Oh, child!

A chance viewing of the National Award winning film Kutram Katidhal (Tamil) left "chinnanchiru kiliye" playing in my mind for the last whole week. It was one of Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi's most famous and moving pieces, talking about (his/someone/a mother's) love for a child. The song tugs at anyone's heart, talking about how the singer perceives the child's innocence, playfulness, achievements and small troubles.

/Odi varugaiyilE kaNNammA uLLam kuLirudaDi

Adit-tiridal kaNDAl unnaip-pOi Avi tazhuvudaDI/

When you come running towards me, my heart chills

When I see you dancing with merriness, my soul hugs you

Really, the song will force anyone to look at a child as the harbinger of love, optimism and happiness.

Except that most of us don't recognize that child anymore. In our daily strife, we take blow upon blow, and grow up to be mean, selfish, egoistic, pessimistic and cunning humans. Not all of us, not all of it and not all the time, but you do get the point. Just look at the world around you.  If possible try counting the number of people in your daily meetings and interactions who, you think, genuinely remain enthused about life.  Who are child-like, not childish, in their dealings with the world.

What happened to that optimistic, innocent, non-judgemental, non-selfish, curious, accepting and dreamer child in all of us? Seriously, what all has made us change into the beings that we are today? This is not a sympathetic post trying to rake in all that nostalgia, but a seriously contemplation on the characters we are, as we stand today. Ready to judge, misuse privilege, draw boundaries, corrupt our daily acts with false values and low motives. How did we grow into human beings that are ready to kill and actually do?!

/un kaNNil nIr vazhindAl ennenjil udiram koTTudaDi/

If I even see small droplets of tears in your eyes, a whole river of blood flows in my heart

What happened to these children that their mothers nurtured? What happened to these children without their mothers?

Perhaps a false ego of our "degrees", our "possessions", our "powers" and our "identities" pushes us farther from the child in us. We shirk away from laughing freely, clapping vigorously, running gaily, stretching an arm instantly and questioning sincerely. And children do this all the time, and with no conscious thought of who they are and where they belong.

The fascinating, promising & generous world - in the absolute sense- doesn't change much. That tiny little human could relive it all anyway.

(picture courtesy- BuddhaDoodles)

If responsibilities pile on with time and make us the tense, fierce and competitive people we are, can we choose to deal with it any other way? Of course, we can! Keep your sense of wonderment about the universe intact, you will notice how nothing can seem worthwhile of our anger, hatred and pessimism. In our heightened illusion and temporary sense of belonging, we create distinctions without seeing the Thread that strings all of us together.

Again, as we mature and grow old, the layers start to peel, the identities give away and we are in fact, children again. Wizened children.

Make no mistake- our responsibilities, our purpose is the story of our life. That cannot be given up, it does not have to be.  Tackle them with vitality and energy, vim and vigour, not with complaints and resentments. Get off the moral high ground. Drop the false sense of outrage. Banish the nagging voice of fear. Do away with the pretense. The child is cruelly punished by these falsehoods.

When I recollect, most of my happiest and memorable moments have often been in the company of children. It also made me realise what I value in human interactions- winning smiles, easy laughs, ready hi-5s and an inquisitiveness to explore and wonder aloud.

Give more, even when there is very little that you have taken. And give willingly.

Dance often, even when you have two left feet. And dance shamelessly.

Laugh aloud, even when the joke is on you. And laugh heartily.

Explore daily, even when everything around you seems mundane and tested. And explore passionately.

Breathe slow, even when time and people catch up. And breathe deeply.

/ennaik-kali tIrttE ulagil Etram puriya vandAi/

My Wholesome Happiness, You came to create progress in this world

Take Bharathiyar's words to your heart. You have come here to create progress in this world, child.

PS- A cover of the song, with English subtitles/translation, can be found here.

Travelling to Bhutan 101*

It is a postcard from a country that seems to be too good to be true. With parameters like Gross Happiness Index and the possibility of bumping into the King while shopping for vegetables, who wouldn’t want to visit this place. Stuck in the unstable and sometimes violent neighbourhood of South Asia, Bhutan is everything but that. A picture of grace, calm and beauty that is almost unbelievable just on the other side of the fence in noisy, chaotic and clamorous India.

