When I heard of 71-year-old Chojey Lhamo, visiting a drayang (bars with girl as entertainers) every day, I had many questions in my mind and really wanted to meet her.
After asking a few friends for her address, I was able to meet her.
Chojey Lhamo said that she found the drayang entertaining and spends a lot of her time there. Chojey usually lives in Babisa and when she comes to Thimphu to her granddaughter’s place, she never misses going to the drayang.
In the morning she goes to the memorial chorten and in the evening she sits in a corner of the drayang watching people perform on stage.
It has been almost one year that she has been following this routine.
However, she said that she has seen men misbehaving with the girls and that she does not like it at all. “Everything has good and a bad part and there are good and bad men,” she said.
There are people who say that the evolving drayang culture in Bhutan is not healthy for youth while there are also those who say it is entertaining.
I strongly believe that the drayang culture is soon going to become dirtier than expected. I know that the girls working there are not educated and have source of other income but they are also looking for fast money at the same time.
An aunt of mine offered a job to a girl working in the drayang as a sales girl. She said she would pay Nu 3000 but the girl refused saying she earned more than that in a drayang.
One of the high rank official said that Drayangs are a cover-up operation for prostitution but he won’t let me quote that. How am i going to make a difference then? I have written a lot about this issue but nothing has happened.
It this culture is not stopped right at the start, it won’t be long when prostitution will spread.
Whatever the circumstances may be statistics show that the draying culture is spreading to dzongkhags out of Thimphu.
The number of drayangs in Bhutan has increased. There are more that 22 drayangs in Bhutan now, majority of them being situated in Thimphu.
