I have a Dream

I dreamed of becoming somebody when I first got admitted in school and I do still today but sometimes I feel I am doing nothing except dreaming. I go to bed every night promising myself to do something worth while tomorrow only to end up like yesterday.

Time seems to be dragging by when I so much want to get a job and earn living. There is still couple of months before I could appear for the CSCE exams and get myself placed in a job. Sometimes I wish time would just fly by. I feel envious seeing my old friends going everyday to office, returning in the evening to the warmth of their house. Life seems a fun to them all and I can’t wait to grab my share of that fun.

When I get a job it’s going to be fun. I am going to go an hour before the office opens and return an hour after the closing time. I am going to stay very busy and occupied. Learn all the new stuff and upgrade myself. That’s how it is going to be on the professional life. On the personal front too, it’s going to be different. There won’t be much time for anything except work. Well social circle of course will be there because friends are needed in all spheres of life but up to a limit.

I’d want to work for few years but eventually I hope to start my own business. Given a chance I’d start a business first but working few years is important because I need budget to set up my own business. I have already started worrying for a name or a logo for my company but since I have few years for that I am sure I will come up with something. I have so big a dream; a dream of becoming somebody, making my own name in this world so that I’ll be remembered when I am gone from here. I can only hope my dreams can turn into reality.

Well I have never thought of marriage and kids as such, neither are those included in my dream but if it’s fated then it may happen but I won’t regret much if it never happened to me. I have never thought of myself as a ‘wife-material’ and I am sure I will make an awful mother and a terrible wife. No man would be able to put up with my character and impatience. I think god never meant for me to marry but trust me, I am not looking for love and children. I guess I am a ‘commitment phobe’ because the very thought of marriage scares me. I am lucky to be born as a Bhutanese because there’s no one to force me into marriage if I didn’t want to.

Well I just hope there will be money and happiness in my life with no husband and children. I hope I will be able to look after my folks well and give good education to my nieces and nephews and my kid brother. I hope I can be a nun when I become old. And I hope I will have a successful, busy and fruitful life. I look forward to living 50 more years..haha…

Bad omen: what’s in store for me?

Rolling dice(s) in a sacred temple (commonly called ‘sho zhu ni’), is a Bhutanese way of predicting the future. People do that often to see the outcome of the future deeds. Mostly odd numbers is a good sign; means you need to go ahead with the decision. If you get even numbers, it means bad omen so people mostly abort the plan to be carried out in the future. Sho (dice), they say is god’s way of communicating with the people because they can’t come to the people in their own form.

Well my mother and sister are firm believer in the ‘sho’ thing. They always roll the dice to predict the future. If they get even numbers they do ‘remdos’ (puja) to drive away the evil spirits. My mother’s nature of being so pious has some impact on me because I also became little partial to the sho.

Trust me, it’s not good. It has a negative aspect of its own. I have few incidents to justify what I have said. Well this year, since I am opting for the civil service exams (RCSC), everywhere I go I do ‘sho zhu ni’ to predict if I can get through it but in vain. This RCSC exam has been a trauma on my mind ever since I got my self admitted as a BCA student in Bangalore.

Well last June, as soon as I returned home, I went to visit a temple in my native (called ‘Jana Gompa’), which happened to be our family’s ‘ki lha’ (god of birth). Well along with my brother I went there. Upon reaching, we offered butter lamps and other things and then I rolled the dices for the purpose of my RCSC exams. I got number ten even after three times rolling, which I have already mentioned is a bad omen; a thing that tells me that there’s no use for me to attempt RCSC because it serves no purpose; I am not going to make up or get through. Ever since that incident, I always felt a little restless and my mind is disturbed. I have been thinking since then, maybe I should just forget the whole idea of even attempting RCSC, because I have heard it from god. He’s come in the form of two dices to tell me not to go ahead with the exams. Well my mind’s still not made up on the decision.

And ‘adding fuel to the fire’, I got even number (twelve) from Dechenphug temple, yesterday too even after three attempts. I should not have rolled the dices if it’s going to have a negative impact on my mind. Now there’s no hope of ever passing the exams and getting employed as a civil servant. My mind is sensitized negatively and how much ever I try I can’t think positive. I wish I knew if this whole thing is true regarding the RCSC exams. Either I am not going to make it or a great evil is going to befall upon me. I am not sure which but either is not a good option. I guess I am in shortage of luck; if that’s the case I need to inform my folks at home to perform some pujas on my ‘lo’ (Bhutanese zodiac sign).

BoB vacancies: 100s for 10 slots

On September 22, my friend said there are about 10 vacancies in Bank of Bhutan (BoB) for the post of assistant manager and that she wanted to apply. I failed to comprehend why she wanted to be an assistant manager which is not related to her field of study. However I said I’d also try just to gain some experience but after some thinking I said why to apply for something just for namesake.

She agreed and relented to my reasoning and so we gave up this crazy idea. Well that night I was just attempted to see what it really was so I opened the BoB website and saw the vacancy there. Well that was not all because there’s a one slot vacancy for the post of network administrator too which happened to be our field. So I called my friend and said maybe it’s not a bad idea. There will be people who are competing but we should apply too. My good old friend as usual agreed to what I said so we went to apply for the post of network administrator.

There’s only one slot for that post but many applying. There’s no guarantee that I will get, or my friend for that matter but I don’t want regret later for not trying. Well I have heard of corruption in corporations when it comes to recruiting people. They always say background matters but I don’t really buy it. After all it’s for the benefit of their company and I believe no person would want to intentionally put their company’s interest at stake. Well having said that, my sister is a firm believer in the transparency in recruiting employees today. She always used to say it’s your talent and ability that counts not background.

Well we had with us one lyonpo’s niece competing for the same post. If there’s no corruption then there’s nothing to fear. I don’t think any lyonpo will interfere in the trifle matter as such. Let’s just wait and watch. Only time will tell.

That time was only submitting applications. If one is short listed, I believe one will be called for the interview. Some say the interview is going to be held in Phuentsholing but it’s not confirmed yet.

Grads from India: Not equivalent to others?

“Where have you graduated from?” India. “awoo.. Are you a genuine graduate? Or you paid money and passed?” that’s the common expression today. It’s become a clique these days. The word “India” is enough to directly come to the conclusion but that’s not fair to all of us. Yes, it’s true there are so people who just pay money and pass but isn’t there exception for everything? There will be few grads from every university but why discriminate only grads from India?

There are many grads like us in India who have not missed a single class. Not missed any tests be it class or university exams. We have good grades as an outcome of our hard work, a result of ‘burning the midnight oil’ so it’s not fair to brand all of us in that “awoo” category. There are graduates from India doing so well in the civil service exams. In Bhutan majority of the graduates come from India so it’s expected to find few corrupt cases but that gives people no right to down look upon all the grads.

Recently, at Lingkana palace, ex-lyonpo Chenkhap Dorji asked me, “Where have you graduated from?”
“Bangalore,” replied I
His next remark was, “mashey mey. Turu jing tey pass menga?” (Passed by paying)
I was shocked. Never had I in my wildest dream thought of doing such an illegal act. “Men la. We did have genuine results,” responded I. He further said he thought so because there are cheat consultants who waste student’s money but good-for-nothing.


Well I don’t blame his Excellency, because this is our Bhutanese attitude towards India studied grads. People think we do nothing in India for 3 years. It’s annoying to observe people’s expression changing from a smile to a slight frown when I mention my university. I feel like removing the smug off that person’s face.

