T he village boy and Thimphu

13 July 2009

All smiles: Jamba Gyeltshen (standing) at the recent youth festival in Thimphu

Eating a piece of cake for the first time in his life made Jamba Gyeltshen, a 17-year-old student from Tangmachu village in Lhuentse, wish to stay a little longer in Thimphu. “The flavour is too tempting – it’s as though someone has put a spell on me,” he said. “If I were given a chance to stay a little longer, I would happily stay back.”

Jamba Gyeltshen is a student participant in the third youth festival held in Thimphu last week. He comes from a remote village surrounded by mountains and cattle. His village provides him almost everything in modest quantities, the situation government officials would describe as self-sufficient. There is hardly any reason for the average person to ever travel farther than a half a day’s walk to the small, local town. Money is always in short supply.

“My parents were as excited as I was. The government was taking care of the expenses and they saw this as an opportunity for me to explore the life in a city. I have lived all my life in a village,” Jamba said with an air of an accomplished young man.

Jamba is modest and shy – a typical ingenious boy from a small village. He participated in numerous activities in the festival and found the activities at once challenging, educational and exciting. For him, many things were new and strange.

For the teenager, the first brief visit to the capital was an elevating experience. He thought that the city life was far more exciting and rewarding than the village life. He said that living in a village never made him think out of the box. He was happy stoning fruit trees or playing marbles in the dust and doing chores on Saturdays.

Having tried his hands on different kinds of food and activities, Jamba now believes that the bigger the town one lives in, the smarter one becomes.

He says “I am in so many different clubs. I find their sense of dressing cool. I am very excited. My new friends will be introducing me to their unique dancing style – they call it free styling.”

Over a few days of his stay in Thimphu, Jamba realised that studying in a town was altogether a different experience from studying in a village. “The learning activities are advanced here and they require real thought and insight, something my small village lack. I’d like to work in Thimphu in the future,” he said.

The 3rd National Youth Festival was conducted in Thimphu with a splendid lineup of action-packed youth-oriented activities for the students across the country. The festival showcased vibrancy and diversity of Bhutan.

“The festival reaffirms the government’s commitment to helping young people realise their potential and vision and to educate them on a broader spectrum,” said Wangchuck Namgyal, the Chief Programme Officer of the youth festival.

Supported by UNICEF and the royal government, the festival was a unique platform for young boys and girls to celebrate their youthful creativity and innovation. The festival attracted an astonishing array of talents from across 20 dzongkhags including 108 rural boys and girls. It offered a chance to experience a range of high quality and diverse performances.

There were educational and fun activities and a cultural tour around Thimphu and Paro, particularly for the rural students.

The festival was so popular among the youth that the authorities are now planning to take it to four districts of the country in the near future.

In the meantime, Jamba is on his way back home to Lhuentse as a changed boy – in love with the urban and modern – with a story to tell.

A brief sojourn in Thimphu thrills a village boy. He wants to come back to Thimphu. Kinzang Choden reports.

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