Breaking the Monopoly

When a fresh roll of cable stretched across Bajothang last week , everybody wondered why TT Cable is changing their functioning cable, but it was a mistake- Damchen Cable was making its entry into the area.Rumors of 50 channels and free connection is already in the air. Every other family I met is waiting to switch cable, but I don't want to do that. I want TT Cable to increase the channels and enhance the signal clarity, which they say is already in the pipeline- without having to ask. One of the best changes in the town!

I still remember how BMobile ragged us before the entry of Tashi Cell, how the way bankers treat clients changed with arrival of new banks, how quality of newspapers improved and price decreased,... how life changed for good at the break of monopoly.

But BPC's monopoly over power in the country may take a long time to break, and for so long we may have to tolerate frequent blackouts. In countries like Singapore, a teenager has never experienced a power blackout in his entire life but in Bhutan a month old babe has felt it over ten times already.

Bbay's week on Media

copied from ebay!

When I created Bbay I wasn't expecting magic, knowing there are lot other classifieds already online but soon I realized it could do magic since it was on a platform where everybody hangs out. For Bbay to be successful it must have hundreds of members and I had them soon. I waited for 500 members to kick start our business and it didn't take long before sale began. 
There were lots of things on sale and if wishes were horses I would have bought many of them. The iPad and SLR cameras made my heart beat the fastest. I have no intention and tech to track the sales but I am hopeful many deals must have been successful. 
Last week, Bbay enjoyed maximum Media coverage. Boaz Shmueli, co founder of Thimphutech.com mentioned "It is much harder to cheat on B-Bay..." and later Business Bhutan dedicated a full scale news article on Bbay. It has used the very motto of Bbay in the finishing line, " ... do some smart shopping."
I would like to thank everybody who believed in my crazy idea. I can only give you this platform for smart shopping. With Bbay, I hope nobody will land up receiving steel hammer. We will together educate people in reducing wastage of precious resources and still get what they want.
If you are not on Bbay yet, Join now!

PaSsuDiary.Com

Dear Friends Across the world, I am happy to tell you all that I have registered my personal domain name passudiary.com today, and all thanks to Pema Gyamtsho of Bhutan Hosting, who did it as soon as I asked. You all will be automatically redirected to my new address. It may not be necessary as of now but I urge you to note the change since I may soon move here permanently- and I don't want to lose your attention. Thank you for reading my stories. I am very much alive!

Late PaSsu

Deep condolences to my family members, including myself, who must be disturbed by the shocking news of my untimely demise. I was murdered by somebody in the Ministry of Homes and Culture Affairs, Department of Civil Registration and Census that has a vision of becoming "an efficient and effective organization, delivering civil registration and census related services of the highest standard and quality". The cause of the death must have been a careless punching of information in the database.
It may be an omen that I will live longer but upon hearing that I am "dead" in the census record of my country I had a very bad feeling. It came to my notice when I applied for NOC for my promotion. 
How did this happen?
Is it my fault?
Who should take care of this?
Do I have to apply for leave and run to Thimphu to prove that I am alive?


Whoever is responsible, please, don't kill me, I have a whole family to look after. And I don't have time and money enough to come to Thimphu to sort things out. Please take necessary action and know that I have forgiven you for declaring me dead.

Online Question Bank- My broken dream

Months of excitement and planning ended this afternoon after I saw the news in Kuensel. The online question bank that my ministry is planning to come up later this year was my dream project since last year. I have set up a blog last winter to inspire myself, discussed the idea with my friend at Bhutan Web Hosting Solution for a very dynamic website, and consulted my uncle for sources of fund.

Rough Sketch of broken dream

Coining the web address itself took me days. Every address I tried seemed to be booked and finally I landed up with bhutanquestionbank. I sketched a rough logo and sent it out to Phuba Namgay, a Bhutanese painter abroad, for giving it a professional touch. He agreed to do it for me after he is done with his wife Linda’s book promotion.

I sat down with my jobless brother, who is expected to work fulltime on the site after it is launched, and drew the blueprint. I encouraged him to work on it, so that his three years of computer studies comes to some work. My wife looked at my proposal and found it so promising that she agreed to help me through. I have everything ready except the fund it will require, which of course it planned out as well.

But now with the dream shattered, I have nothing to worry about except my brother’s job. I am surprise my ministry is going to pump in Nu.700,000 for the site alone and then additional fund for training, whatever that means. I only wish if they could offer me the project, because I have the passion. Passion to move on without having to push. Hope the ePortal won’t go to sleep after a while like most other websites, without me! 

Archery: The Lost National Game of Bhutan

Bhutan's biggest fear, when we first ushered into the global community was losing our culture amidst rapid change. Our timid country soon joined the race, and surprised many a country with our ability to balance development with preservation.

Picture Source: BBS Website

However, despite all the effort, we saw the inevitable power of change crossing the limits. While there are many issues identified and addressed, there are a few bigger problems totally ignored. One such problem is our National game, which is already lost but it doesn't seem so because another form of archery has picked up. The actual national game archery is played using bamboo bow and arrow, which requires more skill and strength than money to play. 

