Reporting Forest Fire

As seen from PHSS

There is hardly any forest in Phuntsholing and the little they have was on fire this morning. During the tea break we saw a thick curl of smoke rising over the Toresa and right then we knew it was from across the river. I quickly took a snap in my iPad and reported it on Breaking the News- Bhutanese Social Media, the group I created on Facebook to tip off news media. 

We made a mistake of assuming that the police would have known by then since there were over 40,000 people on the home side of the river. But just to confirm we made a quick call to Police and I did the talking- to my surprise it was a breaking news for them. I had to show them the location of the fire.

Later today I realized two things: that the hundred things happening around here keeps the police too focused on the town to see anything in the forest, and that even over 12 hours later there was no respond on my Breaking News page. I hope the fire is contained by now, else the wind tonight is going to take it on a long ride.

Ngultrum Identity

Ngultrum (Nu) is almost losing its identity even before it had one. Forgive me if you find me ignorant but I can't help wondering why our currency is not acknowledged as it should be. I don't know why we have to pay over Nu.50 for a US$, I am just thankful it is as powerful as Indian Rupee. It's surprising to learn that there are many powerful country whose currency value is lower than ours, which gives us all the reason to be proud of.
However, going by the trend, a kid says, "Mummy, give me ten rupees", and an adult would say, "Do you have change for 500 rupees?" or if it is in Dzongkha, we say "Turu". Nowhere we use the term Ngultrum! On the fuel pumps you will see the rates of fuel reflected in Rs, and every commodity in the shops has price tag written in Rs, that can be forgiven as stuffs are imported. The recent announcement of domestic airfare by civil aviation was in US Dollar, and that was the biggest surprised.

Currency Symbol for Ngultrum for the  time being.

In written scripts we don't yet have a currency symbol, something that can be used to represent Ngultrum universally. The abbreviation Nu. might be mistaken for symbol but it's usable only in English. India realized it and they have come up with symbol for rupees recently. It's beautiful and now they can use the symbol in every language. In Dzongkha, we can't us Nu. therefore it's up to the writers either to write "turu", "ngultrum" or "ruub". Though it's none of my business, I spent many days thinking, designing, discussing, and redesigning a symbol for Ngultrum. I looked at all the currency symbols of the world to gain some insight into it but at the end  I agreed with the fact that it's none of my business after all. But that doesn't mean that Ngultrum can be left without a symbol. We need it now and here! If that can't be done soon, you might chose to use the one that comes to your head when you think of Ngultrum (see the picture).

Snake and Ladder in Bhutanese Public Service Delivery

Tshering Wangdi's report on "Revolutionizing Public Service Delivery" in Bhutan Times on 18th December brought me immense happiness after having gone through a long procedure of acquiring a trade license for my brother last week. My eleven page thick application form required signature from over ten individuals from different locations and needed over six legal stamps and numerous photocopying. If it weren't for my support and diligence my brother would have given up on the idea long ago and chose to remain a jobless youth rather. We are still waiting for the committee verification, and recommendation before going to Thimphu again.

G2C in Bhutan Times

Bhutan Times' report highlighted government's move to make services easily accessible by public through Government-2-Citizen (G2C) services. Once done it promises to make acquiring services simple and effective, inexpensive, time saving, and hassle-free, thus guaranteeing costumer satisfaction.

The picture illustration with the report didn't impress me much, because the current situation depicted alongside their vision didn't really tell the truth. The series of ladders in the picture shows that, though time consuming, there is progress in the way services are delivered today, which we all know is not true. Today if you are going to Thimphu for a work you must prepare yourself like your parents prepare for pilgrim to Bodgaya, for in there we are bound to be caught in Snake & Ladder game. I have invested good amount of my time in the following model, trying to depict the way public service is in our country today.

PaSsu's Model of Public Service in Bhutan

Preserving Paro Town

My visit to Paro last week gave me an opportunity to look at the town in a whole new perceptive. I have spent seventeen years of my life in Paro but it never felt that way until I spent these five years away. After having seen the changing faces of many Bhutanese towns the old street in Paro town is something that made me stop and wonder and then wish.

