High Altitude Dilemma
On the road to destiny
The tradition-bound Himalayan kingdom readies itself to brace modernism
In 1958, when the then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, went to Bhutan on a state visit, the only way he could reach the capital Thimpu was over land. He demanded to be met at the Indo-Bhutan border by someone equal or of a higher rank. The king or prime minister. Bhutan had no prime minister; and for the then king, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, travelling 200 km from the capital to the border town Phuentsoling was unthinkable