Last Friday as I was entering the building I live in I saw a bunch of school going kids smoking behind the closed door of the main entrance to the building. I was shocked to see school children, majority girls, smoking without a care in the world. From their behavior I could say they are not the residents of the building otherwise they may not smoke in open for the fear of their parents finding out.
On further enquiry I found out that those are the children who have come to take tuition from some teachers residing in the building. It’s so distressing to see children especially girls at so tender age to indulge themselves in the behaviors as such. I tried to make them fear by making some faces but in vain. They were not to be perturbed and regarded me with an expression of indifference. Well since last Friday, the trend is on. Everyday at around 4 – 5 pm the corridor in our building smells of smoke only because those kids are using the corridor as their smoking zone. This is affecting not only them but the residents of the building too.
I wish those kids knew the side-effects of smoking. Where are the parents of those kids? Are they sending their children for tuition or for smoking?
Three years ago I was doing Diploma. My diploma days weren’t exactly bad, I won’t say so but it wasn’t the best days of my life I admit.
It started with those PG (post graduate) guys who used to show off their qualification and status. They showed us our place and we diploma students were reduced to nothing. I couldn’t be myself in presence of them because in my heart I had this feeling that I was nothing compared to them with their good qualifications. That feeling was eating me up and I almost lost my mind. Well I definitely lost my self-esteem and confidence.
Well it all started when my 12th standard results came out. I found out to my utter disappointment that I did not do well and my marks were not good enough to qualify for the only college in Bhutan. It was probably the worst day of my life it’s a horrible nightmare and even today and it gives me shudder.
Tears rolled down my cheeks unchecked and my vision was blurred. On that moment all my big dreams crashed right in front of me and there was nothing I could do. Life stopped right there and I could see no future for myself. I cried and cried until there’s no tears left in my eyes, cried so loud that I disturbed my neighbors as well. My folks tried to console me but to no avail.I knew I could get nothing by crying my eyes out but at that time it seemed like a most sensible reason. I felt like killing myself and I tried blaming everything and everyone for my ill luck but in the end it boils down to one thing, “I could not qualify and that’s it”. I was so pathetic and so consumed in self-pity. I disappointed everyone: my parents, teachers, friends and most of all myself. All expectations my parents had of me were nothing. I crashed their dreams too. I gave them an additional burden because they had to then worry about my college education. I knew my parents could never afford to send me to college outside the country. They were not financially equipped for that matter. At that instant I decided that if I had to become a burden to my parents then I wouldn’t want to go to college even if going to college had been my dreams forever because I had no right to exert financial pressure on my parents.
Couple of days later, I went to attend an interview for a diploma course in IT (information technology) and I got selected. Although I knew my chance of ever going to college was over, a ray of hope refused to die in me. In my heart I had a feeling that, if not now, someday I would do degree and pursue my dreams. It was a secret promise I made to myself.
I had the same thought and determination that kept me going for 2 years of my diploma course; I had faith in god and in myself. I thought if I really wanted something so badly and if I worked towards it then I can achieve it. I believed one day a miracle would happen, I didn’t know how or when but I knew I’d go to college and that was some driving force in life that kept me sane.
Trust me it was a very long wait but in the end it was worth it.
It was in year 2006, after my diploma, my sister gave me the most pleasant surprise. She got me YES scholarship. I jumped up with glee and happiness. All my dead dreams re-surface once again. A new person was born in me with energy and dreams I never felt more alive in life. I could picture myself going to college and being with those people I used to envy. My pathetic, sorry-state life was over and a new life was about to born. Thanks to ITU for giving me this new life, a life full of dreams and ambitions. Today I stand as one proud and determined person. Those feelings of inferiority are no longer there in me. Today I am confident of myself and my ability and feel no less than my peers.
After three years of hard work I am almost done with college. Life’s been great in college. Today I stand proud and learned. I am a better person today and ready to go out there in the world and take up challenges. Today I feel life’s complete and I am utterly grateful to ITU for YES and for my life. I owe it all to ITU for making me a better person in life.
Without ITU, I would have been where I was before, a person as good as dead.But YES happened to me and I am grateful that I did. Today I have that confidence in myself that I can contribute to the society and to the world at large.
YES was truly a dream come true for me and for many others who received it. I would always remain grateful to ITU for making me a better person.
And like me, there are thousand of people out there who are benefited by ITU/YES. I am sure they all feel grateful to ITU for giving them a second chance in life.
Well one time I was just reading something when I came across this phrase “well behaved women rarely make history” and I was thinking how true it is. Just look at all those women who have been constantly in the news for the wrong reasons. Well I do agree there’s hardly anything as being in the news for the ‘right reasons’.
All women who have been in the news frequently are those outrageous women. For instance, we have Paris Hilton is the west who’s more in the news because of her parties and status than her acting and singing skills. Often we hear of her leaked sex tapes and nude pictures but not many talks about her credibility as an actress. Also we have Lindsay Lohan, who’s been in the news for her gay status and lesbian affairs with Sam Rosnon.