The Beautiful Paro

Paro Tshongdue the forgotten names means the business place, where the Bhutanese and Tibetan businessmen met to barter their goods long before we knew India and Bangkok. This town has history and it has the structural design well preserved to be called the Iconic Town of Bhutan. Interestingly many of these houses are converted into Handicraft showrooms thereby promising to remain so for years. But the desire for bigger and better houses has slowly eaten away at least two houses and many might want to follow soon. 

Government could adopt the street and preserve it creatively, without hurting the sentiments of the landlords and without freezing their desire to move forward. 

 . 

The Last Bhutanese Town, Paro

Towns bigger than Thimphu are bound to come with time but if we lose Paro history may never forgive us.

My Home Haa-ppiest

Why the study showed Haa as the happiest Dzongkhag? I know it's not a mistake, I grew up in Yangthang and despite all the shortcomings I have fond memories from my childhood. When I look back I wonder how it was possible for us to be happy. Today, I know all the factors that are necessary for social well-being and therefore happiness in the community but surprisingly Haa is deprived of many of these, and more surprising people are happy without them.

Yangthang- the village I grew up

Haa is harshly cold during the winter season, nothing can be grown during the winter months. Even during the summer months weather conditions allow only few low yielding crops to grow, which brings no commercial benefits. Everything has to be imported and despite Haa being very close to Phuntsholing and connected by road commodities are very expensive.
No industry or company ever showed interest in operating in Haa due to all the disadvantages. Tourism is only a recent thing in there. Only three bus services operate from Haa and none of them is a Coaster Bus. There are only few taxis and most of them done move at all. Though a solid Dongkhag, we don't have a full fledged hospital. Our Dzong is housed in a common house and court in even smaller house.
One half of the entire Dzongkhag was completed isolated until recently, and it took over four days to reach them. Food prices in these places are insanely high due to transportation problem.
AND despite all these shortcomings we are the happiest, how was it possible? The answer in hidden deep in the root of social lives. It lies in our strength not only to survive but also live and enjoy without some many thing in life.
Happy Lomba to the people who could locate happiness in hardship.

Invitation to Bhutan

My sister in-law is a Japanese, living and working in Taiwan. She visited my brother for the first time after their long Facebook relationship in September and spent over a week with my family. She enjoyed her times with us so much that she sacrificed her job and bonuses to meet us again in October. Fifteen day stay made her even more happy and wanted to come here again.

This time I thought I should invite her as our personal guest so that she won't have to pay so much as she did during her first two visits- she paid cost of a car already. However, I didn't know that the Immigration in my country won't acknowledge her relationship with us. My application for invitation was rejected. By the rule they have in their book, we should have met her outside Bhutan to qualify for invitation, which otherwise means that she can't be my sister in-law because she met us in Bhutan. What could be the possible logic behind recognizing acquaintance outside Bhutan? What I think should be important is the authenticity of the relationship. 

At Dochula, during her second visit.

Many people I contacted for information advised me to find a person who has been to Taiwan and prepare the application in their name, or to cook up a story of having met her in Singapore during my visit there but I defended knowing our true story was far better than those lies- after all they are humans at the other end! If I had known there are all robots interpreting the rules rigidly I would have listened and lied.

It's not all about money. I just wanted to show her the Bhutanese we are, our courtesy and hospitality to guest, and that's not possible after letting her pay thousands of dollars. She was supposed to visit us for the third time in February 2012 but she couldn't wait that long. And here my application was rejected. I couldn't tell her that she could will have to pay a huge price to meet us again but it turned out that she was more Bhutanese than the people who rejected my application. She consoled me saying, "Hey brother, don't worry, money can be made." 

And thus she came here for the third time as tourist and these days she is with us in Wangdue having a wonderful vacation with my family.

P:S: If you happen to be a wanna-be guest or a host and stumbled upon this post while Googling, please note that this article is not to encourage you to cheat your way out in this process, but I am not responsible if your application is rejected after telling the truth either!

US Dollar Across to the Eastern Bhutan

Many Bhutanese like me must have excitedly waited for the completion of airports in Bumthang and Tashigang and I personally wanted to make my first trip to Tashigang by one of the domestic aircraft.  The long wait finally ends at the announcement of domestic airfares; looks like it was never meant for us. The airfare is not only insanely high for most Bhutanese but also proudly converted in US dollar. What meaning can you draw from a Bhutanese airline announcing its airfare to Bhutanese people in Bhutan in terms of US dollar?