I just wish people would treat all the graduates equally just as the RCSC does.

Indecisiveness: What to do & what not to do?

I wish I could forecast the future so that I can do what’s good for me. This time my indecisiveness is regarding the RCSC exams; to do or not to do? I have no answers to that. One day I think I should do and the next day I think, no I should just find myself a job. They say government job is secure but corporate means more money. Government job means no work and corporate means more work. Government job means two days holiday in a week, corporate means no Sundays (sometimes).

I love more money, more work and being busy. Which means I’d want to be in corporate sectors but what about scholarships and training? They say corporate will not send for training abroad (only to India), also you will not get to do masters in corporate. The other issue is civil service exams. If you join the corporation, they will not let you do RCSC but if you didn’t people will down look upon you. They say you haven’t done RCSC because you were scared of the competition. What to do?

I just wish I could do RCSC for my satisfaction and then join corporation. I just wish the scholarships (for masters) are open competition where all inservice (be it govt or corporate or private) candidates can apply. I wish god could come in my dreams and tell me what to do. I wish..i wish.. Well there are so many wishes. “If only wishes were horses, then beggars would ride”.

Sick: A disease of forgetfulness

It’s in my blood to be very forgetful and that’s the reason I always make a “to do” list everyday of my life. Every year I finish 2 – 3 diaries noting down the things to do otherwise I can’t seem to remember. There are so many incidents which prove of my forgetfulness. After each incident, I promise myself it will not happen in the future but things keep repeating. There’s no end to it. It’s in my blood, in my genes and chromosomes.

Well forget about what happened in the past. It was just two days into the orientation when I lost my sister’s rachu (kabney). I simply couldn’t remember where I kept it or how I lost it. When I reached home it wasn’t in my hands. I asked others but nobody saw it.
A few days after that, I went to a café to take a print out of some documents. I took the print out and came but left my favorite pen drive (USB) there. I couldn’t remember immediately but when I went next day to enquire it wasn’t there. Some lucky chap has taken it.

Yesterday at the “leadership seminar”, during the tea break (in the morning), since there was no tea, my friend and I went to the café there. We took two coffee and two muffins. It cost Nu 80 (to my horror). Well I took out Nu 100 note and paid the guy. We had the coffee and the terrible muffin after cursing the owner for charging so much for something that had no taste at all. After that we went up to the hall. It was then I realized that I had taken no change ( Nu 20) which the shopkeeper owed me. I was so sad and was sulking too much for being so careless. But my friend said it’s too embarrassing to go and get 20 bucks but I didn’t give up easily. I had to finally force her to come with me to the café. There upon enquiring they returned my 20 bucks. Relief washed over me. I settled then.

Another incident happened today. I had to scan my 1st, 2nd and 4th semester marks card. I scanned and came and was browsing. I had to arrange my documents after a couple of hours. It was then I noticed my 2nd semester marks card was missing. I immediately went to the cafe and asked if it was there. To my relief it was still in the scanner.

That’s not all so many similar incidents happened. I hate my carelessness. The more I try to be careful, the more careless I become. God knows what the problem with me is. I guess I was born stupid. It’s become a disease in me and there’s no cure to this disease nevertheless I will try to be more cautious in future..

Memories: bits ‘N’ pieces from my life

It happened when I was in class one. Those days I had friends from my village (though they disappeared gradually over the years), who used to be in the other section. Well it so happened that their class teacher used to always send them home before mine did as a result they used to wait for me. I used to say, “Madam, go home. Madam go home”. What I wanted to ask was, if I can go home but I always used to say “go home”. I didn’t know then I was telling her (my teacher) to go home instead. Well my teacher too never corrected me. Her response was always, “Payday, is your baby crying at home?” I could do nothing but resolved to stay couple of hours more. This used to happen very often. Almost everyday.

When I was in third standard I had the same teacher. Well once madam told me to stand up so I did. She said, “Payday, draw a house under the tree”. I went to her, took the chalk from her extended hand and went to the black board. There I drew a big tree with leaves and root etc. under the root I drew a house and I showed it to my teacher. She after examining my drawing carefully said, “Payday is your house underground?” my classmates had a hearty laugh. It was only then I knew under the tree means “under the branches of the tree”.

Well in my fourth standard I had to deliver a speech in dzongkha. My sister, who happened to be in the same school, then, made a good speech for me titled “Sharig Yenten” (meaning: education). That morning right after the national anthem I was called in front of the crowd (we didn’t have stage then. the assembly used to be outside when it’s sunny otherwise on the corridor). I went in front and started. First of all I wished all the teachers and students and then I said, “The topic I have chosen for today is education” (I said it in Dzongkha). After that I put my hand in my pocket (of my kira) for the paper (on which I had my speech written), to my utter disappointment the paper was not there. I didn’t know what to do so I thought I would have to do without the paper. So I started, “sharig yenten zaar mi dhi”. Mum. Again, “sharig yenten zaar mi dhi”. A long pause and nothing. I was mum. No sound would come out of my mouth. After staying there for eternity without uttering a word I was sent back to the assembly line by the head teacher who took pity on me. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Heheh...

At Lingkana Palace

I didn’t write about the graduates’ audience with His Majesty the Druk Gyalpo because I thought I wouldn’t be able to do justice to what HM has said and done for us but a friend of mine keeps asking me what HM said to us and so I am obliged to write something on the experience.

Well on the morning of September 22, we gathered at the centenary farmer’s market. From there at around 10:00 hours we walked to the Lingkana palace after the royal summon. There we were seated in many tents in groups along with so many top government officials viz. lyonpos (ex), government secretaries, corporate and private sector heads, etc. HM arrived a little later. HM was groomed in Pangtsi gho without kabney which symbolized of the meeting being informal. HM first talked to the officials lined up to receive the royal entourage.

Afterwards he visited our tent first because ours was the first tent in the line. I wanted so much to see his face properly because it was my first time ever seeing him but the power he has is so much that my eyes wouldn’t go beyond his neck. His majesty was being very friendly and informal with us. I felt so complete listening to our beloved king.

Well after few minutes, he left for the other tents but he promised to come back to us again. We had two ministers ( ex-lyonpo Chenkhap Dorji and deputy minister – Nado Rinchen, chairman NEC), and Home secretary exclusive to our tent the whole day. Their Excellencies and Dasho were very interactive with us asking questions ranging from our names to college to GNH and climate change in Bhutan, each asking questions and clarifying doubts on their respective areas.


Later we had in our tent officials like brigader Batu Tshering, police chief Kipchu Tshering, Health secretary dasho Dr. Gado Tshering etc. every ten minutes there were different course of snacks and drinks being served. I felt so heavy and thought I wouldn’t be able to get up from my chair. In the meantime, HM came for the second round of the visit and then third. It was on his third round when he thought we had stayed long and should get going so we broke up into groups of about 15 – 20 people and had a photo session upon the royal command.

HM said, “Life is a marathon and you have a long way to go but be careful on the way. Every decision you take every day is going to have a lasting impact on your life”

The day was a wonderful experience. I got to see HM and the beautiful ashi Chimi Yangzom, ashi sonam Dechen, ashi Dechen Yangzom and Dasho Jigyel. The ashis looked like goddesses, so frail and so soft spoken.

