Bhutanese author on her memoir, and the role of Bhutan’s monarchy in its modernisation
“Don’t call me Ashi (Princess),” Kunzang Choden admonishes this reporter. The 73-year-old silver-haired writer may not be comfortable with titles by birth, but in her lifetime, she has earned the title of the Royal Matriarch of Bhutanese writing. In 2005, her book Circle of Karma (Bloomsbury India) was the first such novel in English written by a Bhutanese author. Since then, she has built a vast network and helped publish other Bhutanese writers. Choden, who was educated in India, has published a memoir, Telling Me My Stories, recounting her unusual childhood and family. In an interview, on the sidelines of Bhutan Echoes, Drukyul’s annual Literature and Arts Festival in Thimphu, she spoke about the importance of early memories, and the role of the monarchy in Bhutan’s modernisation process. Edited excerpts:
Question: Your memoir looks back at your early years, going to school, and ends just before college. Why is that? Is there a sequel in the works?
Answer: Well, I don’t know if there will be a sequel. I haven’t thought about it, but I write about childhood memories because they are stronger. They are the memories of who I was, where I came from, who my parents were, what our history was; they are the memories I carried with me throughout my life, and I think they have shaped me to be what I am today.
These are the stories I lived with in my darkest days, when I was completely alienated after being sent to a convent in India where I spoke no English, Hindi or Nepali, and couldn’t understand anybody. I think they were somehow my tool for survival; these memories helped me to never lose sight of who I was and where I came from.
Q: You were part of a generation that was actively pushed by the government to go and study in India. Why did the King think this was necessary?
A: I think it was a difficult decision, but visionary. Bhutan’s third King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, who reigned from 1952-1972, assisted by his Prime Minister Dasho Jigme Palden Dorji (Bhutan’s First PM, 1952-1964) felt that monastic education was not egalitarian. It didn’t prepare us for a modern Bhutan. A monastic education was important to preserve our culture, religion, things like that, but it was inaccessible to the rest of the population. More than 90% of the population were illiterate, and we relied completely on the monasteries and the clergy to tell us everything, to write for us, to think fast, literally, and we were just being told what we had to do, what were the right things were, what our history was. For these two men to break this tradition and say, now we need to modernise our country, was wise. It was not just for boys, but open to all, anyone who were willing to go. At the time we left Bhutan to go to schools in India, the first schools were being built. The idea was that the first one or two groups of kids would go to India, and in the meantime, schools would be built in Bhutan. I think that was a vision that was really farsighted.
Q: In your book, one of the strongest characters is your mother. Yet, she was just 32 when she died, after having five children and what seemed like a lonely marriage without much agency in her life…
A: I write about her absences and the silences. My mother was a very silent person. She only talked when it was necessary. She came into the marriage very reluctantly. She was more inclined to practising Buddhism. She was a quiet person who made her presence felt just by doing. And when there were times she reached out to me to talk, I didn’t understand. So she had a very lonely life, which I write about.
Q: Religion seems to be a strong part of Bhutanese culture. However, monks cannot run for election or stand for office. Why is that?
A: Because they can be very influential. Bhutan started as a theocracy. So Bhutan already had experience what it was to be under a theocracy. And I think with the coming of the monarchs, instead of having, you know the theocracy above us, they made it equal. So you’re right in that we have a very distinct religious level, and, you know, a secular level. And yet we don’t leave the other behind. We always converged.
Q: It’s been 20 years since Bhutan became a full democracy. Do you think Bhutan has now changed due to that?
A: It has changed; people are much more aware of their rights, things people really didn’t talk about. They just accepted things good or bad as fate or karma. Now they hold the elected government accountable.
Q: During the first elections in Bhutan (2008), people would say they didn’t want to vote, they didn’t want to elect anyone but the King.
A: I think that was the difference. I mean, many governments [worldwide] change [because] everybody’s unhappy with the system and they wanted change there. [But change in Bhutan] happened at the peak when the monarchy was successful. People were prosperous, happy, and the King said, now we’re going to change. And they went along with it….There’s a kind of blind faith in what the King says, but it is also faith based on the experience of the past century of a monarchy that has delivered [democracy].
Q: Why is the monarchy still so relevant in Bhutan, 20 years after the previous King (Bhutan’s fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck) decreed a democracy?
A: Bhutanese have a kind of blind faith in the monarchy. But it isn’t blind actually because the monarchy has been tested and proven to have been good for the country. Bhutan has prospered in the past century due to the line of the present King. When elections were declared in 2008, many did not even want to vote, as they said they were happy with the monarch leaders. Now they know more about their rights, and hold the elected government accountable. The faith in the monarch, however, remains.
