Shoes fit for a .......?

I came across this piece Tsholham – Traditional Bhutanese Boots at this Blog Bhutan - 360 (It gives a good description of the shoes) and reminded me about an incident that took place this summer at the Traditional boot store in Thimphu.

At the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in Washington in 2008, several write-ups talked about how Governor Rick Perry from Texas had been "out-booted" by the Bhutanese. But governor Perry said that while admitting "de-feet" to the Prince of Bhutan, HRH Dasho Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck, had told him that he would hook him up with the royal boot maker!

I think apart from a royal boot maker there is only one other who makes these boots for all of Thimphu, (if not all of Bhutan) and it was at this non-descript little shop located in Chubachu that I went to visit the other boot maker. Bhutanese boots are a source of pride because they are truly unique (like everything Bhutanese), very colourful, very bohemian and beautiful....uhhmmm... lets say except for the soles

In the Summer of 2009 a month before I was to leave Bhutan, I went to order some boots for myself and my children.  The proprietor Mr. Jangchubla (as it says on his name card) took our orders.

My daughter ordered one which would have embroidered peacocks on the feet, my son wanted a plain simple one and I asked for one with flowers.  We selected the brocade combinations and left very excited, particularly my children because they wear the boots annually at their school parade on United Nations Day.

At the end of the month, a few days before we were to leave Bhutan, we went to pick up our boots but alas, we were thoroughly disappointed.  Everything about the boots was beautiful except sadly for the soles. Such intricate and hard work was ruined by the cheap rubber/foam soles that not only did not match something so beautiful as the boots, but it also had heels in them! I was so upset, since we did not have time to get the boots redone, that I complained and told Mr. Jangchubla, how on earth could he not realize that he had ruined the shoes with those ugly brown and black striped soles!



 Mr. Jangchubla was at first very surprised that I was upset.
Why are you so mad? You are the only person who has come to this shop that doesn't seem to like this. Everyone, all the dancers from RAPA and others like their heels this way," he said. But after I told him that it was unfortunate that no one had told him or noticed anything about the soles, and explained to him why they were ugly, he said rather dejectedly: "If Madam doesn't want it don't take it," he said, "but you don't have to get so mad at me. There is nothing I can do about it because I only know how to do it this way.

I told him that I was not angry at him but was frustrated that he did not realize how he had destroyed a beautiful piece of craftsmanship with a mistake like that. I asked him:"How were traditional soles, in the past, made?" but he didn't seem to know. I said I wanted them traditional, with leather like they did in the good old days, but he said that nobody wore the leather soles today because they were thin and uncomfortable.

I explained to him how Italian shoes were world famous because of the beautiful craftsmanship and how everything about the quality of those shoes was in the"hand lasting" of soles. They were hand-stitched so seamlessly to the body of the shoes that it wasn't only something good to look at, but also made the shoe stronger and more comfortable.  If he was going to go modern on the soles then he'd have to do it with leather, as we did traditionally, but like the Italians. I felt bad for Jangchubla because he did not seem to know how rubber/foam was not right for those boots.

I realized that maybe he was never taught or never learnt the art or craft of making traditional leather soles. It was a sad thought that the art was disappearing/disappeared because young people like him didn't know. I told him that I was not going to reject the shoes because I had already put him through all that work. However, he would definitely have to remove the heels and the soles for mine and my daughter's boots. He agreed. Jangchubla and I had a long conversation about the boots.

I told him how Bhutanese boots were such a hit at the Washington Folk Life Festival and that because of Bhutan's exposure to the world, even something like our boots could fetch an overseas market if we could only meet the quality of the soles. Tourists would definitely buy them as gifts if they were marketed well, and people might even wear them regularly if the soles were good. The more I explained the benefits of a good sole, the more he realized that there was something to what I was saying. I told him that he should write a proposal to the BCCI and tell them that as one of the few traditional Tsholham makers in all of Bhutan he should be eligible to get a grant to undergo a simple training/or apprentice outside the country at a good cobbler's school, to see and learn the craft of making modern soles that could be adapted and fashioned for Tsholhams.

I don't know how to write, and I don't know who to approach," he said."What you say is true and I wish other's see us as playing an important role in the preservation of our culture, but I guess they don't. We don't know anything about trainings and such. We just make do with what we learn from looking at the Indian and Chinese shoes." (Not that there is anything wrong with Indian and Chinese shoes, except that he was probably looking at the cheap ones)


I told him that it was a shame that something like the Tsholham, so elegant and painstakingly embroidered, should be rendered ugly because we Bhutanese didn't know how to make the soles. The Tsholham and craftsmen who are involved in the business should be given some attention and assistance by the government, after all, as we have learnt, they play an important role in Bhutan's cultural heritage and are a source of Bhutanese pride.

Mr. Jangchubla
PO box 823 Chubachu Thimphu
975 2 328065
975 17624896/17764202