Me 'N' Nothingness

I am so fed up of bowing my head so low to the people above me. I am so fed up of applauding others of their success. I am so fed up of clapping my hands always because someone has delivered a good speech. Why can’t I, for a change, be on the other side of all these. The side which is being bowed; being applauded: and being clapped at?

Sometimes I just chose to ignore clapping my hands for somebody simply because I want to be the one clapping but the one clapped at. This is, though I don’t want to admit even to myself, is a sheer jealousy. I know this problem is not only with me but all of us. We don’t like to celebrate other’s success but our own. And this is a part of being ‘human being’. My only explanation is because ‘I am only human’.

My hands ache by clapping, my throat is sore of praising others for great deeds. I no longer want to bow my head low for eminent persons. I don’t want to side-step so that some people can pass by. Charles Darwin was right when he said the world is a ‘survival of the fittest’. If only I could be the one amongst the fittest.

Life itself has become competition. The days people’s simplicity is appreciated are long gone. Today the world requires you to be bold, brave and possess tremendous guts. People go to any extend for publicity because your talent is nothing when people are not aware of it. You gain nothing by hiding. Just like the products needs advertisement, people need publicity too.

There are millions in the world who excel in one or other thing. Some good actors, some good sportsman, some good singer and blah blah blah… but I couldn’t be one among the millions. Life can be so pathetic to some people who can’t compete in the marathon of life.

Aftermath earthquake and the Blessed Rainy Day

I promised to write an article on the earthquake experience yesterday if I was still alive now the readers must be assuming me dead since I couldn’t do the justice last night because I came very tired from my native.

A very funny incident happened post the article “6.3 magnitude hits Bhutan”. Last night the supposed earthquake was to happen at 2:00 am. I stayed awake till 1:45 am and then I slept. So if it happened at all we’d all dead by now but fortunately it didn’t and here I am all in flesh and blood. Well that’s all for the earthquake experience and it wasn’t a earth shattering experience at all and I am glad for that.

Well yesterday was Blessed rainy day and I suppose I had one of the best ‘Thrue’ in a couple of years. We (my folks) in Thimphu and I went to our native (Paro) because we were summoned by our folks there. It was a grand thrue. So many neighbors stopped by to have chat. The dishes were not so bad. But we had to come back in the evening because my kid brother has school today, my elder brother, office and I to His Majesty’s audience. Well that was it and I should say it was a memorable Thrue..

6.3 magnitude earthquake hits Bhutan

Kuensel reported of three deaths as a result of 6.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Bhutan earlier today. BBS reported the time to be 2:53 pm. That time we at the NGOP were busy, some singing on the stage and the others applauding. Nobody knew of the earthquake I am sure because nobody talked about it there. We didn’t feel anything there but people outside the Nazhoen Pelri hall, youth village are alarmed of this earthquake. I am happy that I wasn’t aware of it because there’s no point of panicking in something that’s natural.

Well it’s 12:40 am now (Blessed rainy day today). my folks in Paro have called for the zillionth time now. There are all worried about us in Thimphu. I was informed that they are staying outside till 2 – 3 am when the quake is supposed to recede. Well my sister informed me that there are many people in Thimphu who has gone to pray and be out at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck memorial chorten (JDWMC). I panicked a little and went out on the bacony to see if it’s true. Well outside the streets are deserted except few cars passing by but when I looked at the parking space I found a lone car which happened to by my bro-in-law’s. Where are all the cars parked here earlier this evening because I am sure I saw many cars parked there? May be my sister was right. All people in Thimphu must be at the JDWMC praying.

My bro-in-law said maybe ashim was right, we need to really go the chorten like the others did but I convinced him that maybe it’s not required. Maybe we should leave the house by 1:30 am if the supposed quake is going to happen at 2 – 3 am that will give us ample time to get out of the house and drive to the chorten and join the others in prayers.

What will happen to us now? Are we going to be killed in a couple of hours? There’s no answer to that as of now. Only time will tell. If I am still alive tomorrow I am definitely going to write an article on the experience. So assume me dead if I didn’t write any thing on this experience..hahah…

Today’s symposium at NGOP

Well I was to be an extra speaker for today’s symposium titled “urban housing problem in Bhutan” from my house. When I complained to the house master and the councilors that I did not get to do any symposiums and debate I was asked to be the extra speaker for today. Last night and yesterday I spent so much browsing everything on the topic. Since all the speakers were reading from the paper, I thought to take a different approach to this so I asked my old friend in Bangalore to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for me (he used to do in college too). Well he did prepare a beautiful presentation and also I prepared a slide wise explanation, printed it and went today (I lost my favorite 4 GB pen drive in the process).

There after one session was symposium was coming. I went in search of Nanda (he’s the technical person there and an old friend of mine). I found him outside near the canteen. I asked him to arrange a laptop and the projector for me but to my horror he said it cannot be done because he was ordered by his seniors not to present on the laptop. Finally having succumbed to his decision I went in. there I decided since I was extra speaker maybe I will have to do away with this idea but inside I met with one of my councilors (girl’s) and I was informed that there were no other speaker and I was the one to speak.

Terror gripped me then. I was much disorganized because of the PowerPoint. Everything I had was in the slides but some explanation. Still I had to represent my house so when called I went up to the stage in a very nervous state. I was to be the last speaker since I was the last to reach the stage. There were guests from ministry of works and human settlement (MoWHS), the planning officers and some engineers.

Well my fear receded after hearing the other speakers. They were no better than me. Finally it was my turn to take the stage. Although I was shaking literally I spoke confidently and I would have to say it didn’t go that bad.

Today’s was my 7th time and probably the last time speaking during the national graduate orientation programme (NGOP).

How has democracy changed my life?

Personally it has changed nothing for me. I am still who I was and used to be before any election happened in Bhutan. Yet why do people get so excited about the whole thing? For ordinary persons it’s something that had happened in Thimphu and to the upper section of the society.

So many lives have changed overnight, so many got patangs and kabneys. The only people benefited by the democracy are the bureaucrats, politicians etc. Their lives have changed drastically. Overnight they have become ‘dashos’ from not so ‘somebody’. For them democracy is good because it means good earning, fame, patang, blue kapney, vehicle allowance and many many more. And who wouldn’t want that?

But for an ordinary farmer in Zhemgang, what does democracy changed for him? Nothing. For him it’s just an event that has happened in Thimphu which is not of his concern. For him it matters not who the leaders are because for him nothing significant is going to change. For him miracle hasn’t happened before nor does he expect it to happen now.

Democracy is on the lips of all Bhutanese people irrespective of their educational background. For most illiterate farmers in Bhutan, democracy is just a word they like to talk about constantly. The word is used often by all the section of the society but it all die down once the initial phase is over. School children today consider, electing their class representatives through a voting system as democracy but democracy is much more than that. Democracy is not only about choosing a leader but also the leaders being aware of their mandate and being accountable to the people who elected them.

This way the government is always under the scrutiny of the media and people in general. The people need to remove the leaders as well if the representative is not doing a good job of people’s voice being heard in the parliament. The bi-lateral relationship should be healthy and not biased.

The question that always dwells in my mind is: what has democracy done to me? How has it changed my life? Well there’s no concrete answer to that. So far, it’s done nothing nor do I expect it to change my life in the near future. The same case applies to the ordinary people all over Bhutan. By this, does it mean democracy is good for only the upper section of the society?