Interview with Kunzang Choden on her memoir Telling Me My Stories
Bhutanese author on her memoir, and the role of Bhutan’s monarchy in its modernisation
“Don’t call me Ashi (Princess),” Kunzang Choden admonishes this reporter. The 73-year-old silver-haired writer may not be comfortable with titles by birth, but in her lifetime, she has earned the title of the Royal Matriarch of Bhutanese writing. In 2005, her book Circle of Karma (Bloomsbury India) was the first such novel in English written by a Bhutanese author. Since then, she has built a vast network and helped publish other Bhutanese writers. Choden, who was educated in India, has published a memoir, Telling Me My Stories, recounting her unusual childhood and family. In an interview, on the sidelines of Bhutan Echoes, Drukyul’s annual Literature and Arts Festival in Thimphu, she spoke about the importance of early memories, and the role of the monarchy in Bhutan’s modernisation process. Edited excerpts:
Question: Your memoir looks back at your early years, going to school, and ends just before college. Why is that? Is there a sequel in the works?
Answer: Well, I don’t know if there will be a sequel. I haven’t thought about it, but I write about childhood memories because they are stronger. They are the memories of who I was, where I came from, who my parents were, what our history was; they are the memories I carried with me throughout my life, and I think they have shaped me to be what I am today.
These are the stories I lived with in my darkest days, when I was completely alienated after being sent to a convent in India where I spoke no English, Hindi or Nepali, and couldn’t understand anybody. I think they were somehow my tool for survival; these memories helped me to never lose sight of who I was and where I came from.
Q: You were part of a generation that was actively pushed by the government to go and study in India. Why did the King think this was necessary?
A: I think it was a difficult decision, but visionary. Bhutan’s third King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, who reigned from 1952-1972, assisted by his Prime Minister Dasho Jigme Palden Dorji (Bhutan’s First PM, 1952-1964) felt that monastic education was not egalitarian. It didn’t prepare us for a modern Bhutan. A monastic education was important to preserve our culture, religion, things like that, but it was inaccessible to the rest of the population. More than 90% of the population were illiterate, and we relied completely on the monasteries and the clergy to tell us everything, to write for us, to think fast, literally, and we were just being told what we had to do, what were the right things were, what our history was. For these two men to break this tradition and say, now we need to modernise our country, was wise. It was not just for boys, but open to all, anyone who were willing to go. At the time we left Bhutan to go to schools in India, the first schools were being built. The idea was that the first one or two groups of kids would go to India, and in the meantime, schools would be built in Bhutan. I think that was a vision that was really farsighted.
Q: In your book, one of the strongest characters is your mother. Yet, she was just 32 when she died, after having five children and what seemed like a lonely marriage without much agency in her life…
A: I write about her absences and the silences. My mother was a very silent person. She only talked when it was necessary. She came into the marriage very reluctantly. She was more inclined to practising Buddhism. She was a quiet person who made her presence felt just by doing. And when there were times she reached out to me to talk, I didn’t understand. So she had a very lonely life, which I write about.
Q: Religion seems to be a strong part of Bhutanese culture. However, monks cannot run for election or stand for office. Why is that?
A: Because they can be very influential. Bhutan started as a theocracy. So Bhutan already had experience what it was to be under a theocracy. And I think with the coming of the monarchs, instead of having, you know the theocracy above us, they made it equal. So you’re right in that we have a very distinct religious level, and, you know, a secular level. And yet we don’t leave the other behind. We always converged.
Q: It’s been 20 years since Bhutan became a full democracy. Do you think Bhutan has now changed due to that?
A: It has changed; people are much more aware of their rights, things people really didn’t talk about. They just accepted things good or bad as fate or karma. Now they hold the elected government accountable.
Q: During the first elections in Bhutan (2008), people would say they didn’t want to vote, they didn’t want to elect anyone but the King.
A: I think that was the difference. I mean, many governments [worldwide] change [because] everybody’s unhappy with the system and they wanted change there. [But change in Bhutan] happened at the peak when the monarchy was successful. People were prosperous, happy, and the King said, now we’re going to change. And they went along with it….There’s a kind of blind faith in what the King says, but it is also faith based on the experience of the past century of a monarchy that has delivered [democracy].
Q: Why is the monarchy still so relevant in Bhutan, 20 years after the previous King (Bhutan’s fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck) decreed a democracy?
A: Bhutanese have a kind of blind faith in the monarchy. But it isn’t blind actually because the monarchy has been tested and proven to have been good for the country. Bhutan has prospered in the past century due to the line of the present King. When elections were declared in 2008, many did not even want to vote, as they said they were happy with the monarch leaders. Now they know more about their rights, and hold the elected government accountable. The faith in the monarch, however, remains.