Anyway, a group of us – 4 friends, decided to embark on a budget back-packing trip to Bhutan and we managed to do a week’s worth of travel under a good sum. Here’s just chalking it out for you, in case the bug bites you one fine day.

*This post is mainly intended for Indian citizens. All costs, rules and permits are relaxed for Indian tourists. Travellers of other nationalities will have to take a tour guide and pay a minimum fee to stay in the country every single day

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Travel Options

1.    By Air to Bhutan and back- Bhutan’s only airport is at Paro, which about 5 hours drive away from capital city, Thimphu. The Druk Air has regular flights from Delhi, Bagdogra, Guwahati, Gaya and Kolkata. Tickets are sold out way in advance. Hence, this trip would require planning at least 2 months in advance.

2.    A combination of Air/rail and road- Fly from anywhere in the country to Bagdogra airport (Darjeeling District, West Bengal) and then take a taxi or a shared cab to Jaigaon/Phuentsholing.

Take a train from any major city in the country to New Jalpaiguri station (same Siliguri city, West Bengal) and then take a taxi or shared cab to Jaigaon/ Phuentsholing.

Jaigaon is the last town from the Indian side on the Indo-Bhutan border. Phuentsholing is the first town from the Bhutanese side. They are virtually twin towns separated by the international border.

The drive to Jaigaon from Bagdogra takes close to 4-5 hours. A shared cab charges Rs500 per head and a hired taxi is anything from Rs2500 depending on the kind of car you choose. They are available right at the airport, railway station and Siliguri bus-stand.

Reaching Bhutan- One can take bus from Phuentsholing to Thimphu at about Rs 300-350 or take shared cabs at Rs500 per person or hire a full cab for the group at Rs 2500 for the entire ride upto Paro or Thimphu.

If going by bus, it is advisable to check the bus timings and book a seat at least a day in advance. They tend to get full easily and do not hold for Indian tourists who first have to get the travel permits.

3.    Within Bhutan- Travelling within Bhutan is easy via public transport, if you have the time for it. Buses between cities and towns like Phuentsholing, Paro, Haa, Thimphu, Punakha take 5-6 hours, again it is advisable to book them at least one day in advance. The buses are small, but comfortable and airy. Hence they have a lot of takers amongst locals and tourists.

Alternatively, one could hire a cab to commute between the cities at nothing less than Rs 2000-2500 per day. This doesn’t work on a shared cab basis.

While touring within a city, the local buses are not a convenient option as they don’t cover all tourist points and timings may not be suitable. There are no auto-rickshaws in Bhutan. So, you will have to hire a cab.

If one is to hire a cab at every location and then another to the next location, it will prove to be a costly affair with every commute taking about 20 minutes only but nearly 500 bucks. It is far more economical to hire a taxi for the whole/half day at prices Rs2000/Rs1500 respectively.

What we did: We converged from different cities at the Bagdogra airport, took a full taxi to Phuentsholing, (failed to book a bus) took a cab to Thimphu (Rs2000). Within Thimphu took a cab for one whole day (Rs2000) and then took buses to every other place we visited – Haa Valley and Paro. We also booked in advance and took a bus from Paro to Phuentsholing on our way back. Again, we took a full cab to Siliguri and split on our ways back home.

When- Ideally Bhutan is best to visit in Spring or autumn- that is February-March and September-October. April and November is slightly pushing it, but doable. All other periods of the year, Bhutan experiences heavy snowfall and torrential rains. It is unwise to visit the country in those months, expect if you desire to be frozen or swamped. Even roadways are clogged because of landslides or snowfall and all plans come to a halt in other months.

We visited in the last week of September, which we planned around the Tshechu Festival in Thimphu. Visiting Bhutan during Festivals also means that their government buildings and offices close down for those days- including Museums, libraries, post-offices, textile showrooms (all of which are supposed to be great tourist attractions!). Nonetheless all the monasteries, trekking trails, forts, and forest reserves were open; we had a fruitful and engaging trip.

Travel Permit: Indians do not need a visa to travel, however we need a travel permit document. The Paro airport has a travel permit office. It can be procured from the immigration office at Phuentsholing that is open from 9am to 5pm. Bikers beware, the RTO closes at 12 noon and you need a travel permit before you get your RTO permit. All tourists must show their travel permits at Phuentsholing border to progress into Bhutan.

