While I was away...

It’s been almost 2 years without a single post on my blog. Actually I hated the last look of it and never even looked at it but time sure flies, it didn’t feel that long. Two years is a long time therefore so much has happened, so much has changed in my life. Last time I posted anything I was working in BNBL and had so much leisure time but now I have become a mother and my responsibilities have tripled over the year, my time is not my own anymore.

Motherhood is the greatest gift of life any woman can enjoy. I didn’t like babies much before my son was born. I was clumsy and couldn’t stand baby-poop and cries but that all changed with the birth of my own baby Pezu. Today I feel my life is centred about him; I work hard so that he could have a better life. I strive to provide him all the things I missed out in life, I want to be able to give him better education. Fortunately for us, Pezu is a beautiful baby. He learns fast and he is already starting to take wobbly little steps. With little support and rest he can walk the entire length of the room. It’s such a joy to have him around. At 1 year of age, he has travelled 3 countries, boarded flight 6 times, ridden bus, train, been on beaches, elevators, malls, childcare and met many people and tasted many cuisines. He’s been truly exposed and I am glad that I could give him the opportunity though he may not remember any of these when he grows up.

Australia is extremely good country to live in, I could write so much about my experience but I would like to dedicate one post to that therefore I shall not divulge much here. I fell in love with this country the moment I landed on Australian soil. Bhutanese people come here with the only motive to make money, I did not have any such motive so I dragged my infant baby along but the pressure of not working much was hanging at the back of my mind. By law and as a student I was allowed to work only 20 hours a week, more than that wouldn’t have been possible anyways due to hectic Uni work; we are bogged down with assignments and exams during the semester. I was working 20 hours, studying full time Uni and being full time mother. The juggle between work, Uni and baby was tough I was driven to the point of depression and I missed home and missed my old life in Bhutan, yet in the end I pulled it off. I could do all of the three with good progress and result. It may be too early and presumptuous to say that yet because I still have one year to complete my Master’s program but with hard work, dedication and time management I think I will be able to succeed.

Reviewing the Rupee crunch situation

The recent Rupee Crisis in Bhutan has left many Bhutanese worried. The government’s ban and restriction on the rupee was very sudden and hit the Bhutanese market bad. People now started looking for an alternate source to earn rupees. In such times, some bad guys took advantage of the situation; Royal Monetary Authority should not have made it like INR 10,000 for anyone holding Bhutanese citizenship identity card. This has lead to thriving black market. Some people waited all day in Bank of Bhutan to get their share of Rs. 10,000 they did not need only to be sold to the next person at Nu.  10,200/- or more.

Personally I am very worried. For now I have no use of Indian currency but I have a brother who’s going to college in India soon. What then? I started worrying. The rupee crunch situation is giving me sleepless nights too. I can’t ask my brother to email me an invoice for every item he purchased. Similarly, many people are worried like me. However, the better side to this crisis is perhaps it’s time for us Bhutanese to wake up to the alarm and review the situation. It has happened because we are heavily dependent on the Indian government. Why buy vegetables from India when we grow vegetables ourselves? Farmers in my village have acres of barren wetland because the cost of cultivation is much higher than its produce. Bhutanese vegetables fetch no money because Bhutanese people prefer to buy chemically-preserved fresh vegetables imported from India. Some say Bhutanese potatoes are exported to India at say Nu. 10/- per kg, the same potatoes are preserved in India with chemicals in a huge storage reserves in Falakata. And the very same potatoes are sold back to Bhutan in winter season at Nu. 15 per kg. Now the question is why buy back our potatoes at Nu. 5 a kilogram loss? What we need is storage facility, we have our own potatoes.

We are self reliant if we encourage our Bhutanese farmers to grow our own food.  Why not build storage house in every region/district and buy vegetables from our farmers and sell to the civil servants, corporate and private employees. If the rates are fixed and subsidized price I don’t think anything will be costly. If we utilize our barren land and put ban to Indian vegetables not only will Bhutan be self-reliant but rural-urban migration would reduce too with our farmers sticking to their base.

