New year's Resolution

My new year's resolution is to come out clean; quit smoking and perhaps exercise more.

Smoking is bad, I know. Every time I smoke I get scared of cancer and dying young. Perhaps the disease has caught up with me even but I have no way of knowing since I haven't had health check-ups done in ages. One particular instance gives me shudder even now, last time my hair fell handful.

What started as a young girl's fancy has now become a woman's agony? I'm not a public smoker and a very few people know that I do. That's because I only smoke in the vicinity of my bathroom or the verandah, making my family the passive smokers. I hate doing it in public and I hate the smell when others do it and yet savor the smell when I smoke. Trust me; I'm not proud of it.

When it comes to smoking it's like, "I know I can quit smoking, I have done it hundred times before". In my case, I'd quit for a day and the very next day, before I know it I'd be standing by the pan shop. It's a sheer addiction and I curse that day in 2005 when I tried hard to learn from my seniors in RIM.

Come 2011 and I'd have to quit forcefully if not willingly. I'm glad the Tobacco Control Bill has been passed just in time. I can only hope for stern rules and reluctant shopkeepers, who wouldn't sell to me even if I begged on my knees.

Though I've always thought of myself as a good girl but smoking has marred my image, now I'm kind of disfigured and scarred for live and I've but long lost this decent girl image of mine. It's one bad habit that I've developed over the year and something I've come to regret a lot in the recent years.

The coming year I'm really hoping to come out clean even if it means for me to seek the help of rehabilitation centers (rehab), though my problem is not as dramatic but if it helps. In 2011, I hope the government can put total ban on the sale and use of Tobacco products, let them imprison the users. Let the rules be so strict that shopkeepers quit selling out of fear and the smoker quit smoking for the very same reason.

I'm really working towards achieving my resolution goal; I've been clean (of cigarettes) since yesterday morning. It's a small start but you have to begin somewhere right? That’s what I have done.

Thimphu ready for its first-ever Mayor

Mayor is the title used for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government. We have seen and heard of mayor(s) but in Hollywood movies.

Well the Dzongkha translation of the word ‘mayor’ is a ‘thrompon’ and of municipality is a ‘thromde’. It was decided during the last session of the parliament or a session before that, the towns of Thimphu, Phuntsholing, Gelephu and Samdrupjongkhar would be classified into class ‘A’ thromdes and each thromde is to have its own thrompon or the mayor.

Thromde election comes under LG (local government) elections and ECB (election commission of Bhutan) has already conducted many tests around the country. However, judging by the qualification of the Thrompon hopefuls that test may not be necessary. The candidates confirmed so far for the post of Thimphu’s first ever Thrompon are an architect, an engineer, a private company’s proprietor etc.

Those planning to contest for the post of Mayor are already identifying the city’s problems and making promises to resolve them at the earliest. People’s requirement of their mayor is one person who understands the town planning, land and housing issues, government policies and infrastructure and hence explains why the candidates are retired architect, semi-retired engineer etc.

On the eve of Bhutan’s first municipal elections, high hopes are vested in the Thrompon-hopefuls, expectations are varied and high. A mayor is the executive head of the city and a very powerful post. There are many wanting to be the one; however, just high qualifications and occupying the post are not good enough. We need action, we need changes for better, we need him/her to make a difference and we need it soon.

Identifying city’s problems, making false promises or giving long speeches are not enough to make a difference. There’s need of resources (human resources and others) and budget, to actually implement those plans. Perhaps it’d be wrong to blame our town planners and our would-be Thrompon even because we have to consider budget constraint before anything.

Reports say Thimphu has the current population of about 108,000 and only 6,486 registered voters. Which means only 6,486 people will decide what’s best for the rest of the people residing in Thimphu. It’s not fair not every citizen gets to vote, however, not many seems to care. This is how the modern mentality is like; we are all selfish. As long as it doesn’t affect us individually, we do not care much.

So someone from Thimphu valley, someone whose census is registered under Thimphu Dzongkhag (for at least last one year), someone in whom people have their faith gets to become Thimphu’s first-ever Thrompon. So far, three candidates have come forward to contest. I do not know anyone of them personally to give my judgment, nor does it count, so ‘may the best man win’.

Of Cycling and Fitness

They say cycling is a shortest road to fitness, not only it burns up your calories, tones your body and strengthen your heart but also help you stay in shape. Regular cycling gives you skinny upper body and shapely legs, or so they say.

