Kinder Joy Brain

I don't think there is anybody who doesn't know about the egg shaped product that makes your kids crazy. And when our kids become crazy they make us crazy finally. There is not a day in a year my daughter doesn't ask for a Kinder Joy, there is not a night she does watch Kinder joy Ad on YouTube. I want to kill whoever was that first person who introduced her to this product.

The Magical Product

It costs a staggering Nu.35 in Wangdue, which is enough to buy myself a decent lunch. After paying so much it is interesting to observe she wouldn't eat the edible half, and I assume half the kids on the planet would do the same. They are after the other half which holds a surprise toy. I noticed that there is no surprise anymore as my girl keeps getting a monkey paying cricket- seemingly made in India!
Well I share a similarity with Kinder Joy, one half of me is a father who just calculated how much this stupid egg robbed off me so far but the other half of me was fully amazed by the brain behind the Kinder Joy concept. It emerged in one of thousand talks I had with my kindred spirit Tshering Tenzin at his headquarters. We looked at the product from all angles (it looked like an egg from all sides) and saw that it has very low investment, high price and targets the loose ends of our wallets- yes children. Amazingly it sells on its own, and one Kinder Joy sold becomes an advertisement for next hundred costumers... it works like magic spell. It's like Facebook on internet, which needn't be taught nor advertised.
There is so much to learn from this small product, though I hate it every time my daughter catches hold of one. While the world is after making big stuffs someone has put all his brain on creating a small thing for small children to make us scratch our head!

Interesting Respond from a Reader

Following is an email from a reader, Namgay Thinley, who shares very good insight on Dzongkha and technology relationship. He wrote it in Dzongkha so that his words carry their weight through. You should have dzongkha fonts installed on your device to read the following:

སློབ་པ་སངས་མཆོག

ཞུ་དོན། ད་རེས་ཁམས་ཅིག་ཁར་ ང་གིས་ངོ་ཤེས་མི་ཆ་རོགས་ཅིག་གིས་ ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་བཟོ་ཡོད་མི་ སྒེར་གི་ཡོངས་འབྲེལ་ནང་མཐུད་བྱིན་ཡོད། དེ་ནང་ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་ཁ་ཐུག་ལས་ རྫོང་ཁ་དང་ ཨེ་མ་སྐོར་ལས་བྲིས་མི་འདི་ བསམ་འཆར་ལེགས་ཤོམ་ཅིག་ཨིན་པས་ཟེར་ཞུ་ནི། དེ་ནང་ང་ར་ལས་ ག་ཤེས་མི་ཅིག་ ཁྱོད་དང་ཁྱོད་རའི་སློབ་གྲྭའི་སློབ་དཔོན་ཆ་རོགས་ཚུ་ལུ་ཕན་པ་ཅིན་མནོ་སྟེ་ བྲི་དོ་ཟེར་ཞུ་ནི། མ་གཞི་ ང་ར་འདི་གློག་རིག་ནང་ མཁས་པ་ཅིག་མེན་འདི་འབད་རུང་ ད་རེས་ནངས་པར་ རྫོང་ཁ་ནང་ཡང་ གློག་རིག་གི་མཐུན་རྐྱེན་འདི་ལེ་ཤ་གི་ར་ གོང་འཕེལ་འགྱོ་ས་མཐོང་ཅིག  གཤམ་འཁོད་ ཡོངས་འབྲེལ་འཆར་སྒོ་ནང་ གཟིགས་པ་ཅིན་ ཕན་པའི་མཐུན་རྐྱེན་རེ་འཐོབ་ཚུགས་མནོ་སྟེ་ཕུལ་དོ།

http://www.dzongkha.gov.bt/IT/index.en.html

http://www.dit.gov.bt/LocalizationWiki/index.php/Main_Page

 

ད་རེས་ནངས་པ་ རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ནང་མི་ལ་ལུ་ཅིག་གི་ ཝི་ཀི་པི་ཌི་ཡ་ནང་ཡང་ རྫོང་ཁ་བཙུགས་ས་མཐོང་ཅིག་ དེ་འབདཝ་ད་ཁོང་ལུ་ ཆ་རོགས་འབད་དགོཔ་ལེ་ཤ་མཐོངམ་མས། ཆ་རོགས་འབད་དགོཔ་འདི་ཡང་ གཙོ་བོ་ གནད་དོན་དང་ གནས་ཚུལ་ཚུ་མངམ་མེད་པའི་དཀའ་ངལ་འདུག་ཟེར་མནོཝ་མས། 