Event upstage - An afternoon experience

The hall is buzzing
With the excited debaters on the stage
The bored audience on the floor
I was on one corner of the hall
With earphones plugged deep in my ears
The music is deafening
Oblivious to the noise outside

The day slowly drags on
With every minute seeming like an year
My body aches of sitting
A day long on the same hard chair
My eyes slowly refuse to stay open
After a hearty meal of lunch

Now, my eyes constantly sway
To the clock on the wall
Wishing time would fly by
Only to find just few minutes passed

Will the people ever stop that deafening noise?
Won’t they stop applauding just for once?
The noise keeps on increasing
The music isn’t enough to ward off the noise
Will the people shut their mouth ever?

The debaters are shouting
More than they ever could make any points
More than they ever argue
The audience engrossed in chat
Least interested in what’s going upstage

People all around me are busy
Some munching, some chatting,
Some making fun, some passing chits around
Who’s concentrating on what’s happening upstage?

I raised my head to see
A debater in action; knows not what he’s saying
A boy on the balcony
Fanning heat off his face
A girl just excused herself and exit the hall
The doma aroma is too strong
Coming from the boy next to me
At the moment the house master comes in
Commands the standing boy
To take his seat
But who’s concentrating on the event upstage?

What are we doing here?
Why are we not interested in the event upstage?
Why are we wasting our time?
Are we there for the sake of being there?
Why are we not interested in the events upstage?

p.s. this is my first time trying my hand at poem. please forgive me if i made any mistake. i m not familiar with poems.

Climate change and Bhutan

A simple definition of climate change according to me is, change or should I say increase in the temperature of the globe (earth) – global warming.

Climate change: like it or not is upon us. Melting glaciers and landslides are combining to create huge high altitude lakes in the Himalayas that could cut off water to millions of people and then sweep away towns when they collapse, a leading geologist said.

Earth quakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and Tsumamis may become more frequent as global warming changes the earth’s crust, scientists heard on September 16 at a conference on the climate’s effects on geology.

Drying streams, lesser snowfall and dengue fever cases in Thimphu, the March 26 rain and storm. All these are indication that climate change is happening here in Bhutan, said the deputy minister of national environment commission (NEC) dasho Nado Rinchen.

The ice and glaciers are melting quickly and we have not experienced snowfall in many winters and also Bhutan experienced the driest winter in 2008. all these are indication of climate change.

We Bhutanese, though we quite often use the word ‘climate change’ has no idea what it is. It’s a threat to the mankind not only in Bhutan but the world at large.
Since we have no seas and oceans in and around Bhutan we have no threat from the rising sea levels but climate change is definitely going to affect our low volume agriculture and hydropower projects.

We have our share of Tsunami up in the mountains of Lunana. People have heard of “operation Thorthormi” and how the lake threatens to give way and wash us away. Bhutan being a mountainous country, we are vulnerable to the effect of climate change. It could dry up our water resources, decline in the crop production and put an end to our hydropower potential.

By 2020. 50 percent of the Bhutanese population is expected to live in the urban area which is going to have a negative impact on climate change.
Other issues of concern are the plastic bags, garbage and waste disposal.

However, Bhutan as a single country cannot contribute much, though it has taken various measures for the reduction of emission from deforestation and degradation, a strategy to reduce climate change by saving forest.
Also Bhutan has imposed the ban on the use of plastic bags. Today there’s hardly any plastic bags for sale in the market (except in black market), and used by he people. Another measure could be the introduction of “waste management and prevention” bill in the parliament. This is an indication that Bhutan is doing something.

But this isn’t enough because climate change isn’t happening to Bhutan only but the globe (world) at large. So it’s only through the effort of us, individually or collectively, to contribute something to the world for the reduction in the temperature of our mother earth.

Let’s all join our hands and do something. Because every individual effort counts. Let us pass on to our off-springs the good earth. Let us prevent the climate change. Remember! “Prevention is better than cure”.

Waste disposal: Are we responsible?

This was one of the topics of debate for the NGOP 2009. Sitting there in the corner of the Nazhoen Pelri Hall, I was thinking, “am I responsible?” and the immediate answer that came to my mind was “NO. No I am not responsible. Neither was anyone of us there in the hall”.

If somebody could have checked under my chair then, she/he would have found so many wiz wrappers and used papers. Not only mine but under every chair there. Well why did I throw them under my chair and litter the hall? Because I feel it’s not my responsibility to keep the hall clean. I also happened to have a psycho feeling that if I take care of the waste then somebody will run out of their job. What will the sweepers do then? That’s what we may call “devil-may-care” Bhutanese attitude.

Everyday Thimphu only contributes two metric tones of waste. The Thimphu city corporation (TCC) is disposing this waste in Memelekha. You all must have watched on BBS how the waste is lying on the open ground with stray dogs and animals feeding on the waste. Mosquitoes breed on the waste thereby spreading diseases like malaria which kills quite a number of people every year in Bhutan.

Since plastic (polythene) bags takes 100s of years to degrade and decompose, the government has taken an initiative to address this issue by imposing a ban on the use of plastic but who’s following the rule? People still carry plastic bags in the broad daylight on the streets of Thimphu, oblivious to the ban imposed. This is certainly not an indication of Bhutanese being responsible.

One morning I happened to have reached the Nazhoen Pelri a little before 8 am in the morning and saw the NGOP committee girls cleaning (picking papers) in and around the gate. Who has littered there? It was us. Us! The “leaders of tomorrow”. If the qualified university graduates cannot be responsible, what can we expect from the others like illiterates?

The government is taking initiatives. The introduction of the “waste management and prevention bill” in the parliament is a clear indication. The government is being responsible but it’s the people who are not responsible. Everywhere we go, finds waste dumped in the nearby gutter, bush etc but people do keep their own campus clean. So ultimately everything boils down to the civic sense. We should be responsible ourselves and not expect others to clean our backyard. Also Bhutan has not yet started recycling waste. It’d be better if we can learn to re-cycle our waste..

Unemployment Issues

Reports and statistics say that, we have 13,000 unemployment youths in the country. Some say this is due to the mismatch between the people’s requirement the jobs available.

But mostly it’s because of our attitude towards ‘blue-collar’ jobs. Every job seeker wants to work in office with rotating chair and desktop in front of them, but there’s a stiff competition today in the job market due to increasing numbers of job seekers every year. You either got to have good grade in academic or you need to be daughter/niece/nephew/son/relative of some MDs/secretaries etc. if you do not fall in the either category then you sure are a loser.

There are also cases where there are jobs but people do not want them because the jobs did not meet their criteria. Either the pay is less or the job is manual laboring job. If readers could please refer my previous article called “ridiculous decision”. There I have cited an example of this case.

Bhutanese Media

The RGOB has alleged/accused the media of highlighting too much on the negative aspects of the government and turning a blind eye to the good deeds. Bhutanese media and the government have been always loggerheads with each other.

With the presence of only two MPs (members of parliament) from the opposition party, media and the national council (NC) have been accused by the government and the people as acting as the opposition party.

Our constitution provides ‘freedom of press’ but the government feels it’s exerting too much of freedom. They even said, media is doing all this for commercial purposes. The media has the right to call ‘a spade a spade’. It’s the duty of the media to point out whenever there’s a corruption or laws being broken or when the government is making a wrong decision.

