how to gather data in the field, etc. She is direct and clear and the information she imparts is relevant for everyone in the room. Unfortunately, since the opening speeches took so long, we are behind schedule already and the moderators try to get Janet to speak quickly. We’ve been told that we each have fifteen minutes to present and another fifteen for discussion. I feel sad that Janet’s talk is cut short, since it is so useful. Now it’s my turn. Due to my distaste for power point I’ve actually never given a presentation in which I’ve used it. Now, it’s immediately clear to me that my power point has too much information in it. Since it’s far too late to do anything about it, I just make my way to the front of the room and launch into my talk. One of the good things about having to talk out loud about a project is that one quickly discovers what works and what doesn’t—sadly, that happens after one has spoken. My presentation is entitled “Writing Liberation: Drukpa Kunley’s Literary Practice of Self-Formation,” and it describes my plan to explore how the writing of this particular kind of liberation narrative can be understood as a technology of the self—or—a way that a person remakes him or herself through writing about the self. In addition, I am interested in exploring how my Buddhist saint, Drukpa Kunley, the mad yogi of Bhutan’s (whose autobiography provides me with my case study) biography has morphed into other kinds of rituals, images or stories that also work to transform those who practice or hear them. In other words, what kind of ethical persons arise from hearing or coming into contact with the story of this crazy saint? I can tell my audience is interested. Everyone in Bhutan knows Drukpa Kunley (one of the main reasons I am here) and its fun to talk about something that everyone is interested in, even if I am sure that I lose most people when I get into talking about rhetorical strategies, etc. But the feedback is overwhelmingly positive when I am finished and many people have very helpful comments for me, especially concerning the ethnographic part of my project.

Drukpa Kunley with Bow, Arrows, and Hunting Dog

Once I am done, the next speaker begins his presentation on “Monitoring and Evaluation System for Improving the Job Performance of Block-level Extension Agents in Bhutan.” I am clueless about what exactly is a “block-level agent,” but this is not my time to find out, as Professor Francoise Pommaret and I slip outside so that she can give me some more advice on my project. Francoise is a fascinating person who has lived in Bhutan for over 30 years, publishing numerous articles and books, and consistently working to put Bhutan on the academic map. She is one of the few foreigners who has been made a Bhutanese citizen. She is smart and funny and her advice is priceless since I know she knows what she is talking about. So, while I miss the second presentation, it’s more than worth it.

View from RTC of Buddha Dordenma Beneath Snow Peaks

Tea break is next and we all gratefully munch on cheese momos and biscuits while sipping hot milk tea. Since I was too nervous to eat any breakfast, it tastes delicious. I wonder what the rest of the day will be like. Having read through the program, I notice that I am the only researcher working in the Humanities. (In addition, there are only three foreign researchers-- myself and two others. Everyone else is Bhutanese) All the rest are doing research either in the hard sciences or in the social sciences. I wonder if I will have anything to offer to the presenters? I have little to no knowledge of the fields of agriculture or animal husbandry, but at the very least I realize that I will learn a lot about the various concerns taking place in Bhutan. And in fact, as the day goes on, this turns out to be absolutely true. While the titles of the presentations sound technical and impenetrable, depending on the enthusiasm of the speaker and the subject, many are fascinating and provide an insight into aspects of Bhutan that I would never otherwise have known anything about. For example, one Bhutanese woman, Nayzang Wangmo, speaks about her doctoral thesis on infectious waste management in hospitals in Bhutan. She is smart and very clear and her research has revealed a number of serious problems in how hospitals are dealing with infectious waste, both from the point of view of the policies in place to give guidance and in terms of actual practices of waste management. It is revealed during her presentation that although she has a clear sense of measures that could and should be taken to address these issues, no one in any position of influence has allowed her to present her findings, despite repeated requests on her part to do so. I can’t help feeling delighted that she is able to say these things in a forum in which she is being heard, not only by other researchers but also by people in positions of power who can actually give her findings an audience.