http://dz.wikipedia.org/wiki/རྫོང་ཁ་

ང་ར་ལས་ མིང་ཚིག་གསར་རྩོམ་སྐོར་ལས་ དུམ་གྲ་ཅིག་ཞུ་བ་ཅིན་ ང་བཅས་རྫོང་ཁ་ལུ་ མིང་ཚིག་གསར་རྩོམ་ལེ་ཤ་འབད་དགོཔ་འདུག་ཟེར་མནོཝ་མས། དང་པ་ རྫོང་ཁ་འདི་རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་ཁ་སྐད་ཅིག་འབད་བ་ལས་བརྟེན། གཉིས་པ་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་ཁ་སྐད་འབདཝ་ལས་ མིང་ཚིག་ལངམ་མེད་པ་ཅིན་ རོགས་ཀྱི་ཁ་སླ་སྲེ་སྟེ་སླབ་དགོཔ་འཐོན་ནི་ཉེན་ཁ་འདུག  མ་པ་མིང་ཚིག་གསརཔ་འདི་ འགོ་དང་པ་གོཝ་ད་ དགོད་བྲ་སི་སི་སྦེ་གོ་རུང་ ཤུལ་ལས་གོམས་འདྲིས་ཚུད་པའི་བསྒང་ལས་ ལེགས་ཤོམ་མཐོང་འོང་མེ་ན། དཔྱེ་ཅིག་སླབ་པ་ཅིན་ ད་རེས་ཁམས་ཅིག་ཁར་ ཨ་མི་རི་ཀ་ལུ་ སྔོན་མ་ལས་ཡལ་ཡོད་མི་ ཙི་ཙི་དམརམོ་ཅིག་ མཁས་པ་ཚུ་གིས་ འཐོབ་ཡོད་མི་འདི་ ད་རེས་ཀྱི་ཁོང་རའི་སྲིད་བློན་ཨོ་བཱ་མ་གི་མིང་བཙུགས་ཏེ་ མིང་ཡང་ Obamadon ཟེར་བཏགས༌མི་འདི་ མ་བདེ་ཁག་ཁ་སྦེ་གོ་རུང་ ལོ་དག་པ་ཅིག་གི་ཤུལ་ལས་ ལེགས་ཤོམ་སྦེ་གོ་འོང་མནོཝ་མས། 

བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས།

རྣམ་རྒྱལ།

Thank you Namgay for writing to me, I hope this will go on to help lots of people besides me. And I also hope you don't mind me posting your email message here!

Blue Chili on Dzongkha Google

The saddest part of training Dzongkha teachers is at the end when they ask us if what we just taught could be done in Dzongkha- it's 'No' most of the time. They have to know a little bit of English anyway. I take the blame on my self for failing to be powerful and efficient enough to make computer Dzongkha-ready though I spent much of my life dealing with computer. I didn't have mark enough to pursue computers abroad nor did I have money enough to go on my own. God knows what those Bhutanese computer experts are doing.

However there are a few things we discovered as we desperately struggled together to make sense of internet through Dzongkha.
If you have the Dzongkha Keyboard installed then you can type in the search key word in Dzongkha, and Google is smart enough to find us whatever in available accordingly. 

Googling in Dzongkha

Google Dzongkha Results

The title of my post emerged when we were mocking the new Dzongkha words, which even the Dzongkha teachers find it hard to tolerate. We were all on one side when it came to disagreeing with formation of new Dzongkha words that are combination of existing words- like the names of things like computer, TV, football, tape recorder, type writer, vehicle, etc. We can't create new words, we are just connecting old words to make new ones, and land up making it very uneasy for our tongue. 

Then one lopen asked me to translate Ema Hoem to English, which I instantly could- Green Chili, then he asked me to go word by word and do the translation again, which is when I realized Ema hoem is actually Blue Chili. We discussed it at length to understand how such word could be very subtle to notice because of its usage over time. I searched Ema Hoem (typed in Dzongkha) in Google and following is what I got!

When you search for Ema Hoem on Google!

Wikipedia is available in all the language you can think of, and when I say so my 20 Dzongkha teachers look at me in full glow, but then I have to say, Except Dzongkha! I apologize as if it was my fault again. But I also ask them to put half the blame on Dasho Shrub, the man who is responsible for the development of Dzongkha Language (or are we all equally responsible?). Later I discovered that among hundreds of language on Wikipedia there is Boed Weig, meaning Tibetan Language- Bingo. With Tibetan Dzongkha teachers are more comfortable than English.

Wikipedia Doesn't have Dzongkha but look for Boed Weig (Tibetan) 

The following is how Wikipedia looks once we switch to Tibetan Language mode and this brings internet closer to our Dzongkha lopens.

Most Dzongkha Teachers can read, write and understand Tibetan!

What and how much will to take to make Google and Wikipedia possible in Dzongkha is the question I have been asking myself for quite sometime, and today with this post I ask you the same question. Let's also ask who will do that?