Domestic Airlines in Bhutan

Seemingly the two airports were built for tourist and tourist alone, the shameless airfares show that the airlines only had tourists on their minds and never for once thought about the state of our own people. If the airfares are not revised to a reasonable level then I can see no other way than to stone the aircraft down from Dochula- after all it's not going to make a difference to Bhutanese lives.

My Daughter Becomes Two

On 29th November 9:29PM my daughter became 2. They say the height of a two year old multiplied by two will give their adult height. So I measured her the very minute she became two and found she's 87 cm tall, which means she will be 174 cm tall by the time she becomes 20- She is going to be 2 cm taller than me.
The long fearful wait for her teeth is finally over. I didn't count but there are enough teeth in her mouth now. Sometimes I regret shaving her head, even after five months her hair is not back, forget having thicker hair. Only her girlish outfit identifies her as a girl, and on many other occasions I had to correct strangers that my babe is a girl.
On her birthday, it's time to reflect on her two years among us, it's strange to realize that someone from nowhere comes into our lives and suddenly takes ownership of everything we ever had and we gladly give in. There were times my wife and I sit and talk about "if's": if our babe could sit up, if our babe could walk on her own, if our babe could talk... but later we realized that everything happens when it's time and there is so much joy in appreciating what she could do at the moment than thinking of what she can't do yet! My cousin became mother recently and she wishes if her babe could run around and play like my daughter, but I told her to enjoy her babe when she is still there on her lap and smiling because that moment is never going to come back.

For Memory!

What I don't like about my daughter is her mad love for technology. It was our fault, we tried to amuse her with some interactive games on iPad and now we are having it! Her favorite game is Angry Bird and she doesn't understand that it's not our favorite game and that we have many other works to do- she lets us play with her for hours and if we deny at any point she turns into Angry Bird herself. I am thoroughly beaten by my daughter- her punches and slaps are something I don't want to mess with.

She knows Youtube is for videos and my broadband accounts exhausts within a week from her Angry Bird commercial movies- I didn't know Angry birds was so popular until she took me there. Now she is also contributing to its popularity of billion views! 

Something My daughter loves!

Her second birthday was attended by my friends Ugyen and family, Juggu and Family, and Lop Tshering Gyeltshen over a small cake and dinner.

Social Stigma- Can we afford one more?

Every once in a long while there comes a disease that changes the fate of millions and test the rest of mankind. The last such disease was leprosy that infected the human civilization for over 4000 years. This disease divided human race into two, human and leper. The leprosy stigma was so strong that lepers were forced segregated and quarantined, deprived of basic rights and warmth. In medieval times sufferers were worn leper bells, like cowbells, to signal their presence. Even in recent times, after the disease became treatable, lepers suffered equally strong stigma- termination from jobs, ban from public places, deprivation of healthcare and worse of all their families giving up on them.

Leper Bell! (Picture:: Wikipedia)

Bhutan has its own history of leprosy; stigma drove sufferers into isolation into the remote caves to wait for their ends. One such recorded history is that of Gelong Ma Pema's. Even today, after all the education, medical breakthrough, and understanding nobody wants to be associated with a leper; the stigma finds it hard to leave the society that has it rooted deep within its .
The bacterial disease is finally gone, or as good as gone but a virus has come and it's given a very technical name- HIV AIDS. Like I said, every once in a long while comes a disease that changes the fate of millions and test the rest of mankind- while leprosy surely changed the fate of millions but the rest of mankind failed the test. Now the time has come for another test, AIDS has changed the fate of millions but will the rest of us repeat the same mistake of depriving the sufferers of our love and compassion? Are we going to force segregate and isolate them in social caves? Are we going to wear them virtual cowbells?
Let us realize that the disease hasn't come for nothing, it's god's way of testing mankind of our virtues. If we are going to repeat what we have done to lepers with AIDS patients God may never forgive us. It's not about who sees the death first, many people die each day while infected people are living for years, but it's about the emotional support they need each moment of their lives fighting the disease and we owe them that much. Let's not wait for 4000 more years to realize that they are our family.

In two days we are going to see four HIV positives Bhutanese on National TV to share their experiences. We are all waiting with mixed feelings but one thing we must remember is they are sick of hiding and fighting alone. They are counting on us to help them fight the disease stronger and freely. 