Cycling is the best fitness exercise for obese people, since the weight of your body is supported by the cycle; it doesn’t exert much pressure on your joints. Couple of years ago, cycling wasn’t very common in the highland country like Bhutan. However, with the passage of time, cycle brand started producing cycles with gears as much as 25, which has perhaps convinced the Bhutanese small society to seek fitness out of harm work and gym.

I had a small cycle in Bangalore for 2 years, small enough to be for kids. Unfortunately my best buddy, Pema could never learn to balance her body on two wheelers or to ride for that matter. That’s why we could never enjoy a ride together but then I had my share of fun riding early mornings or on weekends. Those days we used to ride for hours for no apparent reason. Most of the times, it used to be my friend Mithun and I. Occasionally Tim used to join us for ride but then at times like this Pema was the cause of worry for us. Since none of us could take doubles, Pema had to walk, while we rode. For that reason, she hardly joined us.

Anyways that joy was short lived. When I graduated from Bangalore, I couldn’t bring my cycle on the train till NJP. That was the last I saw of my dear cycle and God knows I miss her very much. Well now that I’m in Bhutan, I can’t help falling for every geared and helmeted cycle on the streets here. So I thought of buying one myself and one day I asked opposition leader, Tshering Tobgay, the cost of cycles and Lyonpo was kind enough to answer my query.

To my disappointment, the cost of cycle freaked me out. For the life of me, I could never dream of owning one, the price was way above my budget and so I had to give up finally. Cycles are luxury items for the riches, not a necessity for middle-class people, like me.

However, we had this discussion in my office and to my surprise; many of my colleagues (males) are in awe of cycling and fitness. It was good to know, somebody shared my passion for riding. We had exclusive discussion on the topic and finally agreed that we all should take loan and buy one for each and maybe eventually go for long ride as a team. It was a sheer pleasure to talk about stuffs you like.

I’ve always admired Lyonpo Tshering Tobgay, for his passion for the sport. And it’d be a good way to start especially now that the world has become conscious of environment related issues like automobiles and pollution.

Someday, I’d hope to see the streets of Bhutan flooded with riders, not vehicles, accidents and traffic congestion.

The Blame Game

The recent fire incident in Bumthang that gutted 67 shops and houses rendered hundreds helpless and homeless was perhaps the worst fire incident Bumthang valley has experienced over that years, not to mention the lives lost to the fire. The whole nation is together in this; we grieve for the victims; dead and alive but even in tragic times like this some people are quite intended on blaming the disaster management, saying those people were not ready for disasters but always touring and training abroad.

The best thing we could do is to donate in cash or kind so that we can help the victims in our own small ways. The incident has already happened and there's not much use 'crying over the spilled milk' but prepare ourselves to prevent it from happening in the future.

It was a forth-night or two ago when I heard on BBS, the plan to shift Bumthang town to a new area called Dekiling in Bumthang. Though it was a good initiative but not all shopkeepers were happy about the new town plan. Apparently the MoWHS has only space for a hundred or so shops, rest 27 are to be in the Chamkhar town at least for few years. Perhaps due to that incident, people now are thinking, maybe there's a motive behind the fire. Though it was purely accidental but we can't stop people from having someone to put the blame on.

Some people were not even sure whether it was Chamkar forest or the town that caught the fire but still he blames it on women playing Khuru. This guy says women playing Khuru was a bad omen to begin with. The most recent controversial issue we had in Bhutan was women playing Khuru. Though not many are bold enough to voice it out but they are hell-bent on blaming those women for every bad thing that happened this year.

Where is the connection between the fire and the Khuru? How people can cook stories is amazing? Such superstition can really blind our good judgment. Although, I concede women playing Khuru is not a pretty sight to the onlookers but it definitely cannot be the cause of a fire incident happened miles away from the actual playground.

Perhaps the fire could have been averted if the town wasn't full of makeshift huts? Or if the town was relocated to Dekiling has planned? May be people didn’t build concrete buildings because of the relocation plan? Nobody knows for sure. But it's a shame for the Bhutanese small society that we hear of thieves and looters who come in the pretext of helping the fire victims but for their own good, in times like this.

The sad thing is that only few shops and makeshift wooden structures are insured with RICBL. If only such tragic incident was foreseen most residents could have insured their homes and the cost of rebuilding, RICBL would have to bear.

Disclaimer: I’ve heard of the fire incident on BBS for that matter the figures are not accurate. This article is not to offend any individual or organization. If I’ve done so please forgive me.