Dzongkha Teachers and Computers

You have no idea what it means to dare teaching twenty Dzongkha teachers how to use computer but I am not new to this challenge. This batch of language teachers we have in Punakha Center mostly began their career before many parents fell in love and some talks about my grandfather being their contemporary. Now imagine how I would look standing there doing this job of teaching them.
We were never trained to handle this nor the course was designed to suit them. The computers are just the ones we are using-everything on the machine is in English and even the text book and the presentation slides are in English. The problem is not with them, they are highly educated and very confident and ready to learn. The issue is with the computer- they'd heard a lot about this super machine but they are upset that the machine is just another stupid box that won't understand Dzongkha. I assured them that computer can be programmed to display everything in Dzongkha but the problem is I was not trained enough to do so much and rest didn't have the passion. (Point to be noted, My lord lol)
The best adjustment we can do for them was to install Dzongkha Unicode on their computers so that they could at least used computer to type text in Dzongkha. It's a simple two part process; first install Dzongkha Keyboard and then install Dzongkha Fonts followed by a few steps to Add Dzongkha Keyboard on Language Bar but to do it on so many computer took me and my partner Tshewang Rinzin one precious hour.
That's the beginning of another problem; there are a few teachers who never went to Dzongkha Unicode training and therefore they need another course to understand what we just did. Without Dzongkha characters printed on the keyboard it takes ages to get a word on the screen. (Point to be noted, My lord lol)
By afternoon we made some progress with some people and rest are waiting for me to bring them the printed copy of Dzongkha Keyboard tomorrow. But like all the batches we met we had fun being mischievous and with Dzongkha teacher like them I never forget to share my dirty jokes and make them cough their doma out. During the breaks I listen to their wisdom and bother them with my endless questions on history. I am looking forward to eight more days with them!

Note: This is not intended to class whole species of Dzongkha Teachers in Bhutan as alien to English language or computers, I am just talking about this group of senior teachers who didn't go to English medium school and therefore resulting in the gap. Dzongkha Teachers now are highly versatile, they have mastery over Dzongkha and does equally well in English- and to surprise the hell out of all my vice principal,Lop Melam, who is also a Dzongkha Teacher is an expert in both computer hardware and software including Mac stuffs.

Empowering Teachers

I haven't been on winter vacation for three years, and even forgot how it feels like to go on short summer breaks. I am paid and used for empowering teachers in our country and like me there are forty others spread across the country to leave no teacher behind on this aggressive computer literacy project. We don't have Sundays in our weeks nor do we have any national holidays once we begin but after every ten days our trainees change. I had the privilege of training over 200 teachers in four Dzongkhags giving me 200 reasons more to smile in life. 

If you are a teacher in Bhutan you already know what this project is all about and how important it is for your career regardless of your participation yet but not many of us realized that the program is much more than just a compulsory certifying course. Most are coming because they learnt that the certificate from this training is going to be a mandatory document while applying for promotion or scholarship. I have seen many teachers walking into my class with what-the-heck look on the first morning and on the last day the same people shake my hand so hard with gratitude and I could assume what's on their mind: I didn't know this was going to be such a life changing ten days.

Batch-2, Motithang Lab, 2013 Jan

I will sum up the curriculum of the ten days and let you decide if I made sense in saying it's a life changing ten days for teachers: 

• Teachers learn to draw diagrams in Microsoft Paint, and this also help beginners gain Mouse balance.
• They learn to setup question paper in Microsoft Word- Multiple choice, Filling Blanks, Matching, Labeling diagram and True or False. They also learn to plan their lesson in Word.
• They learn how to prepare lessons using PowerPoint Presentation. Animation amazes lot of them.
• They learn how to store student's marks in Microsoft Excel and prepare mark sheet there. All necessary formulas and functions are taught and practiced until perfected. Many teachers cannot believe that it could be so easy, quick and accurate. 
• Then we take them on ride on internet. Google for anything and everything they ever want and mostly for downloading diagrams and pictures they would require for their presentation, question papers or regular lessons. Wikipedia for information resources. YouTube for video resources. Email for communication- everybody leaves the training with email address. And for advance users we teach them blogging, in short- they are shown the power of Web 2.0 tools. This make it very hard for us to drive them home after 5.
• What more a teacher wants? In these ten days teachers are given enough time to practice daily and two days are dedicated for their assignments alone. 

Ladies of Khuruthang with my Partner Mr. Parsu Ram

By the end of the program nobody talks about the certificate they came for because they have too many new things in their head to wonder about. And for me repeating things over and over ceased to be boring, in fact I enjoy amazing people, I love the screams of excitement when teachers accomplish something. I have made wonderful friends and learnt values beyond holidays- I am living a meaningful life without Sunday, I am on a mission to empower teachers!  

