"Television has been the medium through which our people get to find out about other cultures," she said.
At the same time, foreign TV has wrought changes that make her deeply uncomfortable. Her grandparents now watch Indian soap operas in Hindi, a language that would have been foreign to their ears a few years ago.
"Before we would sit together at home and eat dinner ... Now everyone is watching television," Zam said. "In the long run ... it may not be good for the culture that we have worked so hard to protect."
Clearly, the strange riches of the world outside have reached only a small portion of Bhutan's people. Only 33,000 TV sets are in the entire country, and more than half are estimated to have satellite connections that offer up to 30 channels, Zam said. As for the Internet, the universe is even smaller.
Nationwide, the number of Internet users is estimated at 25,000, according to Druknet, the state-owned Internet service provider.
To Singye Dema, 17, the Internet has proved irresistible. Her page on the chat Web site www.hi5.com, is a sparkling pink creation, with a cheerful photograph of her and a description of her interests, including "playing with kids." Her page is festooned with family pictures and a string of conversations she has been having with friends from home and strangers abroad.
Dema, an 11th-grader, finds herself coming back for these online chats almost daily -- and on the weekends, she confessed half disgustedly, sometimes twice a day, for up to three hours at a time.
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