If American Hunting bows and arrows, equivalent to guns, are considered substitute for our National Game, then one day Crossbow will make its way into our game, and then the guns themselves. Ten years from now we may have to take our children to museums to show what our national game was like. 

A Dog and I had a bad Morning

The poor dog was sleeping at the door of my class this morning when I came out, and poor me didn't see him until I heard a loud cry followed by a sharp pain on my right ankle. I bled and he bled. But for him it was just that one moment, while I had to run to hospital. My little students of class VII advised me to get some fur from the dog and apply it on my wound. It's took me quite sometime to convince them that it would only develop infection.

The unfortunate dog

I got TT injection and am given this tedious mission of observing the dog for the next 10 days. The fate of this dog is my fate for these ten days. If the poor fella dies, or if it starts acting wild, or if it sleeps throughout then I am advised to run back to hospital for the Rabies vaccine. My class captain agreed to aid me in observing the dog. I wish the dog all the best, because I don't want to die barking.

Bhutanese Music

I didn't like Bhutanese music until recently, forgive me but there was nothing that could draw me- from lyrics to composition to the voice quality. Thanks to singers Namgay Jigs (forgive his name), Tshering Dorji, and Kheng Sonam Dorji, lyricist like Dirty and Composer like Tandin, who suddenly transformed the whole trend.

Now, Bhutanese children listen to great deal of local music and pride in being able to sing a few. Our generation, who grew insulting the half-hearted songs, is finally beginning to stop and listen, and even love some songs. It's unfortunate that the business is not good now a days with lot of piracy but the change in quality deserves all our respect.

I don't know what magic is there in Bhutanese songs, my daughter would run dancing to the TV as soon as she hears one playing. This has got me so curious, and I had to try playing different musics but god knows why it the Bhutanese music that has this magic. When I shared this story with my friends I knew I wasn't alone. This has been happening with many babies...

Business Idea: Why don't someone in web-designing business come up with a site from where we could download Bhutanese songs legally.

Marching through March

While blogging keeps me happy, life keeps me away from blogging. I met the bad luck at the gate of new year and he is still bothering me. My junior high school mate Tashi Phuntsho shook my hand hard and made strong promises. I didn't know he had changed so much until he ran away with my money. He has got guts even police couldn't break. Arrest warrant awaits him and he is still breathing dusty air across the border with his Indian mates. I have given details of his every move with his photograph to police, and yet I am made to wait forever. Police vigilance and intelligence ran far short of my expectation.

My school, the place that has become a part of me, saw series of hard times these few years. There was flooding, followed by drowning of a beloved student, then a theft case, then the bus accident which took a dear friend and injured three, and finally the fire that made us start from the scratch. Thanks to many donors, our school is coming back in shape. My principal is coming in with lots of new equipments. and thank god, the toilet has survived the fire, under the ruins- we didn't have plan "B" for that!

Mortality of physical assert shocked us the most, and our madam Secretary advised us to computerize every school data, which was what I was working on all through the month. I have prepared a very comprehensive school database, which I am think of publishing online in our school website- no flood and fire could ever destroy it.

But my personal problem still remains. As long as Tashi is free, I am not!

Hitting Century on my blog amidst Crisis!

While I am the last person to believe 2012 story, these few months of crisis all over the world is forcing me to change my mind. From stubborn Mubarak in Egypt to brutal Gaddafi in Libya, now  almost across whole Arab world, history is changing forever. While we were busy watching the tsunami of people across the streets, Japan is hit by what seemed like an imitation from the movie Day after Tomorrow. 

Hitting 100!

As far as we know there is no country in the world more prepared for earthquake than Japan but Tsunami took it by surprise. And as if it wan't enough, the disaster is immortalized by the involvement of nuclear power crisis in Fukushima Daiichi. Japan may have to live the World War II ordeal one more time. My sincere prayers for Japan for whatever it take stand tall again.

Amidst all these crisis across the globe, which keeps me awake late into the night I selfishly rejoice the success of my blog- if I can call it so, for gathering 100 followers today. PaSsu Diary has given me the inspiration to write and friends to inspire. While I expect recognition for whatever I sweat in,- from working months on building school webpage to stretching midnight hours to set up school database- my blog where I least expected gave me the maximum satisfaction. It only teaches me to do the things that I love, or love the things I do.

On this occasion I want to thank all my readers from across the world who gave me 36,740 hits so far for letting me enjoy writing and take pride in it. Following are the top ten countries in which my blog was read. I am surprised Singapore which was in top 5 earlier is now knocked off!

1. Bhutan 50.1%
2. United States 22.0%
3. India 6.6%
4. Australia 4.0%
5. Thailand 3.6%
6. Netherlands 3.4%
7. Germany 2.7%
8. United Kingdom 2.6%
9. Russia 2.5%
10. Canada 2.4 %

P:S: Thank you Madam Secretary for reading, loving and praising my blog. I couldn't help flying when DEOs and principal gave me your regards. It means a lot to me- and to them!