Encyclopedic of Bhutanese Hotels

I didn't know there were so many hotels in our country until I came across hotel.bt. Out of curiosity I checked a few hotels I know to see how good the site is, and I am thoroughly amazed at the collection of precise information backed up by beautiful pictures. It covers the hotels across the country and now I can already choose a hotel in any part of the country depending on my budget. And since it's online tourist from outside the country can make their choices too.

Click on the picture to visit the site.

The idea and the design re-inspired me to go back to my drawing board and work on my Question bank project which I dropped after MoE announced their project, which of course didn't materialize as well.

Rising Star- Promote Little Tshering Dorji

Little Tshering Dorji is a fifth grader with magical voice. There are about five YouTube videos uploaded by pemajigs in last three days, and I couldn't help watching them over and over. The boy has that charm in his voice which I never felt in most Bhutanese singers. He is as good as those kids on SaReGaMaPa Lil Champs, only he needs some training and support.

If you haven't heard him yet, you won't believe me. Just watch the video and help him by spreading the words. Somewhere there may a musician who may invest in his voice and give us a singer who will pay us back with songs that could touch our souls. We must help him because he deserves it.

Update (2 Feb 2012): Tshering Dorji has found the stage with National Talent Hunt, and is winning the hearts of every Bhutanese with his seasoned voice on BBS 2. Like they say, he is going to Do Something!

Dear Daughter, you were wonderful today

You just slept. It took a long time, you were feeling strange, I know, it's your first day without milk in your entire life. But we could see you were trying so hard, you already finished over five bottles of orange juice by the time you closed your eyes. Thank you babe, for being such a nice girl today. You have always been so cooperative when it came to taking big steps in your life like the toilet training last week. We sat you on the potty one time and the next time you asked for it. These for many other kids proved to be very difficult and often painful but you are special.

My Daughter's Recent Picture

 There are 14 days left for your second birthday, which is when we had planned to quit breastfeeding you but today out of the blue your mummy excitedly shared with me what she has done to you in my absence- she applied soya sauce over her nipple and showed to you saying it's so painful. You looked at her with worried expression and asked her to cover it up. You then asked for bottle. By the time I came home for lunch you have already passed six hours test without milk. By then you were resolute, you were saying No even when you mummy teasingly tempted you.
Darling, we are very sorry to have done this on to you but you must understand that this has to be done one day or the other and it is always better to be done earlier. We were with you undergoing the same pain every minute today, trying to comfort you each time you were frustrated.
Babe, you have to know that you are the only lucky baby in whole of locality who had the luxury to suckling for entire first six months of your life without mixing with a drop of water. Your mother was very insistent on doing this so that you live a very healthy life. You are the storeroom of million surprises babe, for the last one month you constructed many sentences and even had your four new teeth. You have shown craze for technology, which I think I should control and of all the thing today you surprise us by being so nice, which we thought would be very difficult. Now you have climbed one stage up in your life, and thank you for making it so easy for us. Love you.

11.11.11- Remembering Young Jigme at 17

At 17 I was in high school trying to figure out why my mathematics teacher didn't like me, why the warden had to be so strict, why all the beautiful girls were scared of me, and what was I doing there in school. I had all the time to live my school life day by day. Little short of financial luxury but I had nothing to worry much about, it was a beautiful school and food was sufficient, hostel room was cozy, I only had to wake up in the morning and sleep at night- much of the waking hours went in sleeping and rest hardly mattered.
But at 17 young crown prince Jigme Singye Wangchuck not only lost his father, but also his king. Bhutan turned numb at the news but young Jigme had to wipe off his tears midway down the cheeks and answer to his country's calling. He had to leave his playground too soon. He was born a crown prince but was deprived of all boyhood fun, life didn't give him time to grow one day at a time.

At 17, I was only half worried about my exam, and damn excited about my winter vacation but at 17 young Jigme ascended the golden throne and gave hope to every Bhutanese. At 17 he became the Fourth King of Bhutan and brought back the warmth in Bhutanese hearts, which they feared they lost forever.
At 17, I was trying to make sense of many things in my history textbook. At 17, His Majesty the Fourth King made history by becoming the youngest monarch.