Why can’t the government accept media for what it does? Why can’t the government take things positively and improve? Media is, they say, an independent body but the financing comes from the government. Will this be affecting the performance of the media? Is the government intimidating the media too much? If media reports/writes bad articles on the government, will the government stop financing? These are the questions that can dwell in one’s mind but have no answer to them…

Bhutan’s self-reliance in question

Bhutan as of now is heavily dependent on India for items ranging from matchstick to vehicles to rice, despite Bhutan being agriculturist country. We say, 70% of Bhutan’s population is dependent on agriculture when majority of the population rely on the imported rice from India. What our farmers produce in the country simply isn’t enough for our people.

We have, but few factories in the entire nation. And those factories are not doing well for themselves because they have to compete with the Indian factories with lower rate of products.

The problem could be due to lack of raw materials and market. The Bhutanese market is relatively small and the Bhutanese entrepreneurs are not ready to take up the risk of inflicting the loss. And so we have become dependent on India for all kinds of goods. If the Bhutan-gate in Phuentsholing closes for few months, most Bhutanese people will land up on the streets, because by then the shops would have run out of stocks.

This is a very serious issue. We, as Bhutanese citizens should take up our responsibilities seriously and look into the matter. We should come up with measures to make ourselves self-reliant. We need to come up with factories and industries to overcome the food security in the country.

In India, we hardly notice a foreign car on the streets, no foreign products in the shops, because they believe in producing themselves and buying their own products and this is what is making their economy strong. We Bhutanese, on the other hand, are brand specific and look down upon our own home made products.

We need to encourage our manufacturers and promote our own products. We need to create market for our own goods and buy our products instead of foreign goods. The government needs to minimize the import of foreign products so that we can promote our home grown products. This is the only way we can improve our economy and thereby make our country self-reliant.

Druk Holdings & Investment (DHI)

10 days into the orientation, and I already asked 6 questions. Though there were more but I didn’t get the opportunity to ask them all. Today we were supposed to have “historical and geo-political realities of Bhutan” and I had framed a question in my mind and went but the NGOP committee thought DHI is more important so we had guests from DHI and DHI owned corporations.

I asked the following question.

Why is DHI taking control of only the high grossing companies (or corporations)?
Also I believe that the pay hike of 15% in corporations is only for those companies making the profit of Nu 2 million per annum like BoB,BNB, Bhutan Telecom etc. why is the pay hike not given to the employees of other no so high grossing companies. By this is DHI not neglecting the rule of “equal pay for the same pay”?

Promotion of sports in Bhutan

“His royal highness, Jigyel Ugen Wangchuck is the representative of His Majesty to Bhutan Olympic committee,” said the secretary of BOC. Along with him were the several dignitaries from BOC and department of youth and sports. There were not many graduates asking questions on or about BOC. Either they aren’t aware or they aren’t interested.

I have been reading few kuensels and I had to clarify my minds on few things regarding BOC and so I asked the following question.

The Bhutan Olympic Committee (BOC) has been in the news probably for the wrong reasons. Media has criticized and accused BOC of having nothing much to show.

Let me read out few headlines (from the Kuensel)

1) BOC – Poor track record

It says, despite handsome funding, BOC et all don’t have much to show for itself

2) 25 years of under-achievement

BOC was established in 1983 and to these days has not achieved anything much.


One more issue is the BOC president. The BOC president has always been one or other ministers (lyonpos), who’s not suitable for the job instead of a sports man who knows his job well. The BOC president of course comes with many privileges.

Also Bhutan does not have to these days, not played any major games internationally nor has it won anything.
My question is why BOC is not doing well despite huge funds coming from outside and within the country.
Is it because Bhutanese youth are not taking sports seriously?

I was supposed to do a symposium

I was supposed to represent my house (Cheli La) for symposium this morning on “great kings and their times” to be conducted in Dzongkha. Though I reached home very late last night, I goggled out everything on the kings and went prepared this morning but on seeing people speaking so refined Dzongkha I developed a “cold feet” and panicked. I asked my monk friend to back me up yesterday, so I sent him to do the symposium today. Thank god for him otherwise I would have failed to do justice to our great beloved kings.

Well I once used to find Dzongkha very boring and those people who excel in Dzongkha as old fashioned. If only I didn’t have this attitude I’d not be suffering today. I guess I have matured because now I love Dzongkha and admire people who speaks fluent, proper and formal Dzongkha language.

If only times were different…

I was on BBS

Yesterday (September 15, 2009. Tuesday) after the sessions at 5 pm I was waiting outside the Youth village gate when I met up with my house councilor who has come in search of me. I was asked to come with her and so I followed her inside the gate. There I found a bunch of people waiting. Upon reaching there I was informed that we were to go to BBS (Bhutan Broadcasting Service), for a live telecast because yesterday happened to be the “international democracy day”. Bhutan was observing the day for the first time in the country. At 5:30 two BBS vehicles has come to pick us up and there we went. As soon as we arrived we were greeted with tea. After waiting for about half an hour the guests have arrived. The guests were Haa MP (sorry I forgot his name), Gasa MP Damcho Tenzin (opposition), both from the lower house (National assembly) and Sonam Kinga from National Council (NC).

Since it was a democracy day the topic of discussion was ‘democracy’. The program was conducted in dzongkha. We were more of audience and were supposed to ask questions and the MPs clarified our doubts. Since the program was of one hour we had time constraint. Few of our friends did not get to raise their questions. It’d have been better if we had some more time.

Since the program was conducted in Dzongkha I had difficult time even framing a question but I had to ask one at least for the sake of my mother. My mom always scolds us for not being on TV. She compares her children to all the people on TV. I had to ask a question not to disappoint her. She might have scolded me if I hadn’t asked any questions.

Well in nutshell I think it was a great experience being on TV. I prayed to god that yesterday’s was not the last time but just a beginning to the start. Let there be many many more interviews all for the right reasons. It feels great when people tell me that they saw me on BBS last night. Can’t help fantasizing myself as a celebrity…heheh…jokes apart..it was a nice beginning.

Future of Bhutanese economy

Yesterday at the NGOP, we had a session on the “future of Bhutanese economy” and the dignitaries from the Ministry of economic affairs. It was an interesting talk about the economy and what are the measures to sustain it. The resource persons were successful in giving us an insight to the future of the Bhutanese economy.

The following is the question I asked the secretary of MoEA. It might sound silly but I asked it anyways.

The government’s vision of achieving 10,000 MW of electricity by 2020 is very far sighted. It’s definitely going to be a big boost to the Bhutanese economy. However, all those companies undertaking the hydro-power projects are Indian companies like HCC (Hindustan Construction Company), Gammon India etc and they are not willing to employ Bhutanese people because they think we lack the required skills.
If this trend goes on, how are we going to develop our human resources, which is one of the integral parts of the Bhutanese economy?

Discrimination against women

A question I wanted to ask PM but missed

A majority of us feel that women do not face discrimination in Bhutan. It’s true upto some extend because in Bhutan inheritance favours daughters; wives do not take their husband’s names; widows and divorcees can remarry and our law protects women.

Bhutan joined CEDAW (elimination of all forms of discrimination against women) on July 17, 1980 is a clear indication of it.

But survey says otherwise. If we look at the employment, the civil service has 19,835 regular employees. Out of them only 6,166 are women. That’s barely 31% of the civil service.
Of 81 executive level civil servants i.e. directors and above – only 8 are women.
Out of 50 specialists, only 6 are women and only one of the many secretaries is woman.
The head of the all government owned corporations are men except for one woman.