Interview with Kunzang Choden on her memoir Telling Me My Stories
Bhutanese author on her memoir, and the role of Bhutan’s monarchy in its modernisation
“Don’t call me Ashi (Princess),” Kunzang Choden admonishes this reporter. The 73-year-old silver-haired writer may not be comfortable with titles by birth, but in her lifetime, she has earned the title of the Royal Matriarch of Bhutanese writing. In 2005, her book Circle of Karma (Bloomsbury India) was the first such novel in English written by a Bhutanese author. Since then, she has built a vast network and helped publish other Bhutanese writers. Choden, who was educated in India, has published a memoir, Telling Me My Stories, recounting her unusual childhood and family. In an interview, on the sidelines of Bhutan Echoes, Drukyul’s annual Literature and Arts Festival in Thimphu, she spoke about the importance of early memories, and the role of the monarchy in Bhutan’s modernisation process. Edited excerpts:
Question: Your memoir looks back at your early years, going to school, and ends just before college. Why is that? Is there a sequel in the works?
Answer: Well, I don’t know if there will be a sequel. I haven’t thought about it, but I write about childhood memories because they are stronger. They are the memories of who I was, where I came from, who my parents were, what our history was; they are the memories I carried with me throughout my life, and I think they have shaped me to be what I am today.
These are the stories I lived with in my darkest days, when I was completely alienated after being sent to a convent in India where I spoke no English, Hindi or Nepali, and couldn’t understand anybody. I think they were somehow my tool for survival; these memories helped me to never lose sight of who I was and where I came from.
Q: You were part of a generation that was actively pushed by the government to go and study in India. Why did the King think this was necessary?
A: I think it was a difficult decision, but visionary. Bhutan’s third King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, who reigned from 1952-1972, assisted by his Prime Minister Dasho Jigme Palden Dorji (Bhutan’s First PM, 1952-1964) felt that monastic education was not egalitarian. It didn’t prepare us for a modern Bhutan. A monastic education was important to preserve our culture, religion, things like that, but it was inaccessible to the rest of the population. More than 90% of the population were illiterate, and we relied completely on the monasteries and the clergy to tell us everything, to write for us, to think fast, literally, and we were just being told what we had to do, what were the right things were, what our history was. For these two men to break this tradition and say, now we need to modernise our country, was wise. It was not just for boys, but open to all, anyone who were willing to go. At the time we left Bhutan to go to schools in India, the first schools were being built. The idea was that the first one or two groups of kids would go to India, and in the meantime, schools would be built in Bhutan. I think that was a vision that was really farsighted.
Q: In your book, one of the strongest characters is your mother. Yet, she was just 32 when she died, after having five children and what seemed like a lonely marriage without much agency in her life…
A: I write about her absences and the silences. My mother was a very silent person. She only talked when it was necessary. She came into the marriage very reluctantly. She was more inclined to practising Buddhism. She was a quiet person who made her presence felt just by doing. And when there were times she reached out to me to talk, I didn’t understand. So she had a very lonely life, which I write about.
Q: Religion seems to be a strong part of Bhutanese culture. However, monks cannot run for election or stand for office. Why is that?
A: Because they can be very influential. Bhutan started as a theocracy. So Bhutan already had experience what it was to be under a theocracy. And I think with the coming of the monarchs, instead of having, you know the theocracy above us, they made it equal. So you’re right in that we have a very distinct religious level, and, you know, a secular level. And yet we don’t leave the other behind. We always converged.
Q: It’s been 20 years since Bhutan became a full democracy. Do you think Bhutan has now changed due to that?
A: It has changed; people are much more aware of their rights, things people really didn’t talk about. They just accepted things good or bad as fate or karma. Now they hold the elected government accountable.
Q: During the first elections in Bhutan (2008), people would say they didn’t want to vote, they didn’t want to elect anyone but the King.
A: I think that was the difference. I mean, many governments [worldwide] change [because] everybody’s unhappy with the system and they wanted change there. [But change in Bhutan] happened at the peak when the monarchy was successful. People were prosperous, happy, and the King said, now we’re going to change. And they went along with it….There’s a kind of blind faith in what the King says, but it is also faith based on the experience of the past century of a monarchy that has delivered [democracy].
Q: Why is the monarchy still so relevant in Bhutan, 20 years after the previous King (Bhutan’s fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck) decreed a democracy?
A: Bhutanese have a kind of blind faith in the monarchy. But it isn’t blind actually because the monarchy has been tested and proven to have been good for the country. Bhutan has prospered in the past century due to the line of the present King. When elections were declared in 2008, many did not even want to vote, as they said they were happy with the monarch leaders. Now they know more about their rights, and hold the elected government accountable. The faith in the monarch, however, remains.
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