Email Robbery

This afternoon I received the following email from Ms. Binita Lhaden. I don't know her but faintly remember sending a complain letter to her once regarding some trade issue. I know Ms. Binita herself will be surprised to know about this because it's not her who sent the message. Her yahoo mail account is probably hacked. The hackers will send the same mail to all the people whose email addresses are saved in her account. That's why I received the mail.

Why are they doing this?
Hackers are expecting some friends of Ms. Binita to respond to her mail and send the asked money. Just respond and see how these people can fool you so convincingly.

The email!

How to prevent this?
This can happen to your account also. You should be careful when typing your password on public computers. Always log out from your account while leaving. Change your password from time to time. Make your password strong-text mixed with numbers.

*If any of you know Ms. Binita, please inform her (not by email though)that her yahoo account has become a beggar online and she should do something about it immediately.

Geography of My Kitchen Garden

When I wrote Lost Path last June our door step was one foot under the sand. I personally witnessed how the flash floods from the farm road covered our campus with sand thrice, and therefore I know that the place I am calling my kitchen garden is sandy.

My First bean.

If you have followed my blog regularly you would know that I had to build fences around my soul before I could fence my garden. And as if that wasn't enough, my sandy soil brought in lots of skeptical advisers kindly assuring me that nothing would grow in my garden. If they are right, then why am I wasting time? Well, geography says sand is not fertile but geography also say that the flood plain in Bangladesh is very fertile. The sand in my garden was brought there by flood and it ought to be fertile as well.

Chili and Egg Plant

Kingdom of tomatoes- I didn't plant on the side of the box!

 Nobody says anything these days, it has only been over a month and my green garden is answer to all their doubts. Spring onion was the first to answer followed by tomato. Garlic leaves and beans are swaying in the wind. Egg plants are growing huge leaves overshadowing my spinach (spinach reminds me of Popeye the sailor man). Coriander leaves, carrot and broccoli are just germinating while maize and ola choto are touching the fence. Chili trees look promising- I have the Indian chili plants. My most favorite plants in my garden are the two Coffee plants and two Dalle plants. Looking at the list, it may seem like I have acres of land but in fact I only have about ten square feet- including the soil in wooden box.

Spring Onion among Egg Plant, and Coriander in the box.

These many plants growing out of my sandy garden assure me that I have read the geography of Bangladesh carefully.

First harvest!

An afterthought:
* Two coffee plants may give me two cups of coffee, or may be more or may be the wind will never let them grow their fleshy leaves. but twenty years from now, when you drink a Bhutanese coffee brand called "PaSsu" please remember to share with your kids how uncle PaSsu began with just two plants of Coffee ha ha ha.

My two Coffee plants- half ragged by wind!

Finding Happiness in Kitchen Garden

The long excited wait for the end of the month ends in an hour of bliss, this is the story of every ordinary Bhutanese working on salary. Our salary, which lands in our hand in slow motion disappears like a ghost. That one hour of ownership you have over your salary, before it goes on to fill up the holes you have created throughout the month, is all the joy you could have by right.
How do you extend your ownership over your salary? You are not a delivery boy who collect the salary from your office and go from shops to fuel pump to BPC to Telecom to your landlord to deliver their share as if it were their salary you collected. You money has the right to say in your purse for a night at least.
Since you can't produce petrol you have to buy it. If you don't own a house you have to rent one. Telephone and power bills are unavoidable. You have to pay for clothes since you can't weave on your own. But what about a tomato? or an onion? a bunch of Coriander leaves? Can't we grow them? or do you want to put so much pressure on your salary?
You will call me miser but I call myself awake. I started a kitchen garden- a small one. It gives me a reason to wake up early and feel the dewdrops on the leaves. It gives me time to relax in the evening with a cup of tea along with my wife. It shall give all the basic vegetables I will ever need in a few weeks time- green and fresh.

Wind-hole in Wangdue

Legend has it that the Wind in Wangdue comes from a hole in the elephant hill. And many still believe so, finding no geographical justification to why Wangdue should be so windy when places around it are calm. To add more gravity to the legend, the wind at the southern end of the Wangdue Dzong is man-blowing; if you haven’t been there you don’t really know how windy the windy Wangdue is.

Man-blowing wind.