In the parliament, out of 72 members, only 10 are women with no NA speaker and NC chairman as women.

Out of 205 gups only one is woman.

This is not because women are not capable and cannot do what their menfolk can do. We do have capable women like Dasho Neten Zangmo. Today we even have women taxi drivers. A profession which is believed to be men oriented.

Forms of discriminations:

Recently, there were vacancies with Punatsangchu project which said “women need not apply”. There are female VTI graduates too. After undergoing training if women folks are not given job then what is the whole purpose of undergoing the training?

So many women suffer at the hands of men at home called the domestic violence. Women simply have too many things to deal with.

Working women, a bread earner, no lesser than her husband, does all the household chores and takes care of their children when the husband does nothing at all.

Why discrimination?

Are we women happy to allow our men folks to supersede us?

Are we still following our traditional culture where women are supposed to stay at home and tend to the household chores while their men folk earn the living?

I'd so much like to write on the daily happenings but i m running out of time. however, I'd be writing about it all tomorrow. I was on live telecast BBS because today's "international democracy day". it's 9 30 pm and i just reached home and guess what? i have a symposium tomorrow on "great kings and their times" to be conducted in dzongkha. life's become really busy these days.

my kid brother was asking me if am i not feeling sleepy despite having slept for only few hours. i told him i am getting no time to 'feel sleepy'.
well i got to bid adieu as of now.

Disk Defragmentation

Disk Defragmenter is a computer program included in Microsoft Windows designed to increase access speed by rearranging files stored on a disk to occupy contiguous storage locations, a technique commonly known as defragmenting.

The purpose is to optimize the time it takes to read and write files to/from the disk by minimizing head travel time and maximizing the transfer rate. As of Windows XP, Disk Defragmenter is also used to improve system startup times.

Go To:

all programs->accessories->tools->disk defragment

Free up Wasted Space (on your system)

Being a technical graduate this is my first time writing anything on IT related stuff. I know there are many computer illiterate who simply waste so much of their system space because they aren’t aware of that fact that there’s something called temporary files which are eating up your system space.

This idea was conceived when a friend of mine wanted to know how to delete his temporary files since there was very limited disk space on his local disk.

Removing unused programs is a great way to free up disk space, which will speed up your computer. Another way to find wasted disk space is to use the Disk Cleanup tool by following these steps:


Steps for Disk clean up:

1. Open My Computer, right-click Local Disk (the disk you want to clean), and then click Properties.

2. On the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button. Disk Cleanup will spend a few minutes examining your disk.

3. The Disk Cleanup dialog box opens. As you can see in Figure 2, it found almost three gigs of space on my computer that it could free up!

4. Select the desired check boxes in the Files to Delete list, and then click OK. Disk Cleanup will spend several minutes clearing space.

5. If you have more than one hard disk, repeat this process for each hard disk listed in My Computer.

I hope this will help the readers who had tough time managing space on their system. This article is written with a good intention of helping the readers.

Ridiculous decision

From the 100 graduates sent to undergo a month long training in InfoSys, Mysore, 37 of them were offered jobs. Out of which only 9 took up the job with InfoSys and Genpack. This according to me is ridiculous. If they didn’t want to work why did they have to take up the opportunity in the first place?

If it was given to us, I’d have taken up the offer gladly. Since we completed only in June, we missed the opportunity. Are those grads not informed of the possible jobs when they were sent down? Or did they do it just to kill time and add one more certificate to their collection? After this incident, I am sure no Indian company or international for that matter, would want to invest in Bhutan and its human resources. This really will discourage the international companies and as a result would inflict loss on the Bhutanese economy.

I have personally visited InfoSys (Bangalore) and it’s something like a ‘paradise on earth’. They have everything inside. From gym to cafeteria to basketball and volley ball court everything is inside the campus. It’s a vast campus and they have cycles and electric cars to go from place to place. We were taken for a tour inside the campus. It’s such a beautiful working environment with eternal peace, totally cut-off from the buzzing busy traffic of the Bangalore City. We were informed that Mysore InfoSys is much bigger with 500 acres campus. It’s such a shame that our grads are not willing to work in InfoSys.

Another example of this could be the VTI graduates. We always find them complaining about the lack of job opportunities in Bhutan, when in fact they themselves are ashamed of working in what they are trained for. If they are ashamed of blue collar jobs why did they take up in the first place? There maybe others who are not ashamed of labor. Who have the sense of ‘dignity of labor’?

What are our Bhutanese graduates looking for in a job? A rotating chair and a cabin of their own and playing solitare a day long in office? Are we all aware that not every one of us is lucky enough for that? We need to do away with the Bhutanese attitude of always giving orders and not willing to succumb to low paid and manual jobs.

If one isn’t interested let us not take some one else’s opportunity. Who knows what the next person wants?

Yesterday’s sessions

The two sessions we had yesterday are: “Challenges of youth in pursuit of GNH in globalized world” and “national strategy for corruption-free society”. We had the chief justice, lyonpo Sonam Tobgay and dignitaries for the first session and for the second one, Dasho Neten Zangmo and the officials from ACC. However, dasho Neten had to leave right after her speech because she was summoned to the palace by the royals. Since it was a weekend (Saturday), the labour minister Lyonpo Dorji Wangdi decided to attend too.

I wanted to ask a question of GNH and youth but nothing came up since I am still so new to this concept and as a result I could not ask any. However, I did ask something in the second session on corruption. The following is my question:

The government is doing so many things against corruption. The best example of this could be: The National Assembly parliamentarians refusing DHI’s leather bags on December 22, 2008.

“I will not spare you”, said Lyonchhoen Jigme Y Thinley on corruption. He also said, “Termination is the obvious choice for guilty civil servants”. The termination of seven education officials without any benefits is the best example.

However, the arbitrary transfer of 12 dzongdags and reappointment of 3 as directors in the ministry of home and cultural affairs by the cabinet, and not by the RCSC, throws a serious doubt on the government’s promise of respect for law and transparency.

And also RAA (royal audit authority) reports suggest that, the government is still soft of bureaucrats in corruption. This was contrary to the new government’s policy of ‘zero tolerance’ against corruption.
Lyonchhoen also said, “Constitution is not a stick” and that we should not interpret it too strictly.
By this statement, does it mean the government is not going to abide by the constitution?

The question was answered by some official from the ACC but since it targeted the government, his Excellency, lyonpo Dorji Wangdi was not satisfied so referring to me as ‘that lady’ he supplemented to what the ACC official has said. He said, regarding the transfer of Dzongdags as not corruption but the mandate of the cabinet. He also answered the other parts of the question.

Importance of law in democratic society

This morning from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm we had attorney general of Bhutan, Dasho Ugen Chewang and officials from the office of attorney general (OAG), speaking on “importance of laws in democratic society”.

The graduates asked questions on minor rape, freedom of expression, freedom of press etc. I asked a question which pertains to “minor rape”.

Bhutan today have modernized so much and people have opened up their minds and have become so liberal in thinking that we no longer look down upon or objects to couples living together before marriage and divorces etc.
However, we still witness a drastic increase in minor rape cases.
There are according to me, two solutions to this: either re-introduce the corporal punishment (which I believe, was abolished from our legal system), and the second option, could be to legalize prostitution so that the innocent youth/minors need not become the victims of rape.
I have heard and read of cases where a father rapes his own minor daughter, which is indeed a horror for all of us.
What according to you, dasho, is the solution to minimize the cases of minor rapes in Bhutan?
Thank you.