And in bollywood we have our drama queen Rakhi Sawant. I heard a NDTV reporter saying “love her, hate her but you just can’t ignore her” and that’s true about Raki Sawant. A small town item girl has risen to a celebrity status, due to her publicity ability. She even went to the extend of making mockery of marriage in a cultured and conservative country like India, by marrying on reality show ‘Rakhi Ka Sayambar’. Right after her engagement she has said she is not sure if Elesh (her fiancé), is the right man for her. Just imagine what would she do if she is in America instead of India? I wouldn’t be surprised if she dance nude.
Well I am not criticizing those women. In fact I think I admire them. They are women with ‘guts’ and in my I think they deserve respect for their bold attitude, courage and guts. With their nonchalant ‘devil-may-care’ attitude I think those women got it all. I call that thing as grace. We all have something to learn from those women.
Well back home, our women have made no history. Bhutanese women are so well behaved. They are silent like mouse. Penny Jordan has said, “The days when women’s sole aim in life is to secure a husband are long gone”. Women in Bhutan have moved forward a lot but there are still social issues they are not comfortable with. Women in Bhutan always consider themselves not so equal to their male counterpart.
Maybe it’s time we all gain some guts do whatever we want to do and be whom we want to be. And like “a leopard does not change his spot,” if Bhutanese women don’
Well is there thing such as “true love”? For me I think the movies (especially Korean) has influenced so much that we always yearn true love but there’s no such thing.The word 'true love' is over hyped by people. There’s always a motive behind a guy’s every move. It’s always about something he wants from you that he’s displaying fake feelings and putting up an act. I have dated my own share of guys. Old, young, intelligent, dull but I have never found that feeling that “he’s the one” in anyone of them because the moment I thought of some permanence then the guy just moves away and today I m left with the thought “there’s no guy made for me. Either he is not born yet or already dead” today I feel that instead of wasting time over some stupid guy why don’t I just study well and do well for my self in life. The question that always strikes me as odd is: am I not worthy of love? Why is every guy prejudiced against me? What have I done to end up like this? Sometimes it’s so lonely but because of all the wrong guys I dated, I have become so untrusting. I m scared to meet any new guys because I fear that the new guys may end up like the old ones. What if all guys are same? What if history repeats itself? I have always thought I met my Mr Right only to find it’s the wrong one again…but i guess nobody's perfect and the concept of Mr. Right and true love is just Hoax....
I remember promising to write about my interview with the media as soon as it gets published in the paper. Well it did get published in the August 09, Sunday issue of Bhutan Today. I am really sorry for the delay. It’s because I went to my native (Paro), for the last two days to visit my folks.
I was looking forward to my story being published in the paper. My notion of the whole stuff was me being the central figure but to my utter disappointment, not only was my name spelled wrong but also my course was mentioned wrong. On top of that, there’s only few lines written about me but on the whole I m happy. Whatever maybe the case I got an opportunity to have an interview with the media. Publicity I guess is my weakness. I‘d love to be on the camera, in focus to have people know/recognize me for a good cause.
Well the following is the story from the paper (Bhutan Today). I‘ll be including only what’s written about me and the topic of course.
Civil service hopefuls have tough time getting books (Topic)
Pelden, an indian-educated engineer, who was leafing through the newspaper in the Jigme Dorji Wangchuk Public Library (JDWPL), said that graduates have to read books on Bhutan as part of their course material, but these are very expensive, and most often unavailable for borrowing from the libraries.
The above is what the reporter (Tharchen) as quoted me, from the paper.
Well my first interview with the media (Bhutan Today) was on August 7, 2009. The reporter was doing a story on “how the graduates are preparing for the upcoming CSCE exams” and he happened to have come to the public library where I happened to be reading kuensel (the country’s daily newspaper).
I was asked several questions like what I was studying, what books and syllabus and how I was allocating time for each subject. I answered whatever I could and was very satisfied I should say. Well I try to be composed and confident but I am not how the reporter judged me. I thought to see the daily issues of Bhutan Today to see if my story was published there but I have missed for 2 days now. Once I get to see the story published I will be writing more on it.
The first time I knew love was in my 7th standard. I fell hopelessly in love with a boy. That was when I knew what love was, what crushes were but I never for once doubted what I felt for that guy was infatuation. That so-called love was of course never reciprocated because I had no courage to tell that guy how I felt about him not that he would have liked me in return. I carried that burden for about 6 years, loving him and yearning for him. It was like one way traffic.
The second love was in diploma (2004-’06), for an elderly man. I thought I have found my Mr. Right then. I always thought elder men are more caring and feeling. Though ours was not love at all but I have seen some seriousness at first. There had been a motive on both sides. For me I think his car attracted me more to him than he himself, which of course I found out, was not the right thing to base your relationship on. He, on the other hand was hardly in love with me. For him I was just one of his possessions. He had many girl friends and I was just one amongst the rest. All we ever shared was relationship based purely on lies, mistrust and disbelief. The rest is the history.
Third love was in college. I met this guy on chat. He’s a very capable guy and I loved him with every piece of me. My life was centered on him then. I thought I have finally found the guy only to have him disappeared from my life eventually. I thought I might die from the pain. He was a really cool guy whom I haven’t seen or met in real life. Is it possible to love someone without seeing him? The answer is “yes”. I have loved him and I can only blame myself that he at all disappeared from my life. I think all the previous loves were infatuation but not this time. This time I m old enough to know my heart and my heart says it’s love and so be it. I can only wish he comes back to me…..