At 17, I finally knew a few tricks to survive in hostel thereby ensuring my happiness, but I was yet to understand what makes my teachers happy, and what it takes to keep my mother happy. But at 17, His Majesty the King Jigme Singye Wangchuk kept aside his broken heart and pronounced his dream of happiness for his country and the people, and ever since, every Bhutanese felt the impact of his dreams in our lives. The dream, which the rest of the world could comprehend only now.

At 17, what were you doing? At 17 what are our kids doing now? Remember at 17, His majesty ensured happiness for all of us till the end of time. The best way to celebrate the life of the Great IV is to leave behind our excuses and start giving our best!

Singaporeans Believe in Bhutan

Two weeks ago, when Mr Khaw made a conclusion about Bhutan, I was disheartened. I thought he took away a wonderful friend from us because we count on Singapore when it comes to technological development. I knew his beliefs were his own yet I couldn't deny that those words were spoken in the parliament. I just sat down and wrote a letter to him, fully aware that my words won't make it anywhere near him in this vast universe of information. After over ten regular days, my blog stats suddenly started shooting up like a timer and comments flooded in. At first, it brought me immense joy and satisfaction as a blogger, and my message made it through. When the hits shot over 45,000, I began to worry. What have I done?

I only wanted Mr Khaw to know that we are happy, and far beyond my intention, it has gone viral, disturbing the minds of many Singaporeans. Many turned up to apologize on behalf of their minister, and discussions were heated on many forums. In trying to convince him that we were happy, I landed up making him unhappy; while I don't regret my words, I apologize for the unprecedented noise it made.

Our King and Queen just visited Singapore, and perhaps Singapore must have seen the very reflection of our simple happiness in the humility of our King. Over ninety positive Singaporean comments on my blog convinced me that they believe in Bhutan, that they believe in happiness, and that they are sorry about Mr Khaw being cynical. 

I am not used to so many comments on my blog; therefore, I am sorry I can't reply to each one of you, but I am very thankful that so many of you read my blog and took the time to leave your comments. I wish you happiness.

Thanks, Kuenzang Thinley, for the wonderful Award.

To Mr. Khaw Boon Wan, What did you expect?

(This is in reply to National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan of Singapore on his comments made on our country )

Dear Mr. Khaw,

I was not surprised when you said Bhutan is not the last Shangri-la on Earth, because I had a friend from your country who found Bhutan only "full of mountains and valleys". When you visited Bhutan, what did you expect? Those flying mountains you saw in Avatar? or Every Bhutanese merrily dancing in designer clothes? Well, you must have at least expected fancier cars and taller buildings but we only have taller mountains (not flying ones) and thicker forest (truly natural).

I am not surprised even when you said "Most of the time, I saw unhappy people, toiling in the field, worried about the next harvest and whether there would be buyers for their products." because I heard a proverb in school that goes, "Two men looked through the prison window, one saw the mud and other saw the horizon". I am only surprised that you have spend "Most of your time" in Bhutan looking in the fields. I am amazed at your ability to figure out whether the people are happy or unhappy just by looking at them- O' you even knew they were "worried about the next harvest". No wonder you country export human resources.

The Man who didn't find happiness in Bhutan. Source:channelnewsasia 

I visited your wonderful country sometime ago, and it felt like a city from the future. The transportation system held me spell bound, Cleanliness of the street is so much that I didn't find a fragment of dust on my shoes after walking for the hours, Every building and car looks new, and there is no question about the civic sense among the people. Four days after I landed in Bhutan I woke up and started sharing the stories of your wonderful country- yes it took me four days of sleeping to shake of the hangover of many sleepless nights in your 24X7 country. I read the amazing history of your country and thought to myself, if Bhutan's to develop, Singapore can be our vision.

But since you questioned the presence of happiness in Bhutan, let me answer by telling you few things that you overlooked when you visited my country. Those people you saw in the fields weren't unhappy, if you have gone closer you would have heard them singing and enjoying the social lives, perhaps you won't understand that. If you have spent a little longer time watching them, you would have seen and a woman with basket on her back and holding arms with several children coming with steaming food- we don't have McDonald or KFC. Then everybody will sit down to eat their lunch, laughing and joking, feeding babies, for over an hour- you wouldn't have had so much time to sit and watch I know, times means money in your country. But we have luxury of time. People don't worry "about the next harvest and whether there would be buyers for their products." In fact, we don't do much commercial farming, we do most of them to keep with the tradition. And when the sun sets, doesn't really matter what time, people leave for their homes where they have a large family waiting. Large family because we don't chase away our children when they become 18 or children cast away their parents when they age.

