Taking Bhutan to the world

Kunzang Choden is simple, direct and loves to talk about her country "" much like her debut novel.

Sitting in the Zubaan Books office in south Delhi, Bhutanese writer Kunzang Choden doesn't give the impression of being an author on a promotional blitz, waiting eagerly to discuss her book of the moment.

Kunzang is in town for the launch of her novel The Circle of Karma "" billed as "the first novel by a woman to come out of the Himalayan Kingdom" "" but she's every bit as enthusiastic about another story she recently wrote, about the hard lessons learnt by a scruffy street dog named Dawa, who rises through society's ranks to become a Leader of Howling!

"A friend mentioned it must be hard to write a narrative through another person's eyes," she chuckles softly, "but I retorted that it's at least easier than having an animal as your protagonist."

Even when discussing her cherished debut novel, Kunzang is laidback, happier to hear out a reader's views on the book than to express her own.

The Circle of Karma, one of two novels by south Asian women to be jointly published by Zubaan Books and Penguin India (Mitra Phukan's The Collector's Wife is the other), is the story of Tsomo, a feisty young girl compelled by her own restless spirit "" and later by circumstance "" to leave her family and go on a series of travels.

Hope and tragedy mark her path in equal measure as her story provides a microcosm of Bhutanese society.

While maintaining its narrative integrity, the book manages to be very informative about customs and rituals in Bhutan. Was that deliberate? Did Kunzang write her story with a global audience in mind?

"In the first draft, I wrote exactly as I felt," she says, "but once I had the skeleton of the story in place, I re-examined it and asked myself: is it reader-friendly enough? Revisions followed accordingly."

Like her protagonist, there's something of the itinerant in Kunzang. In 1962, aged just nine, she travelled for 12 days, by foot and on horseback ("there were no proper roads then"), to reach India, where she did her schooling in Kalimpong and Darjeeling.

"Around that time, Bhutan had started progressing from an illiterate, isolated society to one that was willing to send its children to study in India," she says, "and I was among the first few to benefit."

After graduating from Delhi University, she went back and taught in Bhutan for a few years, then stayed in the US for four years with her husband. "Some of my experiences have worked their way into Tsomo's life," she says.

"Where can a girl travel to?" Tsomo's mother asks rhetorically near the beginning of the story. It's a question that resonates throughout the book. And it's especially telling that a novel written by an educated, much-travelled Bhutanese woman should deal prominently with the fact that women in her country have not traditionally been encouraged to read, write or study the scriptures.

This is an interesting incongruity given that Bhutan is a largely matriarchal society, one where inheritance still passes to the woman in most rural areas.

"It is something to think about," admits Kunzang, "because, you see, Bhutan is that rare country in south Asia where women are not discriminated against. The arrival of a girl child is cause for celebration, women do the same work as men and widows are even encouraged to marry again. So yes, I suppose there's something dichotomous about women not being encouraged to study the scriptures."

Next on Kunzang's platter, so to speak, is a book titled Chilli and Cheese: Food and Society in Bhutan. She's also enthusiastic about a catalogue she's working on for a museum in Bumthang in central Bhutan.

"The reason I feel so strongly about the project," she says, "is that the museum is located in my ancestral home!" Like Tsomo, who finds her life has come full circle at the end of the story, it seems home is where the heart is for her creator too.

EXTRACT: Mist and fog

"Stop crying. Don't you know that your tears will turn into rain and the vapour from your mouth will turn into mist and fog and your dead brother will not be able to travel to his next life?"

These had been the words these same grown-ups had used, to make her stop when she had cried for her dead brothers and sisters. Now they were all crying.

These grown-ups never followed what they told their children to do. Tsomo thought of all the rain and fog and felt sorry for Goempola. Tsomo asked Mother, "Why do you cry so much and cause so much fog and rain in Goempola's way?"

All Mother said was, "Whey daughter, be quiet!" and looked around quickly to see if anyone had heard.

The Circle of Karma

Zubaan/Penguin
Rs 295