Dawa looks like just another scruffy Thimphu street dog, but don't be fooled: he understand Dzongkaha, he has an urge to see the world and his bigger-than-normal brain is matched only by his compassionate heart. His is an extraordinary life
-- Dawa: The Story of a Stray Dog in Bhutan, Kunzang Choden
Bhutan is a small hermit kingdom in the Himalayan foothills, placed snugly between India and China and quite aloof to the rest of the world. However, they do have an reasonably active tourism industry and is in fact one of the most beautiful places you will ever visit.
Bhutan government's guiding principal is 'Gross National Happiness', which manifests in their public policies of free healthcare and education, promotion of their culture, and the incredible efforts in ecological conservation which makes it the only carbon negative country in the world.
The National Happiness is also evident in how happy the subjects of the kingdom are. The country consumes a lot of alcohol and the favorite pass-time is playing snooker at pubs . . . and they do pass a lot of time. The average Bhutanese is a relaxed soul not really looking to rush things and this applies not just to humans but their fauna as well. Especially the dogs.
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| A smiley from Phuentsholing |
When we entered the country, it was pretty apparent that Bhutan has large stray dog population. In fact there is there is one stray for every third person in the country. This was partly the result of rapid urbanization of the country in the last few decades. Their huge numbers became bit of a national problem and an international effort was undertaken to neuter and spay the dogs. Regardless, the Bhutanese and Buddhist principles of harmony and ecological balance most certainly apply to their dogs as well and they are well taken care of.
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| The dash board of our hired car that we took around Bhutan |
. . . several sleeping dogs . . .
. . . all around the temple.
To me, the sight of dozens of dog slumbering in a Buddhist temple in the quite Bhutanese country side was the epitome of tranquility, and perhaps a unique form of decadence.
One of the dogs took up the job of showing us around in Ha Valley Cantonment.
There were dogs posing for me throughout our time in the Paro and Ha regions
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| Paro country side |
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| Rinpung Dzongkhag, Paro |
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| Indo-Bhutan Cantonment, Ha |
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| Indo-Bhutan Cantonment, Ha |
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| Tiger's Nest, Paro |
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| Tiger's Nest, Paro |
Throughout our ten days in Bhutan, these pooches were quite a feature everywhere we went.
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While in Thimpu, we found a big book store which had several Bhutanese titles. There were books about local politics, history, culture and of course Buddhism. While picking up a few for home, one of the titles caught my attention: Dawa: The Story of a Stray Dog in Bhutan. Convinced that dogs are an essential part of the Bhutan experience I decided to pick up that book too, although as a gift for a dog-lover friend back home. We took the liberty to read the small book during our travel however, and it proved to be delightfully profound.
Dawa, the protagonist, is a highly intelligent stray from Paro, who decided to travel through Bhutan and live a life less ordinary. The book gives a unique perspective of life and culture in the country through a heart-warming story of a brave and an inspiring soul. The Dawa's life and choices and the description of his adventures through the tragedies and elations while following his heart and seeking a certain kind of spirituality touched us profoundly. Moreover, we found parallels with Dawa's journey to our own trials in this mystical land.
The gift was well received and I hope it motivates my friend to visit Bhutan, but the book had become our chief memento of trip and it was pretty hard to give it away. I have been looking for another copy everywhere since; from all local book stores in Bangalore to all the domains of Amazon. I found even myself searching though bookstores of Gantok during a recent trip to Sikkim, a kindred state neighboring Bhutan, but, no luck anywhere.
Amazon.com (US) does sell the book, but somehow the price quoted there is $180 for paperback, fifty time more than what we paid in Bhutan. The kindle version is also there for $8 for those who are interested, but I am on old-school sucker for paper books when I want to actually keep them.
Even after two years, I had the itch of somehow acquiring that book. I was hoping for impromptu visit to Bhutan, just to pick up that book from the first bookstore I find. But life has been busy and Bhutan may soon imposed restriction on Indian tourists, so it may be a long time before I get to see the country again.
One evening recently I was overcome by the compulsion of getting that book. There has to be a way. I went though the usual sources of Amazon, Flipkart, and even Aliexpress with the same results as before. I kept on looking for more source, some where online where I could find a paper back. I finally landed on this Bhutanese online store: durksell.bt. They had the book, this has to work! On the checkout page however we saw that they only ship within Bhutan, damn. But, there has to be a way. There was a way to chat with the customer care on the page, and although it was one o'clock in the morning I pinged them, and almost immediately, they responded.
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| The universe doing it's trick |
There is always a way, and sometimes the universe conspires in helping you get something you want badly. The prompt customer rep provided a link to the online store which ships internationally.
Now Dawa is travelling from Thimphu to Bangalore.
He is on his way home.
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PS: More examples of the happy residents of Bhutan:
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| Punakha Dzong |
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| Paro Market |
Amazing story.
ReplyDeleteThanks Pranita :)
DeleteSuch a beautiful write up!! :) And the pictures are amazing as usual !! Keep clicking and telling your stories <3
ReplyDelete