Bhutan: The Land Of Happiness Helps You Discover The Very Emotion.

The number of documents you gather to get your passport made, the verification process and finally owning the booklet of your entry into foreign lands, deserves the excitement of getting its first stamp! My passport lied in some locker for months while I was figuring where do I step out first? Given the meagre income I make, I wanted a cheaper plan, hence so long. Anyway, it was worth the wait. I chose to step into the Land of Happiness- Bhutan.

People may think what does Bhutan have other than just monasteries and peace? It is such a small country, why would you go there? But well, haven’t we all overtime learnt to ignore others’ opinions? Also, there are no visa formalities here. All you need is a permit to explore into this nature’s abundance of offerings.

I do not want to go day wise into my stay but what I discovered here is more important. To phrase it- Happiness is a place. Bhutan is a country that boasts of its Gross National Happiness Index vis-à-vis the nations struggling to maintain their GDP. While we strive to develop into the eyes of the world, Bhutan has a law which asks them to maintain their culture. Every new construction here has to have the traditional touch of the arches and roof structure along with the paintings of their cultural significance. The world imitates tall skyscrapers, the Bhutanese preserve their architecture. Guess who just got wealthier?

They have strict traffic discipline- no honking and crossing just over the zebra crossing lines. So even if two vehicles come straight up in front of each other, they just use their breaks and not slam on their horns. So in the stay of 5 days there we had adapted to search for a zebra crossing mark to get to the other side. Guess who got disciplined?

The monasteries have their own charm and inhibit peace. They too have tall figures of their deity and the Buddha but here you’ll experience peace. To keep it short, while in most of our temples people struggle to click selfies with the Lord and click continuous pictures, in these monasteries you kind of discover what ‘self is.’ Isn’t that what worship is for after all? I cannot forget the site where several monks just intrinsically wrote down the scriptures of their chants in order to preserve it. The vibe reverberated of the chants throughout as you stood in front of the massive Lord Buddha. Guess who earned peace?

Passing through the country from one destination to another was like being part of a painting. Only here the bus kept moving and the sceneries changed. The clearest of skies met the vast greener pastures. The river flew between the gigantic mountains and the curvy roads took us on an admirable trip. Prayer flags blowing in the wind are a common sight but it is how this scene creates a colourful ambience within. You feel the very peace which these prayers ask for! Guess who got unknowingly spiritual?

Travelling to places like these makes you realise how much you underestimate nature back home.

And it would be incomplete without mentioning the people I travelled here with. Once again a new group, some known faces, but a lot of unknown stories behind. The real essence of travelling with a group of a new group is when you go from being the ‘what do I talk to them’ to ‘what is now left to tell them?’ It is not about asking each other your profession, it is also not about the one bonfire where you let out your deepest secrets, it is also not about clicking selfies together… It is about creating a bond through dissimilar interests, it is about inspiring each other to do better in your routine back home, it is about finding even that one new person which you can call ‘yours.’ It is about letting yourself free in a new place, new face, new phase maybe and yet feeling bounded to them. It is about you discovering yourself better in the company of others. Guess who returned happier?