Another presentation is entitled “Monitoring Water Quality Using Physico-chemical Parameters and Benthic Macro-invertebrates”—an impenetrable topic if I ever heard one. But after listening to Nandu Giri present his findings, I find his work fascinating. He’s been monitoring the water quality along one river in Bhutan for a number of years—from the source of the river down to where it empties into larger rivers in India by using tiny organisms found in potable water called “Benthic Macro-invertebrates,” scary-looking microscopic beings that he projected up on a large screen. These tiny creatures are indications of pure drinking water—who knew? And his findings have shown a decrease in these little guys as various kinds of industrial and agricultural projects have grown up along the riverbanks.

As the day goes on, it’s clear that we are far behind the scheduled timing. Although there is a timekeeper, as per most “meetings” in Bhutan, no one seems to pay much attention. This might be due to the fact that the timekeeper is a young female student from RTC without any kind of authority. Upon being told that he has only five minutes left, one presenter actually states that this doesn’t apply to him (?!!) By the time we get to the end of the day around 5pm, there are still two presentations left. I grit my teeth, thinking that I can surely make it through at least one more. But the presentation on “four-way stop contrasts in Dzongkha: a phonetic and phonological investigation” dives into the realm of linguistics complete with a technical vocabulary that is utterly obtuse, including endless graphs and acronyms such as VOT, CD, VLT, SB, etc., which no one in the room other than the speaker can understand. Fifteen minutes of this might have been fine, but the presenter goes on and on, utterly ignoring the signals that his time is up. After forty-five minutes, when he shows no sign of letting up, I’ve had it. I quietly gather my things and slip out the door. I’m trying not to feel irritated but failing. Although the presenter told us at the beginning that he was afraid he might lose us in technical jargon and that we should stop him to ask for clarification, such a caveat is lost after about three minutes, when so much technical jargon has been put out that there’s no possibility of going back. The most irritating part is that the findings of all this could have been summed up in a simple statement concerning the uniqueness of one aspect of Dzongkha (Bhutanese) language.

View from Rachel's Kitchen Window

After another night in the silence of RTC’s campus I am ready to try again. The second day of the conference contains a number of fascinating projects. After a bit of a rocky start due to a projected power cut at 10am, we get under way with two presentations from the previous evening that there was not enough time for—gosh, I wonder why? This immediately sets us back about an hour and a half. Again the window shades in the conference room are drawn, but today an additional five or six panel heaters have been brought into the room. Instead of being a bit cool, its stiflingly hot. It’s one of those situations I can never get my mind around. Why doesn’t someone just say—can we turn off a couple of heaters? But I know that no one will, especially not when the Vice Chancellor is in the room. As a chi-lop, I could do it myself, but after a while I get tired of being the one who asks for adjustments. Since I seem to have come down with a cold, I tell myself that its probably better to be too warm than too cold, but the hot air makes my congestion worse and I’m sneezing every few moments.

A few highlights from the second day of the conference: A presentation on (believe it or not), “The Genetic Structure and Biodiversity of Pigs (Sus scrofa) in South Asia” by a very dynamic speaker named Karma Nidup, a PhD scholar working at CNR (The College of Natural Resources) in Lobeysa revealed how important maintaining biodiversity of livestock resources for achieving food security and alleviating poverty in developing countries. While much of the presentation was given in the form of graphs that I could not read, the presenter’s enthusiasm and interest in his subject nearly convinced us all that this was of the utmost importance. His presentation was a great lesson in how much important it is to have genuine curiosity and concern for one’s research subject. Another fascinating topic was by a Cambridge University PhD student, Jonathan Tae, who presented on “Healing Trajectories in Bhutan.” His work considers how three different modalities of healing (modern medicine, traditional Tibetan/Bhutanese medicine—gsoba-rigpa--and “religious” healing methods such as pujas, ritual healers, shamans, etc.) are used by individuals as part of the stories they use to explain and explore their own healing processes. In addition, Jonathan is looking at how this integration of modalities is affecting policy, practice and patient experiences in the Bhutanese medical system. Another Cambridge University PhD student, Riamsara Kuyakanon Knapp, is exploring the relationship between environmental conservation and Buddhist beliefs and practices, with emphasis on the ways in which the conservation landscape is infused with notions of the “sacred.”In particular she is looking at a phenomenon called ridam/lhadam. These two terms literally mean “mountain/blocked,” and they refer to a Buddhist practice whereby it is considered forbidden to climb to the top of certain mountain peaks at certain times of the year for reasons of environmental conservation, but within a uniquely Buddhist framework. I find Riam’s work particularly interesting and realize that if I had not been a natural textualist, I would have loved to study sacred geography. Another presentation on chili by PhD student Tulsi Gurung is a quintessentially Bhutanese subject. Everyone loves it and the room is filled with laughter and jokes. However, as the afternoon moves on, I find myself feeling less and less well. Finally, by about 5:30pm, when there are still at least three presentations left, I have to leave and go lie down for a while. The lack of sleep and my cold have taken their toll.