Rice Vote From People of Haa

I learned from Channel NewsAsia that there are 190,000 varieties of rice in the world. That moment of enlightenment made me wonder why there is no rice growing in Haa. I am selfishly crying about Haa because there lies my root and there still is my home, however this subject applies to all the places like Haa and colder than Haa.
The 190,000 varieties of rice are not just any rice collected from different countries or based on their size and color, they are of different natures. There are rice that will grow in flooded land, and there are ones that will grow in dry land.There are also ones that will survive in drought, and strangely some can grow in salt water.
There are even ones that will withstand extreme heat, not to mention extreme cold. And how come we always thought Haa is too cold for growing rice?

A legend has it that once upon a time the protective deity of Haa, Ap Chundu and the deity of Paro went to mountains to bring home magical water that will help in growing rice. But on their way back the deity of Paro played a trick and made Ap Chundu drink till he went to deep slumber. When Ap Chundu woke up finally, the water they brought together was all gone to Paro. That's why rice grow in Paro despite being as cold as Haa. Furious Ap Chundu threatened to destroy everything and dry the river up, to which the deity of Paro promised to feed people of Haa with the first harvest from Paro. The tradition of offering the first rice harvest to temples and relatives in Haa is still practiced.

Now, that was indefinite years ago and people in Paro have found hundreds of ways to deal with their harvest and Haa can no longer depend on the paddies in Paro. We need to grow our own rice. It's time to rewrite the legend differently. That's why I am looking forward to 2013 election.

In last five years, nothing happened in my side of Haa, perhaps there was nothing there to do. We had roads, bridges, electricity, hospital, school, and water for a long time. I wonder what promises our MP made then. The only business that fed Haap was the trade across the mountain and that still remains illegal and our fields could only grow wheat, which is just enough to generate flour for performing lochoe.
In 2013 I want my MP to promise 'Rice in Haa' and ask for 'Rice Vote', and fulfill the promised in his five years term and become a legend- The man who brought rice to Haa. But if our MP fails to think beyond farm road and bridges then our people must remind our MP to think out of the box and say we will only vote for rice. I am going to do just that!
Perhaps with rice our field may turn greener again and our empty villages may see folks returning home...

Tragedy of Haa Bus

When I heard about the passenger bus fire incident of Jan 6 I knew it could only be Haa Bus. But I felt good about it. It's not a tragedy, it's the wake up call. The real tragedy is the type of buses that run on Haa road. For years the dumbest buses rode our road. May be it's time now to give people of Haa some comfortable transportation like the other Dzongkhags.

Haa Bus- Obviously  (picture from Kuensel) 

As a child I used to think Haa is the farthest place from Thimphu, because we get in the bus in the morning and reach Haa at night. We would fall sick for day after the journey. Only recently I realized that the journey is only of four hours at the most. But the type of Buses that run on our road are the ugliest and the slowest, they break down often. I used to wish for a coaster bus to Haa but it never happened.
It is rumored that people of Haa are very rough to deserve Coaster buses, our people litter the bus with doma, and tear the seat covers-I hope they are joking, and they even say we carry lots of luggage which is not suitable for coaster buses. I hope these funny logic is not the real reason behind why all clumsy buses are sent to Haa.
Everything has time and limit, but go to Lungtenzampa and see, Haa bus is easily recognizable because like the rest of the culture it is also preserved for ages. I hope people responsible recognize the need to change the buses to Haa.

Miza Tales- Children's Book Publisher

When seven bloggers met last week we didn't need to introduce ourselves much because we always read about each other, we just went on talking about this and that through out the evening. But there was one thing that stood out and also gave birth to new dreams- it's was Chador Wangmo's children books, illustrated by Kinzang Tshering, about which I wrote in "Do You Remember Those Stories?" 
The writer, the illustrator, and the editor were all there among the group and it was pleasure letting them sign on our copies but something about the publisher bothered us all. The books carried the 'DSB Publication' logo while everybody there knows that the books were self published, and this happened because any publication needs a licensed publisher's name. DSB was kind enough to borrow their name.

This issue ignited the idea of creating our own licensed publishing brand, and we called it "Miza Tales". Miza means the bonfire made in tins, and Chador tells us how she used to listen to folk tales sitting around the miza. Every Bhutanese born and brought up in country side could connect to similar memories from their childhood but we all know how the culture has disappeared after TV came about. With Miza Tales we dream to record all those Bhutanese folk tales we heard or read and present to our children with beautiful illustrations. 

Once we register Miza Tales, Chador Wangmo can write her fifth book under Miza Brand, and like her any Bhutanese writer and illustrator wishing to write books for children with illustration can publish under Miza Tales. We dream to create an ocean of illustrated Bhutanese Children's Books like the Lady Bird Books. Remember reading Lady Bird Book in Primary School? Lets create fond memories for our children too with our own folk tales.

