Where cultures spar and meld
In 1933, British novelist James Hilton wrote about a fictional utopian lamasery in the mountains of Tibet, in his best-selling novel Lost Horizon. He named this mythical place Shangri-La, which subsequently came to mean any imaginary place of paradisiacal proportions. There have been deeper philosophical interpretations of Shangri-La and several claimants to the title. One of these is in Sichuan.
In 2016, Shivaj Das and his wife Yolanda Yoo went on a month-long trip in the Western Sichuan region of China. The ‘Other’ Shangri-La, Das’s fourth book, is a zesty account of their travels in the region. The conversational narrative interspersed with historical facts and observations on the geopolitics of the region is laced with Das’s musings that range from the wickedly funny to the metaphysical.
Western Sichuan is an overlap of Tibet and China, a contentious space where cultures spar and meld. Das speaks with felicity about the Tibetan Khams, “known for their ruggedness, ferocity, banditry and independent streak” and about the Chinese Hans and their nose for enterprise. The journey begins in the tiny town of Kangding that gave China its most popular love song, the Kangding Love Song, “a national hit in the 1950s and was still strong in the nation’s memory.” Das quips, “the town of love was naturally the town of babies. Soon I realised that nowhere else in China — a country of exceptionally low fertility rates — had I seen such a proliferation of babies.” There are witticisms aplenty through the book that stem from a keen, unbiased mind.
Das and Lobo travel through spectacular Himalayan scenery. The Yading
Reserve with its wallpaper-esque beauty, the three invincible peaks at Lurong Pasture and the landscape near Tagong are just some images of a region full of mountainscapes. But it isn’t just nature that is memorable. Das writes: “Within a week of visiting such a place, I would struggle to flashback the pictures in my mind. On the other hand, what I would remember most from any trip would be the interactions with mankind, small favours from strangers, and interesting quips, or even a minor insult.”
Conversations with locals form some of the best passages in the book. In the chic town of Daocheng, the writer and his wife meet Tibetan sisters Dechen and Diki taking a break from community dancing in the town square, and a discussion on marriage customs and the Karmapa controversy ensues.
Identity is a strong note, whether of the Tibetans or the Hans, or the writer’s own Indian one that leads to certain comical situations. He attracts crowds in many places. There is fascination because he comes from the land that harbours the Dalai Lama. People want to touch him, feel blessed, and get pictures clicked with him.
The fractious relations between religion and government are mentioned several times in the narrative. And yet, China’s attempts to provide better education and healthcare suggest that it is working hard to smoothen things. Nowhere is this more evident than in the giant prayer wheels at Sertar, which seems like “another sign of the Government’s attempt to win the hearts and minds of Tibetans and what better way to do it than provide a short cut to gain merit.” The ‘Other’ Shangri-La is a good read despite minor blips like the sometimes complex religio-historical passages. However, there is merit also in learning more about worlds that we know little about, especially in an era of increased armchair travel.