A Talk Show Host: To become or not to become?

As a kid we all wanted to become so many things but by choice or under compulsion many of us do not get to become what we wanted to become when we grow up. In a small country like Bhutan where population is less, opportunities are few.

A footballer in England has a celebrity status and earns millions of Dollars so does Sachin Tendulkar by cricket in India, earning crores of Rupees. The same cannot be said for Bhutanese people. In Bhutan, a footballer cannot choose football as his career because that’s not enough to earn his living. A Bhutanese footballer at the most can play at the national level, as soon as he goes out of the country, he loses the very first match to the opponent and returns home empty handed.

Although the Bhutanese small society has always been an advantage to its people but sometimes I can’t help but wish for a bigger country, more people and varied opportunities. The disadvantage of having small society is that there’s no audience and opportunities are restricted. Here in Bhutan people just prefer to stay in the ‘comfort zone’ by opting for the civil service because it’s safe and pays your bills at the end of the month either you work or don’t, leaving aside your hobbies and passion as past-time stuffs irrespective of your talent.

Every one of us wants to become famous and to crave our name in the society. I’d very much like to become a singer, but I have no good voice. Then I wanted to become an actor but I have neither looks nor the talent. So the other day I was thinking what would I have to do to make my existence known to others?

Finally I have figured out what I’d want to become in my life eventually; I could become a Talk Show Host. I was thinking it wouldn’t have to be as big as ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ neither as cheesy as ‘Coffee with Karan’ but it can have it own identity. With this thought in my mind, I logged in to my facebook account, created an application titled “The Ganzin Talk Show”, uploaded my logo but I couldn’t come up with a caption. I thought it should be something catchy so I thought would ‘Speak out your mind’ do? But that sounded like cliché, used often before. After debating arduously with myself I gave up and logged out of the facebook.

That night as I went to bed, I was thinking about that day and suddenly I was scared. Was I crazy to even think such thing? A Talk show host? For God’s sake, what’d I even talk about? Who could even come to my show? I’m not a famous face in town; nobody would even bother to watch. With hardly any audience, BBS would never consent to broadcast it. I was insane to even consider risking my career to give in to passion. I could never do this, at least not yet. With that emotional turmoil playing around in my mind, it was impossible to sleep. Then I rubbished away the thought and tried to think like a matured, wise woman. When I finally dozed off, towards the dawn, I’ve promised myself never to consider mixing my hobbies and passion with real stuffs.

I’ve kept that promise and never thought of it until I typed it here, at this moment…..

Dear God: who's God?

Dear Lord, with its all knowing, all seeing, all having ability,
is google God?
If google is only a software, what about its creators?
are Larry Page and Sergey Brin God?
If your argument is that they are human beings,
what about those 4 spiders that crawl over the world wide web?
are they God or only computer applications?

Well, my dear God, what about Mark Zuckerberg,
the inventor of facebook?
is this college kid a genius, for bringing together millions of strangers all around the world,
the person responsible for doing away with the boredom
and reduced productivity of employees in the office.
Perhaps, he's the messenger of God,
sent from heaven to help lonely people on earth?

But if facebook and google are god,
surely Bill Gates cannot be far behind,
for inventing the Microsoft, the world is indebted to this guy.
Without windows there's no question of technology


Just as people cannot do without food, so the entertainment,
Perhaps Angelina Jolie is Goddess?
with her beauty, talent and acting,
the world cannot do without her charms,
forget about providing homes to the homeless

But if we consider all those famous as God,
there surely would be unlimited Gods.
we'd want only one God, let that be you,
for in your hands, fall the responsibility of the world

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Love Tri-Angle

My love life has ended before it could begin because some old hag of a woman chose to haunt my life as a ghost from his past. I never did see this coming but even a man has more past than just meet-the-eye.

I met this guy about an year ago through chat and we had it going strong until recently. I thought this time it’s serious not like in the past but in the end all guys are same. Maybe God in heaven has already marked me as a confirmed spinster, maybe marriage was never meant for me but still sometimes it's sad to see none of my relationships working.

It's still a mystery whether the problem lies with me or the guys I've been seeing. I was about to fall in love when his past unfolds in front of me. My trust in him shattered when this middle aged woman emerged from his past, a woman seemingly had been financially supporting him for the past 6 years when he was still in college. Now that he's done with college she isn't willing to let go of him so easily. I have heard of female prostitutes but never a male whore.
I never thought a guy can sell sex for money neither did I think a time has come for women to opt for paid sex but then in our case it's understandable; a middle aged woman might have to pay if the guy is young enough to be her son.