Being a bank employee with all loans suspended, I’m scared about my future. Though recession or downsizing has not really happened to Bhutan yet but we should always remain prepare for the worst. Perhaps it’s time to mull over an alternate source of bread earning.

Let us all take a small step toward self-reliance. Let us not import non-essentional items from outside. Let us buy vegetables from Bhutanese farmers and let us not purchase a posh car only to be bumped by other reckless drivers. Let us not give back the Indian currency given to us as grant by the Indian government.

Camping of the Year

This year’s camping was perfectly preplanned. We had long discussions about the timing and the menu and in the end everything went according to our plan. It was last weekend we some 40 of us decided to take a break from hectic work and venture out into the wild. It was truly an adventure and we had loads of fun.

We divided ourselves into 2 batches; morning and evening batches. The morning batch went to the camping spot early Saturday morning to pitch the tents and do other preparations and others stayed behind in office to provide support for the non-technical employees of our organization. The real fun started when I was caught by traffic police for over-speeding. No amount of pleading with them had any outcome. Police officials claimed that I was driving at 72 Km/hr and I was fined for infringement of traffic rules. I was then issued a yellow slip and they ceased all my documents.

However, that encounter didn’t stop me from having fun. I had a marvelous time at the camp site. Well when we reached the spot it was perfect for camping and picnic. The place has water source and electricity too. Firewood was fetched by one local man and we paid him. So basically we had no problem whatsoever.

With huge budget under our belt we had so many choices in the menu. Dinner wasn’t a grand festive because people were more interested in wine and dancing. Hard drinks, wine, brandy and juice were in abundance and there were so many half-empty wine bottles lying around the picnic spot.  Dancing after drinks was outrageously interesting. Even the simplest of simple guys were shaking their bodies to the tune of music. There were only few of us who did not drink and I was one of them initially. However, I found not boozing very dull and boring so I made a bucket of punch to get myself and others drunk. That really got into me and I was flat for the rest of the evening.

Morning found us all dull and back-to-ourselves. Few guys were having hang-over of the night and grumpy and by themselves. Few of us did the cooking and others washed their cars. Lunch with countless menus was mostly wasted. Few girls gave lots of cooked-meat to stray dogs. After lunch we wrapped up the party, most were in hurry to leave for home and some were having tough time with hangover.

The IT&FCU camping was fun. The only obstacle was a guy bumped his car on a tree trunk and my little brush up with the traffic police. Though the hang-over from the camping still persist and throbbing head pain won’t go away, I’d relive the moment if I had to.

Adjusting back to Thimphu

It’s been a year I’ve been away from the buzz of the city and things have changed a lot in the capital. No longer can one cross a street without getting bumped by some car and driving in this city is a sheer nightmare. It’s not enough that you are a good driver because there are hundred reckless drivers in town. Cars come onto you from every nook and corner without following any traffic rule. In such town, I prefer coming to office early morning and not moving from the parking lot all day long.

I haven’t visited the famous Sheare Square mall yet nor Shoppers Stop. In fact I haven’t done any shopping yet. I’m still sleeping walking, missing the peace and tranquility and friendly people of Samdrup Jongkhar. Being a country girl likes it in the country side.

I have everything here; my folks are only an hour away in Paro.  Yet there seems to be something missing in this place despite everything. In S/jongkhar I never had to go anywhere because I didn’t have any work outside the office and here even lunch breaks cannot be spared. One is always kept busy here.

The other day I had an awful encounter with the traffic police for breaching the traffic rules. I did not give way to the vehicle already in the round-about. After that incident the mere sight of any police gives me goose-bumps. I have to be somewhere else in Bhutan but Thimphu.

These days I am house-hunting in Thimphu; from Bebessa to Taba there’s no place that I haven’t visited but there’s no house that suits my need and income group. Those few vacant houses are either to far or too expensive. Ads say ‘fully furnished house for rent @Nu. 25,000 per month.

Yet another 'Lomba' away from Home

I just found out that my folks at home are busy with the Lomba celebrations. This is one time of the year I miss home and my folks terribly. It's been ages since I was home on the occasion of Lomba. I have been trying to be gay all day laughing at silly jokes, overlooking others' fault and tried my best to be patient because I didn't want my new year to start on a bad note. On the whole the day's passed pretty well.

