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A man with a past!

Sonam Kinga brings the freshness of youth to age-old traditions, discovers ANJANA RAJAN

ADVENTURES WITH THE WRITTEN WORD Sonam Kinga at the Africa Asia Literary Conference held recently in Neemrana

Bhutan is an old kingdom, but its history of free relations with the rest of the world is young. No wonder Sonam Kinga, a young Bhutanese author, laughs when he speaks of history and corrects himself saying, "But it is all contemporary." This young man who decided to go back to college - he is currently studying in Japan at Kyoto University's Graduate School of Asian and African Studies - after some years as a professional, is particularly interested in literary traditions of antiquity and their transmission into contemporary times.

Sonam's chosen form is the lozey, a Bhutanese poetic tradition, which, he explains, means ornament or clarity of expression. Having translated two works of lozey into English, he explains, "Some of the finest folk literature is in lozey. No one knew how it was, because it was an aural thing. We need to text it, which brings its own problems."

Sonam reveals that he took up the translation work to get to know more about the form. "I just wanted to foray as an adventure to this realm."

Basically of two types, lozey is either in the form of stanzas, the smallest Now he is working on his own lozey. Being a contemporary young man living in a globalised world, Sonam yet wants to use a form indigenous to his country to convey his ideas. This one is about a pilgrimage he made.

"I don't want to experiment with the novel," he muses. The form of the novel does not suit Bhutanese style, he feels. "For example time is very linear in novels, whereas time in India and Bhutan is cyclical."

Also, he points out, "Most of Western literature is dedicated to individual expression, but in indigenous Bhutan literature, the self is effaced to a great extent."

Extant lozeys of Bhutan deal with the country before industrialisation. But Sonam is confidant the form has the flexibility to convey contemporary notions too. With all his serious interests, Sonam has a great sense of humour. Earlier employed as researcher at the Centre for Bhutan Studies of the Royal Government of Bhutan, he then joined Save the Children as a Programme Officer. "Then I thought, it's a good salary, but how long am I going to be writing project reports and the like? So I thought of doing something interesting." For that something, he is slogging at university first.

Acting too

Meantime, life's experiences pile up. The author of "Changes in Bhutanese Society: Impact of Fifty Years of Reforms", he has also appeared in Travellers and Magicians, a film that won international awards. He originally worked with the director as a translator and facilitator.

"I vehemently denied and showed all my modesty, but could not get out of it," he laughs, describing his unsuccessful attempts to evade the lead role.

In India recently to attend the Africa Asia Literary Conference that took place in Neemrana, Sonam exclaims at the amount of travelling he has been doing of late. "It is an insult to my income!"

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