Well in the end, I was but a mere pawn in the game played by an old woman and a manipulative young man. I was in rage but there was nothing I could do except let go of him. I didn't blame him for his past because I have no rights to but I'm insulted that he kept seeing her while he was with me. My only comfort is that I didn't do anything I might regret.

He did insist that he was done with her and that he wants a fresh start with me but if there was actually a ten months old baby involved then I didn't think we could start afresh. I might sound selfish but I never liked the concept of step mother or being one to a baby. I'd never be able to love someone's baby as my own when it's not, in fact I might even despise this baby because it reminds me of its mother.

After weighing all the pros and cons I had to back out of this love triangle. Even now I feel very sad, my pride is hurt most because a guy chose this old woman, mother of 3 teenage children to me but then all's well in the end. I could never be able to raise a husband, support him financially because my mindset is still conservative, and I believe a man is supposed to support his wife and family not the other way round.

All i did was remove him from my facebook friends' list, delete all his text messages and his mobile number from my cell and it's as if he never existed at all, that phase of my life is over and perhaps for good. The advantage of having a strong heart is it's easy to fall in love and easier yet to fall out of love. I didn't shed a drop of tear neither is my heart broken; it's still intact and inside the rib cage.

Voting System: Fair trial to judge the best?

In the recent years, almost everything in Bhutan has turned to the voting system, from parliamentary elections to reality shows and Miss Bhutan Pageant, voting through text messages and calls has become some sort of trend in Bhutan. It's very vague whether we credit this to Bhutan Telecom or the Democracy system of government in the country.

Well the motive initially was to select/choose the best by taking in the opinion of the public at large and awarding the best deserving candidate. However, due to the commercial interest of the organizers or the people involved, this motive was long lost. Still we cannot blame anybody in the system; not the organizers who seek to gain some financial benefits (nobody works for free), neither the supporters of the candidates those who want to see their candidate as the winner. Perhaps, Bill Gates is right in saying, "Life is not fair, get used to it!". We simply can't blame some people for having more money.

The rule of the game here is simple, 'if you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen'. For middle class and poor people in Bhutan, unless one is exceptionally talented and blessed with beauty, it's better to stay out of the event instead of wasting one's time, energy and resources for nothing.

The big question here is, "Is voting a fair process to judge and choose the best one?" No, it isn't the best method, but then who cares to differ? who has the guts to go against the system and land up in controversies? Most people are just happy to follow the lead. And unless one is participating one self, one hardly bothers to indulge in the affairs so trifle.

I personally have nothing against the voting system, nor do I care who wins what, as long as I'm not in. However, it's but sad to see the deserving candidates go waste just because of financial issues and poor relatives. Maybe it's time we get used to the not-so-fair life.

Of Gangs, Cat fights and Weird sports

The Korean movies have glorified the gangsters so much that, youth in Bhutan have followed the trend. Who can blame the youngsters, the gangsters do look cute with suit, boots and stripped ties.

Every day the number of rowdy guys forming groups increase in number. The recent telecast of Bhutanese gangsters on BBS has perhaps made them look like celebrity. It's alarming to see so many of adolescent youth wasting their life away by forming groups and ending up behind the bars. May be it's time we analyze where the fault lies; whether it's the negligence of parents or unemployment or million other reasons.

Whatever may be the reason, it's one's own responsibility to take care of one's life. A person who can't think what's best for him/her is of no use to anyone. Perhaps the best way to reduce the number of rowdy guys is to impose strict punishment, rather than cleaning toilets and picking papers etc.

Well if young boys are difficult, girls are impossible. If women playing Khuru in Kira is not enough, there are girls fighting in night clubs. It was ridiculous to see Bhutanese housewives and middle aged woman in half kira playing Khura and cheering for themselves. Khuru, Bhutanese traditional game has been in the man's domain for centuries until recently. God knows what those groups of women were trying to prove by invading the male domain, playing the masculine game.

However, that wasn't as outrageous as the cat fight that happened over a fortnight ago. We did hear of women gangsters but couldn't comprehend whether women really were capable of actually implementing it. With aggressive and frustrated boys and girls around, Thimphu in particular, has become unsafe for Bhutanese citizens to be out in the streets at night. What's the world coming to? Whom do we blame, who's responsible for untamed youngster? So many questions but hardly any answers.