We rock BFF!

I thought my life had come to a disastrous end yesterday. Never in my life did I feel so wretched and horribly lonely. I buried myself in unending remorse and had lived in limbo. The same day, I lost the odyssey of my seven years of proverbial beautiful love life. The unforgivable situation left me with no room for way back into love. Truly, it was a tragic déjà vu for me. Also, my otherwise very good terms with my parents and siblings have been ruthlessly ruined.

But out of sheer amazement, as if like a divine intervention, my friends saved me from this limbo. They showed me, amorously, the meaning and beauty of life. They goaded me that life is precious, to live, not to waste.

Last evening one of my friends had canceled his important appointment and spent all night with me. Another friend of mine whose assignment was to submit next day fled from his hostel to give me company.

Though raining and unbearably cold outside, they took me around the market for shopping, introduced me to read ‘The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying’, treated me with delightful dinner in a restaurant and then to have arra at their house. They also took me for drive, and then introduced me to some “decent” girls. Ha-ha! Guys, you can do what not for me to uplift my ravaged spirit.

Two of them appeared like Robin Hoods of my ravaged soul, or Messiah to save me from the grave consequences.

It was midnight that we returned to RIM to drop one of my friends in his hostel. Due to tight security as all the trainees were restricted moving after 9 PM, we attempted shortcut from other end of the institute. Like a bunch of notorious high school students, we climbed and jumped over the two-meter high RIM security-tight fence. We were seemingly drunk that we tumbled over the fence and injured our legs. Though hurt, we let out a laugh for a silly reason: looking at each other how we stumbled from the fence.

We were like young children running for the sweets as their parents returning from the market that we ran across the soccer field of RIM. We laughed wildly, childishly, as we ran in the field. Again we tumbled over the mud and mud-stained our clothes. The laughter was a volcano of happiness erupting in me. This brought a great measure of comfort in my heart. Rays of light came alive in me: HOPE.

I forgot completely that I was lonely and rejected. I instantly discovered my life so beautiful, this universe so warm and my friends so loving. My friends care for me, they want me.

Drunk, we knocked the hostel door and disturbed the inmates. We shouted in the room like a bunch of vulgar Indians. We left the hostel until Hostel dodam intervened and requested us to leave the hostel.

Another friend of mine branded us BBF (Best Friends Forever). We will always be best friends. We rock! And we will always rock.

In Urban Jungle Humans have Tiger face

Sitting on a dried wood at hilltop above Kuensel Phodrang, I was looking at the spectacle wondrous and awe-inspiring Thimphu City. Thimphu City was picture perfect in the evening from that bird-eye view to sit and watch. In a glance I viewed whole city and I felt like I had grasped the instant glorious beauty and happiness of the world.

Unlike before; however, this evening the splendor of the City nabbed my heart, but only for a flashing moment. The City aroused a very strange considerate understanding in me.

I was on the same spot, a couple of months ago, but with my friends. Then, we were snacking and drinking wine and also were implicated listening to latest songs played from the cell phones. We admired looking at the majestic Thimphu City adorned with limitless lights, colorful buildings, bridges and moving vehicles. What a stunning city!

However, this evening like a disgruntled angel irked by fraudulent nature of humans, I stood grumbling at hilltop oblivious to magnificent beauty of the City. It was a strange wakefulness for me, though. I felt as if I were waking up from an enchanted slumber. The City in front of my eyes appeared a bit unreasonable-bewildering, even enigmatic.

Since early 1980s, Thimphu has been maneuvering towards ambitious target of urbanization and powerful development. It cleansed itself from the shabby jungles and forests. It chased away or ravaged those hostile wild animals from its territory. Now there’s no seeing of poisonous snakes, vampiric leeches and beers, no existence of monstrous tigers and lions, and rampaging elephants.

The City is now wholly inhibited by the superior and civilized beings called human beings.

A casual notorious thought did spark over my mind. How many of the superior beings in that City would be making love at present? Ha-ha! This came to my mind uncontrollably. Pardon me!

I scanned the City-from north Trashichoedzong to south Babesa. Mostly educated and rich Bhutanese live with most sophisticated living standard here. Yet the City appeared to me a mere jungle. Urban Jungle, my conscience named the City. In this Urban Jungle people have tiger face.