The gigantic prayer flag on the hill waves ferociously with sound enough to surpass twenty scooters starting at once, every blade of grass points in the direction of the wind, trees seem to have lost much of their leaves to the wind… every inch of the hill spells out the power of the wind.

I went looking for the hole, from the head to the tip of the trunk of the elephant hill. I wanted to photograph the wind at its source, but the legend remained a legend- I couldn’t find the hole this time. But the wind blew me into wonder- is so much power going to go wasted everyday in blowing dust around? Or embarrassing and shy girl by blowing up her kira, or by blowing off a bald man’s hat? Can’t it be harnessed into useful energy- to pump water or generate electricity? Because even if there is no wind hole in the hill there is undeniable power of wind sweeping the hill at all times.

Full Landscape of Bajothang

Inspired by the National Geographic photographer, who combines over eighty different shots to get the full view of 1600 year old tree, I tried with two shots. But as always I failed. The two shots are of different size and different lighting, making it difficult to merge. The end result looks funny but until I plan a better one this one is for the record.

As seen from North

You can see Bajo School, Bajo town, the Punatshangchhu River, Tencholing Army Camp, Wangdue town, Wangdue Dzong and Ninzergang Lhakhang. Well, if you don't see them clear, forgive me and wait for the next try!

My Daughter got shaved

A theory has it that if a child has thin hair, only way to get it thick is to shave it off once. We agreed and thought of doing it to our daughter long ago. Last winter, my wife said it's too cold to have her shaved, and when summer came she said it's hot and our babe can't wear cap. Thus, we kept pushing away the idea, because deep inside both of us didn't want to do it.
Last Sunday we saw a clean shaved toddler in Punakha that inspired us and we decided. Our girl was sleeping when we drove her to the saloon. I told the barber, I will do his job and pay him the price-fearing my daughter might not like him, but interestingly she never woke through out the process.
As the machine ran through her hair I felt very sorry, and my wife nearly cried. She looked so pitiably adorable yet we felt bad for snatching her girlish looks. After it was all over she woke up- now she looked very naughty. The barber warned us not to let her look in the mirror for sometime, he told us of stories where babies scared themselves to sickness.

If you tease her about her hair, this is what she does!

We made her feel her new head with her hand and gradually took her to mirror. Alas, even a girl of her age feels the difference, she looked sad and ran away from the mirror- and yes, agreed to wear cap for the first time in 18 months. We often see her go to the mirror and return with hanging face. Now she asks for cap every time she wants to go out.
Years from now, when she walks with her silky hair she would look in the mirror and love us for having shaved her once. For now, babe, we are sorry. But you look so so so Cute!

Thousand Wishes on My Birthday

There were so many years I lived without even knowing my birthday, and then there was a period where nobody remembered my birthday except myself. I use to cry like a baby. I wasn't lucky to have a cake on my birthday, and wasn't lucky to have people who cared to come and gift me. I am from among people who die for the riches.

Now, it's all a different story, I have a birthday to celebrate, loving people to sit with, money to buy cake and go out. Thanks to Facebook, everybody remembers my birthday. I received over 300 messages on my wall and it made me feel really good. My sister, who used to wish me on wrong days, called me yesterday morning. BOBL has a nice automated SMSing system in place- it wished me yesterday.

It was the nicest birthday I ever had. If birthdays are so much fun, I don't mind growing old!

Greener Dream of Bajo

Bajo has as many trees as twenty schools in Thimphu could dream for and all the thanks to its alumni who had spared no June 2 since 1997. It's sad that the day is no more a national holiday but Bajo has no hard feelings against whoever is responsible. We have enough tree to breath for next hundred years.

Bajo Campus!

But not all part of Wangdue is as lucky. The magnificent dzong is exposed to the full fury of the wind, which has left it as the last dzong without CGI roof. Everything around the dzong points in the direction of the wind. There is hardly any tree left to shield the massive structure from the wind, and therefore over three hundred students from Bajo School joined the foresters and Dzong project workers in planting over thousand tree saplings around the dzong. If the wind would spare it, in next twenty years you would see how beautiful Wangdue dzong looks in the green wood rather than wild cactus.

Bajo Students on the mission!