My question was answered by some one from OAG but he did not come up with any solution. He just stressed that minor rapes are serious problem in Bhutan and we do need to keep a check on it.

Question Hour Session (NGOP)

The question hour session of NGOP is of 160 minutes out of which the first 30 minutes is taken by the focal person introducing his topic. Remaining one hour is given to the graduates to ask their doubts to the concerned officials. There are eight houses in this year’s orientation programme. Each house can ask one question. After all houses have had their chance then if there’s still time remaining, then we go for second round. There are so many people wanting to clarify their doubts and ask their questions and when the answers are so long, many do not get the opportunity to ask their question.

It happened to me twice, yesterday and today. I got up to ask my question but the fellow graduate from the same house was quicker than me so I couldn’t ask my question. For instance, this morning we had guests from the Tourism council of Bhutan (TCB), speaking on “Tourism: high value and low volume”. I wanted to ask the following question:

The government’s desire to minimize adverse effects of tourism, while ensuring a healthy flow of hard currency led to the adoption of the principle of “high value – low volume” tourism. Tourist arrivals into Bhutan are controlled by the government through a pricing policy whereby tourists are required to enter Bhutan only through package tours organized by the registered Bhutanese tour operators.
The daily tariff is $200 (USD) which is quite an amount for average and middle class tourists. The tariff structure has ensured that only travelers with high spending power can visit Bhutan.
By this policy of “high value – low volume” tourism, are we encouraging only rich tourist to visit Bhutan? If Yes, what about those tourist not so rich but still wishes to visit Bhutan?

However, due to shortage of time I couldn’t get he opportunity to ask my question. It can be quite frustrating to be rejected again and again. All my anxieties and anticipation of waiting for my chance was for nothing and in vain.

I just wish the question hour was longer than what we have now.

Orientation isn’t so bad after all..

Penstar is right when he said orientation isn’t so bad. Well I realized that today. Today, unlike the past couple of days, I didn’t sleep a wink. I believe it has got something to do with the focal person.

Well this morning, we had the officials from Ministry of Information and technology (MoIC) along with the secretary, speaking on “the role of ICT and media”. The secretary delivered his lecture very nicely and precisely. I enjoyed the session so much. Later during the Q&A session I wanted to ask a question but missed the opportunity. I had been following on every article on media and had gained some knowledge on it. Hence media has been my favorite topic of discussion.
The question I wanted to ask was:
We all know that media plays a vital role in the democratic Bhutan but Bhutanese media viz. Kuensel and BBS are accused of being too negative by the government. In Bhutan, anything said against anyone or discussed in the forums on internet, are termed as being “too sensitive”. What are the initiatives taken against this and who’s responsible so that people can discuss things in open and perhaps come to a solution which would contribute towards developing Bhutan.

p.s. I did not get to ask the above question. Also it sounds like a stupid question now that I get to re-read it once again so I have no regrets having missed the chance.


This was however amended during the second session. For the second session we had people from the ministry of foreign affairs (MoFA) presided by its secretary. The topic of discussion was “Bhutan’s diplomacy, international relations and global identity”. There were many officials accompanying the secretary. The graduates were first briefed on the topic which was followed by a Q&A session. I got back my missed opportunity here. The question I asked was:

Bhutan in the 1900s has signed the Indo-Bhutan treaty with the British-India. One of its clauses was, “India would not interfere in the national interest of Bhutan”. This was however reviewed and amended under the leadership of the 5th king Jigme Kheser. In 2007 Indo-Bhutan treaty was amended. The above said clause was changed to: “Bhutan and India will corporate and help each other with the matters concerning the national interest”.
Well this is not the exact words of the clause but my interpretation of it. In this regard, my question is, if India interferes in the domestic affairs of Bhutan, and then there are chances that India may consider Bhutan as one of its many states. We all know India is Bhutan’s largest developing partner but are we overlooking that fact that India can prove a threat to the security and sovereignty of Bhutan? With the citizens of Bhutan fearing that this may happen in the near future will Bhutan be able to achieve his Majesty’s vision of vibrant democracy?


My question was answered by one of the officials. He was very precise in answering and I liked what I heard. He said he’s happy that we are concerned about the security of the country but was advised not to worry at all. He said Bhutan and India have reached to such a level of relation that trust is an established factor and that India would not harm Bhutan.

Later today, we had officials from Dzongkha Development committee speaking on “importance of Dzongkha Language”. Only the monks and ILCS (Institute of Language and cultural studies) graduates asked questions pertaining to the Dzongkha language and how it’s declining in Bhutan, what are the measures taken by the committee to improve the national language etc etc etc..

is graduate orientation necessary?

It’s been only two days into the orientation and I am dead tired. I think I won’t last through out the programme. It’d kill me before the week is out. The whole thing is very boring for me. I fail to comprehend how the other graduates are finding it interesting and useful.

For having registered at the last moment, I am placed at the back and corner of the hall. Forget about seeing any guests, I can hardly hear anything being said by the officials. I envy my friend for having bagged the front row right in front of the guests and officials, which makes me regret my decision to register for the orientation programme at last.

We had so many guests coming and gracing the occasion. There are among the most eminent persons in the country viz. ministers, secretaries, directors etc. it’s an honor to be listening to them though I could hardly hear anything they said. I was more of sleeping than I ever listened. My house (Cheli la), was placed on the extreme left of the enormous hall and I was placed at the back of the extreme left. I had to stretch my neck so much just to see who’s speaking. After a couple of hours of stretching my neck I gave up and hence I fell asleep and as a result I didn’t hear anything. As soon as I reached home I go to bed to give some rest to my tired limbs. I get up next morning to repeat the whole procedure of the day before.

Well it’s a good thing to wear beautiful clothes and jewellery and feel beautiful. Everybody looks their best and I can’t help admiring the beautiful ladies out there. Almost every woman looks stunning and you can’t decide who is prettier than whom. John Keats was right when he said, “A thing of beauty is joy forever”.

Graduate Orientation 2009

The upcoming National Graduate Orientation Programme (NGOP) has been a trauma for me for ever since I could recall. Well there are so many things to consider. For instance, how to dress up, how will be the people, whether I will be able to get the same house as my friends, what if I were separated from my friends, will I get new friends then, how will be the new friends, will we have something in common, and blah blah blah..

I heard many people saying they are so excited about the program and they are looking forward to meeting new friends (boy friends/ girl friends even). They are waiting to show case themselves. It’s a great event of course. I have heard from the seniors that apart from meeting friends and getting yourself acquainted with new people, there are also many great personalities like ministers coming to grace the occasion and let the graduates be informed of the respective ministries. It’s also an indirect preparation for the upcoming RCSC exams after the orientation.

Well I am supposed to be excited about this but I am not. I am not looking forward to the orientation whatsoever. In fact, I am anxious about the whole thing. I don’t know why but there’s some tight knot in my stomach which refuses to go away. I just can’t point out what’s my fear. I know I have no problem but why am I so anxious about this whole thing? Well I guess I have crowd phobia. I have never considered myself a coward still I don’t know why I am so restless. I guess only time can tell.

Tell me about yourself?

If you have attended any interviews, you must have encountered this question. It has been asked so often yet we fail to answer this question. We fail because there are not many things we can blabber about ourselves. Well, having said that, I have come across this question in the interviews too yet I could not satisfactorily answer this question because there’s nothing significant to talk about myself.