Lady Bird Books

We Met for the First Time, Yes First time

It was all together a different feeling meeting people with whom I had bonded so well online over the years. It was on 3rd Jan we decided to meet at Karma's Coffee and there we were meeting for the first time in person- at least I was seeing five out of the six of them for the first time.

1. Kinzang Tshering of QINZA's STORIES, blogger and illustrator. He did the illustration on all four books Chador Wangmo wrote.
2. Ugyen Gyeltshen of Porky Pie, Blogger, Author of Dear Sadey, and of course a.k.a Tukuli on WAB and Nopkin (There is more than one of him on our writing sites) 
3. Chador Wangmo of feelings n emotions, blogger, Author of four Children Books I wrote about last time, and a.k.a Pandora on WAB and Nopkin
4. Nawang Phuntsho of Penstar, blogger, columnist, author of Then I Saw Her Face. He is Penstar on Nopkin and also Founder of WAB
5. Sangay Dema of MY PAGE, blogger and a.k.a Bella on WAB and Nopkin
6. Riku Dhan Subba of Riku Dhan Subba's Blog, blogger, Photographer and the most eligible bachelor on the Bhutanese blogoshpere. 
7. And I of this blog you are reading!

Riku, Tukuli, Bella, Pandora, PaSsu, Qinza and Penstar behind the camera!

But it felt like we knew each other for years, like we have played together as children and went to same school. When Riku and Qinza said they may not come I was upset and ready to strangle them -like a dear friend would feel.
It felt so good when all seven of us could finally sit on the same table. Of course there are many bloggers we loved to have that evening but we could only reach to so many over the phone. I think we should meet again and broaden our reach, because we sync so well, we are on the same boat. That was my happiest night in Thimphu. I would love to meet more bloggers in coming days.
Though Karma's Coffee suggests us to "Talk Life over Coffee" we talked literature. And I will post about what we discussed, yes very soon. After coffee I discovered Tukuli need a drink, so did I but rest were good guys, you know, so Riku left because he was alone at home, Penstar had to drop Pandora, who wasn't in good shape!! Qinza and Sangay Dee didn't have any excuse so they joined the two of us to The Banana and watched us drink like fish. Oh, it felt so good, I even forgot to have my dinner.

Dream 2013

On this first day of the new year I am getting a funny feeling of teasing everybody who ever believed in the end of the world last year. I was one person who had to fight back hundreds of scared faces each day of 2012, and I had to tell them "I will take the risk". Deep down I was laughing, if world does end then I won't be there at all and if it didn't I could walk with my heads held high.
Fear is good for living meaningfully, and looking back at the last year I am happy how it help us think of the end. Any thing that is limited is of great charm, and life is a limited edition gift, ours didn't end in 2012 but it will someday. Therefore live it big.

Wish you Luck.  Source: robbwolf.com

2013 is extraordinarily beautiful because we all came back from the end of the world, therefore it's the beginning of the new world. I have lived my life well last year and I want to believe December 2013 is the end of the world again and make best out of each day of this new year. My Dream2013 is to relive 2012, because I am a teacher things repeat, but with greater respect to life, lesser complains, and become more charitable with my knowledge, skills and ideas.
Thank you all for reading this blog and adding greater purpose to my life, I am proud to tell you that because of you I have could write 374 post on this blog with 118 in 2012 alone. With your well-wishes I have gathered 375 followers and over 400 thousand views- what more can I as for as a blogger?- Thank you.
What is your Dream 2013? Happy New Year!

Do You Remember Those Stories?

Dear Parents,
Do you remember those stories your parents told you about talking animals and trees? Those good verse evil stories? Those happily ever after stories, before you sleep? Do you in any way believe that those nights of story telling had influence your relationship with your parents and also had shaped your outlook on life?
Do you want your relationship with your children to be like your relationship with your parents? Well, things have become complicated now but there is always a turning point for everything, and I believe if we can win over our children before the world of digital entertainment invade them, perhaps we can establish that same loving relationship.
Tell them those fairy tales before they sleep and let them live their innocent years innocently. Let them love their parents more than Cartoon Network, let them count on you for stories. But if you don't remember those stories your parents told you, let me introduce you to a loving daughter who grew up listening to her mother's stories and now telling those stories to her children every night- Chador Wangmo. She is a teacher and she strongly believes in telling stories and therefore written four Books for children.
The books are on sale in stores in Thimphu and you can also order by leaving a comment on this blog. If these four books run well she will be inspired to write many more such books for our children.
This new year I recommend you to buy these four little books and tell stories to your children. The illustrations are done by a fellow blogger and loving father Kinzang Tshering (Qinza).

Chador's Series

Note: Chador Wangmo is one of our favorites on Nopkin and also WAB. If you are on those two Bhutanese Writing sites you will be curious to know who she was, and I bet you will blindly buy those book if I disclose her pen name. Perhaps next time!