Teaching the Digital Natives

 Teaching is soon going to be a very embarrassing job, with learners knowing far more than their teachers. The kids born in the digital age are exposed to hundreds of information sources through hundreds of technology, which we teachers may not have heard of even. We seem to be happy with how well we can explain the textbook and we are proud of our chalkboard skills, but things are changing so fast that each day a page from our textbook gets outdated, and kids find it hard to believe that there is no icon to click on the chalkboard, forget about 'save' option.

There were times, whole family will scream if a kid runs to touch the video deck, but now without your child's help you will scream at your new phone. Kids walk with Google in the pocket and you talk to them of what you learnt 10 years ago, what do you expect? Yes they are bored with you!
I have joined Bhutan W.I.R.Ed project three years ago to make sure I can always be useful to my students. The Singaporean project pioneered the used of Information Technology in Bhutanese Schools. However, three years couldn't make any difference in the way teaching happens in Bhutan. There wasn't so much energy in the young idea to push through the old mindsets.
However, NIIT offered EPICT Certificate course for the forty Chigphen Rigphel teacher trainers, to be completed in next eight months. Everything about the course shall be done online. At the end of the course, it is expected that the spark of Bhutan W.I.R.Ed project will glow on to become a huge fire of revolution in the way learning happens in Bhutan.

The First Forty- in Samtse with NIIT Staff

Teachers mustn't excuse themselves from learning technology, while the pace is still slow, there will come a time when the chance of coping is far from possible, and that's when you become useless for your students. Being awarded the best presenter during the course orientation I am fully motivated to remain ever useful to all generations of learners.

Paro Dzong at Night

This was the shot I was attempting to get the last time I visited Paro, but because of the cold or may be my hand, I landed up getting blurring images. This time I made sure I came with my tripod so that I don't have to blame anything if the picture still came out wrong. And here is it!

Glowing Paro Dzong

Like a Diamond in the sky!

Ghajini Awards goes to My Family

Some years ago, I used to be surprised and even annoyed at my mother's forgetfulness- there would be towel on the gas stove, plate in the toilet, ladle in the closet, leave the stove burning, ... she would laugh out loud and say, "O, I forgot it". I would beg of her to be mindful, "Mother, Please, please don't forget." But she would forget again. When I insist too hard to be mindful, she would ask in irritation, "How could I help? It happens, I don't intend to." She deserves the Life Time Ghajini Award.
It has been a few years since I became forgetful too, and then I came to realize what my mother meant. But my wife won't believe me when I say, "I can't help it." I even forget my car in the school and reach home on foot, thank god I reside near by. It would be Best New Comer Ghajini Award.
"Have you seen my phone?" is the question I hear from my wife twenty times a day now. My wife has joined the Ghajini gang too. And now she would realize how forgetting happens. But compared to my brother and son, she is nothing. Yet I thought she deserves the Most Promising Ghajini Award.
My brother forgets everything, every time, and when asked he would giggle and say he has forgotten. Amir Khan must have worked damn hard to perform that good in the movie, but if it were my brother he would have done so naturally. No one can snatch the Best Ghajini Award from him- swear!

The Ghajini Family

Next in line is our son, who at this very age forgets everything he doesn't like. He forgets his homework, leaves his book in the class when it is needed at home and at home when it is asked in the class. He forgets to bathe, brush, and polish his own shoes. He doesn't know where he left his unwashed clothes as long has he has a new set on his back. One thing I like about his pattern of forgetting is He could choose what he wants to forget- or so it seems. He should be awarded Outstanding Ghajini Award.
Only mindful person in my family is my little daughter, who surprises us with her ability to trace the lost phones, gas lighter, remote controller, slippers, etc. - and my wife say, it's because she is the one who hides it.

My Brother is a Promise

My twenty four year old giant brother has a child's heart in his chest. He has long outgrown my size but his mind defied the laws of nature, the world around him doesn't seem to bother him a bit. He sits down with an eleven year old and spend the whole day enjoying their fantasy. He is perfectly happy even after repeating thrice in the BHSEC.
But love took him on a joyride, only to wake him from his wonderful dream. When he shared about his girlfriend who was a qualified working lady, it got me worried. I warned him. And it got me more worried when I discovered she was a very good lady. My jobless and innocent brother has fallen in love with a working lady, and how in the world is he going to keep her happy? My thoughts were rustic, I know, but rustically true. I was being traditional, but there is no denying that we have hardly changed. I pushed him hard when he was doing his exam for the third time. I begged of him to feel the gravity of the real world. I assured him that he is a good promise. But result broke it.
World is far meaner than my brother learnt from his little friends, and I was worrying his share for him, because 'mean' is not something he has understood yet. Thus, a week has passed, gloomy and shocked- god and the lady knows what the reasons are but my poor brother could hardly justify why the good relationship is loosening.
My wife is worried and I am too, we seek justification more than him, but at the depth of my mind I know it's so well justified- he is a promise no more.
I look at my million dollar brother and see promises dancing all around him, so sorry that people fail to see through an unpolluted soul.