We don't need Health Insurance to survive, nor have to go for Education Loan for educating our children. We don't hang the drug users, we counsel them to hang on to their lives, we don't have to have a job to survive, and when we fall sick even the furthest cousin comes to attend without having to update Facebook status.

If you reread our history you will find that our wise kings have hidden us from the outside world so that we could remain the way we are today. If we start mining our mountains and lumbering our forests, we can become Singapore but no matter what you do you can never become Bhutan. It is far too difficult. We shall be the last breath of oxygen on earth.

Bhutan may not be the Last Shangri-la but we are happy.

Gaddafi Killed, World Healed

God gave Gaddafi everything a man could desire for in life, only he failed to understand his purpose of life. Over years he thought he was the god, deciding who should live and who should die- same thing that bloody Hitler did over half a century ago, and same thing his contemporary Saddam pursued. But the cow dung didn't learn anything from their fateful ends. He rather died a dog's death, much like this kinder spirit Bin Laden. Even when a dog dies next door we stop to pray for it but not a teardrop deserves to be wasted for these blunders of God. Their brutal deaths are God's apology to humanity for His having created them, and having bestowed them with powered they could handle. World is a better place without them. Hope they don't gang up in hell and restart their regimes there.

I wish Libya recovers from the months of war and join hands for a better future, and I wish the new government shows mercy on the captured Gaddafi Loyalists and allow them to make fresh beginnings. Punishing them in anyway makes the new government no better then the old regime. Let the sun shine brighter on the Libyan soil from tomorrow.

Father King's Gift of Happiness to Bhutan

On December 14th, 2006, when His Majesty the Fourth King handed over his duties as king to his son, His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the ministers and senior government officials who were attending the ceremony shed their tears silently, common people across the country were shocked and felt helpless, unable to comprehend. I thought it was a bad dream. For us, the Fourth King was the personification of God himself and I had a wish to live and die under his rule. It was the hardest to accept that the King we loved all our lives was resigning at the age of 51, changing the course of history and tradition.

But what we didn't realize was his vision of happiness for his people. And today, after two major events in the history of the nation- the coronation of the His Majesty the King of Bhutan and the Royal Wedding, when I look back it brings tears to my eyes as I understand how great a gift our Fourth King has given us on that fateful day in 2006.

First Time in the History of Humanity

Never in the history of our country, or any other country, a father king crowned his son. It was always after the passing away of the father that son gets crowned. For the first time in the history the raven crown was worn on the head of king who was perfectly happy during the crowning ceremony. And that glory reflected in lives of every Bhutanese. That was the Gift from the Fouth King that we didn't understand back in 2006.

The Royal Kiss in Changlingmethang

Never in the history of our country a queen was crowned in the presence of her father in-law. Ashi Jetsun Pema Wangchuk was the first queen who received Dhar Negnar from the dotting father King. The Royal Wedding became so special just because there was the father king to bless them and this is the blessing to the people of Bhutan that we didn't understand back in 2006.

And every morning we wake up to the love and grace of the charming young King without having to miss our former King just because we know he is still there watching us, and that is the daily happiness we enjoy and it's the gift from the Fourth King that we didn't understand back in 2006.

Now, there will be another moment in our own time when our Crown Prince will be born, who will be the first crown prince to receive the blessings and wisdom of his Grandfather. That shall bring immense joy to us all.

Thank you Your Majesty, now we know why you did what you did in 2006. You are truly the God of happiness.

Bhutan's Queen Crowned Today

How much ever I write today, it is bound to fall far short of what actually happened.Queen of Bhutan is crowned and people far beyond our country have seen the crowning glory. Just for the record, I want to post this so that someday my daughter will grow up to read this and know that she was present at the ceremony.
I watched the whole ceremony live on BBS with my family and just when the King and Queen walked out into the crowd to meet the people, we dressed up and rushed to the Latshothang to see them. I nearly lost my camera at the security gate, but I convinced them that I am a responsible photographer and that I have taken it just to shoot my wife and daughter. After two shots of my family the battery died out, that's how responsible I was.
It was so exciting to see the newly wed King and Queen, Fourth King and Ashis, Princes, Princesses, Sogyal Rinpochee, popular political figures like Loenchen, OL Tshering Tobgay, Sonam Kuenga, Sangay Khandu (We shook hands) and many many more. Something special about Bhutan is that we consider these people as celebrities and not actors and singers.