Losing True Wisdom

I have witnessed many elderly civil servants retiring from their jobs because they have reached the retirement age inscribed in Civil Service Rule of Bhutan, and I was with the notion that it's a right thing to create space for the younger generation who would bring about newer and efficient ways of working.

18 Dec 2012, His Last Day in Bajo

But last month when Mr. PKB announced his retirement I was deeply saddened and shocked. By rule his has become old enough to retire but in school he was enjoying the best years of his career. His age is neither visible on him physically nor in his professional performances.
He traveled from India in 1978, even before my parents got married, and became a primary teacher in our country. Ever since he traveled back rarely and on two occasions he returned with his head shaved- when his lost his father and mother. Now he has no more reasons to go to India because in last 34 years in Bhutan he has made Bhutan his home.
 In 1997 he was transferred to Bajothang School where he taught High School for the first time. But a man of his wisdom could not only overcome new changes but also conquer them; he became one of the best known high school Maths teachers in the country.
He was among the dozen teachers who began Bajothang school in 1997 and have been serving in this school for last fifteen years during which he transformed the lives of thousands of Bhutanese people either academically or humanely.
When I heard about his resignation I ran to him and suggested him about writing to ministry for extension of his contract, but he shook my hands and asked me, "How long can it be extended?"
He had already applied to a private school that was more than honoured to welcome him, because he was known for his dedication and work ethics. He was happy to go where he was wanted and I was happy for him. But for Bajothang School and for the Education Ministry it's a big loss, and our policies need a serious revisit.
I am not qualified enough to talk about the general civil service but when it comes to teaching family I have observed that older the teacher gets better he becomes in terms of knowledge and wisdom, and for teachers like Mr. PKB students die to learn from him. But because we have mixed teaching with general civil service we are losing teachers when they have acquired so much to give. Looking at how renowned universities across the world take pride in their old professors, our system is making fools of itself by not investing in our reputed teachers.
Compulsory retirement age is set perhaps to create more employment intakes capacity for younger generation but in teaching system we are in permanent shortage of manpower and I am surprised we are letting go the most ripened teachers from our family.
Bajothang will miss this great maths teacher but we are happy he will continue to teach in Bhutan for many good years of his life.

Its's Seriously Winter in Thimphu

Having lived all my life away from Thimphu and having been just a visitor on rare occasions, the most I know about life in Thimphu was on Facebook and Twitter. Keeping aside the occasional crime news, Thimphu seemed like a nice place to come, with popular musicians playing in popular pubs, intellectuals gathering over coffee, artists putting exhibitions, young entrepreneurs polishing their dreams, etc. 

Thimphu wakes up!

I have come here on a paid vacation of twenty days and I thought I would live the Thimphu life to the fullest this winter, but here I realized that all the glamour on Facebook are frozen. It was best left on Facebook. By the time I lock my classroom in the evening it's already dark, and there is hardly anything left outdoor. 

And without my family waiting at home I feel no rush to go home any sooner, so I drive around to see Thimphu at night with heater on, and soon I convince myself that there is nothing there to see at all. Then I retire to my sister's place and wrap myself up in blankets until dinner and watch UFC after dinner till I doze off. And the next morning is another painful experience...

Changlimithang Stadium at Night

Tashichodzong at Sunrise

I miss Wangdue already, because it's not the place that makes life interesting, I realized, it's the way we live that makes the place interesting, and the way we live in Wangdue is the best way to lead a life...

Letter to my Class XI IT Students

Dear Kinley Dorji, Thinley Jamtsho, Pema Dorji, Tenzin Jamtsho, Nim Dorji, Tashi Dorji, Purni Maya, and Karma Dema, (See in picture)
I hope all eight of you received the message I passed around on 18 December. It was about your winter IT assignment. I wanted to meet you personally to discuss this topic for your winter assignment but by the time I knew some of you were long gone after taking your results.
The topic is not quite from your syllabus but by now you must have realized it too that your Computer Studies syllabus is highly traditional, and unsuitable for our age and time. Therefore, I want you to create a personal blog each and keep record of your winter activities in it. Your blog is the first thing I wish to see when you rejoin the school next year in XII.

Where is Pema Dorji? 2011 XI IT Students!

I don't know if you have read this news report: "Computer students unable to find jobs in Bhutan" in The Bhutanese newspaper last week(?) but I wasn't surprised at all. I only hope you are not discouraged.

to be continued still...

Look who's BNB Model?

I took that picture of my daughter and posted on Facebook, but I seriously have no idea how it made it to BNB Piggy Bank Ad.
It's cute to see her next to Piggy Bank posing like trained model with generous smile, O' there is a coin photoshoped in her hand.  But I would suggest BNB to seek approval from parents next time they do anything like this, because it's my daughter and my picture and I deserved to be asked. But this time I must admit I have nothing but good feelings about it.

