India, Aug. 23 -- Driving into Thimphu for Bhutan Echoes: Drukyul's Literature and Arts Festival, it is apparent that the city has grown quite a bit since you last visited in the pre-pandemic era. There are many more buildings and vehicles, and more people too in the streets. Thankfully, they are all still as nice as ever. For a traveller from gritty NCR, the politeness and good humour are almost as shocking as the dazzling white clouds rumbling in a deep blue sky. At the Royal Bhutan University campus, where the three-day event was held from August 2, the traditional jester wanders around getting up to mischief as he does ever year; only this time, there is no sign of his regular prop, a large, well-carved wooden penis that in years gone by he waved cheerfully at all. These phallic objects that are believed to bring good energy and ward off the evil eye are connected to the teachings of "the Divine Madman", a medieval master from the Drukpa Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism who is the subject of Needrup Zangpo's book, Drukpa Kunley; Sacred Tales of a Mad Monk, which was released at the festival. It is tempting to give in to the lugubriousness that comes with the thought that the rest of the puritanical world has badgered the Bhutanese - a nation that has never been colonised - into hiding these fertility symbols, but there are just too many interesting sessions to attend for you to wallow. One of them is Forced and Inherited: Tracing the Roots of Imperialism and Their Lasting Impact on Identity and Power, which has literary critic and philosopher Martin Puchner in conversation with historian and fellow Harvard academic Maya R Jasanoff. "The language discussing imperialism is quite impoverished. About the empire-colony dichotomy, when you get down to brass tacks. we can see the US, Russia and China exercising imperial practices. Occupation and violence come with empires," said Jasanoff. The conversation between Nicholas Thorne, co-author of Me, My Customer and AI, the novelist Amrita Mahale, who also works for a non-profit that uses AI to improve women and children's health, and Gal Raz of Bhutan's Gelephu Mindfulness City, addressed the ways in which AI might falter when it is trained on data from more homogenous societies, and on the more optimistic side of artificial intelligence. "AI presents a tremendous opportunity for public health," said Mahale, while Thorne stated that entrepreneurship can be made easier with AI tools. Unsurprisingly, AI also featured in the session titled Digital Transformation and New Narratives: The Future of Indian and Bhutanese Cinema, which had podcaster Tsewang Rigzin in conversation with filmmaker Kiran Rao and Bhutanese documentary filmmaker Arun Bhattarai. "For an independent filmmaker, AI is like an assistant. We have to adapt," said Bhattarai, maker of Agent of Happiness. Rao whose Laapataa Ladies was screened at the festival, believes cinema's battle is now for attention. "As a filmmaker, I would encourage people to take a break from social media," said Rao, who believes access to technology and to dopamine hits has changed how we respond to images and stories. Stories and poetry were part of the Voices of Heritage and Modernity session, which had Janice Pariat and Avinuo Kire, both accomplished authors from India's north-east, talk about writing and oral traditions. "The idea of an author is a Western concept; for us it is unknown. Our stories belong to everybody," said Kire. The session on Combating Childhood Poverty through Research Policy and Narrative had Nobel laureate Esther Duflo and illustrator Cheyenne Olivier in conversation with Sanjeev Mehta, about writing for children. "The writing on poverty shouldn't be poor writing; It should be rich writing," said Duflo, who collaborated with Olivier on Poor Economics for Kids. "I needed someone whose work had a lot of beauty and joy; Chayenne's illustrations are full of joy," she added. All this was enlightening, but it was Kalu Rinpoche's talk about his forthcoming book, The Yoga of Niguma: Vajrayana Practices for a Luminous Mind that electrified the audience. Charismatic and imbued with the aura of a yogic rockstar, Rinpoche spoke about logic and reasoning in Buddhism, which is "no blind faith". Incidentally, years ago Rinpoche called out some monks for abusing him as a child. "There's far more politics in religion than I expected, as religion is run by humans but not the Buddha," he said, adding: "I thought being good and compassionate solves all the problems; it doesn't work." What definitely seems to work are his energetic Niguma yoga exercises presented on a video that had the audience riveted. Next, British-Indian photographer Max Vadakul presented a series of arresting images of Kalu Rinpoche and of people across Bhutan. "This is the most important work I've ever done in my life," he said. His superlatives were understandable. Bhutan, the land of the thunder dragon, has that effect. With its helpful volunteers, excellent sessions, well- behaved audience and still-freaky jester, Bhutan Echoes 2025 too was enveloped in a wholesome glow. And when the curtain fell on the event, as always, it was a wrench to leave....