King of Destiny launched

31 October 2008

The second publication of Rabsell Media Services, “The King of Destiny” was launched on October 29 by Her Majesty Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck at Tashi Taj.

It is a pictorial coffee-table book with 185 pictures depicting the entire life history of His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo. About 70 percent of the pictures were contributed by Nado Rinchen, the owner of Nado Photo Shop and the former photographer of Kuensel.

About 80 percent of the pictures in this book are published for the first time and come from private collections of His Majesty the Fifth Druk Gyalpo and the Queen Mother.

In 13 chapters, the book tells the story about the Third Druk Gyalpo and His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo’s birth and goes on to provide a visual odyssey of his enthronement, wedding, developments he made during his 25 years of reign, achievements at national and international levels and finally winds up with a pictorial feast of handing over of Bhutan’s reigns to His Majesty King Jigme Khesar.

Tshering Wangchuk, the General Manager of Rabsell Media Services, told Bhutan Observer that “the book is a tribute to His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo, not just from Rabsell, but from all the people of Bhutan and people from outside Bhutan”.

For easy understanding of the pictures, anecdotal write-ups are available at the beginning of each chapter followed by quotations from over 30 distinguished personalities. The quotations come from His Majesty King Jigme Khesar, Sonia Gandhi, I K Gujral, Kunzang Choden (author) and others. Asked Nado Rinchen, the main contributor, why he contributed the pictures, he said that he had thousands of pictures of His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo and His Majesty the King in films as well as slides and wanted to let people know about our Kings and their glorious rule forever. “I have a dream to publish such a book of His Majesty the King in the future,” he added.

The 40-line prayer of longevity composed by His Holiness Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche has also carved a niche in the book. The prayer was written when His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo was 12 years old.

It took Rabsell about five months to compile the pictures into a book. “It took three months to edit pictures as it had to be arranged in sequence so that it told a story by itself,” said Prem Kumar Gurung, the designer.

The 200-page hardbound book is priced at Nu 2500.

By Eshori Gurung

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