BNB Official Ad (Seen on Facebook Page and Website)

What Lomba Means to the People of Western Bhutan

Smelling 2012 Hoentey

Lomba is the single most important annual celebration in the two western Dzongkhags of Haa and Paro and this year interestingly it fell on 12/12/12, the date many people are looking at with great emotions. I grew in village and I have been part of Lomba celebration throughout my childhood. Every year on this day I become child again, and without feasting on Hoentey I can't get my hands on anything, that's why I am blogging so late today. I drove to Punakha and had my 2012 lomba hoentey from my aunti's hand.
Haaps, as I know, are very dumb working people who would spend best portion of their lives working and they don't celebrate many occasion rest of the Bhutanese do, but Lomba is an exception and perhaps the sum total of all celebrations. Our forefather must have found it wiser to celebrate many occasions in one so that we could save time for work for the rest of the days in the year.

1. Lomba is our New Year: We sing Lolay Lolay rhyme, thank god for the good year we had and make wishes for the new year. We greet each other Lolay, meaning good new year. We perform a small ceremony at home to drive of the evil and bring in the health, happiness and prosperity for new year. Tonight my young brother is performing this ceremony at home. I miss it so bad.
2. Lomba is our Thruelbub (Blessed Rainy Day): We clean every corner of our house, wash every piece of cloth, and every member of the family take their turn for menchu (hot stone bath). The importance of this annual cleansing is considered as much as rest of Bhutan considers Thrulbub. It's no more a new thing to do that, it's part of daily chore for most families nowadays, but there were time when Lomba cleansing used to be our annual event. River would turn dark with our dirt. Everybody seemed to have removed a thick layer of skin from their faces. O' those days!
3. Lomba is our Common Birthday: Every Haap considers themselves one year older after lomba. It's was only after the new Citizenship ID card was issued that people realized the importance of their own birthdays, before then lomba was our common birthday. A baby born days before lomba would be consider two years old after lomba because we count nine months in womb as a year as well. Our folks seem to enjoy the idea of growing old fast so much. Happy birthday to all my folks.
4. Lomba is our Food Festival: The signature food of Haa, and also the central piece of Lomba is our Hoentey. It's our pride and the it's perhaps the only dish from our region known across the country. Lomba is the day we consider so auspicious to prepare out best food and feast on it. Some families make thousands of hoentey to be presented as gift to friends and families across the country. 
5. Lomba is our Annual Family Gathering: On lomba parents expect all their children to leave aside everything and join the rest of the member of the annual gathering. Well this part makes me emotional and damn guilty. I always want to leave aside everything and run home on this day but this is my third damn year that I haven't been able to make it. This is the only time I hate my job, because my job has kept me away. I know how my mother is feeling about it, I only wish she sees me through and understand how much I wish to be home tonight.

Lolay, lolay, to all my readers, friends and family, near and far. If you are nearby please join me in two days to taste my mother's hoentey, she is sending me hoentey day after tomorrow. Lolay, Lolay!

Unfairer than Exam

Exams are already unfair enough in measuring the worth of a child and this big wide world couldn't yet find a wiser way. Now imagine teachers committing mistakes in either correcting answers or in calculating marks. This is not an assumption, it happens often because one teacher has to deal with at least hundred papers within a given time frame. We have realized we are capable of so many errors during the so many mid term exams, when we return the answer scripts to the children. They come to us and show how we have wronged their right answers, or didn't correct one whole page or forgot to count 10 marks, etc.
But it's not late, we do rectify our mistakes and do the required changes in their marks before we finally submit their marks to their class teacher for making result. But what about during the annual exams? Won't we make mistakes anymore? Mistakes happens unintentionally but is it fair to let students pay for our mistakes?
Our school has adopted a 'paper giving' day after annual exam two years ago. We call back our students on 10th December to return their answer scripts so that they can crosscheck if we have overlooked anything at all. And yesterday we followed our annual culture. Some students didn't turn up, perhaps they don't yet know that their teacher could make mistakes.
I am very happy to admit that the 'paper giving' culture made a huge difference this year which made me write this post. There are many forgivable errors in counting, obvious as always but in one subject 25 questions of 2 marks each were marked for just 1 mark each and in another subject due to a mistake in model answer whole class's paper needed re-correction. I am proudly admitting mistakes in my school because we have left room for correction, and we have made corrections.
What would have happened to so many students if we had followed the traditional culture? What must be happening to so many students across the country where there is no paper giving day? Does your school have it? Please look into it if you don't have because we can make mistakes, and students should not pay for our mistakes.