Tigers and lions kill and eat their preys; human beings here diabolically stamp on each other to climb up social ladder or in want of more wealth and fame. We don’t have leeches or vampire that suck blood, but even close friends, relatives or lovers inexorably attack to suck one another’s blood. More horrific, as they are in a human face and hungrily suck blood to their fill (for their pleasure and advantage). Their hostile attitude stinks.

Venomous snakes in Thimphu Street are unseen yet many city dwellers or inhabitants (especially frustrated youth) conjure a poisonous threat as the deadly snakes. You don’t have to provoke them. They hiss at you and bite you brutally for no reason. Even the senior civil servants in volcanic anger are more scornful and threatening as a toxic snake.

Wild beers, though unnoticed, appeared in the street but in human face. Those misogynistic unruly men can molest or rape if found women walking alone late night in the street. Also, the City stopped orthodoxy beliefs in witch craft. But here many beautiful women live who are often deadlier than the witches we heard in the stories back in villages. These gorgeous women cast a spell and hex men using their sorcery of hypnotizing beauty. She sucks blood, eats his peace and robbed properties and ruins all his life.

There isn’t any jumbo elephant rampaging your homes and crops, but enough are those people who sabotage and raid others’ homes and properties.

Alas! Humans have become more callous and heartless than most beastly wild animals. Cognizant of all this, my heart sunk with rage, desolation and apathy. A forlorn hope of returning to the City where I live that I decided to live with starry and cloudless night at hilltop. Crickets swirled around me, birds returning to their resting place, chirped from the bushes and trees nearby.

Tears welled in my eyes, I screamed at the Thimphu City, “I will not return to you. Never! You have accumulated and favored the most hypocrite living beings. They are worst than most hostile wild animals. They are insane. I love to stay here in the company of the wild.”

Special thanks to Sonam Dendup, Legal Officer, Thimphu Dzongkhag Administration for his kind ideology and help in writing this article.

I too have a love story!

It was eight years ago at Jakar HSS in Bumthang. I was so young yet impulsive, so innocent yet very passionate, so tender yet very determined. To me, then, the real challenges and sufferings of this world were unheard and unknown.

I lived in a mere perception that our life was “beautiful”. I lived to make merry, and nothing more. To be happy was my maxim. No menacing covetousness and aspiring dreams ever pervaded me from that beautiful existence.

Exams, therefore, were temporary villain in my beautiful world, concerning me little of passing to next grade. But it was a minimal sacrifice I offered at the end of each year. Rest of the year I would be merry-making, though. I never bothered about the marks and ranks I acquired after each examination. Securing a pass mark was obvious goal for me.

Although bunking many classes and study hours or not studying even during the exam times, it was easy for me to score good marks to step into next grade. There were a handful of mates who were like me and we called ourselves “intelligent lot”.

This was the time when I fell in love madly with a girl same like me. It’s a cold winter, just a week left for us to appear common exam, the ultimate decider of rest of our life. I held her arms after gathering the guts of the world to confess my undeclared love. Outside, it was extremely cold, dews blanketed on dry grass blades and the wintry breeze blowing from the south. Students horsing around and rattling their plates were lining up for the dinner (kharang and pumpkin curry). Some would be carrying green chili, other taking packets of red chilli powder in their plates to have it with dinner. A piece of chili or a spoon of powder would be a great appetizer for us.

It was my first love, but not the love at first sight. I was shivering so vibrantly, nervous too. I was very weak and timid in this business-love. Perhaps I was proposing a girl for the first time. Never did I know that proposing a girl was so herculean task. It took me about two years to declare my love. But I was doing that day.

In a sheer disbelief, I proposed her, confessed my love. I felt perfectly relieved.

But I was persistently bothered and worried about the rejection. What if she denied my love? What if she had just thought and was treating me “only” as “a good friend”, and nothing more. It would ruin our three-spring good friendship; apparently ruining her trust on me.

I thought, instantly, that I made the greatest mistake of my life, and I started repenting never like before.

“I love you too!” from that small and innocent lips of hers sounded reverberating in my tensed heart. A huge emotion of joy gushed into my heart that I experienced the world of happiness and love, very true, very spiritual.

This love had no ounce of lust, no intention of hurting each other. As innocent, as immature, as pure as our untainted mind we surrendered our hearts for each other, trusting wholly.

We, then, prayed and promised that we will never go apart. We shared limitless immortal love notes which words can never express. Hand-in-hand or in each others' bosom, we chanted the prayer of love. We took an oath, that, whatever the circumstances, we will always walk together the journey of this life and die old together.