I still intend to clean my office and my house thoroughly. Afterwards I plan to cook many delicies and have nicely. This year at least I'm not lonely, God with his good grace has granted me with company of this wonderful person and I am happy and thankful of the presence of this person in my life.

2011 has been a pretty good year for me in terms of career development, financial gains and personal relationships. With God's grace everybody had good times. On this scared and joyous occasion my my New Year (Lomba), I wish everyone a Happy Lomba and a very successful and fulfilling year ahead.
May peace prevail on earth..

Lomba Tashi Delek @Everyone.

Spent my ‘National Day’ in the Coal Mines

Unusual as it sounds I have spent Bhutan’s 104^th National Day in the coal mines along with the truck drivers and laborers. The road to the mines was sheer nightmare; rough, bumpy and narrow.  Literally speaking, it was a roller-coaster ride.

Some 5 kms from Deothang, the SD Eastern Bhutan Coal mines stood. Acres of forest have scraped of its trees but it looks beautiful. I have always wanted to pay a visit after seeing the picture of the mines from a past Kuensel’s edition.

I meant to take my camera but the battery was dead before I could take one photo. As a result I had to resolve to using a friend’s mobile camera. I have spent the entire duration there taking pictures of the beautiful landscape but due to my poor photography skills I could not do justice to the mines. Some of the pictures I have uploaded to the sliding images on my blog.

The return journey wasn’t as scary also we did not meet so many trucks on the way. After spending sometime in Deothang we returned to Samdrup jongkhar. It was 3 pm in the afternoon.

Rest of the day was spent in watching BBS TV. With tears in my eyes, I have watched 4 times His Majesty’s National Day speech. The heartwarming words have renewed my sense of patriotism and love for our kings. Long live our kings and happy belated National Day.

Confused

In my effort to improve the outlook of my blog I have completely distorted it, lost the old settings and stuffs but I am happy that finally I'm adapting to change (I used to be afraid of changes in the past), which I suppose is a good thing.

In the coming days, I hope to improve everything about my blog and begin to write again. It's been so long without any post.
For today, I sign off....

Couple of Stories

Ram may be a wealthy man, a man of power but he lacks the basic ingredients of live; love. At 43, Ram's never been married. Thanks to his step-mom, who did not want to see him happily wedded? Though Ram has always considered him as his own mom and showered her with love and care the feeling wasn't reciprocated.  And hence Ram wasted good many years of his life without love. Now there was no hope for the poor rich guy.

Ram may not have been the best looking man or he might have quick temper but he was a good human being. Fortunately for him, he had the best friend and business associate that had his best interest at heart. The search for a potential bride for Ram who loves him and not his money has so far proved futile and so life went on.

Priya is a middle class woman in her thirties who's been looking after the welfare of her family all her life and it skipped her mind to look after herself. She gets along with her father, a simple and humble man. Together they make a good pair. 

However, her mother is a total contradiction, though obese she likes to think she's stylish and fashionable. A middle-aged woman and a mother of three children she's a real gold digger. It's of no use blaming the mother because she only wants her children not endure the same fate she had for herself.

Priya's siblings are the handsome younger brother and the pretty model-like sister. Nobody knows as to why Priya couldn’t share her brother's lean feature or her sister's angelic face. Nor did her father doubt her mother's fidelity. The only person blaming her is her mother for not having secured a husband by now. The brother's marriage had to be on hold because he refused to get married before his elder sister does.

Ram and Priya may not admit to themselves that there's something brewing but to the onlookers they make a striking pair. For instance, the lady in the lift once compliments how good they look together. For now, we'll leave them to their feelings and let them realize they are truly a match made in heaven.

This reminds me of another love story, of Dagay and Lemo’s. Well Dagay is this normal working guy who screwed up his studies and landed a small job in the remotest part of Bhutan. His meeting Lemo was no coincidence neither fated but case of lost bachelor wanting to have a normal life. The first few months might have gone well but troubles started when the initial excitement worn out.