For the travel permit, an application must be filled at the immigration office and get processed. It requires one passport size photo and a photocopy of either PASSPORT or VOTER ID (no other identity proof is accepted)! Please carry along your originals and the entire process is smooth and gets done within a couple of hours if you beat the crowd and reach there by 9 am. Or else, you are stuck there for nearly one day.

Travel permits are usually granted only for a period of one week and the tourist has to specify which all places they are planning to visit. SO, have an itinerary done in advance, and get the relevant cities ticked. You don’t want to reach Thimphu and curse your luck for not taking the permit to Haa, Bumthang or Punakha.

Food: Food in Bhutan is manageable; some places even surprise you by offering good Indian food – dal, rice, puri, paratha and sabji. However, their chief dish is a red-rice accompanied by curries- non veg or cheese-based veg dish.

Non-vegetarians have plenty of options with the curries- beef, pork, chicken, mutton and fish. Vegetarians have only potato, tomato, chillies (yes, big spicy ones!!), carrot and cabbage- of which the last two are seasonal. One also gets thukpas, momos and chowmein at almost all dhabas and restaurants.

On long travels, there will be but one stop only. So it is good sense to carry fruits or dry food like biscuits and snacks in case there are undue delays and/or the food is terrible.

Stay: Because we were backpackers and mostly staying at each of our night-stops only for a night, we almost always took only economical, budget options that were well-rated on TripAdvisor. Mostly we took 4-bedded rooms or 3 bedded rooms and got an extra mattress arranged. All the Hotels are always CLEAN. Bathrooms are CLEANER.

1.    Siliguri- Many options to stay near the Pradhan nagar area. It is walking distance from the bus stand and about 40 minutes away from both NJP station and Bagdogra airport (without traffic jams!).

2.    Phuentsholing/Jaigaon- Jaigaon sucks. Truly. Terrible chaotic traffic, bad roads leading to dusty yards and no visible street lamp that works. So opt to stay at Phuentsholing. The hotels are decent and the staff are super courteous and help you sort out the basic doubts on how to get to immigration office and get the permits done. The market is also well stocked and easily accessible here.

3.    In Bhutan- The Norzin Lam road in Thimphu has dozens of hotels. All at the same level of cleanliness, facilities and affordability. Same with Paro. Check your options here (http://www.hotel.bt/) . Most of them are reachable via mail or phone. Otherwise you can search and find them on FB. The proprietors are awfully kind and courteous even as they take maybe a couple of days to respond.

In Haa Valley, however, we took a rural homestay option just like that. No hotels there anyway. It is a gorgeous village that offers some beautiful walking trails. You could go visit other places in Bhutan if this is not your cup of tea.

All our stay options were at about Rs1500 per night. We chose Hotels that offered free Wi-Fi at least in their lobbies, made it easier to communicate to folks back home. Or else, you could always buy a Bhutan SIM at Phuentsholing just for that one week. They have incredible coverage even in the deepest of valleys and the remotest of points on the mountains!

So here’s how my itinerary looked:

Day1- Delhi to Bagdogra, Bagdogra to Phuentsholing. Stay at Phuentsholing.

Day2- Phuentsholing to Thimphu (6 hours drive after permit process.) Stay at Thimphu

Day3- Thimphu sightseeing. Stay at Thimphu.

Day4- Thimphu to Haa Valley. Homestay at Haa.

Day5- Haa Valley to Paro. Tiger’s Nest. Stay at Paro.

Day6- Paro to Phuentsholing. Phuentsholing to Siliguri. Stay at Siliguri.

Day7- Bagdogra to Delhi

There’s scope for immense variation – you could go from Paro to Thimphu and then get out from there- one could also travel to Punakha or Bumthang from Thimphu- because there is enough to see and cover.

Here’s how much my trip costed from my doorstep in Delhi to back (with flight tickets!)- Rs 15600. Not bad eh?

Reach out to me if you want any more clarifications. I have also generously spammed TripAdvisor with my reviews wherever necessary. And I insist that you make this dream a reality at least once in your lifetime. I am going back to Bhutan sometime again. FOR SURE.

PS: Photos and stories to follow in upcoming posts. Plenty of surprises, happy moments and jokes galore. *wink-wink*