Aby Tharakan has been a witness to Bhutan’s revolutionary leap to democracy ending a century of monarchy. A journalist, Aby saw the birth and growth of private media, the changes, challenges and the crisis through which it is now moving.
For long, Bhutan remained one of the most isolated and mysterious nations on the globe. Till the 1970s, the secret Shangri La and its history was largely unknown to the rest of the world. Bhutan’s ancient history is marked by folklore, fantastical events, external attacks and internal disputes. The nomination of the first monarch brought about political stability and economic growth. Then this conservative Buddhist nation moved into the uncertain corridors of democracy.
“The ban on television and the Internet was lifted only in 1999. And Bhutan was one of the last countries to introduce television. Though there are private newspapers, television still remains under government control. Foreign journalists are not allowed to work on long-term contracts. So my role has been that of a media consultant,” says Aby, who reached Bhutan sometime in 2004, as a school teacher and taught in one of the higher secondary schools for two years.
As Aby writes in his blog, his tryst with journalism began when, as a schoolboy, he dropped “newspapers at doorsteps on chilly mornings riding a bicycle that broke down often.” His first attempt in publishing was when he brought out a handwritten magazine while studying in school. And he pursued this passion during his degree days at Bishop Moore College, Mavelikkara, where he spearheaded a college newspaper called Collage. “The first time I was threatened as a ‘journalist’ was when I published something that did not go down well with some of the seniors in college. And it was for this publication that I did my first translation, the biography of Che Guevara.”
For sometime Aby worked in a regional newspaper based at Kozhikode. “In between, I edited two weekly newspapers published for non-resident Indians in the United States. For two years that I worked for the vernacular newspaper I was in charge of the weekend magazine and the children’s supplement. Personally, it was a wonderful time. And looking back, the highpoints were translating Michael Jackson’s autobiography, Moonwalk , and an interview with Paulo Coelho into Malayalam.”
Aby joined Bhutan Times , the first private newspaper in the country. “It was exciting to be a part of the media during its formative years. My job involved training, overlooking the entire production. And soon the country geared up for the first-ever elections.”
Bhutan, Aby says, spends a lot on training media personnel through scholarships and other programmes. “A lot of young, aspiring journalists have been trained abroad, joined media houses, and some of them have left the profession too.”
In 2009, Aby joined Business Bhutan , as consultant. “It was this newspaper that broke the news on the Bhutanese link to the Indian lottery scam. We had the second general elections which saw the minority party that had just two seats in the first elections come to power.”
Aby married his long-time friend and classmate Sharon Rani, who had made a name for herself as animator and graphic artist.
In the short tryst she had in Bhutan, before relocating to Kerala, Sharon made her mark with a picture book, Jewel in the Crown . “This is a book of illustrations about the royal wedding. It is Bhutan’s own story of the King and Queen narrated like a fairy-tale but based on real events. It is special because it is a true story capturing moments from at historical event. The book is a collection of graphic paintings of the three-day celebrations of the Royal Wedding held in October 2013. I have tried to capture this memory without being text heavy, and using the colours of Bhutan.”
Returning to Kerala Sharon was engaged in the creation of an educational CD that got delayed. This gave her time to embark on another interesting project.
“I’m working on a graphic novel based on a Malayalam film that is slated to be launched along with the release of the film. Sorry, I can’t tell you which film. Another graphic novel Super Samba Girl is on Azhimukham, a Malayalam news and views website.”
Aby, who has been regularly writing on Bhutan for numerous Indian newspapers, including The Hindu , and for news agencies, has decided to spend a few more years there.
“These are trying times for the media in Bhutan. The journalists are a beleaguered lot. They are trying to find ways to ensure sustainability and independence of the media. The government partly owns the nation’s largest newspaper and television-radio network. Most newspapers rely heavily on the government for their advertising. This is waning and some newspapers have already folded. The honeymoon has been short but perhaps the Bhutanese, who have gone through trying times will tide over this crisis too,” says Aby.
A career in animation
Trained at Toonz Academy, Sharon worked at DQ Entertainment, Hyderabad, on numerous assignments like the famed Disney project, the Mickey Mouse Club House. “During the Hyderabad days I worked in many Telugu films helping the special effects team with graphics. This job kept me busy, gave me financial stability and also a lot of respect in the field.”
Sharon moved to Bangalore in 2007 and joined Paprikas, an animation studio that is now rebranded as Technicolor India. “We had long-standing relationships with DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, Electronic Arts and other animation and gaming content creators. I worked on many of these projects like Barnyard, Kung Fu Panda, Barbie the film series, Max Payne video game and many more.”