Today five years and two children later, the couple couldn't remember why they got married in the first place.  Things turned ugly when jealous Lemo keeps tab of the carefree Dagay. Public humiliation is one thing that Dagay had to endure on most occasions. On one occasion, Lemo scolded her husband badly which affected Dagay's respectable public reputations.

Dagay may be a huge and heavy-set man but his size is in contrast to his say at home. Dagay has to do the basic chores of cooking and dropping his children to school. Lemo, on the other hand, takes pride in her control over her husband. In her doing so it did not occur to her what her husband might be going through, the weight of torment that could cost her marriage.

However, Dagay, the good old gentleman did not mind his wife's tortures and continued living. He considered her  nagging as his duty and responsibilities. To these days, Lemo hasn't improved a bit and someday it'd be too late to mend the fences.

Perhaps somebody got to tell her to check her wrinkled face in the mirror once in a while.

Snakes: A common sight during monsoon season

A dead snake hanging from electric pole

BPC's electric poles have yet another use; for snake drying.

Scared of snakes? Then it's no place for you to be. Snakes are everywhere; on the road, on electric poles, behind your door and in offices. Snakes of all shapes and sizes, of all colors are on display this monsoon.

Samdrup jongkhar: An observation by a new resident

When we entered the Bhutan Gate (that borders SJ with Indian state of Assam), one of the men from our taxi had white hair which was actually black when we started our journey in Phuntsholing. It was in the last week of February and that was how dusty the place used to be. Gradually the dusty roads were replaced by black-topped and paved road and the place looked much better as time passed by.

Today, three months later I've developed a sense of belonging to this place. Although a small town and deprived of any sort of entertainment, this town has got its own charm. People here are not really workaholic like that of Thimphu but they are more human. If you visit the town you will see men in boxers and vests leisurely walking around, hands rubbing their potbellies as if this little act can do away with the heat. Women suit-up with printed cotton kiras with matching tegos and flat sandals, and absolutely no makeup.

If you observe you won't see many people in town, can't blame the people, the shops around here only sell groceries and vegetables? Fancy clothes are luxuries the town shops simply couldn't afford.  However, most people walk to/from office. The buzz comes only in the evening side when people go for walk to the S/jongkhar - Dewathang highway. Old and young alike, wake up as early as 4.30 am to walk or to jog, sheer freaking behavior (or so I thought).

Taxis are the thing that is seen only in the taxi parking lot. People hardly take taxis locally, nor do the drivers entertain local. All taxis go to Phuntsholing, Trashigang or Gelephu. Still few cars owned by the residents are mostly branded foreign cars.

Inflation rate is totally outrageous. The price of the commodities dwindles all the time. A broom  stick that cost Nu. 30 in Thimphu, is sold at Nu. 80 in Samdrupjongkhar. A pack of maggi costing Nu. 10 is sold at Nu. 15 here and the list is endless. Shops on the outskirts of town must be buying things from the town and selling at a high rate and so explains the fluctuation in the price of commodities.

Despite all the flaws there are good stuffs too. Men here entertain themselves with archery, football, jogging and bars. Women indulge in walk and sports. Rumors have it that there is rampant gambling too; however, I haven't seen it happening yet.

Few famous hotels like Friends, Mountain and Shambala are always crowded irrespective of occasions. Either people are overjoyed or bored to death in a small town like this, to be able to hang out every night to celebrate.

When you first arrive in the town you feel like you are some kind of sensation, with your mobile phone buzzing with calls from strangers but you soon will soon learn that the same happens with every new comer in the town, beginner's excitement I guess.

Above all, the town’s total attraction (according to me) is having the Indian city of Guwahati nearby. If you’re willing to spend around 10,000 bucks, Drukair will drop you in Paro in less than an hour. Also there are recreation centers like parks and others on the way to Guwahati.  I have had the pleasure to take a peek at those parks on my way to Guwahati and they are awesome.

Well, Samdrup jongkhar is one of Bhutan’s class A thromde where you need to cross 2 giant Indian states viz. West Bengal and Assam (if you happen to come via Pling), in the extreme South-East corner of Bhutan.  You need SSB escort to come or go but once you reached it’s a beautiful town and a small community.