Journey to the Phallus Temple - Bhutan

Sun, Feb 15 2009 10:21 AM
Post card from the Land of Happiness- Part 2, by Aby Tharakan.

Everyone loves to go for a picnic in Bhutan.

The young do not feel intruded when the old tag along with packed lunches. The old have no qualms about sharing high school jokes with their grandchildren as the pines and the cypresses shade their walk to the picnic.

They carry packed lunches in wooden tiffins and tea in Chinese-made flasks with pictures of scary dragons. Picnics are for everyone, as the destination is a monastery.

National dress is mandatory in Bhutan to enter religious sites. So, men can be seen in a Scottish-styled knee-length robe (gho) and women wearing a highly colorful and intricately designed ankle-length dress (kira).

If the climb to the monastery is too inaccessible, then the gho and the kira are stuffed into a backpack along with the lunch... Read this Guest Article

In the heart of silence from Bhutan! Post card from the Land of Happiness...

Mon, Dec 15 2008 10:05 AM
Aby Tharakan writes from Bhutan, the Himalayan Buddhist Kingdom that ended its isolation from the world only in the past few decades. In March this year, the country elected a democratic government after a century of Monarchy.

In the misty dawn of a 2004 September, the Punakha dzong ( a 16th century fortress that still houses the government offices and residences of monks) stood like an early hawk preparing to soar. I saw the golden pinnacle of the dzong after a 30-minute walk. I stopped at a huge boulder to whose presence the narrow road had given way. It is not uncommon in Bhutan, where highways give way to a tree or a rock.

"Are you tired?" asked James, my friend and a former college marathon champion from Kerala.  James, in his early 40s, is a brisk walker. It is difficult to keep up with his pace.  Before we began the walk from three kilometers down the valley, I was apprehensive. I thought of my heart beats which had quickened after a run across the maddening zebra crossings in Thiruvananthapuram, where I studied. Sweat running down from behind my ears, I had then decided that I was a weak man... Read this Guest Article