Dochu Lha: Chotens and Mountains

The next morning I am ready to go. I am lucky to get a ride back to Taktse with the Director again and I get a ride early to his house. The day is completely clear and for the first time it will be possible to see the views from the high passes we will cross on the way back. Sure enough, by the time we crest the Dochu Lha, the mountains spread out to the north in a dramatic panorama that literally takes one’s breath away. Now, for the first time, I really see just how amazingly beautiful Bhutan is and why, for so many years it has been considered a beyul or “hidden land.” The jagged snow peaks of the Himalayas pierce the deep blue sky like sharp, white teeth. The air is clear, cold, and filled with the silence of high mountains. Even the cars of other travelers and tourist cannot break that vast silence. It’s a stunning display of geographic power and beauty. I am reluctant to leave, but Lopen and one of the other ILCS lecturers, Tenchok, regale me with stories of the magical powers of the fourth King of Bhutan, who is considered to have placated a fierce protector deity by carrying loads of offerings on his back up the valley from Punakha to Talo Monastery (the deity’s home), a distance of about 15 or more kilometers up a mountain. He is also known to be the only person who is safe navigating the high mountain lakes above Thimphu.

Abode of the Gods

As we attempt the long drive up the next pass, the Pele Lha, a squeaking noise forces us to stop while Lopen, Tenchok and the driver all attempt to figure out the problem. Any indication that there might be car problems must be dealt with immediately on these remote twisting mountain roads, otherwise the problem might escalate and one could easily be stranded far from any source of help. I amuse myself by watching the towering white peaks of the nearby mountains. Fortunately, the problem is easily solved and we are soon on our way.

Car Repair View

How Many Bhutanese Does it Take to... (Not that I'm any help!)

But before we have gone far, we make a necessary stop in the tiny village of Nobding, perched high up along the road to the Pele Lha. This town is a place to which I must soon return for it has many associations with Drukpa Kunley. But for now, we are there mainly for the peppers! As winter comes on, the pepper season is dwindling and Bhutanese are frantic to buy and store as many peppers as possible before none are available for the winter months. I am greatly amused by the frenzy that overtakes my road companions as they dive into a huge basket of peppers, eventually buying about 20 kilos. Apparently, Nobding is the place for peppers, since the villagers there grow many of them and sell them cheaply. We easily spend 45 minutes with the pepper farmers, negotiating, weighing, and determining which are the best for drying.

Chili Madness

How Many Kilos?

I receive a lesson from Lopen on the best ways to make ema datsi and I plan to try it out on my father for Christmas. Lopen is clearly an expert and explains to me that it is better to pull the chilies apart with one's fingers instead of cutting them with a knife so that the jagged edges of the chilies will more readily absorb the melted cheese. However, one must first coat one's hands with oil so as not to burn the skin with hot chili juice! I am determined to get him to give me a real cooking lesson. When we finally get back on the road, we are all hungry and tired. We realize that we have been taking our time so much that we are not likely to arrive back in Taktse now until after dark. But this, as Lopen points out, is the best thing about traveling home—one does not have to hurry, as one’s home is already set up and waiting for you. As darkness falls we finally enter back into the steep Mangde Chuu valley and I can see Taktse across the valley as the sun slides behind the peaks of the Black Mountains. I wish I could somehow take wing and simply fly across the valley, but we still have at least a two hour drive to get us there. Being home, being back with Chris, will be lovely!