The Royal Couple posing for Media. BBS Photo.

There are two events I will never forget in my life; First, The crowning of His Majesty the King, Jigme Khesar Namgay Wangchuk by his father, Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singey Wangchuk and Second the crowning of Ashi Jetsun Pema by His Majesty.

And Dear Daughter, you were a little sick and cried a lot but you were there with us in Punakha during the Royal Wedding (October 13, 2011).

My visit to Lingkana Palace

In Bhutan you don't have to be special to visit the Royal Palace, meet your King, and converse with Him. His Majesty makes it his personal interest to invite different groups of people to his palace and talk heart to heart with them over tea, which often he prepares himself.

With Royal Couple in their Palace

On the eve of royal wedding I am proud to share about my visit to the palace and meeting His Majesty and Ashi Jetsun Pema. His Majesty wished to sit down with people from different media groups and thus there were people from newspapers, radio, TV, film industry, Media Foundation and me- well I was to represent the bloggers. Blogging is picking up in Bhutan and now it is claiming its space alongside the mainstream media in the country.
During the conversation His Majesty shared with us about how he wants his wedding to be- humble and truly Bhutanese. He wants no chairs, no plates, no cold drinks, no beer, no wines, no international cuisines. He beamed as he described the display of local delicacies from 20 dzongkhags and palangs of local beverages. From the way he described his wedding plan it sounded to me like a wedding of an ordinary Bhutanese, and it made me so proud to be a Bhutanese.
His Majesty talked to us on various subjects ranging from his choice of music to books he read, from ancient Indian kings to first recorded Bhutanese song, from Ashi and him fighting for TV remote and laptop (they only have one TV and one laptop) to discovery of Third King's storeroom in Tashichhoedzong. When he shared the letter third king wrote to his Majesty the fourth king, who was then studying in London, I couldn't hold my tears.
His majesty and Ashi talked to each of us by calling our names and asking about things we do. Ashi Jetsun showed interest in my blog and asked for the blog address. She said, " I should read your blog.", which sounded to me like " The Oscar for the best Best Blog goes to PaSsu!!"
Throughout the audience I couldn't help watching his majesty's expression of love to ashi through his words, his smile, his touch and playfulness. Nothing in the world seemed to me so perfect than the choice our king made, and nothing in the world felt so powerful than the love I saw between the royal couple. His Majesty fondly told us that ashi takes good care of him despite being ten years younger to him and I thought that's the best service a queen could render to her country.
Tonight I pray to all gods in heaven with all my heart to bless our king and queen all the happiness in the world. And May the divine Royal love reflect in lives of every Bhutanese couple for all the times to come.

P:S: My visit to Lingkana Palace was about a month ago, I am sharing it on the eve of Royal Wedding.

Diseased Turnip: Call for Help!

Turnip may not be one among the best vegetables- some people in town may not have seen one yet, but people of Haa have woven their lives with it. Infertile soil deprived of favorable weather conditions forced Haaps to make their living by herding yaks and turnip is one among a handful of crops grown in Haa. Turnips goes in making the region's famous recipe- Haapy Hoenty. The leaves of turnip are dried to make Lhoom, which then becomes very good combination with phaksha seekham and shakam.
However, the harvest looks bad this year. During my recent home going, I found all the turnips in our garden yellowed and dying. My mother wasn't surprised, she told me that a disease had been spreading in the region for last two years. Once infected the turnip buds turns into chain of three balls(see the picture), something similar to radish and then dies out gradually. I inquired if they have reported to the agricultural officer of the region, to which they gave a casual no. Perhaps they didn't know that they needed help. How come people don't know that there is an office who could help? How come the three year old disease didn't receive remedy so far?

Boy posing with Healthy turnip bud (right hand) and two diseased turnips (left hand)
(the symbolism of healthy boy and injured boy in the backdrop is accidental)