Ura Village Documentation- Part II

Part II- Store Rooms, Windows and Cold

Picture from Divya

The first house we documented was about fifty years old and it still stood new on its thick enormous walls. The owner said that her house overcame earthquakes or any other disasters without a crack. Her amusing trust on her own house was undeniable as the house spoke for itself too. Its massive walls could stand hundreds of angry men punching on it hundreds of times though it was just mud and stone. It was three-storied and the wide ground floor where they used to keep cattle in olden days now were left empty. Although, some of the corners hosted families of mice and spiders. 

The stone masonry walls plastered with mud extended up to the first floor where this house had three different store rooms. Only if modern buildings in Thimphu had this luxury, one wouldn’t have to pay five thousand ngultrum for just a bedroom and a kitchen. 

A stair case of nine steps laddered up to the top most floor where she had her living quarters. It included a large kitchen which was also her living room. On the extreme right corner of this room was a typical Bhutanese hearth which was still in use. I was really amazed that the ancient mud stove was still in use while I thought it was obsolete in many other places of Bhutan. We later found out that most Uraps preferred cooking on these mud hearths for better taste. 

They didn’t only like cooking but also had the heart to feed us. We didn’t have more than 3-4 hours to spend in a house but as soon as we enter the main door, they’d start lighting the stoves and taking out clean pots. The first day was a funny battle between their kindness and my way of saying “No” but I eventually learned that I could ask for water instead of just denying the tea. That actually settled things better and I didn’t have to drink four cups of milk tea.  

The kitchen had an access to the medium sized store room where she stored her food items, old utensils and wooden boxes I only wished to have opened if it wasn’t rude. We were already intruding in most of their private areas and I felt bad for having them open their houses to some strange students who measured even their toilets. 

The store room didn’t have much of an opening just than a small rectangular window without any ornamentation. The windows on the main façade were a beauty! The façade, known as “Rabsel” in Dzongkha, is an intricate combination of windows and cornices. It is the main aspect of aesthetics in traditional Bhutanese architecture next to its roof. 

Most houses in Ura have gabled roof with a small protrusion from the center called “Lungo,” which draws air inside the attic. Even in their attics, they store their stuff. Yes, how many stores could they be having! Believe me, their stores aren’t just inside the house- they even have them outside! There are tiny sheds outside the house where they brew ara, fry zaw and store tools. 

Sir Jamyang posing with these kids

The houses in the village are positioned close to eachother which explains the kind of settlement-Nucleated. The reasons could be the climatic condition in Bumthang where winter is freezing cold and people chose to live closer to eachother. This also explains the social interaction among the villagers themselves. It starts from the little kids who hang around the paths mazed around the periphery of each house, playing together. It took me back to my childhood which wasn’t as exactly the same but I shared with them the feeling of being out in the cold winter of Bumthang and our mothers warning us to stay near the Bukhari. I don’t actually remember feeling cold. The temperature often dropped to negatives but perhaps it was the warmth we gained from running, playing and feeling happy. Happiness is one sort of warmth that saves you from feeling the cold air. It’s the kind of warmth you get from a place, something or someone whose company radiates heat while everything else freezes.

Karma, her beautiful jump

Penjore, yet another!