Dawa's Coffee

You know I don't leave any chance to express my appreciation to anybody at anytime, and last night we spotted BBS anchor Dawa outside our regular café. He was busy on his phone while we discovered that both the families in the café were his fans. Café owner asked me to invite him in for a cup of coffee and she had already ordered her kitchen.
It was very late and Dawa was still on phone and I was waiting for him to finish. The moment he finished, which was after a long time, I ran to him and asked him in for a cup of coffee with his fans. He politely decline the coffee but joined me into the café. We were all standing and introducing and telling him that we were his fans. He looked as nervous as we were. His phone started ringing but he silenced it to spare a little more time with us. It rang again and he silenced it again. I knew he had to go, he was only trying not to be rude by walking out so I thanked him and showed him out.
After he was gone we were talking about him outside when group of men appeared from next building which houses the Karaoke. Dawa was among them. And all of a sudden another Dawa appeared from behind- same height, same face. It was his twin brother Nima (for your kind information and necessary reaction next time). Now we were embarrassed fearing if it was the real Dawa we invited in. Kezang was paranoid because she didn't know Dawa had a twin and thought it was an illusion. Thank god they were wearing different coats unlike many twins, and I confirmed we had caught the right Dawa. He came to us and said 'good night' before he left.
Then the café chef brought a cup of coffee which was actually for Dawa, and I drank it. 

Ruddy Shelduck- the Ill treated Guest in Bhutan

Today I went to photograph the migratory ducks on the sands of the Punatshangchu river with my family. I have seen them year after year and admired them since I know a little about them. It was at this time of the year my class teacher in junior school would ask me to join him down to the Paa Chhu in Paro to photograph these ducks. Mr. Karma Wangchuk, a born naturalist and self taught artist, is an encyclopedia of birds, plants, butterflies, and animals and has great love for nature. He now teaches in Paro College of Education. He told me about this bird that flies from Tibet to spend their winter with us like the famous black necked crane. The duck is known as Ruddy Shelduck and it's found along the banks of the Punatshangchu at this time of the year.

The Sands of Punatshangchhu

However, ruddy shelduck is not as fortunate as black necked cranes because they are not yet endangered. They are among the least concerned category of birds since there are plenty of them across the world. Perhaps the way we are treating this birds might explain why so many birds are already extinct or endangered.

Ruddy Shelduck in Punatshangchu

They are our winter guest as much as Black necked cranes are but they are left to their own fate. There are posters talking about conservation of herons and cranes but this bird is pushed aside.

They are preyed by wild dogs and there are also rumors of construction workers finding it easier to hunt duck then to buy chicken. With increasing number of workers in Wangdue the fate is this visiting bird is further doomed.

Group of Ruddy Shelduck basking in the sun

If we had records, we might discover that the sands along with Punatshangchu river were their homes long before we knew the sand could be used for construction but now our aggressive and indiscriminate excavation of sand has made them homeless. We are not even waiting for the water to dry up to excavate sand, hundreds of truckloads are carried away everyday. Soon the water will dry up in the place where the ducks are sitting now and then the trucks will come there, where would the birds go? They have come to spend their whole winter here.

The Ducks Flying over Trucks and Dozers 

Riverbed filled with machines 

Every guest coming to Bhutan goes back happy but we are forgetting to be Bhutanese with this poor guest.

Riyang Books: Bhutan's Own Penguin

In high school and college I would pick a book in library and even when I loved the title and author I would still look for the little penguin on the cover to agree with my choice. That penguin to me was the hallmark of best literature, I don't know why I felt that way, but it always proved right.

The Little Penguin

I read many stories of struggle and watched movies of great people who went through lot of rejections before they became who they are but when I actually met some publishers no inspiration saved me from throwing away my manuscript and forgetting my dream of becoming a writer in Bhutan. I was then in college and fully in love with my short stories but overnight I knew I could never become one in Bhutan.

I discovered that the big names of publishers I saw and heard were not actually the kind of publishers I romanticized, they are not lovers of literature and books, they don't have editors, they don't even read your stories (could they even read?), they are just publishers in strictly technical terms. They are mere contractors who make money out of printing bills, cash memos, calendars, and any government documents they get. The only books they are interested in publishing are guide-books and solved-question-papers because these sell well among students.

Now, we have a Penguin of our own, Riyang Books is just launched and I am already calling it Penguin without a doubt. It's the answer to my long forgotten question: Why don't a literature lover become a publisher? Riyang Books is founded by one of Bhutan's foremost writers, known across the world for her novel Circle of Karma, Ashi Kunzang Choden and her family. With the birth of this publisher I can already see the possibility of becoming a writer if you have the gift of writing, and I also feel secured that no rubbish will be published.

This's this Sign!

I welcome Riyang Books with hopes and dreams, that someday I see shelves of Bhutanese authors with that blue Riyang Books logo, and that I can just pick any book from Riyang with the assurance that it will be a wonderful book.

Follow Riyang Books on Twitter @riyangbooks
Visit them @ www.riyangbooks.com/