Royal Wedding Announcement

Today, everybody in Bhutan is talking about the Royal Wedding announcement done this morning by His Majesty himself. Come October and we are going to see Ashi Jetsun Pema, whom his majesty described as a humble and caring girl, stand along our king and wave at us.


His majesty shared this great news with us last week during his visit to our school, and this morning's announcement made it all seem so real. While the news brought tsunami of happiness across the nation, I am sure millions of girl's hearts across the world must have been broken this morning!


The urge to see our future queen began right away, and I Googled for her pictures, but I am returned with pictures of His holiness the Dalai Lama's sister. I considered it a very good omen!


And finally, His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck's page on Facebook release the spellbinding picture of the divine pair. They are made for each other, without a doubt!

K5 with Ashi Jetsun Pema!

If I Write a Book on My Mother...

My Mother- Cendrella so far

If I write a book on my mother dear, only the first chapter won't have to be written with blood and tears. The first chapter of her life was happy, born with a silver spoon but her luck soon ran out and her Cendrella-ordeal began. Despite being a daughter of a Dzongda, she had to fight the hardship of village life alone. She was deprived of education and gradually parted with her little inheritance. My young mother had to cremate  four parents and two husbands before I came of age to wipe her tears.
If I ever have to write the second chapter I will have to write of all those people whom I have tried all my life to forgive, people who walk this earth with pride because my mother was humble, people who rub shoulders with titans because my mother was innocent, and people who enjoy the smoothness of silken nightgown because my mother chose to remain in rags. My mother's good heart that I inherited reminds me each day that revenge is not the solution. Every time I think of writing about my mother, I think of those people who made my mother's life miserable and even on mother's day I wrote nothing.
My mother is living the last few chapters of her life and I am going to restore her birth rights- she deserves happiness in each word of each page, and I am going to make sure these few chapters justify the whole purpose of her life. I swear I will give up all my faith in god if he takes her away before I could give her all the happiness in the world.

My Favorite Bhutanese

Besides my Kings and my Mother, following are my favorite Bhutanese personalities, and out of curiosity I tried drawing comparison with their Indian cousins. Because there is no authentic research done I urge you to treat it as my personal understanding of  people.

Lyenpo Zangley Drukpa and Lalu Prasad are both ministers. They are very interesting to listen to, though their voices are lazy. They look heavy and lazy but are known for getting things done at any cost- men of Action!

Lyenpo Zangley and Lalu Prasad

 Aum Neten and Kiran Bedi are special species of women. They are fearless and icon of integrity. Both wear short hair and powerful glasses. They are the only women, after Joan of Arc, who could make most powerful of men pee in their pants. If you don't love them, perhaps you are corrupted!

Aum Neten and Kiran Bedi

BBS Dawa and Barkha Dutt are two heck of TV Journalists, who dare ask questions, which many can't even imagine. They are always after "time". They enjoy making their guest speechless. They are bilingual- they can kick in from both sides.

Dawa and Barkha Dutt

And finally, Tshokey and Katrina are icon of beauty. They are the most sort after personalities on Google in their respective countries. They are educated abroad and thus both have western accent. They are the hottest actors and sexiest dancers in Cinema.

Tshokey Tshomo & Katrina Kaif

There are some more comparisons, I will present in next episode!