In college, we were made to attend seminars, workshops etc to improve our interview skills. They gave guidelines of how to go about interviews. Your manners, behaviors, dress code and every ethics play a vital role in the interview. My teachers used to say, “An interview is a formal meeting where you sell yourself to the highest bidder.” Some says, Bhutanese people by nature, make ourselves so humble that we would not tell every assets of ours to the interviewer but interview is not the time to make yourself humble instead you should boast of your every asset. You have to show the interviewer what are made of.

Well I guess I got little diverted so let me come to the point. In the following line I’d be writing about the answer to the above question. If I were asked to tell about myself, this is what I am going to tell them. Well before I begin, I have heard that when you are talking about yourself, you should always begin with the recent event and trace back in time to where you started it all.

Well here it goes…my name is Payday and I hail from Paro. I have a degree in computer applications (BCA) with good ranking. Before that, I did a diploma in IT. I did my school in my native only. Well I may not be very intelligent but I am a hard working person, very particular and very organized. When I do anything I believe in doing it well. I am a very neat person and I want everything about me in a proper place. My hobbies are reading novels (esp romantic ones), watching TV and writing stories. I have the habit of making a “to do” list every day and at the end of the day I mark (tick) all things I could accomplish that day and that can make me happy so I can say little things make me happy. I am very punctual by nature. Time management is one of my virtues. I believe in doing things on time.

Readers, please advice me how to go about answering this question. Please comment on what I have written above. They might ask me that question for VIVA.

A love lost

It seems ages ago as I recalled the lonely days of ’97 when I spotted him for the first time. It is the same old face, same old person but why do I still yearn for him now? Why?

The year was 1997 and I was in my seventh grade then. It was our first assembly when I noticed him. Was it a love at first sight? Why he had to look so different from all other guys, I wondered. Oh! The look in his brown eyes, so cool and composed, so sure of himself. In his presence, the other guys were reduced to nothing. It was as if he’s the lone man on earth. Again the way he walked, the way he avoided people on his way. Why did he have to appear so different from others? Or was it in the eyes of mine only?

Fortunately for me, we happened to be in the same class. With the passage of time I befriended him and we became good friends but friendship was not what I was looking for. I was way beyond friendship but he never once realized my feelings. For him I was just another girl and treated me cordially. But I mistook his friendship for something more and misguided myself. He failed to notice the way I looked at him quite different from the way I looked at other guys. I, in my own little ways, tried to show him my feelings but in vain.

One day while we were doing our assignment I found him with the new girl (let’s call her Ms abc), who has joined the class day before. She was a pretty, attractive girl but I did not find so because I was so blinded by jealousy to notice it. Seeing the two of them together was an unpleasant sight for me. I hated to see them together everyday but it wasn’t in my power to separate them.

Now he completely avoided me. For all he cared, I no longer existed. He had the eyes only for Ms abc. The rest of the world mattered not to him. Damn it! Why did he have to be so blind, not to have noticed my feelings, I used to think. But all was futile. He’s lost and I was devastated. Attending classes have become a sheer compulsion for me because I lost the will to live.

Well one day, I was sitting in the corner of the class when he approached me.

“Ugen, I’ve something to tell you,” he said. My heart was thumping against my ribs. I was full of anxieties. I eagerly waited for the words I longed to hear forever.

“I love..uhh..” he paused..

“You love whom?” I asked but I was certain he was going to say me because why would he have come to me otherwise to say so. But to my utter disappointment, his next words were, “I love Ms abc” he meant the new girl. I was dumb struck. I opened my mouth to say something but words were struck in my throat and refused to come out so I closed my mouth. Somehow my silence disturbed him because his next words confirmed it.

“Come on, don’t you think she’s the right girl for me? You are my best friend, I thought at least you can be happy for me” he said. I didn’t say anything still because I couldn’t trust me voice. My eyes were blinded with unshed tears I had to hold my tears by pretending to gaze at the empty sky. He just stood up and went and left me with a broken heart to heal.

We did not talk to each other since but I didn’t mind. I know I lost a friend but damn friendship to hell. I didn’t care for friendship from him, I yearned for more and he wasn’t willing to give more. Later that way, alone in the vicinity of my room, I questioned myself, “am I the right person to answer his questions? Why did he have to rub salt to my wound?” He was torturing my already tortured heart.

After the incident, we were merely strangers. He had come to know my feelings afterwards but he never bothered. A plain, simple girl could be of no use to him and like a ‘rat deserting a sinking ship’; he left me for a ‘greener pasture’.

Five months later, the stunning gorgeous Ms abc was pregnant. She might have been everything but smart. The couple was rumored to be constantly into fights. Each blaming the other for their careless action and Ms abc was believed to have been constantly in tears.

One day he came to me again. This time to seek my advice I backed away again this time too. How could a ‘plain Jane’ be of any help to ‘Mr Perfect’? But that wasn’t entirely the reason. I was tongue-tied because I didn’t know what to say. What could I have possibly said? Then, the duo was expelled from the school and that was the last I have seen or heard of them.

Now as I peeped through the window, I can picture him in my mind’s eye, the way his brown eyes held my stare on that fateful day. Alas! The last and final look when he came for my help. I wish I could turn back the clock and go back in the past but it was a decade ago and everything seems so blur and vague.

Career pill

I was going through the kuensel the other day and happened to have come across an article called “waiting to long to conceive” where many women have expressed their agony of not being able to conceive because they waited too long. Every woman aspires to be independent and successful and for that they need a career. These women who are very career oriented get no time to settle down and start a family quite late in their lives.

Every woman desires a successful career and also a happy family, but killing two birds with one stone is not an easy stuff for many. Bringing up children is no joke; woman needs to become a fulltime mother, which requires her to give up her career in some cases. It’s a choice between a career and motherhood and in the west we see most women opting for career rather than marriage and children, thereby they end up marrying late and not being able to conceive.

But either way we are at loss. Supposing you give up your career and dedicate your life to bringing up your children and cooking for your husband, then you have nothing of your own. You become dependent on your husband for everything and incase he leaves you; you will end up having nothing of our own. On the other hand, you choose career and establish yourself as a successful person. You might have a good independent life initially but eventually you will grow old all by yourself. So that way there’s an imbalance in life.

At such times we wish if we could compartmentalize our life. For instance, you allot first 20 years of your life to education, then from 20 – 30 for career and after 30 once you have established yourself as someone then you settle down, start a family. That way you are well organized and prepared to face life and challenges. This is although feasible but not practical because a woman scientifically becomes less fertile as her age advances. Once she crossed 35, her chances of conceiving are very slim. So many couples resolved to adopting, which is the second best option. But is it worth it? You work hard all your life: earn and save only to hand over everything to some children you have not mothered?

The whole thing becomes so complicated. If only we have allotted time for everything in life. If only life is more organized, then it would be much simpler. It’s all about management. It’s all about how you can manage your life. But how many women can have a great career as well as become a good mother? Not many definitely.

Well the article says now, scientists have come up with some pill called the “career pill” which, “would shutdown our ovaries during years we aren’t ready to conceive, and allow them to begin functioning again once we are ready”. Isn’t it exciting?

If this pill really comes alive then women need not worry of late marriage. There’s no need to panic because you can give birth only when you are ready and not any sooner. It’s a good news and relief to all women over the world. This pill is here to stay….