Happy New Year. It started off kind of rough...

If, somehow, you've managed to help those that were victims of the massive earthquakes and multiple tsumanis that demolished much of the coastline in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, thank you. You know, it's never too late to donate to the Red Cross or Unicef. But don't send clothes. They have more than they need now...

Now, on to lighter stuff...

Shangri-la (Unless you smoke)

I wish to speak today about Beautiful Bhutan.

No, I haven't talked about it before; that was Brunei. Or maybe you're thinking about Burma. Sorry, that's called Myanmar now (pronounced 'me and mar') although the CIA don't seem to recognise that name. Maybe that will be the focus of a future issue.

Myanmar, not the CIA.

I recollect seeing, as a kid, a movie about a goup of lost explorers that happen upon Shangri-la in the shadows of the Himalayas. Nobody in this beautiful land aged (until they left. Kind of a Hotel California thing -- check out, but never leave). From some of the pictures I've seen, that's Bhutan.

The country is jammed between the eastern most part of India and China, downstream from the Himalayas. The majority of the tourists that visit are those hardy souls that find trekking up unclimbable mountains, on a diet that would satisfy llamas and pack mules, a relaxing holiday. I don't even think they have golf courses.

It is beautiful, though...

GREAT place to hang out -- if you have very strong legs and a good pair of walking shoes.

It's a safe bet that the economy in this neck of the woods doesn't rely on high-tech industry. The population is (depending on who you read) between 900,000 and a bit over 2 million. Most are what we in the western world would call poor. Desparately poor by most standards.

But happy.

According to the Economist, (I bought a copy a couple of weeks ago -- if you want to read the article online, it's going to cost you. Sorry) King Jigme Singye Wangchuk (suceeded to the throne in 1972 and still hanging in there) declared that Gross National Happiness (that would be GNH to the TLA folks) should be a more important measure of a country than Gross National Product.

There was a GNH conference last year, hosted by Bhutan in the capital (Thimphu). Sixty papers were presented, and are compiled in three very large pdf files here. A second conference is scheduled for May of this year.

As an aside, you may have noticed that the title for the page is "The Spider and the Piglet". I did a bit of digging and discovered the reason here (PDF file -- right click and save).

Tandin Dorji wrote an interesting article (on page 34 of the pdf file) called "THE SPIDER, THE PIGLET AND THE VITAL PRINCIPLE: A POPULAR RITUAL FOR RESTORING THE SROG".

'Srog?', you may be asking.

As well you should.

The Bhutanese believe that there is a malignanent spirit that gets its fun snatching life forces from people. They refer to is as srog gced, the 'vital principle killer'. If someone is ill, and isn't responding properly to treatment and medication, it's pretty clear that the 'vital principle' (the srog) has left the body, and it has to be retrieved if the patient is to survive...the srog must be reclaimed!!!

So, you might now be asking, how does one entice srog to come home?

Well, read the article, especially the footnotes. To distill it to it's essence, a piglet is used in rituals to 'represent' the sick person (or, depending on the wishes of the family, an egg, a bird or a piece of meat. The graver the illness, the larger the 'token'). Note, that in reading the description of the ritual, it appears that the piglets are not taking part voluntarily (they get the end of their tails cut off, and then are flung into the shrubbery).

If the piglet is to represent the body of the ill person, the spider represents the 'vital force', or the soul. Read the article. It's interesting. If it catches on, there'll be piglets flung all over the world. (Perhaps not in the countries run by our Muslim friends -- they'd probably fling chickens.)

Last June Bhutan's Prime Minister, Jigme Thinley, wrote his annual report around the tenets of G.N.Happiness. (The Prime Minister's post is an annual post, rotating each year among five of the ten-member cabinet.) He is still an exponent of the principal, but isn't that keen on quantifying it to the level that the U.N. has with their human-development index report.

Maybe because Bhutan is ranked 134th this year? (Norway is 1st; Canada, 4th; USA, 8th)

No, that's probably not the reason. Thinley isn't keen on the idea of quantifying it, 'scientising' (if that's a word) the Happiness factor.

BEAUTIFUL picture of Lungo Village in Bhutan, taken by and copyright by Thinley. PLEASE click on the link and see what he has to offer.

He sees the four legs of GNH as 1)'sustainable and equitable socio-economic development', 2) the environment (and have you looked at those pictures?), 3) 'preserving and promoting' Bhutan's culture and 4) good governance.

The December 18th-31st issue of the Economist (SPECIAL DOUBLE ISSUE!!) has the full article. Worth the read if you're interested

If you were working in Bhutan, the probability would be high that you would be farmer of some sort, or in the service industry, serving the needs of the trekkers that want to crawl around the absurdly gorgeous countryside (have you really LOOKED at these pictures?) A gent by the name of Thinley (popular name in Bhutan, it seems) as a lovely gallery of high class photos, found here.

Should you be in Thimphu on holidays (or business), he sells framed prints.

Now LOOK at this picture. The clean, green grass, bucolic view from the hillside, the clear, piercingly blue sky. Make you want to light up a smoke, doesn't it?

No? Good, cause you're screwed if you do...

To add to the never-ending quirkiness of life in Bhutan, as of December 17, 2004, smoking isn't allowed.

Sort of...

Cigarettes (any tobacco products) are not permitted to be sold. Bhutan wishes to be smoke free. Mayor Bloomberg would be proud. (In case you've forgotten, Bloomberg, billionaire Mayor, has made New York City pretty much a smoke-free city).

And they're not fooling around in Bhutan. There will be "severe" penalties for anyone (or goup, or company) is found selling tobacco products (although I suspect snuff is still okay -- it's tobacco that burns that'll get you in hot water).

No market here for bootlegs either, folks. Foreigners will ALSO be whacked (figuratively speaking, I hope) for selling tobacco to locals. Fines and/or possible jail time...

BUT, if you ARE a smoker, and happen to be visiting Bhutan on business ('cause if you smoke, you won't be visiting for pleasure, to walk those hills) you can smoke there. As long as you are not Bhutanese. (Do Bhutane lighters come from Bhutan?)

For now.

Just make sure you bring a supply with you; you won't find any there.

©2004

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