seven days

The seventh day from today, newly democratic Bhutan will get its fifth newspaper.

Business Bhutan, to be launched from capital Thimphu, will be the only financial newspaper in the country. I have been associating with this paper, headed by Tshering Wangchuk, a golfer, break-dancer and repartee-expert, after my two-year stint with the country's first private newspaper, Bhutan Times.

Business Bhutan has a fresh bunch of reporters: from Tshering Yangdon who has been a militia volunteer during the country's flush out operation against terrorists to Phuntsho Wangdi, the tattooed guy who is a national cricket team player.

The newspaper's office is by the only traffic island in Thimphu, a valley surrounded by huge pine trees. Lonely Planet describes this Himalayan town of 90,000 people as the world's only capital without traffic lights.

The central hall of Tashi Taj, the only five-star hotel in the country, will witness the first democratically elected prime minister of Bhutan, Lyonchen Jigmi Y. Thinley launching the 40-page Business Bhutan coming Saturday.

The paper expects, as Arthur Miller said, to be a nation talking to itself.