Good Fences Make Good Neighbor

Well, it not true anymore. I was planning a tiny kitchen garden beside my veranda when someone came and ordered to shift it. I take orders in professional duties, not in personal life. My sub-boss in school, happens to live in the same staff quarter with me, who found it difficult to tolerate me fencing my garden. The excuse was blockage of footpath to school, which in no way can be justified. It was like "Boss is always right", when I disagreed he threatened to break it. That's when the fight began. While I found it difficult to withstand his disastrous anger, his clever-spoken wife joined in against me.

by Kevin Peterson

The case went up to the school office and back to the field where, I agreed to shift my garden, not because I have blocked the path, but because I have block an ego. The fight gave me a few things to reflect on; it was the opportunity for me to understand how I was thought of by the opponent all the while. It also made me understand how all my respect and help was misinterpreter and finally I was enlightened that the fence was just an excuse.
Bajo doesn't belong to me but in these years I have lived here, I have given myself to Bajo. I don't just work here, I live here. I am a part of it. My contribution to my school far surpasses my prescribed duty, but I was given to understand that it was my duty to repair computers, set up internet for school and for each teacher, setup wireless network, fix printers, design school website, build school database, attend to every call in the school with regards to computer, and take care of each computer in school... well I am a teacher and I can survive just by teaching. If I am doing more it's only because I love Bajo and No one should dare say,

"If you cannot do all that, you may leave, someone else will come".

Good fences may not make good neighbors, it but makes us realize the bad ones!

Dear Students, On Teachers Day

My Dear Students,


Tomorrow morning I will be very happy knowing you all will wish me more than 'good morning'. I am not worried about what you will force me to do, because I have dared to sing on stage last year, the last thing god wanted me to do on earth, but I am worried you might come with gifts you couldn't afford yourself. Gift is not important, it's you and your feeling about us that matters. Make a priceless card with your own hands and present it rather than some glossy card printed by machine with a price tag.


On Teachers Day, I have no confessions to make since I have always been dead honest with you, and I have no apologies to beg since I hurt nobody. In case some of you are upset with me for give you nick names then let me tell you I didn't mind you calling me Mr. Bean. It's just another lesson- keep your sense of humor alive at all times.


On Teachers Day, I want to remind you that I am not a role model you should copy, nor is anybody. You should know you are unique and special, and work toward building yourselves with your beliefs. You must have dreams driving you each day of your life. You must love your parents, respect your teachers, and have good faith in god and know that no matter how tall your grandfather was you got to do your own growing!


I want you to know I am so proud to be your teacher.

Dragon Bones -Murray Gunn

I have known Murray Gunn through my blog. He often commented on my posts, and let me know he has written "Dragon Bones". He promised to send me a gift copy. His publisher Pete made sure that I received it. I want to thank the two of you for being kind and keeping your words.

The gift & Note

I have just begun reading and it already occurred to me that I am going to have a lot of fun. Murray is talking about his journey to Bhutan and through it! I am getting to see Bhutan from an honest oz eye, who joined his French wife as a househusban. The first twenty pages I have finished promise a lot of revelation of Bhutanese characters which we take so for granted.

Gift Package

I will write about the whole experience of reading Dragon Bones after I finish it. Give me some time, I am slow reader.

Wisdom Teeth- the pain without gain

Why is this painfully useless tooth called wisdom tooth? Is it because it grows when we become adult? or is it the sign that we have become wise? Then how painful it is to become wise! The pain is unbearable, and I have been drinking for the last three days to escape it, and starting this morning I am forced to fast. The swelling in my gums won't let me chew anything at all. Everybody says I should remove it surgically- I have just become wise and removing it would mean I am denying the change.
I have to do a little research before I let it go, for what is pain without gain?

Rabies Story- Don't Trust Doctors

If you are bitten by a dog, you should rush to hospital. But don't think TT injection will take care of everything. You must ask for ARV- Anti Rabies Vaccine. That's when your doctor will ask you to observe the dog for next ten days, because they don't want to waste the expensive vaccine if the dog is not infected.
 However, it's your life at stake. You must insist on having yourselves vaccinated, because recent cases in Phuntsholing and Gelephug proved medical theory of wait-for-ten-days wrong. The boy in Phuntsholing dies a week after he was bitten -are you going to wait for ten days now?, and the lady in Gelephug observed the dog for ten days, nothing happened. Three months later she died. Can you trust the theory anymore?
I had my experience a few weeks ago. I came home relaxed having received TT injection and blogged about it. Thanks to my blog, some comments there worried my wife and she insisted me to go back and start ARV, which saved my life, perhaps.
P:S: It's not just dogs, any animal bite must be treated the same. Man in Trongsa died of Rabies because he was bitten by his horse.