- Bhutan to Blacktown, by Om Dhungel. NewSouth, $32.99
Late in the 19th century, people from Nepal were encouraged to migrate to a more fertile, sparsely populated region in southern Bhutan. The migration continued during the 20th century. After a few generations these people, while retaining Nepali culture, considered themselves Bhutanese.
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Om Dhungel, the co-author (with James Button), of Bhutan To Blacktown, is one of these people.
Dhungel was born in a small Butan village, in 1961, where there were no motor cars and where "we had to go the stream about ten or 15 minutes away to collect water and carry it home in containers on our backs". Today, according to his website, Dhungel spends 50 per cent of his time managing a consultancy providing training, monitoring and public speaking services, and the other 50 per cent in a range of voluntary activities in Blacktown.
One of 14 children born to Nepali parents, who were also born in Bhutan, Dhungel's ability was recognised early and he left his village to attend high school then university, on an engineering scholarship in Bangladesh. He returned to Thimphu - capital of Bhutan - and quickly rose to a senior position in the Bhutan public service. He married and had a child. Then, in the 1980s, the King of Bhutan began a campaign to rid his country of the people of Nepali descent.
It was a brutal campaign. Dhungel's father was tortured and Dhungel records: "I lost my possessions, my salary, my status, my career, my country..." He spent six years, based in Nepal, working to alleviate the suffering, and to resolve the futures of fellow Nepoli-Bhutanese people among the tens of thousands in refugee camps. He sought assistance from other nations, including Australia. Members of his extended family were caught up in this human catastrophe.
The move to Australia was fraught with delays and complications, but in 1998 Dhungel recorded his first impression of Australia: "kangaroos lifting their heads from grass in the fields to gaze at me". He began his Blacktown life aiding Bhutanese refugees, then a career with Telstra before starting his own business.
Despite the trauma in his life, Dhungel is a happy man. In a recent radio interview, he prefaced his answers to most questions with a chuckle. He enjoys helping others. He relates numerous humorous anecdotes. He scrupulously acknowledges the help he has received from individuals and organisations. In telling his story, he avoids "phoney" self-effacement and self-praise.
Bhutan to Blacktown concludes with accounts of a family burial and a family wedding in Blacktown - highlighting the adjustments that have to be made to Nepali-Bhutanese traditional aspects of these ceremonies.
